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  • Γ—

    Salted Caramel Cupcakes

    22/06/2018 by thebakingexplorer 45 Comments

    Jump to Recipe Jump to Video Print Recipe

    I'm a bit obsessed with salted caramel at the moment... ever since I made my Salted Caramel Cheesecake I've been wanting to making something else with the same flavour. So I came up with these Salted Caramel Cupcakes - I've put light brown sugar in the sponge to give it a caramel flavour, the buttercream has a salted caramel sauce mixed in it, then they're filled with salted caramel sauce, topped with a bit more of the sauce and also some salted caramel fudge! They are a salted caramel explosion!

    Salted Caramel Cupcakes

    For the full recipe with measurements, head to the recipe card at the end of this post.

    The photos for this post were updated in December 2020. The recipe has been very slightly amended.

    How to make Salted Caramel Cupcakes

    To make the sponge, mix together the butter and light brown sugar, then whisk in the eggs and vanilla. Then add the self raising flour and whisk until smooth.

    Divide the mixture between the cupcake cases, and bake them for 25 minutes until golden.

    Once the cupcakes are fully cooled, use a cupcake corer or a knife to make a hole in the centre and fill it with salted caramel sauce. Make the buttercream by mixing butter, icing sugar and a salted caramel flavouring extract (or you can use caramel sauce). Pipe it onto the cupcakes, then add some chopped up salted caramel fudge and more salted caramel sauce.

    Salted Caramel Cupcakes

    What caramel sauce is best to use?

    My favourite caramel sauce to use is my Homemade Caramel Sauce, it's rich, smooth and absolutely divine! You can also easily add salt to it to make it into a salted caramel sauce. If you don't want to make your own, it's quite easy nowadays to find a good quality ready made caramel (or salted caramel) sauce in the shops or online. I have used Tesco's Finest, Bonn Maman and Carnation Caramel in the past with great results.

    How long do the Salted Caramel Cupcakes keep for and can they be frozen?

    The cupcakes will keep in an airtight container for 3 days in a cool place. You can freeze the sponges either alone, or decorated (but do not freeze the Kinder Bueno pieces or sprinkles). Once the sponges are fully cool, wrap them well with cling film or put them in an airtight container. You can freeze the buttercream on it’s own in a tub, or you can decorate the cupcakes and freeze them assembled. To do this and avoid damage to the decoration, freeze them in an airtight container. Or let them freeze solid on a board or plate, then wrap in cling film. Remove the cling film when you take them out to defrost it, if you don’t it could damage the decoration as it defrosts and softens.

    Can you make the cupcakes with plain/all purpose flour?

    Self raising flour, which is very commonly used in the UK where I am based, already contains a raising agent and a little salt too. Therefore if you want to swap it for plain or all purpose flour, you will need to add some additional baking powder and also a little salt if you like. Some people like to add salt to cake recipes and some don't, so I'll leave that up to you as it won't affect the bake. The general advice is to add 2 teaspoons baking powder (a measuring teaspoon, not the kind you stir your coffee with) per every 200g plain or all purpose flour. So for this recipe you'd need to add 1 + ΒΎ teaspoons baking powder. Please note, I have not tested this recipe using plain or all purpose flour.

    Salted Caramel Cupcakes

    Can the cupcakes be made gluten or dairy free?

    Yes! For gluten free you can replace the self raising flour with a gluten free self raising flour blend. If you only have a gluten free plain flour blend, you will need to add baking powder. The general advice is to add 2 tsp baking powder per 200g flour, so for this recipe you'd need to add 1 + ΒΎ teaspoons baking powder. You may also like to add ΒΌ tsp Xanthan Gum for better texture. For a dairy free version, use a dairy free baking spread and dairy free milk for the cupcakes and the buttercream. You will also need to use a dairy free caramel sauce for the filling and decorate them with dairy free fudge.

    Can you make the fudge for the topping?

    You can use a shop bought salted caramel fudge to top the cupcakes (Tesco do a really yummy one), or you can make your own. You might like to try my recipe for Salted Caramel Fudge.

    Can this recipe be made into a large cake?

    Yes! Check out my Salted Caramel Cake recipe for the ingredients and instructions.

    Salted Caramel Cupcakes

    Do you need an electric mixer to make this recipe?

    While you can absolutely make this recipe with a wooden spoon and some elbow grease, I do recommend using an electric mixer for the best results. The cupcakes will be lighter and fluffier when made with an electric mixer. The buttercream will also be smoother. You don't have to use an expensive stand mixer either, you can get electric hand whisks for as little as Β£10!

