Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Salted Caramel and a review

Last week there was a shout out on twitter from Sugar and Crumbs to review their new icing flavours so I jumped at the chance. They have just launched salted caramel and coffee in addition to the other 22 flavours already available. I decided to make a dark chocolate cupcake with a salted caramel filling and salted caramel icing. 

The cakes were absolutely amazing. The dark chocolate paired really well with the salted caramel. The icing sugar itself smells like caramel and it's a lovely fine icing which comes in a resealable bag. There's a recipe guide at the back to tell you how much butter and icing sugar to use to make the buttercream. The icing turned out beautifully and it actually tasted of salted caramel! I am usually dubious about flavoured icing sugar as the flavours tend to get lost or taste artificial but this was not the case at all. I can't wait to try some of the other flavours. 

 salted caramel icing sugar 

  melt butter, chocolate and cocoa powder 

 whisk eggs and sugar 

 adding sea salt to the caramel 

 filling cupcakes 

For the cupcakes (Makes 12)
113g unsalted butter, chopped
60g dark chocolate, chopped
40g cocoa powder
105g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
130g sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
115g sour cream

For the filling

1 can of caramel

handful of sea salt flakes 

For the icing

250g butter

500g salted caramel icing sugar

1-2 tablespoons milk 

• Preheat oven to 180C
• Combine butter, chocolate, and cocoa in medium heatproof bowl. 
• Set bowl over saucepan containing barely simmering water; heat mixture until butter and chocolate are melted and whisk until smooth and combined. 
• Set aside to cool until just warm to the touch.
• Whisk flour, baking soda, and baking powder in small bowl to combine.
• Whisk eggs in second medium bowl to combine; add sugar, vanilla, and salt until fully incorporated.
• Add cooled chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. 
• Sift about one-third of flour mixture over chocolate mixture and whisk until combined; whisk in sour cream until combined, then sift remaining flour mixture over and whisk until batter is homogeneous and thick.
• Divide the batter evenly in 12 cupcakes cases. 
• Bake until skewer inserted into center of cupcakes comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes.
• Cool on wire rack until completely cold before decorating.
• To make the filling, add sea salt flakes to the caramel and adjust to taste. 
• Make the frosting by beating the butter and icing sugar until smooth. 
• Add in milk to required consistency and continue beating.
• To assemble the cupcakes, core out the middle of the cupcake using a melon baller or cupcake corer.
• Fill with 1 teaspoon of salted caramel filling.
• Pipe buttercream on top of each cupcake.
• Decorate with sprinkles. 

Disclaimer : I was sent the flavoured icing sugar from Sugar and Crumbs for review purposes. I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions expressed are my own.