The Perfect Comfort Food

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I have this weird strong feelings for caramel! It's like I can eat it for a month (I wish without having diabetes!). For long have I been in search for a perfect cupcake flavor that would really go well with caramel sauce.. Eureka! Thanks to Darla of Bakingdom for sharing this awesome recipe on her blog. My heart goes to you!

Since this cupcake is called Salted Caramel Mocha Frapuccino Cupcake, I followed my instinct and used Starbucks Caffe Verona whole bean coffee(Bold,Sweet Roast says on the label) which I have in my house for a decade waiting for me to use or even open it! Turns out my instincts were correct and the coffee flavor prevailed amongst the other ingredients.

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Next on my list are cocoa, vanilla beans, all-purpose flour, cake flour, dark brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, unsalted butter, salt, eggs, and whipped cream! Nothing too hard to find!

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One of the problems that you may encounter in this recipe is losing the coffee flavor and aroma along the baking procedure. So instead of following the packet instructions for making the espresso, I changed the ratio of coffee to water doubling the quantity of coffee beans. (Instead of 25 grams for 500 ml of water, I used 50 grams of coffee).

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First, add the cocoa powder to the hot espresso and mix until combined. Set aside or place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

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Next, sift together all the dry ingredients. one trick is to dry whisk it after sifting to make sure everything is well combined.

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And the rest is pretty basic! Cream the butter until light and fluffy!

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Add the sugar few tablespoons at a time then beat in eggs one at a time until everything is incorporated

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Scrape your vanilla beans and add it to the batter 

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  Alternately add the flour and espresso mixture in 3:2 ration beginning and ending with flour.

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Beat in just until well blended

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Core the cupcakes

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Fill cores with caramel sauce, pipe cupcakes with whipped cream and drizzle with caramel sauce

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Salted Caramel Mocha Cupcakes
Makes 30 cupcakes
Ingredients
FOR THE CUPCAKES
2 cups (16 ounces or 500 ml) double fold strong brewed coffee, hot
1/2 cup (56 grams) Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups (192 grams) Non- self rising Cake Flour
1 1/4 cups (160 grams) All Purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks or 226 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups (400 grams) firmly packed brown sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
2 vanilla bean pods
1 recipe Whipped Cream (below)
1 recipe Salted Caramel Sauce
In a medium bowl, or a two cup measuring cup, stir the cocoa powder into the hot coffee until dissolved. Set aside until cooled to room temperature, or place in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.
Once the cocoa/coffee mixture has cooled, preheat oven to 350 degrees (180 C). Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners; set aside.
In a medium bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
In a large bowl, or the bowl of a standing mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix until combined; stir in the vanilla. Sprinkle 1/3 of the flour mixture over the bowl and mix until just combined. Add 1/2 of the chocolate mixture, mixing again until just combined. Repeat with remaining flour and chocolate mixtures, ending with flour. Mix only until flour is just incorporated. Do not over mix.
Place 2 tablespoons of batter in each cupcake liner. Bake for 20-23 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few crumbs clinging to it. Allow to cool completely before frosting.
Once cooled, fill each cupcake with about 1 teaspoon of salted caramel sauce, ice with Coffee Icing (optional), and frost with whipped cream, vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream, or another vanilla frosting. Garnish with more caramel sauce.

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Whipped Cream
Ingredients
Avoset Heavy  Cream
Chill heavy cream overnight. Place beaters and bowl in the fridge for 15 minutes before beating. Whisk heavy cream on medium high speed until firm peaks form. No need to add sugar! Refrigerate in an air-tight container until ready to use.

Salted caramel
Ingredients 1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup heavy cream
pinch of rock salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Place the sugar and water in a small saucepan, stirring to combine. Without stirring, bring to a boil over high heat, swirling the ingredients in the pan occasionally. Continue boiling until the mixture reaches an amber color (not too dark, or red). Remove from heat and very carefully (the mixture will quickly expand and sputter) add the cream in a slow steady stream, being sure to stir constantly. Once combined, add the salt and butter and continue stirring until both are completely melted and combined. Cool to room temperature before using.


P.S Sorry this cupcake didn't last long enough for a finished product photo shoot!

Enjoy baking!

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