Salted Caramel Chocolate Cupcakes

I'll admit it, I love salt over sweet. I'll take salty chips on occasion over treats most any day of the week. However, when it comes to caramel, I could polish off a batch of homemade caramel myself! We had friends over for dinner and I was craving chocolate cake with either chocolate frosting or salted caramel icing. After perusing a few recipes I took inspiration from a Southern Living recipe, coupled with a Bon Appetit recipe and adjusted and came up with my own rendition. End result, a much better salted caramel butter cream product. Less meringue tasting, not too intensely salty; just the right amount. And a huge bonus in my book, it didn't dirty every known dish in our kitchen...!



Making a quick caramel with sugar, salt and water. Cooking it undisturbed until it got to the desired amber color.



One of my favorite kitchen gadgets is my infrared digital thermometer. Holly picked this up for me several years ago. When I started taking up candy making at home, the need for precise temperate, while stirring was crucial. I made a water bath in a both with the kitchen aid mixer bowl and whisked egg whites with granulated sugar until it came to 140 degrees to ensure no food borne illness etc.



Whipping the egg whites until hard peaks are formed.



Adding the cooled caramel sauce to the whipped egg whites.



Beating and beating and beating this mixture, while adding butter, one tablespoon at a time. To get it to this consistency I always add powdered sugar. I find from scratch swiss meringue style butter cream is on the runny side and does not hold it's shape when piped. The powdered sugar ensures it will hold it's piped look and feel.



The finished product with some Maldon sea salt flakes for garnish. Even the texture of the from scratch chocolate cake was good. It was a new recipe I tried. Next time I'll add some sour cream to the batter to keep it a tad more moist for the days following.

Dan's Salted Caramel Buttercream

1/2 cup sugar, divided
2 tbsp water
2 tbsp + 2 tsp (40 mL) heavy cream
2 egg whites
pinch of salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

1. Put 1/4 cup of sugar and water in saucepan over medium-high heat. Do not stir of you will get sugar crystals, but you can swirl the saucepan gently. It will bubble itself into a deep amber. Remove immediately from heat and add cream (careful - it will bubble up furiously). Stir until smooth and set aside.

2. Put the egg whites, salt, and 1/4 cup sugar in a heatproof stand mixer bowl over a pot of simmering water. Whisk until sugar dissolves and mixture reaches 140 degrees. Best to use infrared thermometer. Transfer to stand mixer once temperature is reached. It's fine to start whisking hot. The incorporation of air will cool the mixture down.

3. Beat on high until stiff peaks form. Add butter one tablespoon at a time, and continue beating on medium. Reduce speed to low, add vanilla extract, and then caramel. Beat for 4-5 minutes. Mixture will look like it is separating, but then it comes back together. Add powdered sugar to get butter cream to desired consistency.