Ok, so Thanksgiving is almost here and Christmas is right behind and there is so much to do.  Cooking, baking, shopping, decorating, wrapping.  Of course relaxing is not one of them.  Instead of stressing out, I made cupcakes.  Who needs yoga? Have a cupcake.

For the cupcakes, I used the recipe on the back of the Hershey’s Cocoa can, except replacing 1 cup of sugar for 1 cup of caramel.  The cupcakes were great, but not much caramel flavor.  I will have to add some more next time.

For the frosting, I adapted the recipe I used to make my Peanut Butter Fluff Frosting.  I used soynut butter instead of peanut butter.  The combo of the salty soynut butter and the sweet chocolate cupcakes was just what I was looking for.  I even drizzled some extra caramel on top and added dark chocolate sprinkles to finish it off.

Chocolate Caramel Cupcakes with Soynut Butter Frosting

by The Sweet Chick

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Keywords: bake dessert chocolate caramel soynut butter marshmallow fluff cupcake 

Ingredients (32 cupcakes)

For the cupcakes

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup Hershey’s Dark Cocoa
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup caramel (or caramel topping)
• 1 cup boiling water

For the frosting

• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup creamy soynut butter
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup marshmallow fluff
• 5-6 tablespoons milk

Instructions

For the cupcakes

Heat oven to 350 F. Line muffin tins with cupcake liners.

In a large bowl or stand mixer, stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Add eggs, milk, oil, vanilla, and caramel. Beat on medium speed for about 2 minutes.

Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin).

Pour batter into prepared muffin tins using a small ladle. If you use a regular scoop like I did, you will make a mess.

Bake at 350º F for 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting

With a mixer, blend butter and soynut butter until smooth.

Sift in confectioners’ sugar and beat on low speed.

Add milk and increase speed to high.

Add fluff. Beat for 1 minute.

Using a small spatula or a cake decorating tip and bag, add frosting to the cupcakes.

Drizzle with extra caramel and sprinkle with dark chocolate bits if you want.