Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcakes
Dark chocolate salted caramel cupcakes are decadent, made with moist dark chocolate cake and topped with salted caramel buttercream. Mocha cupcake goodness!
Despite today being Monday, I am not feeling the usual Monday blues because of the wonderful wedding of the weekend. There is something about weddings that just puts one in a very good mood. Or I might just be a romantic at heart and it’s about time I stop denying it.
My friend’s wedding was a beautiful fairy tale; one of those you see in a chick flick movie. The bride is a country girl and throughout the planning, we struggled to combine that with a simple/ elegant theme. At the end of the day, she pulled it off perfectly. She got married in the beautiful backyard grounds of her childhood, above a creek where she rode down to the ceremony in a horse and carriage. Yes, not kidding. Her mother surprised her with that. It was super awesome and was definitely a tear-jerker.
The reception and party were held in an elegantly decorated tent, studded with shades of purple (regency and wisteria to be exact) and hints of the couple’s favorite pastime: fishing. We danced our (troubled) feet out till the wee hours celebrating the newlyweds. I am still recuperating from all the excitement and jello shots!
Ok, I’m sure you are not here for wedding details but rather for these dark chocolate salted caramel cupcakes.
I made them for friends last weekend during my birthday celebrations. They’re called dark chocolate salted caramel cupcakes, but the consensus was “Mocha chocolate goodness”. I think that describes them perfectly because it’s a moist dark chocolate cake, topped with salted caramel buttercream.
I made homemade caramel sauce, using this recipe from Two Peas and Their Pod, using it in the frosting. The sauce is SO good on its own and we have been drizzling it on everything from ice cream to cookies. Next time I make these cupcakes, I will fill them with the salted caramel sauce for some added oomph. You totally should if you would like added salted caramel flavor!
Enjoy these dark chocolate salted caramel cupcakes, and let me know what you think of the recipe!
Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcakes
Dark chocolate salted caramel cupcakes are decadent, made with moist dark chocolate cake and topped with salted caramel buttercream. Mocha cupcake goodness!
Ingredients
For Chocolate Cupcakes:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup cocoa powder (I used Ghirardelli)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- ½ cup buttermilk, at room temperature
- ½ cups strong black coffee, hot
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Frosting:
- 5 large egg whites, room temperature
- 1¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 ½ cup (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into pieces
- ¼ - ½ cup homemade salted caramel sauce
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Instructions
For the Chocolate Cupcakes:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tins with cupcake liners.
- Sift together all the dry ingredients into the bowl of an electric mixer.
- In a medium bowl, combine all the wet ingredients using a whisk.
- Mix the dry ingredients on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the mixer and add the wet ingredients. Mix for 2 minutes on medium speed and scrape the sides and bottom of bowl. Mix for additional minute on medium speed.
- The batter will be thin. Divide evenly among the cupcake liners.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean.
- Cool cupcakes on wire racks completely. Meanwhile you could start on the frosting.
For the Salted Caramel Swiss Meringue Buttercream:
- Whisk together sugar and egg whites in a heatproof mixing bowl set over (not in) a pot of simmering water. Whisk until warm and sugar is dissolved (mixture should feel completely smooth when rubbed between your fingers), about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat.
- With an electric mixer on medium speed, whip the egg white + sugar mixture for about 5 minutes (using the whisk attachment). Increase speed to medium-high, and whisk until stiff, glossy peaks form and meringue has cooled (test by feeling bottom of bowl), about 6 minutes. Do not proceed if the bowl is still warm. Your butter will melt.
- Reduce speed to medium and switch to the paddle attachment. Add butter, one piece at a time, beating well after each addition. Continue beating until the butter incorporates into the meringue and a silky buttercream forms. It usually takes a few minutes, depending on whether your meringue was cool. Keep beating, it will come together. Once silky smooth, beat in vanilla extract and ¼ cup salted caramel into the buttercream. Mix until combined.
- Use frosting immediately to frost cupcakes or store in an airtight container in fridge for up to a week.
I made these last month & they were a hit @ work! Next w/e I will be doing 4 graduation cakes, 2 chocolate & 2 white (same person) Going to do a trial run today to see if they will turn out in a 1/2 sheet size pan. Do you think I need to make any adjustments? Haven’t searched your site completely but hopefully you have a white cake that equally as fantastic as this one! I have always ended up using boxed mixes as I never have luck with from scratch recipes until I found yours!
Kim I’m so glad to hear you loved these cupcakes. I’ve made them in round cake forms (8 and 9-inch) and they turned out great. Didn’t change the recipe at all. So I don’t think you will have to for a sheet cake. Just make sure you don’t fill the pan too much and leave room for the cake to rude. Also, adjust the baking times. I think it might take almost 25-30mins for a full sheet cake. But start checking the center around 20mins. I hope it turns out great. Please let me know how it does!!
Hi! I made the cupcakes and they tasted great! However, they did sink in the middle and I don’t know where I went wrong. They tasted so good that I decided to give them another try as a layer cake and the layers sunk so badly that it looks like a pie crust. Any suggestions on what may have gone wrong?
Hi Guili! I am so sorry to hear they sunk in the middle. It sounds like either a baking powder/soda issue or your oven temperatures are not consistent. I know using really old baking powder before has left me with collapsed cakes (I haven’t had cupcakes done that yet). However before I understood my oven, my cupcakes used to not rise well because the temperature was fluctuations and uneven. Once I got an oven thermometer I was able to figure this out. I can’t be sure that either of this May have happened for you but in my experience those have been some of my failed cake/cupcake reasons. I’m glad they tasted good though…for the cakes did you bake in 8 or 9 inch? And did you give them more time?
