The Classic Baking Co.

To all those caramel lovers out there, this is the recipe for you!!!

Ingredients:

For the sponge:

  • 170g Butter
  • 170g Caster sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 170g Self raising flour
  • 1 Tsp Baking powder
  • 1 Tsp Vanilla essence

For the caramel:

  • 175g Double Cream
  • 1/2 tsp Vanilla essence
  • 175g caster sugar
  • 75ml water

For the Icing:

  • 400g icing sugar
  • 200g Butter
  • 1 batch of caramel

For the topping Decoration:

There are many ways to alter the decor of theses cupcake. I melted chocolate and made it into slabs, covered in home made honeycomb. But you can change it to be shop bought decor if you have little time or you can completely skip out this stage.

  • 200g milk chocolate
  • 1 batch of honeycomb:
  • butter, for greasing the tin
  • 200g caster sugar
  • 5 tbsp golden syrup
  • 2 tsp bicarbonate sugar

Method:

For the sponge:

  • In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and the sugar. Beat in the eggs.
  • Add the flour and mix until you have a smooth batter. flavour with the vanilla essence and add in the baking powder.
  • Pour in a 12 hole cupcake/muffin tin and cook for around 15-20 minutes, until the cake is golden in colour and has a springy bounce when pressed.
  • Once cooked leave to cool on a wire rack.

For the caramel:

  • Stir the vanilla into the cream and leave to one side. Add the sugar and water into a saucepan and stir. Place over a low heat and make sure not to stir it.
  • When the mixture has turned a brown-amber, take the pan of the heat and slowly stir in the cream a little at a time, stirring fast to fully combine it.
  • Pour in a jug and leave to cool fully in the fridge.

For the decoration:

  • Make the honeycomb by:
  • Over a low heat, stirring the sugar and golden syrup, until the sugar melts. Trying not to let it bubble
  • Turn up the heat a little and allow the mixture to simmer until it reaches a caramel colour
  • Quickly, remove it from the heat and add in the bicarbonate of soda and beat with a wooden spoon until the mixture starts to foam.
  • Scrape it into the tin and leave for at least 1 hour to an hour and 30 minutes.
  • Once set and solid crumble into little pieces.

Now that you have your honeycomb crumbs you need to:

  • Break up the chocolate and melt it in a bain-marie.
  • Remove the bowl from the heat once there are only a few small chunks left and stir until they disappear.
  • Cover a square plate or baking tray in baking paper and evenly spread the melted chocolate over it.
  • Leave it for a minute or so before sprinkling in the honeycomb crumbs and neaten up the edges.
  • Leave to cool in the fridge and once it has nearly set score lines in a grid pattern over the chocolate slab, this will make it easier to cut.
  • Return it to the fridge and once it has set completely, remove and break it up into squares.

For the icing:

  • In a bowl beat the butter before adding the icing suagr.
  • Mix in the caramel and until smooth. (If the icing is a little stiff you may need to add in a drop of milk)

To assemble the cupcakes:

  • Make sure your cupcakes are completely cooled, fill a piping bag with your caramel icing and carefully pipe a swirl onto the top if your cupcake, starting from the centre and slowly making your way around and up. Repeat this for all 12 cakes.
  • Using your chocolate squares place one vertically in the centre of each cupcake.
  • Your cupcakes are now ready to enjoy.