Well hey there, Tuesday.

You know what you need?  A cupcake.  {Isn't my friend Missy's handwriting super cute?  I always wished I had super cute girl handwriting, but instead I have my mother's cursive/print/too loopy for anyone else to comprehend writing.  Sigh. At least I know how to make cupcakes!  That makes up for the friends I can't get by being crafty}


And by the way, the answer to "what do you need?" is always "a cupcake."  Do you have a Gigi's cupcakes where you live?  Because OH.MY.GOSH.  I could bury myself in one of those and happily never be seen again.  JOY.  {I had one from their very first shop in Nashville when my awesome sorority bigbig brought me one.  Love at first drool.}  If I could eat one every day and not weigh 542 pounds, I would.  Because let's face it, the reason I work out at all is to counteract all the cupcakes and pasta I eat.


PLUS, these cupcakes are moist chocolate cake and CARAMEL buttercream frosting!  Remember the homemade caramel sauce I told you about on Friday?  We're putting it to good use today, people.  Confession: I don't even like caramel.  But this caramel buttercream is just bee-yond {is that from a movie?  Or did my weirdo brain invent it and try to convince me its from a movie?}  Ok, pretty much anything that has 2.5 sticks of butter in it is probably going to be a winner.  And a heart attack.  Excuse me while I go do some guilt-squats.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Caramel Buttercream Frosting
Makes 24 cupcakes and way more frosting than you need for 24 cupcakes, feel free to halve frosting.  Adapted from Cooking Classy and Brown Eyed Baker

For the cupcakes:
2/3 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup canola oil
1 3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

For the frosting:
2 1/2 sticks butter, softened
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
a pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons heavy cream
3/4 cup caramel sauce

Preheat the oven to 350.  In a large heatproof bowl, combine cocoa and baking soda and stir in boiling water.  Stir until combined, then allow to sit for 5 minutes.  Meanwhile, in a stand mixer mixing on low, blend together butter, canola oil, sugar, vanilla, and salt until well combined.  Mix in eggs and egg yolks, mixing well after each addition.  Blend in cocoa mixture, then heavy cream.  Slowly and carefully mix in flour.  Divide batter among 2 12-count muffin tins and bake 18 minutes.  Allow to cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting, beat the butter with a whisk attachment on a stand or handheld mixer until butter is smooth.  Add powdered sugar and salt and beat for about 1 minute, until most of sugar is moistened.  Add vanilla, heavy cream, and caramel and beat mixture on high for about 4 minutes, until the whole thing is light and fluffy, scraping the bowl as needed.  Then frost the cupcakes!


I'm so glad I don't have pictures of when I tried to pipe these.  Amateur hour.

Today's post is mostly a teaser...

I want to show you how to make caramel!  And then next week, I'll show you something extra special to do with that caramel :)

But first, this is what my kitchen has looked like alllll day.

In reality, this was one of its better moments.  Four to five new recipes came out of this kitchen today, so you know next week is going to be {sweetly} spectacular!

But caramel.  Before today I did not understand how caramel was made at all.  I had read up on it, but until you're standing in front of the stove watching sugar get crumbly and then melt, there's no way to understand it.  The good news?  This recipe only takes 10 minutes to make, and will blow you away.  Let me walk you through it visually.


Start by pouring one cup of sugar into a 2-3 quart saucepan over medium high heat.  Begin to stir.


As you stir, the sugar will begin to get crumbly.  This is normal!  Keep stirring.


Soon, the sugar will melt completely.  Stop stirring at this point.  Allow the sugar to continue to cook until it appears reddish-brown {sort of dark amber} and smells toasty.  If you have a candy thermometer, it should be 350 degrees.  When it reaches this deep brown color, add in 6 tablespoons of butter.  {Warning!  The turn from dark amber to burnt is quick, be sure to watch it carefully and not let it burn}


The butter will make it bubble like crazy.  Stir until the butter is completely melted.  Then remove the pot from heat and pour in 1/2 cup heavy cream and 1 teaspoon flaky salt.  {I never said this recipe was good for you.}


After it's all mixed, is should look something like the picture above!  Let it cool for 15 minutes, then store in a glass jar.  {Mason jars are just enchanting}


Treat yourself with caramel over ice cream, brownies, or come back next week and I'll show you how to make the most amazing caramel buttercream frosting EVER.

Hope your weekend is wonderful!

Homemade Caramel Sauce
Makes about 1 cup; recipe adapted from Brown Eyed Baker

1 cup sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon flaky salt

Pour sugar into a heavy bottomed saucepan over pretty high heat.  Stir sugar while it crumbles, and stop stirring when all the sugar is melted.  Allow it to cook until it's dark amber (reddish-brown) colored and smells toasty {or reads 350 on a candy thermometer}.  Add in butter and stir until all the butter is melted.  Remove from heat and mix in heavy cream and salt.  Let cool and store in a glass jar.


I feel so domestic.