http://www.marthastewart….colate-cupcakes

For my co-workers’ birthday, I tried Martha Stewart’s One Bowl Chocolate Cupcake Recipe and topped them with dark chocolate salted caramels from Trader Joe’s. I wanted to do something with salted caramels because one of my coworkers likes salty and sweet desserts rather than just sweet desserts.

Here is the result:

The recipe:

Ingredients

Makes 18 to 24

* 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (substituted dark chocolate cocoa)
* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 1/2 cups sugar (only used 1 cup)
* 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
* 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 2 large eggs
* 3/4 cup warm water
* 3/4 cup buttermilk (substituted 2% milk)
* 3 tablespoons safflower oil (substituted vegetable oil)
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners; set aside. Sift together cocoa powder, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Add eggs, warm water, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla, and mix until smooth, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl to assure batter is well mixed.
2. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full. Bake until tops spring back when touched, about 20 minutes, rotating pan once if needed. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.

Cupcakes will keep, covered, for up to three days.

The cupcake batter came out really runny but baked up fine. I substituted a few items (see above). I put the caramels on the top of each cupcake (enough batter to make 24, perfect because each box of TJ’s salted caramels has 12 and I bought 2 boxes) as the cupcake was setting, about 15 minutes into baking. This also allows some time for the chocolate and caramel to melt to make the gooey topping.

The salt really helps with the sweetness of the cupcake. They were a big hit!