These Salted Caramel Popcorn Cupcakes have a caramel cupcake base with crushed salted caramel popcorn pieces in the batter, salted caramel frosting, and caramel topping with popcorn pieces!
Why These Cupcakes Work
- Caramel flavor in the cupcake from dark brown sugar and crushed popcorn
- Extra popcorn flavor from crushed popcorn in the batter, butter extract, and popcorn decoration
- 2 bowls and 1 whisk required
- Can be made in under an hour
- Simple, accessible ingredients
Caramel Cupcake Ingredients
- All Purpose Flour: It's important to properly measure your flour by using a spoon to scoop the flour into your measuring cups. Read below in "Expert Tips & Tricks" for more information.
- Baking Powder + Baking Soda: These two work together to help the cupcakes rise! The two work to create a gorgeous dome and a light, fluffy texture. Measure carefully and do not substitute one for the other.
- Salt: Salt is SO necessary for flavor in this cupcake, so do not leave it out! It enhances sweetness.
- Unsalted Butter: You'll melt unsalted butter down in this recipe. Doing so means that the batter is easier to whip up and every bite of cupcake has deep butter flavor.
- Vegetable Oil: Vegetable oil adds extra moisture in these cupcakes and helps maintain moisture for longer.
- Dark Brown Sugar: Dark brown sugar has extra nutty flavor which helps the caramel flavor of these cupcakes shine through. Opposite to measuring all purpose flour, pack the sugar into your measuring cup.
- Granulated Sugar: Granulated sugar adds extra sweetness without as much moisture as dark brown sugar.
- Egg: You will need one large egg at room temperature for this recipe. If you forget to leave the egg out ahead of time, place the egg in a bowl of hot water for 5 minutes before using.
- Vanilla + Butter Extract: Vanilla extract adds great flavor to these cupcakes. Butter extract adds THE BEST buttery flavor, enhancing the overall salted caramel popcorn taste!
- Buttermilk: You'll need buttermilk at room temperature. I do not recommend using regular milk as a substitue, as the texture and flavor of the cupcakes will dramatically shift. You can, however, make homemade buttermilk. Read below in "Expert Tips & Tricks" for more information.
- Caramel Popcorn: Caramel popcorn will be used in both the cupcake recipe and as decoration.
FAQ
Caramel corn is a special treat with a popcorn base that is coated in caramel topping. The caramel topping is rather thin but adds the most delicious burst of flavor.
Though I use this caramel popcorn for ease, you absolutely can make homemade caramel popcorn using any recipe you would like.
You can absolutely make caramel sauce from scratch, but I use store-bought caramel sauce in the frosting and for the decoration. It saves some time and effort if you're able to grab a pre-made version at the store.
Salted Caramel Buttercream
Stand Mixer: I highly recommend using a stand mixer to make this frosting if you have one. A hand mixer will work just fine if that is what you have!
Cool Butter: Cool butter requires less preparation and also creates a slightly stiffer frosting. This is helpful considering the salted caramel sauce will soften a frosting, and an already-soft frosting will likely not be stable. If you do not have a stand mixer, use slightly softened butter as opposed to cool butter.
Salted Caramel Sauce: You can use whatever caramel sauce you would like. I use this store-bought sauce to save time and energy, but you are more than welcome to make it from scratch. Just ensure that the caramel is at room temperature when you add it to the frosting.
Expert Tips & Tricks
- Measuring Flour: To properly measure flour, spoon the flour into your measuring cups before using a knife to sweep across the top to level it. If you do not use a kitchen scale and simply scoop your measuring cup into the bag, you will pack the flour into your cups. This could lead to adding over an entire extra ¼ cup of flour to you cupcakes, creating drier, denser cupcakes!
- Homemade Buttermilk: You can make homemade buttermilk with whatever type of dairy milk you have. To do this, add 2 teaspoons of white distilled vinegar or lemon juice to your ⅔ cup of milk. Stir the mixture and let it sit for about 5 minutes before using. It should be thicker in texture and have some chunky pieces.
- Fine Popcorn Crumbs: It's important to use finely crushed caramel corn pieces. Because of this, you will need to use a food processor, or you can place the popcorn in a sealed plastic bag and use the back of a spoon to crush the popcorn down.
Related Recipes
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Salted Caramel Popcorn Cupcakes
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 12 cupcakes 1x
- Category: Cupcakes, Caramel, Caramel Popcorn, Salted Caramel
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Description
These Salted Caramel Popcorn Cupcakes have a caramel cupcake base with crushed salted caramel popcorn pieces in the batter, salted caramel frosting, and caramel topping with popcorn pieces!
Ingredients
For the Caramel Popcorn Cupcakes
- 1 ¼ cups (175g) all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon (2g) baking powder
- ½ teaspoon (3g) baking soda
- ½ teaspoon (6g) salt
- ⅓ cup (73g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 ½ tablespoons (22g) vegetable oil
- ½ cup (115g) dark brown sugar, packed
- 3 tablespoons (38g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg (50g), room temperature
- 2 teaspoons (8g) pure vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon butter extract
- ⅔ cup buttermilk (132g), room temperature
- ½ cup (30g) caramel popcorn, finely crushed
For the Salted Caramel Frosting
- 1 ½ cup (275g) unsalted butter, cool
- 2 ½ cups (275g) powdered sugar
- ⅔ cup (233g) salted caramel sauce, room temperature
- additional salted caramel sauce and caramel popcorn for decoration
Instructions
For the Caramel Popcorn Cupcakes
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a 12-cavity muffin pan with liners.
- In a medium bowl, whisk all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together until smooth.
- In a large bowl, whisk melted unsalted butter, vegetable oil, dark brown sugar, granulated sugar, room temperature egg, pure vanilla extract, butter extract, and buttermilk together until combined.
- Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and use a whisk to combine only until you see the dry ingredients fully disappear into the batter. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl to ensure all of the ingredients are incorporated. Do not continue mixing past this point. Batter should be slightly lumpy.
- Fold crushed popcorn pieces into the batter using a spatula.
- Divide batter among liners, filling each about ⅔ full.
- Bake cupcakes for 17-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with moist crumbs on it, the tops are golden brown in color, and you are able to poke the center of a cupcake with your pointer finger and see it spring back immediately. Allow the cupcakes to fully cool before frosting.
For the Salted Caramel Frosting and Decoration
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or in a bowl with hand mixer, mix cool butter on medium speed until smooth. This should take between 2-3 minutes of mixing.
- Slowly and carefully, add powdered sugar in small increments to the butter, continuing to mix on medium/low speed.
- Add room temperature salted caramel sauce to the frosting and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure the sauce is fully incorporated.
- Frost cooled cupcakes as desired. Top with a small spoonful of extra caramel sauce and additional popcorn pieces if desired. Store cupcakes at room temperature for 4 days covered or in an airtight container.
Keywords: Salted Caramel Sauce, Salted Caramel Cupcakes, Caramel Popcorn, Caramel Corn Cupcakes
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