I♥cuppycakes!

I Sees Chocolate Caramel Crunch Cupcakes

Mmmm… chocolate.

There are lots of different brands of chocolate out there. Vosges, Hershey, Ghiradelli, Scharffen Berger, Valrhona, Godiva, Dagoba, Guittard, Askinosie and I am sure with some stealth googling, I could go on and on. Obviously we love our chocolate to have so many competing companies, no?

Now you might now know all the ones I listed above and heck I probably don’t even know half of whats really out there. For all I know, there might be a chocolate that is beacoup bucks b/c its defecated from a monkey-cat mammal thing from Sri Lanka. Oh wait. That’s a coffee. Seriously! No joke! But hey I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a chocolate too. I bet you are all reaching for a chocolate bar right about now eh?

As I was saying… you might not know all the brands out there but EVERYONE knows Sees candy. Am I right?

I always use the holidays as an excuse to buy a box (or 10) of Sees candy. I tell myself they are gifts for [insert coworker or random family member here] but for some reason I never give them away. Go figure!

But I am THAT girl that takes a bite of every chocolate in the Sees candy box so that I can taste them all. Actually I take a bite and then give it to my husband. So if you think about it, I am really not wasting it. Its actually a courtesy so I can tell my husband what the favor is. I am just a good wifey like that. (Yeah that almost sounds believeable. HAHA)

So imagine my delight when Chris of Sees candy sent me a box of Molasses chips and all I had to do was bake a Sees-inspired cupcake and pimp out Sees website. I can totally do that! What? I never said I couldn’t be bought. Come on. Don’t look at me like that. IT’S CHOCOLATE!

Chocolate gift – links to homepage at http://www.sees.com
Chocolate Fundraiser – links to fundraising page at http://fr.sees.com

Check out all their chocolate deliciousness. I know I did. For longer than I care to admit. You might want to have a napkin handy to wipe up the drool too. Suddenly I am craving that chocolate, caramel and marshmallow one. Evil website.

Good thing my NY resolutions have nothing to do with chocolate abstinence or I’d be so screwed right now. Speaking of… 11 days in, how you doing on your NY resolutions? No comment huh? I hear ya. HAHA

(Recipe adapted from Cupcakes by Shelly Kaldunski | photos from me)

Makes 12 cupcakes

INGREDIENTS

For chocolate cupcake
2/3 cup AP flour
2-1/2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
3 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup + 3 tbsp unsalted butter, cut in pieces
3/4 cup + 2 tbsp sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

For swiss meringue caramel swirl buttercream
3 egg whites, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
pinch salt
1 cup unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces, room temp
1/4 cup caramel ice cream topping

chocolate-toffee, crushed, garnish (I used Sees Candy Molasses chips)

INSTRUCTIONS

To make chocolate cupcakes—
Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare cupcake pan with liners.

In a large bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. In heatproof bowl, place chocolate and butter over simmering water and stir constantly until melted, about 5 minutes. Let the chocolate mixture cool to room temp before adding sugar. Stir sugar until incorporated.

Add eggs, one at a time, mixing to combine after each egg. Beat in vanilla. Gently stir in the flour mixture, a little at a time, until all combine. Do not overmix.

Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full. Bake for about 20-22 minutes. Let cool before frost.

To make buttercream—
In a large heatproof bowl, combine the egg whites and sugar. Set the bowl over simmering water in a saucepan and whisk constantly until sugar is completely dissolved (160F), about 2 minutes. Remove from heat.

In a stand mixer using a whisk attachment, whip egg white mixture on high until it holds stiff peaks, about 5-6 minutes.

Switch to flat beater and add the salt. Add butter a few at a time, beating well after each addition. Don’t worry if buttercream starts to look curdled. Just keep beating on until buttercream is smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes. Add the caramel ice cream topping to the buttercream, folding only until swirled but not completely combined.

ENJOY!

Husband rating: A/A+
He’s not really a big caramel fan like me but he really liked this cupcake esp the toffee bits.

Wifey rating: A
The “cake” is chocolate-y and moist and the SMBC frosting is light and creamy. Love the swirls of caramel in the frosting. Its kind of hard to see in the picture. I’ll probably add more caramel next time too. Maybe 1/2-1 cup to pump up the caramel swirl. Honestly you really can’t go wrong with a chocolate and caramel combination. Can you? haha

Other rating: (Will update tomorrow with CW ratings)