A few days ago my great-grandparents had their 65th wedding anniversary. Since this is a huge number of years and and amazing event, my whole big family was celebrating as if there was no tomorrow. Everyone in my family loves to talk loudly, to eat a lot, to sing out of tune and to hug each other like crazy. So, in short, I was having a great time. Not only because of my lovely family but also because of all our delicious traditional food. And I can say with pride that somewhere on the dessert table between about hundreds of other cakes, there were some beautiful little chocolate cupcakes with a pretty buttercream frosting made by me. And now they are requested and desired for every future celebration or family event.
That's why you should definitely try them. The batter is extremely moist and soft while the buttercream is very fluffy and creamy. They're perfect for any special occasion. So here comes the recipe ...
Chocolate Cupcakes With Caramel Buttercream Frosting
(cupcake recipe taken from raspberricupcakes, I slightly changed the recipe)
cupcakes (makes about 12 medium size cupcakes)
95gm white flour
150gm sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
6 Tabsp unsweetened cocoa powder
6 Tabsp hot water
85gm melted butter
6 Tabsp buttermilk or low-fat yogurt
1 egg
Preheat the oven to 180C. Line 12 muffin pans with muffin paper cups. Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Combine cocoa powder and hot water and stir until the mixture is a thick paste. (According to Steph, this step intensifies the chocolate flavour of the cupcakes. I think it definitely works. The cupcakes had a very strong and delicious chocolaty taste. So don't skip this process.) Beat together the chocolate paste, butter, buttermilk and the egg. Sieve over the flour mixture and beat just until incorporated. Fill the batter in the prepared muffin cups and bake for about 20 minutes until done. Remove from the pan and let cool completely.
buttercream
100gm butter, at room temperature
200gm cream cheese, at room temperature
2 cups icing sugar
2 Tabsp caramel syrup (or use any other kind of syrup you like)
3 tsp corn starch
Beat together butter and cream cheese. Sieve over corn starch and beat in quickly. Sieve over the icing sugar and continue beating for about 2 minutes until very smooth and well incorporated. Add the syrup and mix. The mixture should be very thick but smooth. Frost the 12 completely cooled cupcakes. (Optional: I decorated the frosted cakes with some dark chocolate roses. Use whatever you wish.)
Enjoy :)
