Yes indeed. Oh cupcakes. I had my first truly awesome cupcake in Chicago several years ago at a little cupcake shop off Clark. I honestly had no idea that a little cupcake (and they were little compared to many of the mammoth cupcakes you find for sale these days) could have so much flavor. And be so moist. And frankly make both my mouth and tummy so very, very happy.
Now that I've got my very own KitchenAid stand mixer, I make way too many cupcakes. Unfortunately, the hubs doesn't really like my non-Chinese cakes. So, I wait for opportunities to feed them to friends. New Year's Eve ended up being just perfect for my most recent craving - salted chocolate cupcakes. After much surfing and recipe reading, I decided not to do the more traditional salted caramel and chocolate but instead go with salted chocolate with homemade butterscotch topping. Yum and yum.
Let's be honest - sometimes I bake from scratch. But I'm lazy so I don't often bake completely from scratch. My pies are always in a store bought pie crust. I rarely make homemade frosting - why bother, it hardly ever tastes better. *shrug* My husband actually prefers Betty Crocker's Chocolate Chip Cookie mix to any 'from scratch' recipe I've ever tried. And my biggest secret of all - nearly all of my cupcakes start with a good old cake mix. Gasp!
(Despite that disclaimer - I'd love to know where to get my hands on Dutch-processed cocoa powder, for baking, in Belgium. So, if you know, please please let me know!)
Salted Chocolate Cupcakes
- One dark chocolate cake mix
- 50 grams of super dark, high quality chocolate shaved super fine
- Medium grain sea salt (I used a lovely pink sea salt we picked up in Slovenia this fall)
Make your cake mix according to the directions and ideally in a stand mixer.
Once done mixing, gently fold in the chocolate shavings.
Fill your cupcakes like you normally would and then sprinkle a pinch of sea salt on top of each cupcake.
Bake for the time specified on your mix and then cool completely before frosting.
Butterscotch Frosting
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- Extra medium grain sea salt
Combine all the ingredients, except medium sea salt, in a small pot and heat over medium low, stirring until the butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved, 3-5 minutes.
Turn the heat to low and let simmer for 10-15 minutes, until thickened.
Remove from heat and let cool completely to thicken further. A cool window ledge or even the fridge will greatly help this along.
After frosting the cupcakes, sprinkle a little more medium grain sea salt on top of each one.
So, what should be next? I've got a red velvet cake mix I need to do something interesting with - suggestions?
