At the end of every semester I feel really guilty. Come finals week, I usually only have condiments and expired milk in the fridge. My children's vegetable intake consists of ketchup and tater tots, and they have to fish through a couch full of clean laundry to find a clean sock. Once I finally come out of the books, and back into reality, I have a filthy home and a husband with whom I have not had a conversation with for about a month.
I turned in my last paper and took my last exam (for the semester) last week. I have been working steadily on cleaning my house and knowing my estranged husband again. My daughter was in desperate need of some mommy and me time, so I decided to bake with her. We made this vanilla bean cupcakes with salted caramel frosting cupcakes that were OUT OF THIS WORLD!
- 2 sticks butter (softened)
- 1 ½ sugar
- 2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or regular vanilla
- 2 whole eggs
- 3 egg yolks
- 2 ½ cups flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup milk with a splash of white vinegar)
- 1 packed cup brown sugar
- ½ cup half-and-half (I used heavy cream because it is what I had)
- 4 tablespoons butter
- Pinch salt
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup salted caramel
- 1 stick of butter
- 2 tablespoon milk
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 3-4 cups powdered sugar
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
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Make sure all your ingredients are room temperature.
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In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder and soda and mix.
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In your mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, blend butter, sugar and vanilla at medium speed until pale and fluffy.
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Add eggs, one at a time, scraping the bowl after each addition.
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Reduce speed to low and add a cup of flour followed by ⅓ of the buttermilk.
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Repeat this 3 times, until you have incorporated all the flour and buttermilk.
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Work quickly when you are incorporating the flour and milk.
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You do not want to wait until each addition is fully mixed.
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I usually add the flour, give it literally 2 seconds, then add the milk, and repeat after 2 seconds. For the last addition of the flour and milk, I usually mix by hand, in order to avoid over beating.
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Spoon into greased cupcake pan, and bake for 18-20 minutes.
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Cool completely before removing.
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Heat brown sugar, cream, butter, salt in a heavy bottomed sauce pan over medium low heat. Whisk gently for about 5-7 minutes until it has thickened.
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Add Vanilla and cook for another 2 minutes.
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Remove from heat and cool for 5 minutes then pour into jar.
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Mix all ingredients until incorporated.
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Turn your mixer on high for about 5 minutes.
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Frost cupcakes and enjoy!!!
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Things have finally settled down in our household, and now I am able to concentrate more on The Seaside Baker. Lots of new pages are planned!!!
Joanie Karapetian, Italian Wine Geek
I am so making these next weekend...
The Seaside Baker
Please let me know how they turn out!
Mimi
OMG! I want one of these tonight. Do you overnight ship??
The Seaside Baker
Only for babysitters 🙂
Big Hungry Gnomes
These cupcakes look like a fantastic mother and daughter treat. They look absolutely gorgeous and the combination of vanilla and salted caramel sounds delicious. Thanks for sharing the great recipes
Rachel
I'm just curious, how many cupcakes did you get from this recipe?
The Seaside Baker
About 2 dozen.
Meg
I have made these several times now. They have become by go-to cupcake when I want something to give as a thank you gift because they are delicious as well as beautiful. I make a double batch of the sauce for drizzling over top and sprinkle a few flakes of sea salt over the peak of the icing. They are always a hit! Thanks for such a great recipe.
The Seaside Baker
Thank you so much for commenting, I love comments like this!! I am so glad that this recipe worked out for you!
Lynjitsu
I'm so excited to be making these. I was just measuring out the ingredients. I noticed that it says 1 1/2 sugar. What units is that in?
The Seaside Baker
Sorry about that! It is 1 1/2 cups of sugar. I hope I didn't respond to late! Let me know how they turn out!
Lynjitsu
Hi again! The cupcakes came out so fantastic that I made them for our wedding cupcakes! They were a huge hit and even 6 months later people keep raving about them! Thank you so much for sharing your recipe!