Caramel Sea Salt Mini Cupcakes

These bite sized little devils were so much fun to make. I have been dying to do some mini cupcakes for a while now, and this afternoon happened to be the time. My life is crazy busy these days, but I have decided that I am making time for something that I love and that relaxes me, and that thing for now is cooking/ baking.

I wanted to do something with the HUGE brick of gourmet caramel sitting patiently in my pantry. It needed a cause and I found one for it! I still have tons to use up, but hey, this was a start!

These cupcakes were a total experiment. I wanted the flavor to be similar to the amazing Sea Salt Caramel Chews I ate during the Christmas holiday up at our cabin in Bear Lake.

So these babies were born. They weren't perfect, but they were good enough that I am sure I ate at least 10 of them. I had to, they were bite sized, it was all to easy to pop in another! I broke down that evening and took a plate full to a few neighbors so that I wouldn't gorge any further! Ha Ha.

Caramel Sea Salt Mini Cupcakes

Ingredients for the cake batter:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 stick salted butter, room temperature

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 vanilla bean, contents scraped, bean shell discarded

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 cup gourmet caramel, separated into little balls the size of a small marble

Ingredients for the Sea Salt Vanilla Whipping Cream Topping:

1/2 Quart Heavy Whipping Cream

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 vanilla bean, contents scraped and bean shell discarded

1 teaspoon sea salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line muffin tins with papers. In a large mixing bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

Cream together butter and brown sugar with beater on medium-high speed. It will look pale and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Continue beating until all eggs are incorporated well. Add the vanilla. Add the dry ingredients to the wet. Add in three increments alternating with the buttermilk. Mix until all ingredients are incorporated and batter is smooth. 

Divide batter into muffin cups. Fill to the top of the muffin cup. Place one caramel ball on the top of each batter filled cup. 

Place in oven and bake for approx. 15 minutes or until slightly browned on top.

Whip in bosch or kitchen aid the whipped topping. Add all ingredients and whip until it is very fluffy and thick. It should form hard peaks. 

After cupcakes have fully cooked top them with the whipped topping. I put whip topping in a ziploc bag and cut a corner off to apply topping to cupcakes. Easy as can be! 

I actually couldn't find my cake decorating kit so that is what I get! They turned out looking great thought.

I melted down some of my left over caramel and swirled patterns of it onto wax paper to give the baby cupcakes a sweet and crunchy bonnet! It looked great, and tasted even better! Give it a try. It is super easy and gives a great texture variation to the creamy texture of the cupcakes and whipped topping!

The sea salt in these cupcakes worked some magic. It really brings out the flavor of the caramel and gave these beauties some sass! 

Have fun!

When these mini cupcakes were done my sweet daughter was so excited about them. She sat up to the table and politely asked if she could have some. She tasted them and was wowed apparently! She went on and on about how much she loved them. She wanted to decorate some, so I got out the sprinkles and let her have at it. She loved making them cute and then devouring them. She is a doll. 

I will definitely make these again. The only thing I would do differently is I would bake the cupcakes, and then put the caramel dollop on top at the end of the 15 minutes and let it melt on the top. I think that might be even prettier, so I will give that a shot! :)

Have a happy week!

xoxo

Laura