msc: chocolate salted caramel cupcakes

Yeah, it’s the first Martha Stewart Cupcake Club (msc) post. Is there a better way to start the club than with chocolate salted caramel cupcakes? No, there really isn't. Pete said these were "the best cupcakes I've ever had in my life." I'm having a hard time thinking back over my whole life to agree with his statement or not but they are really good.  Thank you Sugar B from Eat My Cupcake for picking a fantastic start to the cupcake club and for creating this group.

To start you make a chocolate cupcake and then you make some salted caramel filling to put in the center. The recipe says to make mini cupcakes but the thought of filling approximately 56 mini cupcakes was unappealing. So, I made big ones. The recipe made approximately 21 regular cupcakes but I have a tendency to overfill my cupcake pans so you could probably get an even two dozen.

The caramel was a bit of a nightmare. This was my first attempt at making homemade caramel. My new candy thermometer decided that it was not going to work. This might be due to the fact that it was slammed in the drawer and is now crooked. RIP candy thermometer. While my sugar, water, corn syrup was bubbling away on the stove I ran to the computer and quickly googled “making caramel without a candy thermometer.” Thank you google, you saved me again. I waited for the caramel to turn a “golden amber color” and removed it from the heat and added the cream and salt. It tasted like caramel so I’m going to call this a success. I cut little cones in the top of the cupcakes and filled them with the caramel. The caramel was soaking into the cake so all the cupcakes got a second dose of caramel making the total caramel count for each cupcake 2 tablespoons. Can you say gooey?

The frosting is a dark chocolate with a ton (I’m not exaggerating as there was almost 2,500 lbs) of butter, melted semi-sweet chocolate and cocoa powder. It required a lot of dirty bowls and pans, which are currently still in the sink waiting to be cleaned. Martha says to use high quality semi-sweet chocolate. I used the highest and best quality semi-sweet chocolate made. I’m sure you are dying to know what the “best” is. It pains me to share such a secret but because I love you I will…Safeway Select Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips. Oh yes, quality or so I continue to tell myself since that is what Pete came home with. Per Martha, I garnished each with a pinch of sea salt.

Look at all the gooey caramel deliciousness. With 2 tablespoons of caramel in each cupcake these guys are moist and messy to eat.

These cupcakes are delicious but a lot of work. I waited till the last minute to make these bad boys. I made the cupcakes Friday night after work and then woke up this morning and made the caramel and the frosting and assembled them. Why did I procrastinate? Because, I’m bringing these with me to Erin’s (dog is my sous chef) house tonight for our After the Bar BBQ and Martha says that these are best the day of. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Head on over to Eat My Cupcake and check out the blog roll for the MSC club. Give a litle love to the other cupcake bakers.  The recipe can be found on page 148 of Martha Stewart's Cupcakes.

Erin, get ready these are yummy.