Hot Chocolate Cupcakes with Salted Butter Cream Frosting

Cupcakes

1½ cups America’s Test Kitchen GF flour blend or 1½ cups Trader Joe’s GF flour

¼ tsp xanthan gum

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp kosher salt

½ cup GF cocoa powder

½ cup semi-sweet GF chocolate chips

¾ cup boiling water

1 cup sugar

¾ cup sour cream, at room temperature

½ cup canola oil

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 tbsp GF vanilla

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda & salt.

In large bowl, whisk cocoa powder & chocolate chips with boiling water until smooth. (Can use mixer with whisk or whisk by hand)

Add sugar, sour cream, canola oil, eggs & vanilla – whisk until no streaks remain.

Whisk in dry ingredients until incorporated.

Line 12 cup muffin pan with paper or foil liners.

Fill each about ¾ full. You will end up with about 24 regular cupcakes or 48 mini cupcakes or 12 regular & 24 mini cupcakes.

Bake at 350° for about 20 minutes (a little less for mini cupcake size). A toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake should come out clean.

Remove cupcakes from pan & cool on wire rack.

Frosting

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup & ¾ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 tbsp light corn syrup

½ cup heavy cream

1 tbsp GF vanilla

½ tsp sea salt

3 – 3½ cups powdered sugar

Sea Salt (for sprinkling on the top)

In heavy saucepan combine brown sugar, ½ cup butter & corn syrup. Bring to boil over medium heat.

Reduce heat & simmer until starts to thicken (about 3-4 minutes).

Whisk in heavy cream, vanilla & ½ tsp sea salt.

Increase heat to medium & bring to boil for 3-4 minutes.

Remove from heat & cool completely. It’s important to COMPLETELY cool the caramel sauce, otherwise your frosting will be runny & not thicken up like it should.

Beat ¾ cup butter & 3 cups powdered sugar until smooth.

Reserve about ¼ cup of cooled caramel sauce to pour over frosting. Add remainder of caramel sauce to butter mixture & beat until smooth. It should be thick & creamy, so you may need to add a little more powdered sugar to get it to the right consistency.

Frost the cupcakes with frosting. If you have a pastry bag, you can use it, but you can also just spread the frosting like for any other cupcake. (This recipe makes a generous amount of frosting, so go ahead & pile it on!) Then drizzle with reserved caramel sauce. Then sprinkle with a little sea salt on each.

I use a spoon to drizzle the caramel sauce. But you can use a measuring cup with a pour spout or whatever works for you!

 Notes:

I know this recipe is a little more work, but it will be worth the effort. Whenever I have made them, they have been a BIG hit! I even made them for a “Cupcake Wars” contest at work & they won! The cool thing was, they were the only GF cupcakes entered & the judges didn’t even know that until after the judging was done!

This is a pretty big recipe, but it is easy to cut in half.

If you cool the cupcakes in the pan, they may get a little soggy on the bottom, so take them out of the muffin tins right away.

If you are making a combination of regular & mini cupcakes (or just like fatter cupcakes & fill the tins a little fuller), & have empty spaces in the muffin pans, fill the empty places with water. This is a trick my mom taught me – it keeps the empty spaces in the pan from getting burned or darker in color.

If you have a favorite GF caramel ice cream topping, you can use that instead of reserving ¼ cup of the caramel sauce.

These hold up pretty well! I have made the cupcakes & frosted them the day before I am going serve them. Then I just drizzle the caramel sauce & sprinkle with sea salt before serving. If you decide not to frost them right away, you can keep the frosting & the caramel sauce in the refrigerator. Just know that they will both get a little thick/stiff. But no worries! You can beat the frosting again with your mixer & it will soften right up so you can spread it easily. And you can put the caramel sauce in the microwave for about 10 seconds – you want it runny, but not hot.