These Salted Caramel Mocha cupcakes were inspired by my new favorite barista creation of the same name. They are absolutely heavenly.
Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with cupcake papers.
Combine 1/2 cup of warm, strong coffee, and two teaspoons of instant coffee. Set that aside to cool.
In a bowl, combine 1 1/3 cup of flour, 1/3 of a cup of baking cocoa, a teaspoon of baking powder, half a teaspoon of baking soda, and a quarter teaspoon of salt.
Stir it together, and set it aside.
In a mixing bowl, combine 1 stick (1/2 cup) of room temperature butter, half a cup of sugar, and half a cup of brown sugar. Beat those until fluffy.
Add in one egg, mix until combined.
To your coffee, add 1/2 a cup of whole milk and 1 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla.
Now you’ll mix in your dry and wet ingredients, half at a time. First mix in half of the coffee mixture, mixing until just combined. Follow that with half of the flour mixture and repeat with the remaining ingredients.
Divide the batter into the cups and bake 17-18 minutes, or until the cupcakes test done with a toothpick.
Allow the cupcakes to cool for about 10 minutes and then gently remove them from the pan and cool completely.
Now to prepare the caramel sauce.
Homemade Caramel Sauce is very simple to make. The trick is to have everything ready and waiting for you before you even start. Get ready… 3/4 cup heavy cream, 1/3 cup of butter (cut into pieces), and a teaspoon of vanilla.
This may not look like a great deal of ingredients as far as volume goes, but you want to use at least a 2-quart saucepan to make this in…3-quart would be better. When you add the “waiting” ingredients, it is going to greatly bubble up and you don’t want this to bubble over as it will be VERY HOT.
In your saucepan, combine 1 1/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup water. Stir this with a whisk over medium heat until the sugar is completely dissolved. Turn the heat up to fairly high. Then set your whisk aside and don’t use it for now. To “stir” simply swirl the saucepan.
Let this boil and bubble.
This is going to cook for about 7-8 minutes or until it is a rich honey color.
Add in the remaining ingredients, stirring briskly… this is when to watch the bubbling-up action.
Remove it from the heat and stir it until the butter is fully melted and incorporated.
Pour it into a jar and allow it to cool to room temperature.
The caramel sauce must be completely cooled before you can do anything else.
Now for the frosting…
In a chilled mixing bowl, combine a cup of heavy whipping cream…
4 ounces of “Tiramisu Mascarpone” cheese
Half a cup of powdered sugar, a tablespoon of vanilla, and a tablespoon of Kahlua (coffee liquour)
Beat this until fluffy and stiff.
And now for the magic.
Put about a teaspoon of the caramel sauce on the cupcake.
Pile the frosting on top of the cupcakes.
Pour about half a cup of caramel sauce in a zip-lock bag. With scissors, trim off one of the VERY corners of the bag.
Drizzle the sauce over the cupcakes.
Now chill your cupcakes for at least an hour.
When you are ready to serve them, sprinkle the tops with a little pinch of flaked salt.
Enjoy!
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