Salted Carmel Double Chocolate Brownie Cupcakes

By á-4648

This will make 18 regular sized brownie cupcakes.

Butterface Cakes: http://www.butterfacecakes.blogspot.com/

Ingredients

• Brownie Cupcakes:
• 4 oz good dark chocolate (72% cocoa or more), broken into small pieces
• 2/3 cup unsalted butter
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 1/4 cups white flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 cup good quality chocolate chips (I like Ghirardelli)
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted lightly
• Salted Caramel Filling:
• 1/2 cup heavy cream (whipping cream)
• 5 Tbsp butter
• 1 tsp fleur de sel
• 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• Salted Caramel Swiss Meringue Buttercream:
• 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter (room temperature, cut into Tbsp sized pieces)
• 5 egg whites (or 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp pasteurized egg whites)
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp vanilla bean paste
• 1/3 cup cooled salted caramel filling (above)

Details

Preparation time 75mins
Cooking time 75mins

Preparation

Step 1

Brownies:
(adapted from Food and Drink magazine)

Preheat oven to 350°.

Using a large deep pot, melt chocolate and butter together over low heat and stir until smooth. Remove from heat and add eggs, sugar and vanilla bean paste, stirring until well blended.

Mix flour together with baking powder and salt. Add to chocolate mixture, stirring well. Add chocolate chips and pecans. Mix lightly.

Spoon batter into baking cups, filling each ¾ full. Bake for approximately 17 minutes or until centre feels firm to the touch. Cool for 5 minutes in baking tin and then remove to cooling rack.


Salted Caramel Filling:
In small saucepan, heat cream, butter and fleur de sel over medium heat until butter is melted and mixture is just coming to a boil. Remove from heat and set aside. Add vanilla bean paste and stir.

In large heavy pot, mix sugar, water and corn syrup together. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Boil for about 6 minutes or until mixture is a medium to dark amber colour. (At this point it can turn dark very fast and will give you a burnt taste, so watch it carefully). Remove from heat. Slowly add cream mixture. Be careful, as it will bubble up. Give a quick stir and then let mixture bubble on its own for a couple of minutes. Place back over medium heat for only about one minute, or until mixture bubbles again, then remove from heat again and let it bubble back down. Pour into a heat-proof bowl and let cool.

Salted Caramel Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Place egg whites and sugar in mixing bowl and whisk lightly with hand whisk until blended. Place bowl over pot of simmering water and whisk occasionally until mixture reaches 160° on a candy thermometer.

Remove bowl from heat and place on stand mixer fixed with whisk attachment. Whip egg white mixture on medium high until it is at the stiff peak stage. This may take 5 or 6 minutes and bottom of bowl should no longer be warm to the touch.

Switch to paddle attachment and adjust mixer to low (or stir) setting. Add butter slowly – one piece at a time. Add vanilla. Adjust mixer to medium high and continue beating until mixture pulls away from the sides looks smooth and creamy. Don’t worry if your mixture turns soupy or looks curdled at first. Continue beating and it will all come together – trust me!

Add salted caramel filling and continue beating until well blended.

Assembly:
To fill cooled cupcakes with salted caramel, you can core cupcake with a knife and fill core with caramel; you can inject warm caramel by using an injector tool; or you can use a pastry bag fitted with a Bismarck tip (long narrow tip used for filling pastries) to inject cooled caramel.

Top each brownie cupcake with a swirl of the buttercream, then drizzle with salted caramel (warm slightly in microwave for better drizzling consistency). Sprinkle a pinch of fleur de sel on top of each brownie cupcake and top with chocolate (in the form of a premade chocolate, chocolate curls, chocolate sprinkles, etc.). Enjoy!