Have to admit that caramel cream candies are one of my favorites from childhood though I can’t remember the last time I had one. That is fixed by making these cupcakes! Turns out Life, Love and Sugar eats the candies the same way I always did – by biting into the caramel to unroll it from the cream so eat part can be eaten separately. Yum! So imagine these flavors recreated in a cupcake – a moist vanilla cake with caramel frosting and a cream filling. Indulgent? Yes indeed!
Caramel Cream Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes
3/4 cup butter
1 2/3 cups all purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar, loosely packed
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
3 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup + 3 tbsp milk (I recommend 2%)
Caramel Icing
1/2 cup butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup heavy cream
4 cups powdered sugar
3-4 tbsp milk
12-14 caramel cream candies
Cream Filling
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
2 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 cup water
Instructions
To make the cupcakes:
1. Slice butter into tablespoon sized pieces.
2. Heat butter in a light colored saucepan on medium heat until melted, whisking while it melts.
3. After the butter melts, it will foam and bubble. Keep whisking.
4. As the foam starts to fade, the butter will start to brown and have a nutty smell.
5. Once brown, remove it from heat and pour into another bowl to cool. The butter can go from brown to burned very quickly, so watch it carefully.
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
7. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda and baking powder in a large mixing bowl.
8. Add egg whites, vanilla, sour cream and milk and mix on medium speed until smooth. Slowly add brown butter while mixing.
9. Fill cupcake liners a little more than half way.
10. Bake 18-20 minutes.
11. Allow to cool for 1-2 minutes, then remove to cooling rack to finish cooling.
To make the icing:
1. Melt butter in a saucepan.
2. Add brown sugar and heavy cream and whisk constantly over medium heat until sugar is dissolved.
3. Bring to a boil and allow to boil for 3 minutes, no more.
4. Remove from heat and allow to cool for about 15 minutes.
5. Transfer caramel to mixer bowl.
6. Mix in powdered sugar, beginning with 3 cups and increasing from there until you get the desired consistency.
7. Add milk to thin out the icing a bit.
8. Allow icing to cool fully. Icing will be thick.
To make the filling:
1. Beat the shortening until smooth.
2. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla extract and water and mix until smooth. Filling will me thick.
To finish off the cupcakes:
1. Use a cupcake corer to remove the center of the cupcakes. If you don’t have a corer, use a knife.
2. Spoon filling into the hole in the cupcakes.
3. Ice the cupcakes.
4. Top cupcakes with caramel cream candies.