Salted caramel cupcakes are light, fluffy, made with a box cake mix, filled with salted caramel and topped with an ultra thick and fluffy caramel frosting.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line muffin tins with cupcake liners and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl beat together cake mix, instant pudding, eggs, sour cream, oil, and milk.
Scoop batter into prepared muffin tins, filling each cup no more than ⅔ of the way full.
Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out with just a few crumbs. Remove from oven and cool completely.
When cupcakes are cool, use a serrated spoon to carve out a small hole in the top center of each cupcake. Fill with salted caramel.
Frosting Instructions:
Beat together butter and vanilla extract until smooth and creamy.
Add powdered sugar, half at a time, and beat until fully mixed (mixture will be thick).
Add salted caramel while the beater is running and whip until smooth.
Add whipping cream and continue beating until frosting is fluffy.
Pipe swirls of frosting over the filled cupcakes.
Drizzle with additional caramel and sprinkle with flaked sea salt.
Notes
Storage:Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 2 months.Notes:This makes an ultra-moist vanilla cupcake that pairs well with the caramel filling and the ultra-fluffy frosting. Do not skip the sea salt flakes because they’re the perfect balance for the sweet caramel frosting.To make salted caramel, stir ½ teaspoon of sea salt flakes into 1 recipe of homemade caramel or 1 jar of store-bought caramel sauce. Taste and add more salt if you wish. I like to stir the salt into warm caramel so that it dissolves and spreads throughout.This recipe makes an ultra-big batch of frosting so that you can pipe big tops on the cupcakes. Halve the recipe if you want a shorter layer of frosting.