Banana Caramel Blondie

Ingredients: 100 grams butter, 250 grams golden caster sugar, 100 grams white chocolate, 100 grams caramel (Nestel), 2 eggs, 200 grams flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 2 bananas,

Preheat the oven at 170 degrees. Melt in a pan 100 grams butter, 250 grams golden caster sugar, 100 grams white chocolate and 100 grams caramel until you have a smooth mass. Let it cool down a bit. Meanwhile beat 2 eggs. Mix the eggs with the caramel mass. Add 200 grams flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder and 2 sliced bananas. Stir it well. Put the caramel mass in a brownie baking tin lined with baking paper. Place the brownie baking tin approximately 45 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow the blondies to cool and cut in pieces. Enjoy!

Dulce de Leche Caramel Cupcakes

Little sis is in town this week. And that means one thing: lots of cupcakes. We’ve made it our goal this week to finalize the flavors for the wedding. We’re looking for two more flavors to compliment the tried and true Rich Chocolate and Vanilla Bean Cupcakes and Almond Cupcakes. We didn’t even have to think twice about wanting those two gems on the menu. However, we quickly decided that there is such a thing as a person that doesn’t like chocolate, and we need a non-chocolate cupcake recipe in the mix. While some variation of the White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cupcakes might still be in the running (we’re thinking raspberry filling?), we had a few other ideas up our sleeves as well.

Like these. Don’t you ever find yourself dreaming of creamy caramel? Or maybe it’s just me. But I wanted to turn those dreams into a cupcake. We adapted the recipe from our favorite book of all time, Vegan Cupcakes Take over the World. The caramel itself is vegan, made with a combination of brown rice syrup, brown sugar, and soymilk. Taking into account my lactose intolerance, and my fear of burnt sugar, it was a very easy and edible way to make a caramel substitute. Keyword here is substitute. While it was good, it wasn’t great, and lacked the true depth of flavor of a good quality caramel.

The cake itself, however, was divine. Moist and fluffy with a beautiful crumb, it might just be the perfect cupcake base.

To improve on this cupcake, we’re thinking of adding some caramel extract to the cupcake itself. Screw vegan at this point, and get some real life caramel sauce or dulce de leche and drizzle it over top of the cupcakes and mix it into the frosting for a rich and authentic caramel flavor.

Our other, extremely enticing and devious idea: add some applesauce and spices to the cake, top it with the caramel frosting, and voila! Caramel apple cupcakes. You might be seeing that one soon.

Dulce de Leche Caramel Cupcakes

Makes 12 cupcakes. Adapted from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.

INGREDIENTS
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup oil
1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 cup coconut milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

Caramel Buttercream
1 cup butter or margarine, room temperature
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon caramel extract OR 1 tablespoon caramel sauce

Vegan Caramel Sauce
1/4 cup soy milk
1/4 cup soy creamer
1/4 cup soy milk powder
1 tablespoon arrowroot or cornstarch
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup brown rice syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350ËšF.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add sugar and brown sugar and mix. Whisk together the oil, soy milk, coconut milk, lemon zest, and vanilla. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Mix until relatively smooth. Fill cupcake liners with 1/4 cup of batter (should be about 2/3 of the way full). Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden.

For caramel sauce, in a small saucepan, whisk together soy milk, creamer, soy milk powder, and arrowroot. Stir constantly over medium heat until arrowroot is cooked and the mixture starts to thicken, about 4 minutes. Whisk in brown sugar, and then brown rice syrup. Turn up heat to medium high and bring to a gentle boil, then turn heat to low to sustain a low simmer, whisking constantly. Cook until mixture is thick and slightly reduced, about 10 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before drizzling on cupcakes or adding to frosting.

For frosting, whip butter or margarine until fluffy. Add confectioners sugar 1/2 cup at a time, and mix until smooth and fluffy. Add extract and caramel and whip until combined. Spread or pipe onto cooled cupcakes.

Turkis Caramel Banana Cupcakes

After our delicious Valentine’s day dessert of caramelized bananas, I’ve had caramel and banana on the brain. It’s such a rich and satisfying combination, one that I thought would translate perfectly into cupcakes.

However, I had a dilemma. A sugar dilemma. My fear of sugar may have delayed these delicious cupcakes longer than necessary. A few bad experiences with cooked sugar and I’m scarred for life. So no way was I going to attempt to make my own caramel for these cupcakes.