    More tips for making the Salted Caramel Cupcakes:

    • The piping nozzle I used for these was Ateco 829, however you can use any nozzle you like to pipe the buttercream on.
    • You could also decorate them with sprinkles, or those little fudge pieces you can get in the baking aisle.
    • If you can't find caramel extract for the buttercream, check the recipe notes for another option using caramel sauce to flavour it.
    Salted Caramel Cupcakes

    Troubleshooting

    If you have any questions about this recipe, or if something went wrong and you need help, please use the comment form below and I will get back to you. You can also get in touch with me on my Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. I'd love to hear from you!

    Recommended equipment & ingredients*

    • Cupcake tin
    • Electric hand mixer
    • Mixing bowls
    • Kitchen scales
    • Piping bags
    • Cooling rack
    • Caramel extract
    • Cupcake corer
    • Brown cupcake cases
    • Salted Caramel Sauce
    • Ateco 829 piping nozzle

    *I earn a small amount of money if you buy the products after clicking on the links. You will not be charged anything extra for this. Thank you for supporting The Baking Explorer!

    More Salted Caramel recipes...

    • Salted Caramel Cheesecake (No Bake)
    • Salted Caramel Egg Brownies
      Salted Caramel Egg Brownies
    • Salted Caramel Fudge
      Salted Caramel Fudge
    • Salted Caramel Cake
      Salted Caramel Cake
    • Salted Caramel Chocolate Tart
      Salted Caramel Chocolate Tart
    • Salted Caramel Rocky Road
      Salted Caramel Rocky Road
    Salted Caramel Cupcakes

    Salted Caramel Cupcakes

    Light sponge, salted caramel buttercream, salted caramel filling - salted caramel heaven!
    4.67 from 15 votes
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Dessert
    Cuisine: British
    Keyword: Cupcake
    Prep Time: 40 minutes minutes
    Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes
    Total Time: 1 hour hour
    Servings: 12
    Author: thebakingexplorer

    Ingredients

    For the sponge

    • 175 g Butter or baking spread
    • 175 g Light brown sugar
    • 3 Eggs large
    • 1 tsp Vanilla extract
    • 175 g Self raising flour

    For the buttercream

    • 200 g Butter
    • 400 g Icing sugar
    • 2 tsp Salted caramel flavouring I used Tesco's (see recipe notes if you can't find this ingredient)
    • 1 tbsp Milk

    For the filling and decoration

    • 200 g Salted caramel sauce good quality shop bought or homemade
    • 75 g Salted caramel fudge optional, chopped up
    Metric - US Customary

    Instructions

    • Pre-heat your oven to 160C Fan/180C/350F/Gas Mark 4, and line a cupcake tin with cupcake cases
    • To make the cupcakes, mix together the butter and light brown sugar, ideally using an electric mixer, until fluffy
    • Add the eggs and vanilla extract, and whisk well
    • Then gently whisk in the self raising flour
    • Divide the mixture between the 12 cupcake cases
    • Bake them for 20-25 minutes or until they are golden brown and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool completely on a cooling rack
    • Use a cupcake corer or a knife to make a hole in the middle of each cupcake
    • Fill the holes with the salted caramel sauce. You can do this using a spoon or put the sauce into a small piping bag, snip the end off and pipe it in
    • Make the buttercream by mixing together the butter and icing sugar, then add the salted caramel flavouring and milk, and mix until smooth. You can do this by hand or for best results use an electric mixer
    • Pipe the buttercream onto each cupcake using a piping bag fitted with a nozzle. Or spread on with a spoon
    • Sprinkle the fudge over the top
    • Drizzle over the salted caramel sauce, using either a piping bag or a spoon
    • Store in an airtight container in a cool place, eat leftovers within 3 days
    Made this recipe?Share on Instagram with me @TheBakingExplorer or tag #thebakingexplorer!

    Video

    Notes

    If you need a caramel sauce recipe, try my Homemade Caramel Sauce.
    If you can't get caramel extract, add 100g caramel sauce to the buttercream instead, you will also need 1-2 tbsp milk.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 478kcal | Carbohydrates: 58g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 27g | Saturated Fat: 16g | Cholesterol: 108mg | Sodium: 244mg | Potassium: 57mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 47g | Vitamin A: 840IU | Calcium: 28mg | Iron: 1mg

    If you like this, check out more of my Cupcake recipes!

    « Pimms Cake
    Vegan Pineapple Meringue Pie »

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Cat | Curly's Cooking

      June 22, 2018 at 4:17 pm

      5 stars
      These cupcakes look so tasty! My husband loves salted caramel so would be all over these.

