Salted Caramel Cupcakes

There are not very many caramel cake recipes out there.  Most caramel cake recipes are actually a yellow cake with caramel icing.  I was determined to make a caramel cake and, well, I succeeded!  It tastes pretty darn good too 😀  If you are able to find caramel pudding mix in your area, that would be a great substitution for the vanilla pudding mix that I used in this recipe.  I am very excited that the cupcakes and icing turned out great for this recipe since I kinda made it up as I went along.  My grandmother makes an amazing caramel cake, but as with all of the others I have had, hers uses a yellow cake and caramel icing.  I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we did.

Gather your ingredients:

• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 1 box vanilla instant pudding mix
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup caramel ice cream topping
• 2 sticks butter
• 1/2 cup caramel ice cream topping
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp sea salt

 Get to baking!

• Mix cake mix, eggs, oil, water, caramel topping and pudding mix together on medium for 2 minutes.
• Fill 24 cupcake cups 1/2 full with batter.
• Bake in oven preheated to 350° for 25-30 minutes or until you can stick a toothpick in the center and it comes out clean.
• Allow cupcakes to cool. I always cool them in the refrigerator because that locks in the moisture better than allowing them to cool on the counter top.
• Mix butter and 1/2 cup caramel topping together on low for 1 minute or until well combined.
• Mix powdered sugar into butter mixture 1/2 cup at a time until well blended.
• Add vanilla extract to frosting mixture and mix on medium for one minute. Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix on medium for one additional minute.
• Add icing to piping bag and pipe onto cupcakes or just spread it with a spoon.
• Drizzle top of cupcakes with additional caramel topping and sprinkle with sea salt.
• ENJOY!