Salted Caramel Cupcakes

Amidst all the posts about pumpkin spice lattes, I decided to make something I've never made before. Salted caramel seems to be the item of the season. So, after a reading a few blogs, I decided to go for salted caramel cupcakes.

Now the cupcake really wasn't the star of my show. This was all about the frosting. Also, my first attempt at this particular flavor. One thing I've been noticing lately is most baked goods taste too sweet. I specifically looked for a "not so sweet" frosting that would be very light and fluffy. This was pretty labor intensive but ended up being pretty good.

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 stick salted butter, at room temp
1/2 cup sugar
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup caramel sauce
Kosher salt for garnish

Whisk together the flour and milk in a small saucepan over medium heat until it thickens, about 3-5 minutes. Pour the mixture into a small bowl and put into the fridge. Set a timer for 18 minutes. Every 3 minutes, remove the mix and stir well with a fork. The mix must be kept as smooth as possible.

While your flour/milk mix is chilling, cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla together on medium-high at least 5 minutes. Once the mix is cool, stir it into the butter/sugar and mix 3-5 minutes more. You are looking for a very stiff texture. It will not have the creamy smooth texture of jar frosting, so don't be surprised. Once the frosting is mixed, carefully fold in the caramel sauce. You do not want to completely blend it but want ribbons of caramel throughout the frosting.

After you frost the cupcakes, drizzle with caramel sauce and a few grains of course salt for garnish. I also added candy pearls on the photo-op cupcake :-)

Enjoy!!!

*note: for the cupcake, I used a yellow cake mix + 1 cup apple sauce + 1 can puréed pumpkin. Bake @ 325 for 25-29 minutes.