I LOVE FALL!! The breeze is so cool, the sun is so warm and low in the sky. Second to none, however, is fall food. We made our first batch of chili a week ago...it was delicious!! Last year I made these little gems quite a bit (see here), but with a different caramel frosting recipe. The frosting wasn't my favorite...it would get hard and crumby after a couple hours. Bummer. So this year I took it upon myself to figure out a yummier way to make a caramel frosting...better yet, a SALTED caramel frosting. My inspiration came from a recipe I found on pinterest, however, they had you MAKE the salted caramel before you added it to the frosting. Now, I am all for making caramels! I make and wrap at least 200 each Christmas season, but making the caramel from scratch in this case defeats the ease of making the cupcakes (note the ingredients list for the cupcakes below)! Luckily I have a trusty little friend up my short-cut sleeve and his name is Joe. (He is a trader of some sort...haven't figured that one out yet.) He carries a wonderful little jar of salted caramel sauce that did the trick! When the substitution was made and a little more tweaking was done the result is sweet and salty perfection! Go ahead...take a lick...wait for it...wait for it...BAM! That rich, salty caramel sneaks up on you huh?! Do you want another?
Cupcakes:
1 box spice cake
1 small can pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
Preheat oven to 350. Mix the two together and fill mini cupcake (or mini muffin) pans. Bake for about 15 minutes. This will make about 40 mini cupcakes.
Frosting:
8 oz. salted butter, softened
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
2-3 tbsp. heavy cream or whole milk
4-5 cups powdered sugar
10 oz. jar Trader Joes Salted Caramel Sauce
Mix the butter and cream cheese together. Alternate adding 1 cup of powdered sugar and 1 tbsp. of cream until desired consistency. Add the whole jar of caramel sauce and mix until incorporated. Spread on cupcakes and enjoy!