Caramel cupcakes

When in doubt what to bake head to the BBC Goodfood website!  That approach usually comes up trumps and it did this time too with these lovely cupcakes. Mr CC has been reminiscing of late about his long standing love of Caramac.  Therefore, when I saw the decorations required two Caramac bars I knew I would have to buy three to ensure I got the full quota of sprinkles (a bit like in The Simpsons when Marg bakes a decoy pie to satisfy Homer, so that her main pie will survive until dessert time).

The caramel cream cheese frosting is divine – so soft and with a perfect sweet/tangy contrast.  Don’t worry if it seems soft after making it – it will firm up in the fridge.  Give it as long as it needs.  The amount of frosting is more than enough for 12 cupcakes so pipe generously from the first cupcake; I hate it when I’m not sure if I have enough so pipe cautiously and then end up with leftovers.  I did experiment with reducing the sugar in the frosting but the frosting was too soft.  Surprisingly, it isn’t too sweet so don’t let the scary amount of sugar put you off.

The cake batter is stiffer than normal cupcake sponge – don’t be tempted to add milk to slacken it; the batter needs to hold its own against a caramel filling and lots of frosting.

Isn’t caramel a beautiful thing? Here’s the proof:

Now I cannot explain why, but these cupcakes are man pleasers.  Mr CC takes most of my bakes into work for his colleagues (who are exclusively male).  He said these got the most praise he could recall –from the sponge, to the frosting, to the caramac on top.  I am not a dating expert by any means but if you’re looking to bake your way to a man’s heart, this might not be a bad place to start.....

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

175g unsalted butter, at room temperature
175g light muscovado sugar
2 eggs
175g self raising flour
2 tablespoons milk

For the frosting:

140g Carnation caramel
200g cream cheese – I used Philadelphia
100g unsalted butter, at room temperature
450g icing sugar

For the filling and decoration:

250g Carnation caramel i.e. the rest of the tin left over from the frosting

60g Caramac – this equates to 2 bars

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C/ fan oven 160C/350F/gas mark 4.

Line a cupcake pan with 12 paper cases.

Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy – do not skimp on this stage.

Add the eggs, one at a time and beat until well incorporated.

Fold in the flour and the milk.

Spoon into the paper cases and bake for approximately 15-18 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the sponges comes out clean.

Remove from the cupcake pan and leave to cool on a wire rack (NB. It is important to de-tin them straightaway or the heat retained by the metal will continue to bake the cupcakes and can make them tough).

Now make the frosting: place all the ingredients in a bowl and beat until smooth and well combined.

Spoon into a piping bag (choose whichever nozzle you prefer) and refrigerate for about 10 minutes – this will firm the frosting up to a nice pipeable consistency.

Using a cupcake (or apple) corer remove a plug of sponge from each cupcake.

Spoon the remaining caramel into each cupcake.

Pipe the chilled frosting over the top of each sponge.

Refrigerate the cupcakes.

Now make the decoration: cut the two bars of caramac into tiny pieces.

Sprinkle over the top of the cupcakes.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.

Eat.