Chocolate caramel cupcakes
Chocolate caramel cupcakes are a deliciously fudgy chocolate cupcake, filled with caramel, and topped with a caramel buttercream. Made with ready made caramel, they’re so easy to make even kids will love baking them.
These chocolate caramel cupcakes extra special, moist, fudgy chocolate cupcake . They’re a rich and decadent chocolate cupcake, that are filled with delicious caramel, then topped with a caramel buttercream. Made with real chocolate, the cupcake balances the caramel beautifully, meaning they’re not overly sweet.
We’ve used half a tin of ready made caramel (Carnation), which is much easier (and safer) than making your own caramel with children. There’s no need to boil sugar or worry about getting the consistency just right.
These are a bit richer and more decadent than our regular chocolate cupcakes, with a few extra steps involved in making them. If you’re looking for an easy recipe with a light chocolate sponge, you might want to try our favourite easy chocolate cupcake recipe instead.
How can kids help to make these chocolate caramel cupcakes?
This is a nice easy chocolate cupcake recipe which kids will enjoy making. They can help to measure everything out and mix it all together.
The best thing about these if you’re new to baking is that they don’t really need any specialist equipment. You can mix everything together in a bowl with a spoon so you don’t need to worry if you don’t have a mixer.
Your kids can also help to fill the cupcakes with caramel and decorate them. Whether they pipe the caramel buttercream on, add it with a spoon, or simply take charge of adding a drizzle of caramel on top it’s a fun job kids should enjoy.
What can I use instead of self raising flour?
If you don’t have any self raising flour (it’s popular here in the UK, but less so in other countries), you can swap it for an equal amount of plain or all-purpose flour and add 1 ½ teaspoons of baking powder and a pinch of salt.
What chocolate should I use?
Make sure you use a plain chocolate for these, not milk chocolate. Use the best one you can get. You’ll taste it in the end cupcake. You can check the cocoa content of the chocolate – the higher the %, the more bitter and less sweet it will be which will help balance the sweetness of the caramel.
Our favourite plain chocolate for baking is Bournville.
How long do the cupcakes keep?
These cupcakes will keep in an airtight container for a few days. You can also freeze them before you add the icing. Simply wrap them well in cling film or glad wrap and pop them in a freezer bag. They’ll keep in the freezer for a few months. Allow them to defrost fully before adding the decoration and serving them.
How do you add the filling to the cupcake?
There are a few ways of adding the caramel to the middle of the cupcakes, and a few tools made specifically for the job. We just use a small knife to cut a small core in the middle (an inch or so thick). Then it’s a simple case of using a teaspoon of the caramel to the centre. If you want to be very neat you could pipe the filling in, but we find a teaspoon does the job.
What caramel do you use?
If you’re baking with children, it’s probably easier not to make your own caramel from scratch. We used a tin of caramel from Carnation, but a jar of dulce de leche you can find in your supermarket would also work.
This recipe uses around half a tin, so if you have caramel left over you could use it up in one of these other caramel filled recipes:
Millionaire’s cheesecake
Caramel banana bread
Caramel stuffed cookies
Caramel apple crumble
Banoffee cupcakes
Caramel apple cinnamon rolls
Other fun cupcakes and chocolate bakes for kids
If you and your kids love making cupcakes or other chocolatey bakes, check out some of our other easy recipes below:
Chocolate chip cupcakes
Nutella cupcakes
Funfetti cupcakes
Vanilla cupcakes
Rainbow cupcakes
Monster cupcakes
Chocolate fudge cake
Chocolate Victoria sponge
Chocolate chip fudge
Chocolate tiffin
Chocolate brownies
Chocolate loaf cake
Useful equipment
You might need the following baking tools/gadgets to make these chocolate caramel cupcakes
Muffin tin
Cupcake cases
Digital scales
Mixing bowl
Measuring cups
Measuring spoons
Spatula
Icecream scoop
Piping bag
Wire rack
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Ingredients
For the chocolate cupcakes
100ml (½ cup) boiling water
150g (2/3 cup) butter
200g plain chocolate
200g (1 cup) soft brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
250g (1 ½ cup) self raising flour*
For the filling
12 teaspoons of caramel / dulce de leche
For the caramel buttercream
150g (2/3 cup) butter
300g (2 cups) icing sugar
2 tablespoons of milk
150g caramel / dulce de leche
Caramel for drizzling
* If you don’t have any self raising flour, swap it for an equal amount of plain or all-purpose flour and add 1 ½ teaspoons of baking powder.
How to make chocolate caramel cupcakes
Preheat your oven to 180C / 170C Fan / 350F and line a muffin tin with paper or silicon cupcake cases.
Melt the butter, chocolate, sugar and water
Get your kids to measure out the butter, plain chocolate and sugar. Cut the butter into a few smaller pieces and break the chocolate up then add them to a heatproof bowl, along with the boiling water.
Set the bowl over a pan of simmering water (a double boiler), and heat it gently, stirring it until it has all melted.
If your kids are old enough to be trusted around a hot cooker, they can help stir this all in until it is nice and smooth. Once it has melted, set it aside to cool a little.
Mix the eggs and vanilla
Crack the eggs into a small bowl and if any shell goes in, (which it often can if kids are doing it) simply fish it out with a larger piece of shell or a teaspoon. It will stick to that much more easily than it will your finger (and be a lot less messy!).
Add the vanilla extract to the small bowl. If you have younger children, you might need to hold the teaspoon while they pour in the vanilla or vice versa.
Get your kids to whisk it together with a fork or small whisk.