Eventually, though, I decided that there was no need to actually make caramel, when there are plenty of commercial ice cream sauces available. Simply open the jar, drizzle, and done. No cooked sugar needed. Perfect!

I also picked up a little bottle of caramel flavoring, again with the idea of avoiding cooking caramel myself. I added a few drops of the potent stuff to the batter. Nothing intense, but just enough to give the cake that much more depth of flavor.

My buttercream separated just a bit… I got overzealous with the softening of the butter, and once butter has been partially liquefied, well, you really can’t un-do it. I have realized, though, that I had been putting way too much sugar in my buttercream. Using a higher proportion of butter to sugar, adding more soymilk, and then whipping the heck out of it makes a much lighter, fluffier, and slightly less-sweet buttercream. I’m getting better at it, but I’ve still got a ways to go before I’ve mastered the ‘perfect’ frosting.

Caramel Banana Cupcakes with Easy Caramel Buttercream

Makes 20 cupcakes.

INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups plain soymilk
2 1/8 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/8 cups sugar
1/2 cup mashed ripe banana
1/2 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon almond extract

For Frosting:
1 cup butter or margarine, room temperature
2 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons soymilk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2-3 tablespoons caramel topping

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350º. Line muffin tin with paper cupcake liners.

Combined apple cider vinegar and soymilk in small bowl. Stir well and set aside (the mixture will curdle).
In a bowl, mash banana with canola oil until incorporated. Add extracts and mix well.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the curdled soymilk and banana mixtures to the dry ingredients and stir until smooth.

Fill each muffin cup with 1/4 cup of batter. Bake for 20-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a cupcake comes out clean.

Let cool in the pans for 5 minutes, then remove and place on a wire rack. Cool completely before frosting.

For frosting, whip butter with electric mixer until fluffy. Add sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add milk, vanilla, and 2 tablespoons caramel, and beat 3-5 minutes until thick and fluffy. Add more sugar if needed to achieve proper consistency. Spread or pipe onto cooled cupcakes. Drizzle with remaining caramel and enjoy!

Black & Gold Dark Chocolate Caramel Cupcakes

If you want to indulge in something incredibly rich and decadent, I can think of no better way than this cupcake. The moist chocolaty cake is paired with a caramel spiked dark chocolate buttercream, a chocolate on chocolate combination that can’t be beat. Using the Special Dark cocoa powder gives the cupcakes themselves an almost coal-black appearance, a richness of flavor, and a decadence that regular cocoa just can’t compete with.

I attempted to infuse the cakes themselves with caramel. Hoping for a gooey caramel center suspended in the cake, I plopped some caramel candies into the batter before baking. Makes sense, right?

Well, it didn’t quite turn out as I planned.

Instead of a gooey center, the caramel sunk and spread out on the bottom, and then solidified, making for a solid caramel ‘crust’ on the bottom of the cupcake. You couldn’t eat it with the rest of the cupcake, so it was basically like eating a cupcake followed by a caramel candy. I only added the surprise caramels to half of the cupcakes, so you never knew whether your first bite would sink in smoothly in the moist cake, or would it be stopped suddenly by a chewey block of caramel? It’s like cupcake roulette.

Next time? The caramel-filled concept was a good one, but it needs work. I think maybe using a liquid caramel topping instead would work – a dollop on top of the uncooked batter before going in the oven. Or, go the filled route. Bake the cupcakes sans-caramel, and then pump them full of gooey goodness after they’re good and baked.

Black & Gold Dark Chocolate Caramel Cupcakes

INGREDIENTS
1 cup coconut milk
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup special dark cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Frosting:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, room temperature
1/3 cup special dark cocoa powder
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons milk or soymilk
2 tablespoons caramel topping

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin pan with paper liners.

Whisk together the coconut milk, sugar, oil, and vanilla extract and beat till foamy. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add to wet ingredients and beat until no lumps remain (or very few remain).

Pour into liners, filling each with 1/4 cup of batter. Optionally add a dollop of caramel sauce to each cup. Bake 18-22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.

For frosting, cream butter until smooth and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add cocoa powder and beat until incorporated. Add 1 tablespoon soymilk and mix to combine. Add confectioners’ sugar 1/2 cup at a time and mix until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes total. Add caramel topping and mix well. If frosting is too thick, add more soymilk and beat until fluffy. If frosting is too soft, add more sugar and again, beat until fluffy. You want the frosting to keep it’s shape when piped on to the cupcake, but still fluffy enough that it stays light and soft when eaten. Top with a drizzle of caramel sauce if desired.