On Tuesday I baked some Salted Caramel Pretzel Cupcakes. One of those flavours that was around everywhere a few years ago and it still is popular with lots of people. It’s been a while since I’ve made anything salted caramel related, though.

Tuesday 5th April was Caramel Day according to My Legoman’s Foodie Days Of Calendar. I hadn’t even noticed the connection until I walked past the poster hung up in my kitchen! I guess it was linked to sweets like caramels, rather than the flavours, though.

My cupcake recipe I’m giving below is more for large/ muffin size cupcakes, not the tiny fairy size ones. I bought the metallic cases from Tesco, I think a while back and hadn’t got round to using the gold or the bronze ones. I don’t know if they’re still available at the moment or maybe they didn’t even come from Tesco. Maybe it was Sainsburys. Anyway, I think I bought them for Christmas baking and didn’t use them all.

I love using Sugar and Crumbs Flavoured Icing Sugars and the Salted Caramel flavour is one I’ve bought over and over again. It just saves the hassle of adding the extra flavour to the buttercream. But having said that, I have mini bottles of Monin sugar syrups (the type you get in coffee shops to flavour your drinks). Did you know they are also great to flavour cakes and other bakes as well as drinks? I often substitute in a teaspoonful of syrup instead of vanilla extract. I had a Monin Caramel Syrup, so a teaspoonful turned the plain sponge into a salted caramel one as well.

I was going to add a filling to my Salted Caramel Cupcakes but I forgot to buy any caramel sauce and I didn’t have enough time to make it from scratch. So the sponge was left as a sponge but topped with the buttercream and the decorations.

To decorate the cupcakes, I found a bag of Flipz Salted Caramel Pretzels in my local B&M Stores and put two of them on top of each cupcake. I love the Flipz Pretzels but they make great decorations as they are the perfect size.

SALTED CARAMEL CUPCAKES

Makes 12 large cupcakes

INGREDIENTS:

• 200g unsalted butter, softened or baking margarine. (I use Pure Sunflower Spread)
• 200g caster sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 200g self raising flour, sifted.
• 1 tsp Monin Caramel Syrup
• 250g unsalted butter, softened
• 500g Sugar and Crumbs Salted Caramel Flavoured Icing Sugar
• Milk to mix
• Whole bag of Flipz Salted Caramel Pretzels.

You will need a 12 hole muffin tin and 12 cake cases of your choice.

• Pre-heat your oven to 160oC. Put the cases into the muffin tin.
• Weigh out all the cupcake ingredients into your mixing bowl: butter or spread, caster sugar, eggs, flour and caramel syrup. Mix well using a hand held mixer for the All-in-one- method.
• Spoon the mixture into the prepared cupcake cases ensuring each cupcake case has an equal amount in it. (I know some people use special scoops. I have tried this before but my scoop broke and I haven’t replaced it!)
• Bake the cupcakes in your oven for 15-20 minutes. Touch one in the middle and if it’s springy to touch, then they’re done. I also listen out to hear if they’re still “singing” to me. No, I haven’t gone crazy, the cakes will be making a singing sound if they’re not ready!
• Put on a wire rack to cool while you make up the icing.
• Beat the second lot of butter for five minutes until pale and creamy. Add the icing sugar bit by bit and a couple of spoonfuls of milk if necessary.
• I use a large star shaped nozzle and a large disposible piping bag for decorating my cupcakes. Prepare the bag for filling with the icing. This I do by using a pint glass to support the bag. I put about a third of the icing in the bag at a time and that’s usually enough to decorate the top of four cupcakes. Pipe a swirl on top of the cupcakes, refill the bag and repeat until you have finished decorating all of them.
• Top each cupcake with the Pretzels.

TOP TIPS:

• I buy my piping bags from Lakeland. I know it’s a waste buying disposible bags but I find reusable ones far too fiddly and messy to wash out.
• https://www.lakeland.co.uk/10666/%E2%80%98Get-A-Grip%E2%80%99-Non-Slip-Disposable-Piping-Bags-Pack-of-50

• My nozzles actually belonged to my late mother in law, Evelyn and I love using them. They also came from Lakeland!

https://www.lakeland.co.uk/2233/Professional-Piping-Set—7-Nozzles-and-1-Piping-Bag

• If you can’t get hold of the Flipz pretzels, I guess any caramel sweet or chocolate would do! I bet Rolos would be a good choice.
• Sugar and Crumbs Icing Sugar is available from their website and from all good retailers, such as Hobbycraft. Various flavours are available.

Please note, this is not advertising or an affiliate post with Lakeland! I’m sharing this information as I love using their products and have been doing so for over years! The same goes for Sugar and Crumbs with their icing sugars and flavoured cocoa powders.

Happy Baking!

Love Sam. Xx