chocolate caramel corn cupcakes

How To Make chocolate caramel corn cupcakes

• 1

  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with 12 cupcake liners. In a small mixing bowl, combine the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Gently mix using a spoon. In a larger mixing bowl, combine the butter and sugar, beat using an electric mixer until fluffy. Add in the eggs and vanilla, lightly beat. Add in the sour cream and melted chocolate, mix by hand using a spatula.
• 2

  Add half of the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, do not dump it in, rather take spoonfuls of the flour mixture and gently shake it over the wet ingredients, as if you were sifting in the flour. Fold in the mixture until no flour remains. Repeat with the other half of the flour, folding it in and scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl to incorporate everything. Fill the cupcake liners 1/2 full with batter. Bake for 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before adding the frosting.
• 3

  CARAMEL BUTTERCREAM: In a mixing bowl, combine the butter and vegetable shortening, beat using an electric mixer until fluffy. Add in the caramel sauce and salt, and gently mix by hand with a spatula. Begin to add the powdered sugar, about 1 cup at a time, mixing by hand. Continue adding powdered sugar until the frosting no longer looks wet and tastes good to you. Then I use my electric mixer one last time to make sure the powdered sugar is really incorporated and you're ready to frost!
• 4

  CARAMEL CORN In a large pot over medium heat, add the vegetable oil and 3 popcorn kernels. Be sure to place the lid on the pot. Once the 3 kernels pop, add in the rest of the popcorn. Occasionally shake the pot to prevent kernels from burning. Remove the pot from the heat once the popping stops. Prevent the oven to 200º F. In a medium pot over medium heat combine the butter, corn syrup, and brown sugar, stirring constantly. Continue to stir until the mixture begins to boil/bubble. This may take up to 5-7 minutes, but eventually it will bubble. Once it starts to bubble, allow the mixture to continue to bubble for 4-5 minutes while constantly stirring. After 4-5 minutes, remove the pot from the heat. Quickly stir in the vanilla, salt and baking soda. The baking soda will cause the mixture to bubble and foam, and it will keep the caramel from becoming too hard. Pour the caramel over the popped popcorn and mix well. Evenly distribute the popcorn onto a baking sheet (or 2) and bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. If you like crunchier popcorn, bake the popcorn longer. If you pull the popcorn out of the oven and once it cools it seems too soft, put it back in the oven to bake longer, that's an easy fix!
• 5

  TO ASSEMBLE: Place the caramel buttercream in a piping bag fit with your desired tip, I used the wilton 6B tip. Be sure to push the buttercream down into the bag, and twist the top a few times to secure the bag. Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes, starting on the outside edge and progressively stacking the frosting as you go towards the center. Add a small handful of caramel corn to each cupcake, pushing the popcorn into the buttercream slightly. Drizzle with extra caramel sauce if desired.
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