      Reply
      • thebakingexplorer

        July 13, 2018 at 3:56 pm

        Thanks Cat!

        Reply
      • Luna Vacher

        June 20, 2021 at 5:10 pm

        4 stars
        Loved these! I have a small cake business and I used this recipe for one of my customers and she loved them.

        Thanks @thebakingexplorer

        Reply
        • thebakingexplorer

          June 20, 2021 at 8:10 pm

          I'm so happy to hear you love theses cupcakes Luna!

          Reply
      • Maria

        November 17, 2024 at 12:39 pm

        Need to be translated to English measurements to make!

        Reply
        • thebakingexplorer

          November 17, 2024 at 5:52 pm

          Hi Maria, all the measurements are in English so I'm not sure what you mean. I provide both grams and cup measurements, although I highly recommend using grams.

          Reply
    2. Monika Dabrowski

      June 23, 2018 at 4:28 pm

      5 stars
      These look super yummy, I love salted caramel too! #CookBlogShare

      Reply
      • thebakingexplorer

        July 13, 2018 at 3:58 pm

        Thanks Monika! Glad you are a fellow salted caramel fan!

        Reply
    3. Rosaleen Mary Marmion

      June 24, 2018 at 12:55 pm

      5 stars
      Ok, i'll be trying these out for sure, they look incredible!
      Thanks for sharing

      Reply
      • thebakingexplorer

        July 13, 2018 at 3:56 pm

        Let me know what you think!

        Reply
    4. Rebecca - Glutarama

      June 25, 2018 at 1:40 pm

      5 stars
      I watched you piping these on Instagram and it was love at first sight!...lovely nozzle btw πŸ˜‰

      Reply
      • thebakingexplorer

        July 13, 2018 at 3:57 pm

        Thanks Rebecca! I can't wait to use it again I love trying out new piping nozzles.

        Reply
    5. jenny paulin

      June 26, 2018 at 9:25 pm

      5 stars
      THESE LOOK AMAZING!! oops sorry for the shouting then - I was just excited to tell you lol. I love the hidden caramel centre mmmmm! thank you for sharing with #Bakeoftheweek x

      Reply
      • thebakingexplorer

        July 13, 2018 at 3:57 pm

        Thanks so much Jenny! And I love your enthusiasm!

        Reply
    6. Liz

      June 27, 2018 at 4:12 pm

      These are scrumptious! No wonder they didn't last very long. Thank you for bringing them to FF.

      Reply
      • thebakingexplorer

        July 13, 2018 at 3:57 pm

        Thanks Liz!

        Reply
      • Alessia

        August 23, 2022 at 4:26 pm

        5 stars
        How big was your cupcake corer?

        Reply
        • thebakingexplorer

          August 23, 2022 at 5:09 pm

          Hi Alessia, it's just a standard size, I'm not aware of there being a variation in sizes with cupcake corers sorry.

          Reply
    7. LINDA

      June 28, 2018 at 11:23 am

      Hi, love your post. I would like to invite you to come share this on the CLASSY FLAMINGOS BLOG PARTY held each Tuesday evening thru Friday. You'll get large picture exposure and shout outs on all of my social media sites. And if you get PINKED you get even more exposure! I hope you'll come by. poinsettiadr.com

      Reply
      • thebakingexplorer

        July 13, 2018 at 3:57 pm

        Hi Linda, sorry I missed the last one, I'll check it out soon!

        Reply
    8. Amanda W.

      July 17, 2018 at 7:39 pm

      Hi, for the filling - where do I get the salted caramel sauce? Thanks

      Reply
      • thebakingexplorer

        July 17, 2018 at 8:06 pm

        I got mine in Tesco, and if you check out the Amazon links above the recipe there are other brands available from Amazon too. Or check your local supermarket.

        Reply
    9. Aisha khatun

      January 22, 2019 at 6:02 pm

      I love these Salted Caramel cupcakes! Big fan. I'm definitely going to try these out. πŸ™‚

      Reply
    10. Jay Cluitt

      April 15, 2020 at 10:53 am

      5 stars
      Recipe was easy to follow, cupcakes were delicious! Make sure you pair them with the salted caramel fudge!

      Reply
      • thebakingexplorer

        April 16, 2020 at 12:10 pm

        Thank you Jay!

        Reply
        • E

          October 23, 2021 at 10:10 am

          5 stars
          Love this recipe! I’ve used it twice and it goes down a storm!
          Could you use this recipe for a 8”inch cake?