Add the egg and vanilla to the cooled chocolate mixture and stir it all together.
Measure the flour
Get your kids to measure the flour out and add it to a larger mixing bowl. Finally, get your kids to pour the melted chocolate mixture into your bowl. Gently, mix it all together with a spatula or wooden spoons until it has all come together and there are no visible bits of flour showing.
It’s a much runnier cake batter than our normal cupcakes, but don’t worry, it’s supposed to be like that and is what makes the cupcakes so deliciously moist.
Bake the chocolate cupcakes
Get your kids to divide the chocolate cupcake batter among your cupcake cases. If you have an ice cream scoop they can often dish out the perfect amount, which makes life much easier. If you don’t have an ice cream scoop, a soup or dessert spoon will also work. Make sure your kids distribute the batter evenly so each case is about ¾ full.
Bake the cupcakes in the oven for about 20 minutes. They’re ready when they’ve risen and cocktail stick, skewer or sharp knife inserted into the middle should come out largely clean.
Remove the cupcakes from the oven and leave them to cool in the tin for a few minutes before taking each one out and put them on a wire rack to cool completely.
Make the caramel buttercream icing
Get your kids to measure out the icing sugar and butter. If the butter isn’t soft (we always forget to take it out of the fridge beforehand), cut it into a few pieces then pop it in the microwave for a few seconds. Don’t leave it in long enough to melt it.
Add it to a large mixing bowl or a free-standing mixer.
Using a hand held mixer or the k-paddle of your free-standing mixer, start beating it all together slowly. Add the 2 tablespoons of milk and the caramel. If you have a cover and/or a tea towel pop it over the top if you can to try and contain some of the mess.
Once the loose icing sugar has started to mix in, you can turn the speed of your mixer up. Mix it for a few minutes until it is nice and light and fluffy. The longer you beat it for, the nicer and softer it will become.
Fill the cupcakes
Once the cupcakes have cooled, get your kids to help cut a core out of the middle. Fill the middle of each cupcake with a teaspoon of caramel / dulce de leche.
Cut the base of the cupcake core off then put the the lid back on top of the caramel centre.
Decorate the chocolate caramel cupcakes
Add the caramel buttercream to a piping bag with a large star or plain shaped nozzle fitted. If your kids are doing the piping, it can be useful to add a freezer bag clip to the top end of the piping bag to stop the icing coming out the top when you squeeze the bag.
Get your kids to pipe nice swirls of buttercream onto each cupcake. I tend to give mine a hand by helping to squeeze and hold the piping bag while they guide it round. Start at the outside and slowly pipe round in swirls into the centre.
Alternatively, if you don’t have a piping bag, you can spread the icing onto each cupcake with the back of a spoon, a palette knife or just regular butter knife.
If you have a little caramel left over, drizzle it over the top of your cupcakes to decorate. To do it neatly, you could pop it into a small freezer bag, and cut a tiny hole in the corner, then pipe neat line drizzles over the top.
Serve and enjoy.
Chocolate caramel cupcakes
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Preheat your oven to 180C / 170C Fan / 350F and line a muffin tin with paper or silicon cupcake cases.
- Measure out the butter, plain chocolate and sugar. Cut the butter into a few smaller pieces and break the chocolate up then add them to a heatproof bowl, along with the boiling water.Set the bowl over a pan of simmering water (a double boiler), and heat it gently, stirring it until it has all melted.
- Crack the eggs into a small bowl.Add the vanilla extract.Whisk it together with a fork or small whisk.
- Add the egg and vanilla to the cooled chocolate mixture and stir it all together.
- Measure the flour out and add it to a larger mixing bowl. Finally, pour the melted chocolate mixture into your bowl. Gently, mix it all together with a spatula or wooden spoons until it has all come together and there are no visible bits of flour showing.
- Divide the chocolate cupcake batter among your cupcake cases. Make sure you distribute the batter evenly so each case is about ¾ full.
- Bake the cupcakes in the oven for about 20 minutes. They're ready when they've risen and cocktail stick, skewer or sharp knife inserted into the middle should come out largely clean.Remove the cupcakes from the oven and leave them to cool in the tin for a few minutes before taking each one out and put them on a wire rack to cool completely.
- Measure out the icing sugar and butter. If the butter isn't soft (we always forget to take it out of the fridge beforehand), cut it into a few pieces then pop it in the microwave for a few seconds. Don't leave it in long enough to melt it.Add it to a large mixing bowl or a free-standing mixer alongside the 2 tablespoons of milk and the caramel.
- Using a hand held mixer or the k-paddle of your free-standing mixer, start beating it all together slowly. If you have a cover and/or a tea towel pop it over the top if you can to try and contain some of the mess.Once the loose icing sugar has started to mix in, you can turn the speed of your mixer up. Mix it for a few minutes until it is nice and light and fluffy. The longer you beat it for, the nicer and softer it will become.
- Once the cupcakes have cooled, cut a core out of the middle. Fill the middle of each cupcake with a teaspoon of caramel / dulce de leche. Cut the base of the core off then put the the lid back on the caramel centre.
- Add the caramel buttercream to a piping bag with a large star or plain shaped nozzle fitted.Pipe nice swirls of buttercream onto each cupcake.
- Alternatively, if you don't have a piping bag, you can spread the icing onto each cupcake with the back of a spoon, a palette knife or just regular butter knife.
- If you have a little caramel left over, drizzle it over the top of your cupcakes to decorate. To do it neatly, you could pop it into a small freezer bag, and cut a tiny hole in the corner, then pipe neat line drizzles over the top.
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