Remember Rolo’s? These Chocolate Caramel Cupcakes are them now.
Just kidding…. kind of. If these cupcakes were inspired by anything, it was my childhood love for chocolate and caramel combo in any form. Those Ghirardelli caramel filled chocolate squares? Absolutely. Rolos? Heck yes. Milk Duds? Of COURSE. You get the picture.
The point is, that combo is immaculate, delicious, decadent. It comes in so many forms and is honestly timeless, which is why it’s been around for so many years!
While I typically enjoyed the chocolate and caramel combo in candy form as a kid, I’m enjoying it in cupcake form nowadays. These cupcakes have a rich chocolate cake base, a smooth caramel buttercream, caramel drizzle, and a chocolate caramel candy on top. It’s mouthful to say and an even more delicious mouthful to eat! I love making these cupcakes and sharing them with my family (I mean thats one of the best parts of baking, right?!). All caramel lovers, you’re bound to love this one! And all lovers of chocolate caramel candies, dive right in cause this ones for you!
Recipe Notes:
- Please make sure to use room temperature ingredients for this cake. Let your ingredients (butter, eggs, milk) come to room temperature prior to baking. It makes all the difference! Cold ingredients won’t combine well, which will in turn yield uneven and oddly textured cupcakes.
- Do not melt your butter for the frosting OR the cupcakes. To the above note, the butter used in both should be room temperature, but still solid, not melted.
- I used these chocolate caramel candies on top, but as mentioned above, there are SO many chocolate caramel candies reminiscent of childhood. I definitely encourage you to make these your own & add your favorite chocolate caramel candies on top!
A couple of my other favorite cupcake recipes:
Chocolate Caramel Cupcakes
Course: Dessert10
cupcakes12
minutes18
minutesCUpcake Ingredients
1/2 Cup Milk
2 Eggs
3/4 Cup Cane Sugar
1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
3/4 Cup All Purpose Flour
1/4 Cup Cocoa Powder
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
- CARAMEL BUTTERCREAM INGREDIENTS
1/2 Cup Butter
1 & 1/2 Tbsp Caramel Sauce (you can use store bought or homemade!)
1 & 1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and prepare line a muffin tin (recipe makes about 9 cupcakes).
- Add room temperature butter to a large mixing bowl. With a hand mixer or stand mixer, cream the butter on low-medium speed for about 3 – 4 minutes. Make sure to scrape down the sides in between mixing. You’ll know when the butter is creamed when it is smooth and light in color.
- Once the butter is smooth and creamy, add vanilla and cane sugar, about a third at a time until the butter and sugar are creamed together. This will be about another 2 minutes of mixing – it will be well worth it!
- To the creamed butter and sugar, add in room temperature eggs one at a time and continue incorporating on low speed with the hand mixer until you’ve added both eggs. Once the butter, sugar and eggs are all beaten together, the mixture will be smooth and fluffy. At this point, add in the milk and continue mixing until fully incorporated.
- Next, in a separate bowl, sift all purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. It’s important not to skip the sifting, as cocoa powder tends to clump up, and we don’t want that in the cake.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, about a fourth at a time, and with your hand mixer on low speed, mix in until all of the dry and wet ingredients have been incorporated. At this point, there should be no pockets of dry ingredients left and the cake batter should be smooth
- Scoop the cake batter into a lined muffin tin and bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- While the cake is baking, prepare your caramel buttercream frosting. Add room temperature butter to a mixing bowl, and similar to how we creamed the butter for the cake, cream the butter the same way for the frosting.
- Once the butter is fluffy and creamy, add in caramel. Mix again until the caramel is incorporated – about another minute of mixing.
- Then, add the powdered sugar to the creamed butter and caramel. Add a little at a time so the powdered sugar doesn’t fly all over. Continue mixing and adding powdered sugar until all has been mixed in.
- After the cupcakes are done baking, remove them from the oven and let them cool for at least an hour. Once the cupcakes are no longer warm, spread or pipe the frosting over top. Enjoy!
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