I suspect Mr Firehouse was duped. You see, a few weeks ago he came to me and asked for some salted caramel cupcakes for the following week. I agreed of course, this wasn’t an unusual request. When I asked why, he commented that a colleague was  adamant that salted caramel could not work as a flavour. Nuwan, always the first to defend food accepted the challenge and promised that he’d change his mind. Sounds a lot like a bit of reverse psychology to me.

In saying that, I’m not surprised. I’ve had many a terrible salted caramel that could’ve ruined me for life!

             

 Ingredients

Cupcakes

• ¾ cups self-rising flour
• ¾  cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Buttercream

• 1/2 cup of butter
• 11/2 -2 cups icing sugar
• 1/2 cup of cooled salted caramel sauce

For the salted caramel sauce

• 1 cup sugar
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup  cream
•  1 tsp. salt (or to taste)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350F/180 C. Line muffin tins with cupcake papers. In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not over beat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended.

Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about 3/4 full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

Cool the cupcakes in tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

Salted Caramel

Place the sugar in a medium saucepan and place on medium heat. As the sugar melts stir, don’t worry about the lumps, just keep stirring.

Once all the sugar has melted, you’ll see the sugar syrup becoming a dark brown/amber colour.

Add the butter to the sugar and it will bubble, keep stirring. Take the bubbling sugar off the heat and add the cream. Keep stirring.

Once the mixture is smooth  add the salt, taste and leave to cool. I tend to add my salt bit by bit, tasting and every point. Refrigerate any excess.

Buttercream