Salted Caramel Filled Chocolate Espresso Cupcakes

I made these late last year and thought they were worth a mention. The cupcake is the old faithful "No Fuss Fudge Cake" which I've spoken about before on this blog.

For these cupcakes I replaced the 1 cup of water with 1 cup of freshly brewed espresso. Once baked, I scooped out a small piece of cake and spooned in gooey, oozey, salted caramel. I made a salted caramel by boiling up a can of condensed milk and adding salt flakes once spooned into the cupcakes. I topped with espresso flavoured buttercream and made chocolate covered coffee beans to garnish.

Very gooey, very rich and very decadent. Just the way I like it!

Salted Caramel Filled Chocolate Espresso Cupcakes

1.5 cups plain flour

3 tbs cocoa
1 cup sugar
1 cup freshly brewed espresso, reserving 1 tbs for making the buttercream (or 1 cup of hot water with 1 tbs instant coffee dissolved)

1 tsp vanilla

1 tbs white vinegar
6 tbs oil (I use canola)
1 tsp bicarb soda
half tsp salt

Turn oven to 180 C. Put the flour, sugar and cocoa in a bowl. Add coffee liquid, vanilla, vinegar, oil, baking soda and salt. Mix with beaters until smooth. (Mixture is runny.) Pour into cupcake papers. Bake 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Salted Caramel Filling:

30g butter

40ml (2 tbs) golden syrup
395g (1 can) sweetened condensed milk

salt flakes

Place butter and golden syrup in a medium, heavy-based saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally. When butter has melted, add condensed milk. Stir constantly over medium heat for about 9-12 minutes, until caramel thickens.

Espresso Buttercream:

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2½ cups icing sugar
1½ tsp vanilla extract
1 tbs espresso liquid (reserve when making cake)

Beat butter and sugar until smooth. Add the espresso and vanilla and continue to beat until it is completely incorporated, scraping the sides as necessary.

Assembling Cupcakes:
Cut a small piece of cake out of the top of each cupcake, about 2cm deep. (Reserve for cake balls or pops.) Fill with a spoonful of caramel and sprinkle salt flakes on top. Pipe buttercream onto cupcakes. (I chocolate coated some coffee beans for garnish.)

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