Difficutly: very easy
Time: 5 Min
Portion: 1 serving
Ingredients:
Makes 12 cupcakes
INGREDIENTS
For chocolate cupcake
2/3 cup AP flour
2-1/2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
3 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup + 3 tbsp unsalted butter, cut in pieces
3/4 cup + 2 tbsp sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
For swiss meringue caramel swirl buttercream
3 egg whites, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
pinch salt
1 cup unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces, room temp
1/4 cup caramel ice cream topping
chocolate-toffee, crushed, garnish (I used Sees Candy Molasses chips)
Directions:
To make chocolate cupcakes—
Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare cupcake pan with liners.
In a large bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. In heatproof bowl, place chocolate and butter over simmering water and stir constantly until melted, about 5 minutes. Let the chocolate mixture cool to room temp before adding sugar. Stir sugar until incorporated.
Add eggs, one at a time, mixing to combine after each egg. Beat in vanilla. Gently stir in the flour mixture, a little at a time, until all combine. Do not overmix.
Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full. Bake for about 20-22 minutes. Let cool before frost.
To make buttercream—
In a large heatproof bowl, combine the egg whites and sugar. Set the bowl over simmering water in a saucepan and whisk constantly until sugar is completely dissolved (160F), about 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
In a stand mixer using a whisk attachment, whip egg white mixture on high until it holds stiff peaks, about 5-6 minutes.
Switch to flat beater and add the salt. Add butter a few at a time, beating well after each addition. Don’t worry if buttercream starts to look curdled. Just keep beating on until buttercream is smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes. Add the caramel ice cream topping to the buttercream, folding only until swirled but not completely combined.
Notes:
I’ll probably add more caramel next time too. Maybe 1/2-1 cup to pump up the caramel swirl.