These cakes are light, fluffy, and full of flavor. Best of all? They’re gluten free, but you’d never guess it by the texture or flavor!
In case you are thinking, “hey Sabrina, this is your first gluten free treat for us”… yes! You are right! And it is courtesy of my close blogging friend Jacqui, whose blog is an amazing display of gluten-free deliciousness. Since I have been traveling non-stop recently she offered to pop in and share these AMAZING cupcakes and I jumped at the chance to have them share them with all of you! So without further ado….
Hello, I’m Jacqui from DishingDelish.com! I’m a fun-loving gluten free cook who’s passionate about sharing easy homemade recipes. During the day I work as a full-time food scientist in New York City, but at night I’m a chef, food photographer, and writer. I hope you stop by and visit me at Dishing Delish, where you’ll find recipes of all kinds that I know you’re going to love!
I’m so happy my friend Sabrina has been nice enough to let me come over here today. I love browsing through Dinner, Then Dessert (so many recipes, so little time!), and can’t wait to share one of my all-time favorite cupcake recipes with you today, the Gluten Free Salted Caramel Cupcake. Thank you, Sabrina!
Let’s talk about the caramel sauce first. It’s surprisingly easy to make! You won’t even need a candy thermometer.
In the first step you need to melt the sugar. I highly recommend using a bigger pot than you think you need for this one. When you add the butter and cream, the liquid sugar will bubble and rise, and the last thing you want is for it to boil over. I also recommend using a long spoon to keep your hand further from the hot sugar.
The great thing about this sauce is that it will last for up to two weeks in the refrigerator, and you can even give it as a gift. Attach a recipe or a bag of pretzels to a cute little jar for a treat everyone is going to ask for over and over again.
Now it’s time toThis is a pretty basic recipe for buttercream frosting, with a few special additions (like caramel and cream cheese).
I have a few simple tips to help you make amazing buttercream frosting:
- It’s important to let the butter soften to room temperature before working with it. This will ensure that your ingredients will mix together nicely, and you won’t have big pieces of butter throughout your frosting.
- If your frosting is too warm after you make it, you can refrigerate it for a half hour to an hour to get it cold enough to work with. Any more than that (like overnight) and you’ll have to leave it on the counter to come back to room temperature.
- Never frost warm cakes. Your icing will melt if your cakes haven’t cooled completely.
Now it’s time for the good stuff, decorating! You can top these salted caramel cupcakes with anything that goes well with salted caramel. I used gluten free pretzels here, but you can also add chocolate, caramel candies, or other salty snacks like nuts.
Then drizzle with as much caramel sauce as you’d like! Add a little drizzle, or a big ole’ spoonful. It’s up to you.
Personally, I’m on team Big Spoonful anytime it comes to Salted Caramel Cupcakes.
Jacqui is a New York-based author, food stylist, food photographer, and recipe developer. For more great recipes like this, visit her at DishingDelish.com, a food blog that focuses on easy gluten free recipes for the home cook. She also loves to connect on Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter!Gluten Free Salted Caramel Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the Cupcakes
- 210 grams Gluten Free All Purpose Flour (about 1 1/4 cup, depending on your flour blend)
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup light cream
- 1 tbsp . vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 tsp . baking powder
- 1/4 tsp . kosher salt
For the Caramel Sauce
- 1 cup white sugar
- 6 tbsp . unsalted butter , at room temperature, cut into pieces
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 tsp . kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp . vanilla extract
For the Buttercream Frosting
- 4 cups confectioner's sugar
- 1 cup unsalted butter , at room temperature
- 1 cup caramel sauce
- 3 tbsp . cream cheese
- 1 tsp . vanilla extract
Additional Topping
- Gluten Free Pretzels (optional)
Instructions
For the Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease or add liners to cupcake pan and set aside.
- Using a stand mixer or electric hand mixer, beat together butter, sugar, and vanilla.
- Then beat in eggs until combined.
- In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Add flour mixture to butter mixture slowly until fully incorporated.
- Slowly add cream until all ingredients are fully mixed together.
Add batter to cupcake pan evenly. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Remove cakes from oven and allow to cool completely before frosting.
- When cupcakes are completely cool, pipe frosting on top and garnish with a gluten free pretzel (optional) and an additional drizzle of salted caramel.
For the Caramel Sauce
- In a large pot, add sugar and cook over medium-low heat.
- When sugar begins to melt, stir constantly until completely liquid and it begins to turn caramel-brown.
- Carefully add butter and continue to stir. This will rapidly bubble and rise slightly.
- Once butter is melted, slowly add cream and vanilla extract.
- Stir in kosher salt and remove from heat to cool to room temperature before using in buttercream.
For the Buttercream Frosting
- In a stand mixer (or with an electric hand mixer) beat together butter, cream cheese, and vanilla extract. Slowly sift in sugar while still mixing.
- When sugar is fully incorporated, add (cooled) caramel sauce. Beat for a few additional seconds to fully incorporate caramel sauce.
Recipe Notes
Be very careful when working with hot sugar. For the caramel sauce, use a bigger pot and long spoon.
I’m made this recipe exactly as says however the cupcakes sunk in and are gooey in the middle after cooking. What could be the issue ?
Buttercream and caramel recipe turned out great!
Baking can be tricky to pinpoint exactly what might have happened because it could be from many things. Usually though, cupcakes sink in if the batter is overmixed which creates air pockets that then fall later but if they were gooey inside, it also sounds like they needed to bake longer. Hope this helps for next time.
Amazing !! The Carmel is labor intensive but worth It. So happy with these gluten free cupcakes!
Thanks for coming back to let me know how much you enjoyed them! I really appreciate the 5 star rating.
Oh my goodness, these are so wonderful. We had them at a baby shower and they were a hit! Somewhat labor intensive but well worth the effort to make your own caramel sauce. I wouldn’t change a thing.
Thanks for dropping by to let me know! I’m so glad you guys enjoyed it!
Seems bizarre these are listed in a sugar free cookbook!
So, I made these cupcakes, and they were delish. For the sauce- Can’t you just use caramel Ice Cream Topping? Oh well, that’s what I used. Also, all around, the cupcake was a whole lot more sweet than salty, and I wanted more of a balanced mix. So, I added some ground up gf pretzels to the frosting. But, this isn’t a complaint comment. It’s a complement. So, thanks, Sabrina, for sharing this recepie.
These look great! I’m assuming whatever flour blend you use it needs to have the xanthan gum steady in it?
Thank you so much! Yes, I used a gluten free all purpose flour that already contained it. 🙂