Sandy in Hawaii: Made the Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Caramel Salted Frosting (post 11669).

A

amanda_pennsylvania

Well-known member
They were absolutely the best cupcakes I've ever had. The icing was fantastic--I could have eaten the whole bowl.

A note on the icing:

I had difficulties with it--you have to make a caramel which then goes into the icing. I've never been successful at making candy, and it took three tries to get it right. The recipe says to mix the sugar and water, bring to a boil, and keep boiling until it turns deep amber (about 6-7 minutes, no stirring). Then remove from the heat and slowly add cream and vanilla, stirring until smooth.

So after I burned one batch, I tried again. I got the caramel, but as soon as I removed it from the heat and added the cream, it turned rock hard. (Now, I probably could have put it back on the heat to get it into a liquid form again, but didn't think about that.)

At this point, my husband walked in and saw the steam coming from my ears, so he took over. After the mixture turned amber, he turned the heat WAY down, added the cream and vanilla, and kept stirring for about ten minutes--this was the only way it would stay liquid until the ingredients blended.

So I think this method works better than the instructions. Oh, I would also cut down on the kosher salt--I liked the bite with the sweet, but it was a touch too salty for me.

But the icing is so totally worth it--smooth and creamy.

Thanks for posting!

 
Oooh, thanks for the review, Amanda! I was planning to make it in a couple of weeks.....

so your review is very helpful! I too, struggle with candy making, so I will print your notes along with the recipe.

Thanks!

 
A couple of things about caramel--You can stir it all you want after it becomes caramel because

it will not crystalize at that point. An easy way to check to see if it is the right shade for you is to drizzle some on a white plate to check. The hardened caramel will liquify even if you just let it sit off of heat with the liquid. Some even clean their pot by adding some water a let it sit.

 
I've decided to make these for my birthday next month! smileys/smile.gif

Since my family all LOVE caramel, I think I'll surprise them! ha We're headed to my son-in-law's yacht that weekend and so I think it'd be a great surprise for everyone. Will report back, afterwards.

BTW, last week I made a DOUBLE BATCH of Caramel (recipe in HoF, I think) for my daughter on Tuesday and she and my son-in-law finished it off yesterday! haha They both have been losing weight so ate it up fast so they could get back on their plan! smileys/tongue.gif

 
Good luck! I'll have to try again on my own sometime.

Watch the caramel like a hawk...I lost the first batch because I put something away. Right in that moment it went from caramel to a burned mess.

 
The final product was awesome.

The cupcake was really tender and the icing was great. DH thinks the icing would be great with a chocolate cupcake, too.

 
I'd love to make these but I am Soooo bad at making caramel. I never can get the

timing right. Either it's burned or, as above, when I add the cream I have something in the pan that's as hard as a rock. I KNOW I'm going to try this recipe and I also KNOW the icing won't come out right.

Think I could borrow your DH to help? smileys/wink.gif

 
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