Salted Caramel Cupcakes

Indulge in the perfect blend of sweet and salty with these Salted Caramel Cupcakes. These are a heavenly combination of moist, fluffy cake filled with a luscious homemade salted caramel filling and topped with a caramel-infused frosting swirl. This recipe uses Russian buttercream which is made by combining butter and condensed milk. It's not too sweet and has a very creamy consistency. Let's talk about the ingredients first :

• Brown sugar : This recipe calls for both brown sugar and caster sugar because brown sugar adds more caramel flavor. But, if you do not have brown sugar you can use caster sugar instead.

• Oil : You can use any flavorless oil like sunflower oil or vegetable oil.

• Buttermilk : If you don't have buttermilk on hand you can use regular whole milk mixed with a teaspoon of vinegar.

• Sour cream : It adds a lot of moisture to the cake. But if you don't have sour cream on hand you can use plain yoghurt instead.

• Vanilla : Please don't use artificial vanilla or vanilla essence. I would highly recommend using a good quality vanilla extract. It makes a difference trust me.

• Butter : I prefer using unsalted butter because it allows you to adjust the amount of salt however you like. But if you only have salted butter on hand it's completely fine just skip the salt in this recipe.

Servings : 12-14

Ingredients :

For salted caramel :

• Granulated sugar - 240g

• Water - 100ml

• Heavy cream - 240ml (room temperature)

• Salt - 1/4 tsp

For cupcakes :

• Flour - 200g

• Caster sugar - 80g

• Brown sugar - 80g

• Baking powder - 1 tsp

• Baking soda - 1/2 tsp

• Salt - 1/4 tsp

• Butter - 120g

• Eggs - 120g

• Oil - 40ml

• Sour cream - 60ml

• Buttermilk - 120g

• Vanilla extract - 2 tsp

For Russian caramel buttercream :

• Butter - 145g

• Condensed milk - 230g

• Caramel - 60g

• Salt - 1/8 tsp

Instructions :

For salted caramel :

(Please be very careful while making caramel because the sugar gets extremely hot and it can be dangerous. Just make sure that you have all your ingredients measured out and ready to go before starting and maintain a safe distance from the saucepan.)

1. Add the sugar and water to a heavy bottom saucepan and place it on medium-high heat. Do not stir or it will start crystallizing. The sugar will melt and the mixture will come to a boil. This is where you have to keep an eye on the mixture because it can burn very quickly which will make your caramel taste bitter.

2. Once the mixture starts caramelizing you can move your saucepan slowly to make sure it caramelizes evenly. Let it become a deep amber color and take it off the heat immediately.

3. Now while stirring, slowly pour in a little bit of your cream. The mixture will start to bubble a lot so be very careful. Keep stirring till some of the bubbles are gone and the mixture has calmed down a bit. Pour in the rest of your cream and keep stirring till it's lovely and smooth.

4. Add in your salt and mix it through. You can add more salt if you like after giving it a little taste test.

5. Pour your caramel into a separate bowl and leave it to cool completely while we make our cupcakes.

For cupcakes :

1. To a large bowl, add flour, brown sugar, caster sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix everything well.

2. Add in room temperature butter. The butter should be soft and spreadable.

3. Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer, mix it for 2-3 minutes till all dry ingredients and covered in butter. The mixture should resemble bread crumbs.

4. To a separate bowl, add in the eggs, oil, sour cream, buttermilk and vanilla extract. Whisk until everything is combined.

5. Add this mixture to the butter mixture and mix on medium-high speed for 2-3 minutes. There should be no lumps and the batter should be a bit fluffy. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl using a spatula to ensure that everything is well combined.

6. Preheat the oven to 160°C/320°F and line a cupcake tray with 12 cupcake liners.

7. Fill the cupcake liners 3/4 of the way with the batter using an ice cream scoop or a spoon and bake for 25-30 mins or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

8. Let the cupcakes cool in the tin for 5 mins then transfer them onto a cooling rack to cool completely while we make the buttercream.

For Russian caramel buttercream :

1. Make sure that your butter is at room temperature and is nice and soft before making the buttercream. If the butter is not soft, it won't whip up properly.

2. Add the softened butter to a large bowl and using a hand mixer or a stand mixer whip it for about 5-7 minutes or until it's super fluffy and almost white in color. This step is very important as it ensures a fluffy and light buttercream.

3. Measure out the condensed milk and start adding it slowly into the whipped butter. Keep whipping till all the condensed milk is fully combined. It is very important to slowly add the condensed milk, DO NOT dump all of it in one go or it will split the buttercream.

4. Add in the caramel and salt and mix.

5. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl using a spatula to ensure that everything is well combined. Whip for 2 more mins.

6. Our buttercream is ready so let's start assembling the cupcakes.

For assembly :

1. Using an apple corer or a spoon, make a little hole at the center of each cupcake.

2. Place the salted caramel sauce into a piping bag and snip the tip. Fill the holes that we created with the caramel.

3. Place the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle (or any nozzle of your choice).

4. Make sure your cupcakes have cooled completely before piping or else the buttercream will melt. Pipe a swirl of buttercream on top of each cupcake.

5. Drizzle some more caramel on top because there's no such thing as 'too much caramel', right?.

6. Serve and enjoy!

7. Keep the cupcakes refrigerated.