Chocolate Salted-Caramel Mini Cupcakes (recipe below from Bake or Break)
The cupcakes are very dense. They look and feel (and taste) a lot like a devil’s food cake. Dark and fudgy. A nice, sweet chocolate flavor. Not too dark, but not weak either.
The caramel is thick and dark. It tastes a little burnt. Not like a typical sweet caramel. It’s possible that it’s on purpose.
Note: The recipe says to let the caramel get to 360 degrees. I didn’t quite make it there before my house was filled with smoke.
The frosting is the consistency and texture of chocolate pudding. It holds its shape way better than I would have expected! It tastes a bit like chocolate-chocolate cream. The 2 different chocolates give it a much deeper flavor. Really interesting. Really tasty.
These cupcakes are meant to be minis, and there’s a reason. The full-sized cupcake gets way too much of the caramel and the salt and it overpowers the whole thing.
The caramel turns in to a hard, candy caramel in the center of the cupcake. Making the full-sized even harder to eat. The minis have a nice chocolate to caramel to salt balance. They are dark cupcakes. Not overly sweet or sugary. But the minis are nice, bite sized, chocolate-covered salted-caramels.
Scoring Sheet:
- Cupcake Taste: 4
- Frosting Taste: 4.5
- Overall Taste: 3.5
- Appearance: 4.5
- Ease of Making: 2.5 (None of the parts are overly difficult. Caramel and chocolates are pretty time-consuming.)
- TOTAL: 19
RECIPE
Chocolate Salted-Caramel Mini Cupcakes (recipe from Bake or Break)
- 1 & 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 1 & 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 & 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup warm water
- sea salt, for garnish
- 2 & 1/2 cups sugar
- 2/3 cup water
- 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 2 & 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
- 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon boiling water
- 2 & 1/4 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 & 1/2 pounds semi-sweet chocolate, melted and cooled
For directions visit Bake or Break.
*Tomorrow: Candied-Hazelnut Cupcakes*
They look delicious!