Monday, April 14, 2008

Hershey's Chocolate Caramel Cupcakes

Delicious

That's right. Another recipe inspired by Never Bashful With Butter. That woman is my ultimate hero. I have never cooked any one of her recipes or recommended recipes without absolutely loving it. In fact, not far from now I'll be posting about her amazing sugar cookies that I make every holiday these days.
The recipe itself actually comes from the Hershey's website and also here's a link to NBWB's original post on it since I used her recipe for the caramel (which I totally ruined, but we'll get to that later).

Finished cupcake

Technically I was making these cupcakes for my cousin who had just turned seventeen. I was running a bit late but his only real request was "Chocolate". I honestly couldn't get any more out of him then grunts, but what do you expect from a seventeen year old boy? I figured it wouldn't be too hard to find a recipe for a simple chocolate cupcake, but I wanted one with a little bit more to it than chocolate. I wanted something that would make it stand out but not be too time consuming. I definitely found that in this recipe. Also I'm not above saying that I think I'm getting better at speeding up my cooking these days. I tend to lose a lot of time in the checking, double checking, and triple checking. Let's just say I've managed to achieve a reputation in my family for reading recipes wrong and I've been working hard to turn that around.

Ingredients Mixing together

I've filled cupcakes before, but every time I'm going to do it I get nervous for some strange reason. Like I'm going to accidentally cut the cupcake in half or something ridiculous. Luckily enough that didn't happen. I do however wish that I had had a bit more luck with the filling. I've never tried to make caramel before so I know it's totally my fault, but I just could not make stuff thicken. Alas, I loaded up the cupcakes anyways. One layer caramel and one layer chocolate chips. Muffin uses chocolate shavings and I regret not doing the same. Not only was the caramel not thick enough to be noticed easily, but the chocolate chips didn't fully melt in the warm cupcake and managed to overpower the caramel. Oh and I also want to mention that if you've never filled cupcakes before, it's simple. Just take a small knife and cut a a cone shape out of the top of the cupcake. Fill the cupcake and then cut off the tip of the cone so that it doesn't sit above the cupcake and look funny :)

Opening the cupcake Filly A few chocolate chips on top

When I brought brad his 12, he scarfed one down in absolutely no time at all. However, his pleasant sounding grunts weren't really a for sure for sure indicator of whether or not they were good. I had two that I really liked, but honestly I can't remember the taste anymore. After the second one I was just so put off of chocolate. I'd been eating a lot of it for the past week or so in bar and kiss form so the cupcakes were overkill for me. However my mom must have eaten like five of them, she thought they were amazing.

Iced

Well I'm sure you're done drooling now, so if you want you can make them for yourself. Again the recipe is from the Hershey's website


Hershey's Chocolate Caramel Cupcakes
Makes about 30 cupcakes

2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

CUPCAKES: Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups. Heat oven to 350°F. Fill cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely. Frost.

Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Frosting
(I used two batches to frost all my cupcakes generously)

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter or margarine
2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

Never Bashful With Butter's easy Caramel recipe

1 Cup heavy cream
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla

In the pan you'll place the butter, half of the cream and half of the sugar. bring mixture to a boil. When the mixture begins to thicken slightly, add the remaining sugar. bring to a full boil. when the mixture starts to thicken and turn a light brown colour, add the remaining cream and sugar.

turn temperature down to a few notches below medium. The mixture should remain boiling. stir constantly and do not allow the bottom to scorch. keep stirring and heating for about 10 minutes. when the mixture starts thickening up like pudding, remove from heat.

Let cool about 5 minutes (caramel will still be hot) or until the cupcakes are out of the oven.

40 comments:

Unknown said...

Preeeeetty. I will def't be following your blog. Personally, if you want something cool/pretty, instead of sprinkling the tops with sugar, sprinkle them with an artisan salt, like himalayan pink salt, or black hawaiian sea salt flakes.

Xueyin Ong said...

How big is the cup?

Samantha Love said...

Juineve - I'm glad you like my blog :) I think I'm a little afraid to put salt on a cupcake, but I just googles those salts and they look so pretty o.o Maybe I'll give it a try if I can get my hands on some in the future.

Xue Yin - 2 1/2 in.

Anonymous said...

Your cupcakes are beautiful! What tip did you use to do the icing swirls?

Cassandra said...

I thought it was just me! They do feel kind of corn bready. Atleast they were really moist and colourful. :)

CB said...

Your cupcake has been chosen to be featured on All Things Cupcake blog! We look forward to your next cupcake creation :)
Clara

kristina said...

that frosting looks amazing. mmm.

