Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcakes

My life has been a whirlwind lately. We moved into our wonderful new house, and then a week later learned that Herman, our cat, is terminally ill.  Everyone handles stress differently, and I handled mine by baking some cupcakes.

I made my standard chocolate cake as the base for the cupcakes. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? 

I haven't found a really good caramel frosting recipe, until now: I found a promising recipe  in The Joy of Cooking, and I gave it a go. It turned out fantastically! I've shared it below for all of you, because I love you too much to keep it to myself. 

Caramel Frosting (from The Joy of Cooking, 75th anniversary edition, Rombauer/Rombauer Becker/Becker)

Yield: About 3 cups

Combine in a medium heavy saucepan and stir until sugar is dissolved:

-2 cups packed brown sugar

-1 cup heavy cream OR 1/2 cup unsalted butter plus 1/2 cup milk

Cook about 3 minutes, washing down any crystals on the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush. Cook, without stirring, to 238-240 degrees (soft-ball stage). Remove from the heat, and float on top

-3 tablespoons unsalted butter
Cool, without stirring, to 110 degrees, about 45 minutes. Add
-1 teaspoon vanilla
Beat the icing until cool, thick, and creamy. If it becomes too heavy, thin it with a little
-heavy cream or milk
until it is of a spreading consistency. Use immediately, or cover the surface with plastic wrap. This keeps for up to a week at room temperature or about three weeks refrigerated; or freed for up to  six months. Soften and stir until smooth before using.

The best ingredients: sugar and cream. 

You will definitely need a candy thermometer for this recipe. A standard kitchen/meat thermometer lacks the range and sensitivity for working with sugar. They generally come with little clips attached, and pictured below I have MacGyvered a way to keep my thermometer suspended in the center of the pot.

Floating butter islandse 

 The cool-down process took much longer than 45 minutes for me. It could be because I made a double batch and had more to cool, or the air flow in my kitchen, or the barometric pressure, who knows. I also didn't get the frosting to a "cool, thick, and creamy" state from beating alone. My hand beater was starting to overheat when I gave up and went to bed. The next day, my frosting was perfect frosting consistency! So, protip: you can let it sit overnight to achieve proper consistency after beating it a bit.

I sprinkled some sea salt on top to give them that extra special something. They turned out great, and I've even got some frosting left over to dip apples in.