Mocha Cappuccino Cupcakes & Caramel Buttercream Frosting

You know how it is when you stumble upon something great when you're not even looking for it? Well, I knew I had seen some cupcake recipe on some blog but I couldn't--for the life of me--figure out which blog I had seen it on...all I knew was that they were called cappuccino cupcakes. I get OCD about things like this, so it was bugging the living daylights outta me until I found it. In the meantime, I stumbled upon this recipe and fate is just sooo good to me! These looked just as good but it was still bugging me that I couldn't find the recipe that I remember seeing. Well, true to an OCD addict, I finally found it but in the meantime I had already filed this recipe in the 'make soon' pile (aka on top of my computer keyboard and the pile gets moved every time I'm at the computer!).
Mocha Cappuccino Cupcakes & Caramel Buttercream Frosting
Adpated from Say-Very Sweet Things


Before you begin to make the cupcakes or the frosting, make the chocolate swirls so that they have time to set up.

Chocolate Swirls
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate
Quart-size Ziplock bag
Scissors
Cookie Sheet
Wax Paper

To make chocolate swirls, melt the chocolate chips in a small microwave safe bowl for 30 seconds. Stir. Keep melting for intervals of 30 seconds, stirring between intervals, until the chocolate is melted and creamy (Don’t overheat the chocolate. It shouldn’t be hot, it should be just lukewarm). Using a quart-size ziplock bag, pour the chocolate into the ziplock bag and cut a small (YES--SMALL) tip at one end. Pipe chocolate, making swirls, onto wax paper lined sheet pan. Put into swirls into refrigerator until ready to use.

To make cupcakes, use any boxed chocolate cake mix. If you have the time and the energy, make them from scratch. Follow instructions on back of box, but increase water to 1 ½ cup and add ¼ cup of instant cappuccino mix. Use any kind of cappuccino mix. For an intense espresso flavor use 1 ½ teaspoons of instant espresso to the cappuccino mix. Follow instructions on back of box for baking cupcakes.

Caramel Buttercream Frosting

1/2 cup good quality vegetable shortening
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp cocoa powder (for color) and a little more for dusting
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp caramel flavoring
4 cups of sifted confectioners’ sugar
2 or more Tbsp milk

Note: Scrape down sides of bowl often.

Sift the confectioners’ sugar in to a large bowl and set aside.

Cream shortening and butter in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed.
Add vanilla and caramel flavoring to butter and shortening mixture and beat well on medium speed.

Stop mixer and add cocoa powder and sifted confectioner’s sugar a cup at a time. Beat on low speed until sugar is incorporated into the butter mixture then turn mixer to medium speed and beat for about 30 seconds. Keep doing this until you have used all of the confectioner’s sugar. Mixture will be dry.

Add milk, 1 Tbsp at a time, until you get a medium consistency. Keep beating until light and fluffy for 5 or more minutes again, scraping down sides of bowl often.

Frost cupcakes. Dust cocoa powder on top of each frosted cupcake then top each with a chocolate swirl (carefully remove swirls from wax paper). Be careful as the swirls are very delicate!


Keep cupcakes in refrigerator as the chocolate may melt.