          Reply
          • thebakingexplorer

            October 23, 2021 at 10:43 am

            I'm so happy you like it! Yes please check out my Salted Caramel Cake here: https://thebakingexplorer.com/salted-caramel-cake/

            Reply
    11. Maish

      February 26, 2021 at 11:40 pm

      5 stars
      Hi, did you use salted or unsalted butter for the butter cream?
      I’m looking forward to using this recipe!!

      Reply
      • thebakingexplorer

        February 27, 2021 at 1:35 pm

        Hi, I use unsalted butter πŸ™‚ hope you enjoy the cupcakes!

        Reply
    12. Kee

      March 10, 2021 at 12:07 am

      Hiya

      How can I make this eggless pls?

      Thanks

      Reply
      • thebakingexplorer

        March 10, 2021 at 7:52 am

        Hi, sorry I have never made this without eggs, you could try the various egg replacements available but I haven't tested any of them. It may be best to look for a recipe that is already egg free.

        Reply
    13. Amy

      May 08, 2021 at 2:39 am

      The recipe calls for light brown sugar, yet I only have dark brown sugar. How much would the difference in sugar affect the taste and texture? If it's not too big of a difference, is it fine to use dark brown sugar?

      Reply
      • thebakingexplorer

        May 08, 2021 at 1:20 pm

        Hi Amy, you can use dark brown sugar, the difference will be the cupcakes will be darker in colour and have a stringer caramelised taste. I hope that helps!

        Reply
    14. Amy

      May 10, 2021 at 2:33 am

      2 stars
      The cupcake was much too sweet. Perhaps I had messed up somewhere in the recipe? The bread was slightly hard, the frosting was much much too sweet- and I'm known for loving sweet things. If I ever do make this again, I would use 100 grams of icing sugar for the buttercream. Overall, it was alright but took much too much effort to do.

      Again, it might just be my incompetence and messed up somewhere- anyways I wonder what I shall do with all of these cupcakes!

      Reply
      • thebakingexplorer

        May 10, 2021 at 3:16 pm

        Hi Amy, I'm sorry to hear you found them too sweet. They are meant to be a sweet treat, and the sugar levels are normal for this kind of baked good, so I expect it's just personal preference that is the issue here. I wouldn't recommend using that little amount of icing sugar if you try them again as the buttercream will be very sloppy, you do need a certain amount for thick buttercream. Hopefully your friends and neighbours will enjoy the cupcakes!

        Reply
        • Amy

          May 10, 2021 at 5:10 pm

          4 stars
          Hah...perhaps it was just a bad cupcake I ate yesterday. I had another and they were really good. Not sure why that one cupcake turned out so wrong. Anyways, thank you for the recipe, I love the idea of putting the caramel in the inside and the fudge on the top!

          Reply
          • Amy

            May 10, 2021 at 5:24 pm

            Edit: my son decided to put icing sugar all over that one cupcake and somehow I didn't notice. Lol no wonder it was so sweet!

            -Amy, once again

            Reply
            • thebakingexplorer

              May 10, 2021 at 5:28 pm

              Ah that explains it! I was confused so I really appreciate you letting me know, thank you!

    15. Ayana

      June 17, 2021 at 7:35 pm

      Can I use AP flour instead of self rising?

      Reply
      • thebakingexplorer

        June 17, 2021 at 8:34 pm

        Hi Ayana, yes you can but you will need to add baking powder. The general advice is to add 2 tsp per 200g plain/AP flour. I hope you enjoy the cupcakes!

        Reply
    16. angel

      September 11, 2021 at 1:10 pm

      can you half this recipe? will there be any changes in the recipe if so?
      thanks

      Reply
      • thebakingexplorer

        September 11, 2021 at 3:06 pm

        Hi Angel, because it's made with 3 eggs, it's easier to split it into thirds. So you could make 4 or 8 cupcakes. I hope that helps!

        Reply
    17. Vivien

      November 11, 2021 at 9:56 pm

      5 stars
      What a fabulous recipe, I also made your salted caramel and fudge, the flavour was wonderful but the salted caramel was a little runny and soaked into the cakes (making them beautifully moist 🀩 how could I make it a little thicker for next time. Many thanks 😊

      Reply
      • thebakingexplorer

        November 11, 2021 at 11:32 pm

        Hi Vivien, I'm so pleased you liked the cupcakes! Regarding the caramel sauce, it is thin when you first make it but it thickens up after several hours in the fridge. It shouldn't be runny after this, but if it is, then next time you make it simmer it for a few minutes in the pan before taking it off the heat. I hope this helps!

        Reply
    18. Alessia

      August 23, 2022 at 4:11 pm

      5 stars
      They look so tasty! I'm definitely going to try them out soon!

      Reply

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