Salted Caramel Cupcakes

5 from 1 vote

These ultimate salted caramel cupcakes feature fluffy vanilla cupcakes stuffed with rich, gooey salted caramel sauce and topped with fluffy caramel frosting.

Prep Time40

Cook Time20

Cool Time20

Total Time1 20

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Salted Caramel Cupcakes Recipe

Servings:

Calories: 363kcal

Ingredients

Cupcakes

15.25 ounces white cake mix
3.4 ounces instant vanilla pudding
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup sour cream
¾ cup vegetable oil
½ cup milk
Salted caramel, to fill cupcakes

Frosting

1½ cups salted butter, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 cups powdered sugar
⅔ cup salted caramel
2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
flaked sea salt, such as Maldon’s

Instructions

Cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line muffin tins with cupcake liners and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, beat together cake mix, instant pudding, eggs, sour cream, oil, and milk.
Scoop batter into prepared muffin tins, filling each cup no more than ⅔ of the way full.
Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out with just a few crumbs. Remove from the oven and cool completely.
When the cupcakes are cool, use a serrated spoon to carve out a small hole in the top center of each cupcake. Fill with salted caramel.

Frosting

Beat together the butter and vanilla extract until smooth and creamy.
Add powdered sugar, half at a time, and beat until fully mixed. The mixture will be thick.
Add the salted caramel while the beater is running and whip until smooth.
Add whipping cream and continue beating until the frosting is fluffy.
Pipe swirls of frosting over the filled cupcakes.
Drizzle with additional caramel and sprinkle with flaked sea salt.

Notes

To make salted caramel sauce, stir ½ teaspoon of sea salt flakes into 1 recipe of homemade caramel sauce or 1 jar of store-bought caramel sauce. Taste and add more salt if you wish. I like to stir the salt into warm caramel so that it dissolves and spreads throughout.
Parchment paper liners can help prevent the cupcakes from sticking to the liners.
Oven temperatures vary and may need to be recalibrated periodically to ensure they are accurate. Make sure to keep a close eye on your cupcakes as the suggested baking time approaches.
This recipe makes an ultra-big batch of salted caramel buttercream frosting so that you can pipe big tops on the cupcakes. Halve the recipe if you want a shorter layer of frosting.
This makes an ultra-moist vanilla cupcake that pairs well with the caramel filling and the ultra-fluffy frosting. Do not skip the sea salt flakes because they’re the perfect balance for the sweet caramel frosting.

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