Chocolate Salted-Caramel Cupcakes

Every year for my birthday, I make myself cupcakes.

You may be saying to yourself, "How sad, no one loves her enough to make her cupcakes!"

You're dead wrong.
I usually make something that I'm afraid no one else would like, something I've had my eye on, or something that is inordinately time consuming. Plus I needed an excuse to use this fine piece of machinery that I received as a birthday gift! 

Making caramel is not very difficulty, you just have to pay close attention for about 20 minutes. If you can do this, you will be rewarded with such a delicious treat. Begin by boiling light corn syrup, water, and granulated sugar. Boil without stirring until it reaches an amber color, about 15 minutes.

Slowly add in the heavy cream and bring to the "soft ball" stage, about 240 degrees. 
You can test this without a thermometer by place about a tablespoon of the mixture into a cup of very cold water, wait about 30 seconds and try to grab it out. It will form a soft ball that you can easily squish flat at the "soft ball" stage. How convenient a name soft ball stage is!
Then pour caramel into a bowl, stir in salt, and allow it to cool slightly.

Once its cool enough to touch, stir in butter one tablespoon at a time. 

That's it! The caramel can sit at room temperature for a while so don't fear to leave it out overnight even if you need to. This is what I did since I like to bake and serve cupcakes all in the same day.

I have a question. 
When you say "caramel" do you pronounce it "care-a-mel" or "car-mulh"?
Either way, make these. They were just plain delicious. I only made one dozen of these and it was a mistake, people loved these and I needed more. The recipe below makes two dozen. You can make half, but beware the riot you'll have once people realize how good these are.  

I adapted this recipe from bits an pieces all over the internet. The caramel came from Martha Stewart and the cupcakes are adapted from Simply Recipes.

Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcakes 
Makes 24 Cupcakes
Total Time: about 90 minutes

For the Caramel 

• 2 cups Granulated Sugar 
• 2 tablespoons Light Corn Syrup
• 2 tablespoons Water
• 1 cup Heavy Cream
• ½ teaspoon Coarse Sea Salt
• 1 stick (½ cup, 4 ounces) Cold Unsalted Butter, cut into tablespoons 

For the Cupcakes

• 2 sticks Unsalted Butter
• 4 ounces (about ¼ cup) Milk or Semisweet Chocolate, chopped or chips
• 1 cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
• 1½ cups Flour
• 1½ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 4 large Eggs
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1½ cups Sugar
• 3 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
• 1 cup Sour Cream (full fat)

For the Frosting

• 2 sticks Unsalted Butter, softened 
• 3-4 cups Powdered Sugar 
• ¼  teaspoon Salt
• 1 tablespoon Vanilla Extract
• 2-4 tablespoons Milk or Heavy Cream 

Caramel

Combine sugar, corn syrup, and water in a medium saucepan* over high heat. Cook, without stirring, until mixture is dark amber under the bubbles, about 14 minutes**. 

Remove from heat and carefully pour in cream, stirring until smooth. Return to high heat and cook without stirring until a candy/deep fry thermometer reaches 240 degrees, about 3 minutes. 

Pour caramel into a bowl and stir in salt. 

Let cool about 15 minutes. 

Stir in butter, one tablespoon at a time. Let cool completely. 

Cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line two muffin tins with cupcake liners.

In a microwave safe bowl, combine butter and chocolate chunks. Microwave in 20 second intervals, stirring between nukes, until melted. Add cocoa powder and stir until smooth. Let sit until cool to the touch.

In a small bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.

In a large bowl, or with an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs until fluffy - about 2 minutes. Add the salt, sugar, and vanilla and beat until combined. Slowly pour in the melted chocolate mixture and beat until combined. 

Stir in remaining ingredients, by hand or mixer on low, alternating between flour mixture, sour cream, then flour again just until combined.

Divide batter between prepared cupcake liners. Bake 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the muffin pan for 15 minutes, then remove and cool completely on a cooling rack.

Frosting

Use the paddle attachment on a mixer on medium speed to beat butter until it is light and fluffy, about a minute. 

Turn mixer to its lowest speed and add 3 cups of the powdered sugar, one cup at a time. 

Once sugar is incorporated, turn mixer back to medium and add vanilla, salt, and 2 tablespoons milk.  Beat for about 3 minutes. 

If your frosting is too thin, add in additional cup of powdered sugar. If it is too thick, add additional milk. 

Assembly:

Use a pairing knife at about a 45 degree angle to cut out a quarter sized, half inch deep well in the top of the cupcake. Eat the piece you cut out when no one is looking. 

Spoon enough caramel into the cupcake to fill the hole, microwave the caramel for 15 seconds first if it is too thick to spoon. 

Pipe or spread the frosting on top. 

To create the caramel lines across the top shown above, scoop the caramel on the end of a butter knife and drip (or fling) the caramel across the top. Optional: chop chocolate and place on top of caramel - I used a Godiva Salted Caramel Bar.   

*Be sure you use a fairly large saucepan, as the caramel expands quite a bit when you add the heavy cream. In the pictures above, I used a 3 quart saucepan an you can see how high it got!

**When in doubt, stop early so you don't burn your sugar but 14 minutes was perfect for me.