Caramel Filled Vanilla Cupcakes with Pumpkin Buttercream

I am very excited to announce that I'm a new baking contributor for Annina Hendrick's Enchanting Details blog! I shared my first recipe with Annina's readers yesterday using some of her cute Halloween printouts and I am so thrilled with the results. My inspiration for this recipe was a caramel pumpkin latte - I wanted to combine vanilla, caramel and pumpkin flavors in a new but delicious way and my coworkers all enjoyed these on Monday when I brought them in to work! Let me know if you try them out :)

Vanilla Cupcakes with Caramel Filling and Pumpkin Buttercream

makes about 20 cupcakes

for the cupcakes...

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 3/4 cups cake flour
• 1 1/4 unbleached all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup buttermilk

1. Preheat your oven for 350 F and line 2 cupcake tins with 20 liners.
2. In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat butter and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy. 
3. While the mixer is going, whisk together the flours, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.
4. Reduce speed to medium low. Add the eggs to the bowl of your stand mixer, one at a time, until each is fully incorporated.
5. Add the vanilla extract and mix until just combined.
6. Add 1/3 of the dry bowl, followed by half of the buttermilk, alternating until all has been incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl until just combined.
7. Using a 1/4 cup, fill up the liners almost all the way.
8. Bake for 15-18 minutes. Let cupcakes cool on a wire rack.

For the filling...

• 1 small jar of Trader Joe's fleur de sel caramel

1. Once the cupcakes have cooled, use a cupcake corer to remove the center of each.
2. Spoon a bit of the caramel into the center of each cupcake until it reaches the top.

For the buttercream...

• 4 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
• 5 tablespoons pureed pumpkin
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 6-8 cups powdered sugar

1. In the bowl of your stand mixer, whip the butter on high speed until light and fluffy.
2. Add the pumpkin and cinnamon and mix until combined.
3. Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time until the frosting reaches a nice thick consistency.