Chocolate Caramel Cupcakes

Chocolate Caramel Goodness!

Happy Monday readers!

Last night I made Chocolate Caramel Cupcakes – complete with gooey caramel centers, milk chocolate mousse, and rich chocolate cake. The recipe took me longer than I had hoped, and I had to make some adjustments along the way, but I came out with a great cupcake and a flawless recipe. Please enjoy!! I’m warning you though, the milk chocolate mousse is really good…I was tempted to pipe the frosting straight to my mouth and skip the cupcake all together. Don’t worry…I didn’t 😉

 

 

 

Chocolate Caramel Mousse Cupcakes (makes 24)

Ingredients:

Chocolate Caramel Cupcake    

24 Kraft Caramel squares

1 1/2 cup (170 g) all-purpose flour
5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 pinches salt
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs

Caramel Sauce

10-14 Kraft Caramel Squares

¼ cup of Half and Half

Milk Chocolate Mousse Frosting

1 cup of milk chocolate chips

2 cups of Nestle Toll House Cocoa Powder

1 stick of softened butter

¼ cup of vegetable shortening

1 cup of whipping cream

1 ½ cups of powder sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, sugar and vanilla essence in a bowl.
3. Add milk, vegetable oil and eggs.
4. Mix everything together until smooth, either by hand or by using an electric mixer at slow speed. If the batter is too thin – add a little bit more flour.
5. Pour batter into cupcake liners, making them half full.
6. Bake for 15 minutes
7. Take cupcake from the oven and place a caramel square on the top of each cupcake. Bake for 5 more minutes, until the caramel has melted onto the cupcake.

Before baking the caramels

Mousse

1. Cream together the butter, vegetable shortening, and powdered sugar
2. Slowly add in cocoa powder and whipping cream
3. Beat on medium high speed until soft peaks form
4. In a microwave safe bowl, put your chocolate chips and ½ tbs of butter – Heat on high for 30 seconds. Stir until completely combined and melted.
5. Add melted chocolate mixture to the mixing bowl – mix until well combined

**Note: Do not over mix this frosting, if you do, it will begin to curdle and separate. It takes about 10 minutes for the mixture to form soft peaks and become frosting like **

Caramel Sauce

1. In a saucepan on medium heat, melt the caramel squares with the half and half. Stir continuously or else your caramel will burn.

Pipe your frosting on the cupcake and drizzle with caramel. Now enjoy!!