These Turtle Cupcakes are absolutely delicious. The chocolate cake is light and moist and the salted caramel buttercream is rich and so unbelievably delicious. Top it with toasted pecans, caramel and chocolate for the ultimate turtle dessert!
I love birthdays. Like, really love them. Not to get too philosophical or anything but why wouldn’t we want to celebrate another year of a friend/family/loved one’s time on this earth?
Birthdays deserve balloons, flowers, cake, and being surrounded by the people you care about doing the stuff you love to do. I love making birthday cakes/cupcakes for people. I mean I love to feed people in general but birthday cakes make people feel special (and they are so why not make them feel that way!?).
One of the fun activities I’ve started doing is getting food profiles from my friends before I make them their cakes. What do I mean? Well, simply put, I ask them what kind of flavors they like and then I create a dessert for them. Sometimes it’s a cake or cupcakes but some folks don’t like cake (the horror!!) so I make them pastries or pies. Hey, it’s their day, right?
Recently, a friend’s birthday prompted the creation of a turtle cupcake. That’s right…a turtle cupcake. This dessert is luxurious…the caramel, the chocolate, the toasted pecans, oh my.
Now, let’s talk about this salted caramel buttercream. This baby is amazing. Even my non-sweets loving mom loves this buttercream. And, it’s so easy to make. The icing is rich but not overwhelming, which is key in rich cupcakes. You really don’t want any individual part of the cupcake to be rich on it’s own. It’ll end up being way too overwhelming. In fact, I contemplated adding a chocolate ganache but that would have been too much.
So, this whole cupcake is easy to make. A quick mix of the cupcake batter and the buttercream icing is the biggest part of making the cupcake. Quickly toast your pecans. And, drizzle on caramel and chocolate sauce. Done. Finito. People will be impressed and it won’t take you forever to make.
- 1 cup of sugar
- 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons of all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons of cocoa
- 3/4 teaspoon of baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup of milk
- 1/4 cup of vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- 1/2 cup of boiling water
- 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 cup salted caramel sauce
- 1 tbsp whole milk
- 3-4 cups powdered sugar
- Chocolate Sauce, Caramel Sauce, Toasted Pecans, Mini Chocolate Chips
- Pre-heat the oven to 350°F and line a muffin tin with cupcake liners and set it aside. First you want to mix together all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl (not the bowl to your stand mixer). Stir together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set it aside for a few minutes while you mix together the wet ingredients. Using your stand mixer, mix the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla together until combined. Then add in the dry ingredients and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Once combined, slowly mix in the boiling water. Your batter will be thin (which means light and tasty!)
- Using a batter dispenser or a measuring cup, fill each of the cups about two-thirds of the way up. Bake for 20-25 minutes depending on your oven. The cupcakes are done when a toothpick comes out clean. Don’t forget to let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting your cupcakes.
- In a stand mixer (or a bowl with a hand mixer), cream the butter, vanilla, milk, and caramel together. Then add the powdered sugar until the desired consistency and sweetness is reached (about 3-4 cups). To pipe on the buttercream, the icing should be thicker so it stands but not too thick or it will not come out of the piping bag.
- Once, you’ve piped the buttercream onto the cupcakes drizzle on the caramel and chocolate. Add toasted pecans and enjoy!
Those sound incredible…yum, yummy, yummiest
Thanks so much! They were gone in a matter of minutes!
These look super super yummy
Thank you, Shannon!
These look soooo yummy!!! Pinning for a future dessert night! ^^
xx, Amanda
geekyfashionista.blogspot.com
Thanks Amanda. You are going to love it!
The presentation on this looks marvelous. I’d do a couple extra workouts a week for these bad boys!
Thanks, Vy! Definitely worth an extra workout. 🙂
These look so good. I bet they will be a hit!
YUMM!!
Thanks for stopping by!!
These look delicious!
-Jen
http://www.asipofbliss.com
These look so yummy! I even love the foil wraps. 🙂
Oh my gosh, looks very appetizing 🙂 Incredible combination of taste and style 🙂
goodness gracious these look DIVINE. Can you send me a dozen 😉
These look delicious! I love that you turned the classic chocolate into a cupcake 🙂
These look amazing – was going to be good and put them on a group board – but not now they look too yummy!
These look really good and I love cupcakes so definitely added them to my list 🙂
these look amazing
Sounds delicious! Those pictures make me drool. Awesome!
beautiful cupcakes. perfect for mother day.
These cupcakes looks so yummy and I love how you decorated them too. Pinning the post so I can try to make them one day.
Ninz
WOW that is one incredible recipe! I will let you know if I get a chance to try it myself!
Um, yes to all of this. Chocolate, nuts, caramel… all in cupcake form?! I love making cupcakes and making a good buttercream, but have never attempted caramel buttercream. I’ll have to give a a try, thanks for the yummy recipe!