Salted Caramel Filled Chocolate Cupcakes

It's been a while since I've baked anything new and put up a recipe on the blog! To be totally honest, the busier I get with work, my blog, etc, the less time and energy I have for baking. But I made these delicious salted caramel filled chocolate cupcakes for a friend's Memorial Day party and they were a hit, so I thought I'd share the recipe with you all today! :)

Salted Caramel Filled Chocolate Cupcakes

adapted from Martha Stewart

makes 18 cupcakes

for the cupcakes...

• 1.5 cups flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1.5 cups sugar
• 1.5 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup warm water

1. preheat your oven to 350F. line two muffin tins with 18 paper liners.
2. in a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
3. in the bowl of your stand mixer, on low speed, mix together the eggs, buttermilk, oil, vanilla and water.
4. slowly add the dry ingredients into the bowl of the stand mixer, scraping down the sides of the bowl until just incorporated.
5. fill each cupcake liner almost to the top with batter and bake for about 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
6. let cupcakes cool on a wire rack.

for the salted caramel filling...

• caramel sauce, like Smucker's squeezable
• coarse sea salt

1. after the cupcakes have cooled completely, use a cupcake corer to remove the center of each.
2. fill up each center to the top with caramel and sprinkle a few pieces of coarse salt in each.

for the chocolate frosting...

• 3 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 pound semi sweet chocolate, melted
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2-3 cups confectioner's sugar

1. in the bowl of your stand mixer, beat the butter and melted chocolate together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy.
2. slowly add the cocoa powder, then the confectioner's sugar, a bit at a time.
3. if you feel like the frosting is too sweet, add a bit more cocoa powder to balance out the sweetness.
4. drizzle with some leftover caramel and sea salt. enjoy!!