Some tips for the caramel — this isn’t what I think of as a true caramel sauce, there’s no amber colored sugar or candy thermometers involved, so it’s easier to make, but as a result, I found it didn’t hold up as well. I made the caramel sauce a few days before the cupcakes and refrigerated it, but when I went to warm up the caramel, I found that the top layer had crystallized and resulted in a grainy texture throughout. My tip for you is to make this caramel sauce right before using it if you can, and if you have to refrigerate it, place plastic wrap right on top of the caramel so that it touches and prevents a crystallized top layer. Or if you’re brave and want to attempt a more traditional caramel sauce, go for it! No denying mine was still delicious and pleased the birthday girl :)
Happy Birthday, Alyssa!
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup freshly brewed, hot coffee
1 tsp espresso powder
– Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line 18 muffin tins with cupcake liners
– In a medium sized bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt
– Brew the coffee and dissolve the espresso powder in the coffee
– In the bowl of an electric mixture, beat buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla together on medium speed until well combined
– With the mixer on slow speed, add the dry ingredients in 3 batches, mixing until only just incorporated
– Add the coffee and stir until combined, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula
– Fill cupcakes liners a little more than halfway (don’t put too much in!), and bake for 14-16 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean
For the Whipped Cream Frosting
2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
– It’s best to chill your bowl and whisk attachment before whipping the cream for the fastest results, so remember to stick your clean bowl in the freezer for a few minutes after you’re done making the cupcakes
– Once cooled, beat the heavy cream on high speed until stiff peaks form
– Add the sugar and vanilla and beat further until incorporated
– Place frosting in a piping bag with a large round tip and decorate cupcakes as desired
For the Easy Caramel Sauce:
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp light corn syrup
1-1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
– Combine all ingredients in a saucepan, bring to a boil, and boil briskly for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally
– Cool before placing in a piping bag or plastic squeeze bottle (If you plan to refrigerate before use, make sure to use plastic wrap touching the top layer to help prevent crystallization)
– Once the cupcakes are cooled, use a serrated knife to cut out a small cone-shaped chunk from each cupcake
– Fill with caramel, cover hole with slice of cake, top with frosting, and drizzle more caramel on top
Recipe yields 18 cupcakes
Looks and sounds delicious!
They wouldn’t sell you their cups! That’s just crazy talk. Oh well, these look absolutely delightful anyways. You probably could have bribed them with one of these babies.
ahhaha i never thought of doing cupcakes the frappe way! they look terrific!
Great job these look sooooo gooey yummy!!!
wow I can have a doxzen of this cupcakes! yummy delicious!
Those look sooo yummy! That filling ~ oh my!!
In the directions, it says the recipe calls for baking soda, but you didn’t put the measurement in the ingredients listing. Can you please tell me how much soda to use? Thanks!
i made these for my moms Birthday and she loved them…except i used bought carmel haha
Oh my gosh I want one of these cupcakes!
Can’t wait to try!
These are fabulous! I have actually made them several times but I originally printed off the recipe and could not remember where the site was – just stumbled on it and wanted to share how wonderful these are – I have given the recipe to several people!
Your recipes are amazing! I’m hosting a baby shower in a few months and I have gotten so many great ideas from you. Thank you for posting. Great blog!!
These look FANTASTIC !! I was just wondering how I should store them ? If i kept it a room temp would them whip cream melt ?
Erica — May 14th, 2012 @ 12:08 pm
I would recommend keeping them in the fridge until you’re ready to serve them since yes, the whipped cream would melt!
I really want to bake these but can the kosher salt be sub with regular salt???
Erica — May 16th, 2012 @ 12:01 pm
Yup, shouldn’t be a problem!
they look yumm. Can I use regular nescafe coffee? Whats buttermilk, can I use regular milk and butter?
Judy — May 19th, 2012 @ 12:03 pm
oh sorry just found subs for buttermilk. Lemon and Milk – In a 1-cup measuring cup, add 1 Tablespoon of fresh lemon juice. Top the lemon juice with with skim, low fat or whole milk. Stir and let sit for two minutes. After two minutes, your milk is both acidic and curdled. we don’t get buttermilk in this part, I’ll use this sub!
These cupcakes are amazing. I opted to fill mine with a caramel butter cream frosting, because my experience with caramel filling is that it tends to get absorbed into the cake too easily. The cake is divine and I love that they are topped with whipped cream. I also topped mine with espresso instead of more caramel, for that extra coffee flavor. This cupcake is literally everything I’ve ever wanted in cake.
Kate, what is caramel butter cream frosting? or maybe I should say, where would I find it or the recipe to make it?
Erica,
I entered a Best Dessert contest with your Caramel Frappucino Cupcakes recipe, and won! This makes the fourth time I’ve made them and they are a crowd favorite now. I made 36 in total (the batter goes a long way) and frosted 12 with the whipped cream and caramel. I’m going to frost the other 24 with a peanut butter cream cheese frosting.
Just wanted to say thanks and I LOVE your blog!
Hannah
I just made these cupcakes and for some reason they didn’t turn out right! The first thing I noticed when the batter was mixed was that it wad extremely thin! Then siince the recipe said it made 18 cupcakes I made 18 cupcakes but it defintely could of made more. I am not sure if my cupcakes overflowed a little because they were watery or because they were too full… maybe both but then they definitely should be more than 18… I love all the recipea on this blog and have made a few of them so I dunno what hapened! I made these for my birthday and was so excited! But we will see if I can salvage them with the caramel and whipped cream and some pretty decorating!
Erica — January 6th, 2013 @ 10:51 pm
I’m really sorry the cupcakes didn’t work out for you!! I am not sure what went wrong, did they still taste good? I hope you had a happy birthday regardless!
I made these yesterday, and everyone raved about them! The batter was very wet & messy, but the cupcakes turned out moist (in a good way). Ended up getting 24 large cupcakes & 20 mini ones (for the minis, I baked them at 350 F for 10-11 minutes). They were flippin’ adorable.
I am a pre-school teacher. If you go to Starbucks and ask them to donate the cups they will give you some.
Perhaps next time just get “extra” coffee sleeves to decorate the cupcakes :)
I’m not a huge chocolate person, even though I try to be, but these are the absolute best cupcakes – I love them! Like many others have said, they are a crowd favorite! I even made them for my friend’s bachelorette party and everyone was asking for more! Thanks for sharing. (I would, however, call these Caramel Mocha Frappucino Cupcakes because of the chocolate and coffee.)