Hi there! Thank you so much for sharing this great recipe! As I am not planning to bake too many cupcakes, I was wondering if I could halve the recipe? Thank you!
Hello Aisha, you can cut the recipe in half but I am just worried about the egg since it calls for just one. If you don’t mind, whisk one egg in a small bowl and measure out half of that amount into your cupcake batter. Hope that helps!
Brilliant, that definitely helps! I’m giving that a try tomorrow. Thank you so much! 🙂
I am looking for the recipe, where can i find it?
I cant seem to find the recipe, is there a link i am missing?
It’s back up! Sorry there was a glitch for a few hours.
Oh Zainab what a brilliant recipe. I nearly licked my screen. I like the addition of coffee in the chocolate cupcakes! I read from the earlier comments that you are not a coffee drinker, I love my coffee so will take your advice and amp up the coffee. Just wanted to say that I am so happy to have found your blog, going to be spending loads of time here! 🙂
Wow! These look amazing and I bet they taste even better!
Pingback: Buffalo Chicken Dip Bites
Pingback: Cherry Vanilla Champagne Cake {Blahnik Baker is One} - Blahnik Baker
I followed the icing recipe to a “T” and the icing was separated and difficult to work with, no where near the appearance of the picture above. I have made an Italian frozen dessert that uses the same Meringue technique, no problems there. Suggestions? Tastes delicious though.
Hi Chelsey. I’m so sorry to hear the frosting was difficult. The recipe is a classic Swiss meringue buttercream and when you add butter to the meringue base it separates. But just keep beating and it should come together. Sometimes if you don’t let the meringue cool before you add the butter, it melts the butter and it’s hard to cine together. In that case, refrigerate the bowl for 15-20 minutes. I hope this helps. I’m sorry again that the frosting is being challenging. But I’m glad it tastes great!
Pingback: Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcakes by Blahnik Baker
Hi! These look and sound fab and I’ve selected them as my birthday treat (my husband will be doing the baking!) He wants to do them as a layer cake, though. What modifications to the recipe would he need to make in that case? Since it only makes 12-15 cupcakes, would he need to double the cake recipe and buttercream to have enough for two layers? And do you know the bake time on a 9-inch round instead of the cupcakes? Thanks so much!
Hi Natalie! I’m so glad you decided on this recipe for your husband’s birthday. He will love it! I’ve made this as a layer cake several times and it is always great. For a 9-inch round cake, I always double the recipe above and bake in two 9-inch round pans. Bake cakes fro 30-35 minutes but I start checking them at 20 minutes and rotate pans. It really will depend on your oven but most times in mine I am done at 30. The frosting is enough for one cake honestly and I always have a little left over. If however you like filling your cake with lots of frosting, then maybe make a batch and a half to be safe. Please let me know how he likes the cake!! Thanks again for picking this recipe for his special day 🙂
It’s me again–I finally had the cake! Better late than never! My husband was supposed to be making it for me for my birthday (Nov 20) but I got a stupid cold virus for my birthday instead and had to put my cake plans on hold (because when I can’t breathe, I can’t smell, and when I can’t smell, I can’t taste. Not sure if you experience that too or what!…) I’ve been dreaming about the cake and finally decided that yesterday was the day. The recipe was too advanced for my husband so I ended up making it myself while he attended to sous chef duties.
The cake baked up nicely as a layer cake; I doubled the recipe and baked it as you suggested and it was done around the thirty minute mark, just like you said. I left the frosting recipe alone, frosted the cake generously, and still had ample left over such that I used some to decorate the top in little floret shapes. Then I drizzled some salted caramel on the top and used my microplane to make chocolate “snow” on there, too. It looked nice (I’d love to post a picture but I don’t see a way to do it.) It tasted good, too. As a matter of fact, I think I might use the chocolate cake recipe as my go-to chocolate cake from scratch. For me, it had a rich, chocolatey cake flavor and was a moist cake (my husband and I both find chocolate boxed cakes tend to be on the dry side and we hate that). I was disappointed not to find the coffee flavor very pronounced (I couldn’t really taste the coffee in there at all, but my dad, who isn’t a coffee drinker, said he could taste it and that it was the one detractor in his mind. So to each his own, I guess. Lol.) and would like to bump up the coffee flavor in future runs of this cake. Do you think adding some coffee extract would do it?
Thanks for your help modifying the recipe for the layer cake platform–I really appreciate it.
Take cake and happy baking!
Natalie, I am so happy to hear that you loved the cake!! This chocolate cake is truly the best and my go-to recipe for chocolate. I am not a coffee drinker and I do think (like your husband 🙂 ) that teh coffee in the recipe is present but not too much. But I do think for a coffee lover like you, you could increase the amount of instant espresso in the recipe or use a 1/2 teaspoon of coffee extract to bump up the flavor!! Sounds like it would be very mocha-y!! I’d love to see your birthday cake picture…if you don’t mind. You can share it on my Facebook wall!! I’m a huge fan of layer cakes and always looking for decoration ideas…yours sounds beautiful. Thank you again so very much for the update and I am so glad to hear you loved the cake.
Happy belated birthday and happy holidays 🙂
PS: I am sharing a peppermint mocha cupcake recipe this Friday I have a feeling you will love. Lot more coffee in this. Come back please and check it out!