Chocolate cupcakes with salted caramel frosting

I can be very experimental at all the wrong times on most days. A close friend/ colleague of mine had a mini birthday morning tea at work and I figured this would be a good opportunity for me to attempt something different. Rather than opting for my usual sweet treats, I decided to whip out the jar of thickened cream that's been sitting in my fridge for a few weeks and make a salted caramel.

Browning sugar is very tricky as it borders between beautifully caramelized to burnt/ non-salvage-able. I watched my pot of sugar like a hawk as I slowly attempted to brown it (also because I did not have any more granulated sugar so it's swim or sink!). Was a little concerned when it did not caramelized but thank goodness it did while I was texting. After that, it was a matter of making sure I incorporate the butter at the right time.

I made chocolate cupcakes with salted caramel frosting but I was not a big fan of the chocolate cupcake recipe that I had. It was quite airy and had a strange bicarbonate soda after taste which is a major turnoff for me. Hence, no chocolate cupcake recipe will be provided but any good recipe that you may have will suffice:)

Caramel sauce:
1.5 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup water and a few extra tablespoons if needed
6 tbsp salted butter
1 cup heavy cream

Place sugar and water into a pot over medium heat. Keep stirring to avoid burning the bottom and be patient with it or risk burning the sugar. Once it starts to brown slightly, stir it more vigorously to dissolve any lumps. After achieving a nice amber colour, take the pot off the heat and slowly add butter in. Keep stirring throughout this process and incorporate cream. A smooth consistency should be achieved.

Salted caramel frosting:
1 cup salted butter at room temperate
4 cups icing sugar
3/4 cup caramel sauce
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp salt

Cream the butter until smooth before adding the icing sugar, salt and vanilla extract. Then add the caramel sauce and stir until a decent consistency is attained.

I drizzled leftover caramel sauce around the piped frosting for a pretty effort (which turned into a kind of mess, ohh wells...). Do note that the caramel frosting may harden over time to try not to add too much caramel if possible.

The last picture turned out a bit fuzzy, possibly because my camera battery's running low or my hands were too shaky in the wee hours of the morning:)