So my daughter Nichol had a birthday, her 22nd. And her cupcake request was chocolate and salted caramel. My kids have become spoiled and think that I can fill any of their random requests- which has become somewhat of a challenge to me. Anyway, I am normally not one to follow a recipe- I almost never do! I use them as more of a guideline, or idea. (I have the same problem with patterns) But I recalled a recipe I had pinned on Pinterest, salted caramel frosting, perfect right. I read through it, it sounded simple, so I thought I would go for it. I even went to the store and bought all the random ingredients it called for, even when it only needed 1/2 tsp, which normally I would substitute it for something I already had. Anyway, I follow the recipe exactly- and this is what happened....
Attempt #1- FAILIER! So this was suppose to turn a amber color,
which it did, but after I removed it from the heat....
It began smoking, smelled nasty, and turned hard.
Attempt #2- EPIC FAIL! Decided not to wait for it to burn this time....
guess I didn't wait long enough. When I added the cream-
this is what I got... it wouldn't mix together it just turned into a mess-
it looked like mushy cottage cheese. YUCK!
So finally... success! How you ask? I tossed the recipe and figured out my own. And it worked perfect! The only complaint, Jim said they were dry, which is because we cooked them a little too long.
But since I filled them with caramel sauce, it wasn't a problem.
In case you want to know this is my secret to fabulous cupcakes. I start with a cake mix- that's right, but you would never know it! The secret is not to follow the instructions on the box. So this time I started with a triple fudge chocolate cake mix (but any chocolate cake mix would do). (My son Taylor helps with the mixing etc. since I have celiacs and gluten makes me break out, etc.) Then we mixed in 3 eggs, 1/2 cup oil, 1 cup milk (you can use buttermilk) then fill cups and bake as usual. After they cool a little, poke holes in them (chopsticks work nice) and pour caramel ice cream topping in (or you can make one big hole in the center using an apple corer, that's what I did this time) The caramel will soak into the cake so it just depends on if you want it throughout the cupcake or just in the center.
My other secret is to always make my frosting from scratch- I start with a basic frosting recipe and then add whatever flavors I want. I rarely ever measure my frosting ingredients, I just go by look and consistency. Really it is hard to mess it up the way I do it (which is why I should have just started this way) So I started by creaming together softened butter (1/2 stick) and cream cheese (8 oz), whipped it up until it was fluffy. Then I added caramel ice cream topping (about half a small jar) mixed this well. Then I added powdered sugar, add until it is a good frosting consistency. Then separately whip up some heavy cream (this has to be the real stuff!) Then fold this into the frosting. This helps it to be light and fluffy and less rich. That's it! Apply frosting by putting it in a baggie with a hole in the corner. For half of them I used course salt for the sprinkles, and for half I used sugar sprinkles- the adults like the salt, but the kids liked the sugar (no surprise there).
Chocolate and salted caramel, success. Yum! Nichol was happy, and that's all that matters.
The moral of my story... trust my gut and not the recipe!
