Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes With Salted Caramel Buttercream Frosting

This Halloween I decided to make Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Buttercream Frosting at the prompting of my friend, Matti. One day at work she declared that she wanted me to make the Strawberry Champagne cupcakes I had made in the spring. Well, strawberries are no longer in season, I thought, but what is? And that made me think of the coffees I have been trying at Starbucks--Pumpkin Spice Latte and Salted Caramel Mocha. And there it was--an idea for a cupcake! The cake would be pumpkin spice, the frosting would be salted caramel buttercream. Mmmm...sounded like perfection. I found a recipe by Martha Stewart for a pumpkin spice cupcake. While her recipe sounded delicious, I just had to add a few more spices to the cake. It's pumpkin! The time for lots of spices! Plus, there was a whole can of pumpkin in the cake, and pumpkin from a can is a bit bland, so the only remedy is spices, spices, spices! So, I did just that--added many more spices, and man oh man, was it a good idea!

Lots of spices!

That was quite easy to mix up. I put the batter in their cups, and put them in the oven. They puffed up perfectly! And the smell--intoxicating! All the spices mingling with the pumpkin-yum!

Pumpkin Spice Batter

I did not have the same luck with the frosting, though. I found a recipe that where I would have to make the caramel from scratch. No problem, I'll do it. I put the water and sugar in a saucepan, let it boil, and waited for it to turn "dark amber." Now, I know I'm a literal person, but when it says to wait for it to turn "dark amber," don't you think you wait for it to be dark amber? No. Bad idea. It burned and was the most foul flavor I have tasted in a while. Rats. Moving on. Sugar and water in a different saucepan, let it boil, wait for it to turn a slightly deeper shade of amber. At last! Perfect "dark amber" color! I poured it in a bowl so I could add the heavy cream and vanilla------and it had turned into a solid rock in milliseconds. "NoOOooOoOOOOoO!!!" I wailed. It was perfect!! I poked the hard mass with my spatula. Nothing happened. There was no movement but the heavy cream and vanilla lolling over the solid amber-rock. Crap. That was it for me. No more caramel on the stove.

Apparently this "dark amber" is too dark. Well.

And this perfect amber is hard as a rock. Definitely not absorbing the cream and vanilla.

My last resort. It worked!

I did what I knew would work. I got out the pre-made wrapped cubed caramels and went to town. I threw a couple of handfuls in yet another saucepan, and dumped a fair amount of heavy cream in with it. Over medium low heat everything melted and incorporated perfectly. I added the vanilla. Let it cool, and then put it in with the rest of the ingredients for buttercream frosting. But it was too thin. I added more powdered sugar. It took away from the caramel flavor a bit, but whatever. As Tim Gunn says, I was in a "make it work moment!" And I did. Once the cupcakes had cooled I piped on the frosting, and since I didn't have anymore caramel sauce I waited until I got to work the next day to add it to top the frosting. Holy hell. Amazing! This is probably the best cupcake I have ever had.

What a perfect little cupcake! Pumpkin Spice Cupcake with Salted Caramel Buttercream Frosting.

The spicey-pumpkiny goodness of the moist cake paired with the salty-sweet caramel frosting was phenomenal! You know it's a good cupcake when a woman on Weight-Watchers (who is looking stellar and doing incredibly well on the program) tells you she'll only have half--then takes it all and wants the leftover cupcake, too. Laurie said the cupcake was "point worthy." Always a good sign!  

These are what were leftover from work--a bit smushed, but still lovely.

This was a wonderful cupcake for the Halloween season, but it would make a spectacular treat for Thanksgiving! This cupcake accompanying your pumpkin pie--Mmm!