Salty Caramel Cupcakes.

 These were absolutely fantastic. FANTASTIC! The combination of the cake, caramel and salt was magnificent! Seriously. The actual cake is the perfect texture as well. I am for sure going to make the cake with other things because it was just perfect! At the last minute I decided to fill the cupcakes with a little caramel too, I enjoyed it. The one thing that was a bit "off" was the icing, for some reason, mine was a little grainy, but I didn't personally mind it, I actually thought it tasted amazing.
 I did cheat and used store bought caramel ;) I wasn't in the mood to make my own...I WAS in the mood to try spun sugar because I was going to put spun sugar balls on top of the cupcakes..umm, yeah. IT WAS A DISASTER. Horrible. I am not sure if I am ever even going to try it again, I have no clue what I did wrong, but my kitchen is still a sticky hot mess! I wish I would have taken pictures of my kitchen! Instead, I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, oh my.

I let AnnaBella play and pretend like she was making them in her pink oven. Too cute.

Cake:
- 1 cup whole milk
- 4 large egg whites, room temp
- 2 1/4 tsp vanilla
- 3 cups cake flour
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 4 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp
- 3/4 cup heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 350 F. 

In a bowl, mix 1/4 cup of the milk with the egg whites and vanilla extract. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, quickly mix the flour with the sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the butter and the remaining 3/4 cup of milk. Beat at a low speed until blended, then beat at medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Add the egg white mixture in 3 additions, beating the batter on medium-speed for 20 seconds after each addition. 

In another bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the cream until soft peaks form. Stir 1/3 of the whipped cream into the batter, then fold in the rest with a spatula. Using an ice-cream scoop, spoon out the batter evenly amongst the cupcake tins. Do note that the batter does rise a little, so don’t overfill. Bake for 20-24 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centers come s out clean.

Icing:
- 1 stick unsalted butter, room temp
- 1 stick salted butter, room temp
- 2 cups light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 4 cups confectioners sugar
- hot water, to thin out, if needed
- sea salt
- caramel (homemade or purchased)

In a saucepan, melt butter and add brown sugar, whisk. Bring to a boil and lower heat to low. Stir constantly. Remove from heat and add heavy cream..cool until lukewarm, gradually add confectioners sugar and add water to thin, if needed.
Frost and sprinkle with sea salt, add caramel drizzle too!

*the recipe is delicious alone, but like I said, I filled my cupcakes a little bit with caramel as well!