Salted Caramel Macchiato Cupcakes

Finally……………………….Chocolate Lovers Rejoice!!  I know everyone has been asking for this recipe from the shop for some time.  I’ve been  guarding this one and I’m sorry about that.    But now that I’m a blogger it’s all about the sharing, right?   I would venture to say it was the most popular cupcake we sold, and for good reason.  Extremely moist but somewhat dense chocolate cake with a hint of espresso and filled with caramel, MAGICAL.  The frosting is a chocolate ganache infused with espresso, SUBLIME  Top it off with a generous amount of caramel drizzle and a chocolate coffee bean, PRICELESS.   Let me just warn you the cake recipe is a little finicky.  You might want to take a couple of practice runs.   Oh but once you master this you’ll never use another chocolate cake recipe again.  This is a recipe where you use boiling hot water so it’s not great for blend-ins.  Meaning it doesn’t take well to say putting a Reese’s peanut butter cup in the middle before baking.  Most things you’ll try will weight it down and it doesn’t raise properly or the boiling water melts whatever you put in it before it gets baked only making a mess.  You can try dry-types of things if you want.  Good luck and let me know what happens if you try.

Side Note:  I use Espresso Powder (instant) to flavor this recipe.   It is hard to find but some grocery stores have been carrying it in the coffee isle.  You can use a good quality instant coffee if you need to substitute but you’ll need to add more.

Side Note:  If you are running out of time you can buy the caramel in the ice cream section of the grocery store.  It’s not bad and will save some time.

Side Note:  As I always preach, please use the best vanilla you can find. And this goes for the chocolate as well.  IT MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD!

CAKE

Ingredients

Makes 2 dozen

2 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup cocoa powder

2 tablespoon espresso powder

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1 cup whole milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 cup boiling water

24 chocolate coffee beans for garnish (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line 2 standard muffin tins with cupcake liners, set aside.
2. Sift sugar, flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together into the bowl of an electric mixer.  Using the paddle attachment, mix ingredients together on low-speed.
3. In a large bowl, mix together eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla.  Add to flour mixture and beat on medium speed for 30 seconds.  Scrape down side of bowl and continue mixing on medium speed for 2 minutes.  Add boiling (has to be boiling or it won’t work) water and stir to combine.
4. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.  The batter is runny like soup.
5. Bake for about 18 to 20 minutes.  At 7 minutes into the bake rotate pans and don’t open the oven door again until 18 minutes have gone by.  Once you have figured out the exact bake time for your oven you should not keep opening the door.  These are best left alone.  The cakes will sink if you open the oven door too much.
6. Let cool completely and remove from the pans.  Rather than excavate the middle out of the cupcakes to fill with caramel.  Just push the cupcake down with the bottom of a clean ice cream scoop.
7. Fill with Caramel filling below.
8. Frost the cooled cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache Frosting below.
9. Drizzle with caramel and sprinkle heavily with sea salt.  Add a chocolate coffee bean for garnish.

Caramel filling and drizzle

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup heavy cream

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1 teaspoon salt

To make the caramel, put the sugar and cream in a heavy bottom saucepan set over low heat.  Heat gently, stirring with a wooden spoon as it comes to a boil.  Once it is boiling, add the butter and stir.  Bring caramel back to a boil let it bubble gently for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Take the caramel off the heat, add the salt, and stir vigorously to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed in.  Let the caramel cool and then fill cupcakes.  Reserve some of the caramel to drizzle after chocolate ganache frosting layer, set this caramel aside

Chocolate Ganache Frosting infused with Espresso

Ingredients

4 oz bittersweet chocolate

2 oz unsweetened chocolate

10 oz semisweet chocolate

2 sticks butter unsalted

1/4 cup espresso powder

5 cups powdered sugar

pinch of salt

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup whole milk

Instructions

1. Melt chocolates and butter over double boiler.  Slowly stirring constantly.
2. Stir until smooth.
3. Set aside to cool slightly.
4. Sift powdered sugar, espresso powder, and salt into a bowl.
5. Combine milk and vanilla.
6. Add milk/vanilla mixture to sugar/salt mixture.
7. Whisk until incorporated.
8. Add melted chocolate/butter mixture to milk/vanilla/sugar/salt mixture.
9. Stir until smooth.

Chill it in the refrigerator for 20 minutes or so, whatever it takes to get it thick enough to frost.  Frost the cupcakes once the frosting is thick enough.  Keep in the refrigerator unused portion covered tight for up to one week.

 REMEMBER EAT SOMETHING SWEET EVERY DAY!

Tagged as: salted caramel macchiatto cupcakes