Samantha Love said...

Lovesweetlove - The 2D

Cassandra - I agree with the moist and colorful part, for vegan cupcakes those golden ones are delicious

CB - Thanks so much!

Anonymous said...

The icing on these cupcakes is perfect! I love the Hershey's recipe!

Anonymous said...

I tried this recipe and my friends say it's good, although I couldn't get the icing to look as pretty as yours!

Samantha Love said...

Proudtobehere - It definitely took a bit of time in my stand mixer to get it this creamy, but I followed the recipe exactly. Plus frosting always looks twice as good when you use a piping bag and tip :)

Ingrid_3Bs said...

Oh, duh, while I've filled cupcakes before I've never thought to cut off the tip of the cone! I've always had to spend extra time trying to get it back on right. Thanks for letting me know!
~ingrid

Olivia said...

Beautiful cupcakes

Cheers
Olivia

Unknown said...

These cupcakes look gorgeous - I think I will try them with a different brand of cocoa as I don't like the taste of Hershey's (maybe the cocoa powder is different but I tried Hershey's kisses when I was in the states and had to throw them away - the chocolate was so strange. Could be that's just for European tastes used to Belgian, Swiss chocolate or even Cadbury's)

Janice
K455ssclassicmixer.com

Smitten Sugar said...

The icing on here looks delicious! Very pretty

Smart CoOKie said...

OMG they look so beautiful <3

Beauty 'n' Beyond said...

Oh wow these look delicious! I've been learning to bake from scratch recently too. So far it's just cookies and cakes! But I'm going to add breads!!! Love your blog; I am trying to create one too. Check it out if you ever have time.

Emma said...

Samantha,

Your decorating is wonderful. I'd love to be as good at icing as you are! wow!!

I know what you mean about really letting the Kitchenaid stand mixer run for a while to get everything smooth and incorporated. I don't know how I ever did things before by hand! :p

Emma
Kitchenaid Classic Mixer Nut

Sidewalk Reveries said...

Oh my gosh, I couldn't thicken my caremel either! I laughed when I read that you check your recipes a multitude of times to make sure you're doing it correctly. I do the same thing! I love your blog by the way. It makes me smile:)

Lirio Medel said...

This is a great recipe! Thank you!

Pannakota said...

They just look so yummy and cute. I love chocolate and I just have to try baking them ;]
Love pictures ;)

Lilly's Home Journal said...

This is magnificent!!! I want one!
And your pictures are superb!
Thrilled to find your blog!
Lilly

Anonymous said...

I love your hersheys cupcakes! I will make them soon. *droooool*

Foodiej said...

Absolutely brilliant..They look so tempting. Looking forward for more such recipe!!

Foodiej said...

hey Samantha, i have selected your recipe as the 'Recipe of the day' on my blog. I started the awards today and you are the first one to get the award. Congrats

shewhisks said...

Dont u just love hershey's recipes, they're my go-to recipes ...always! I absolutely love the buttercream frosting on these cupcakes. Amazing job! X

Scarlet said...

I will most defiently be trying the Hershey's Chocolate Caramel Cupcakes recipe. Every chocoholics dream :)

Anonymous said...

Wow these look so lush! How do you get your piping looking so fab? I did a cupcake masterclass on my blog recently, and I can do perfectly serviceable neat piping - but your more natural looking smooth piping looks so much more appealing!

Anonymous said...

These look stunning! I too love baking and have just started up a blog! Have a look at
http://queenofbakes.livejournal.com/

Unknown said...

these cupcakes look absolutely delicious! i love chocolate! haha

Libbie said...

AHhhh! I am not a very good baker but I was looking around for something good to pratice on! I will have to make out a shopping list!

Brittany said...

Looks delicious!

Knight Shade said...

hi, is it possible to omit 1/2 cup vegetable oil from this recipe?

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Maya M Wilson said...

i just gained ten pounds. bring me a plate. this is great for a winter wedding moment.

Georgia said...

WOW. :)

Cakefairyblog said...

Yuuuuuuuuuuum the icing looks so silky. Definitely need to try these out!

Cakefairyblog said...

Yuuuuuuuuuuum the icing looks so silky. Definitely need to try these out!

Annu said...

ohhh this looks lovely, my mouths watering!

Unknown said...




oh I like that chocolate
i love eating that's why im too fat now :)
but most of the time what i eat are chocolates
in fact i buy macaroons online
because that's my favorite which is chocolate macaroons.
well anyway that chocolate above are interesting i wanna try that.