Salted Caramel

Follow my recipe for Salted Butter caramel sauce.

Vanilla cupcakes 

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a cupcake/muffin tin with paper liners.
2. In a bowl, mix and sift together the dry ingredients: flour, salt, and baking powder.
3. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter with sugar using an electric whisk for 2-3 minutes until the mixture is pale and creamy.
4. Add the eggs and vanilla, then beat again for 2 minutes until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
5. Alternately add the dry mixture and buttermilk to the batter, mixing with a spatula until smooth.
6. Divide the batter evenly among the 12 paper liners, filling them about two-thirds full.
7. Bake for about 18-20 minutes without opening the oven door during baking, until they are lightly golden on top. Five minutes before the end of baking, insert a toothpick into the center to check if they are cooked through.
8. Let cool briefly, then remove from the tin and cool completely on a wire rack.

Caramel Frosting

1. In a large bowl, place the cold mascarpone, cold heavy cream, sifted powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and slightly warmed salted caramel.
2. Whisk with an electric mixer at medium speed for about 2 minutes until you get a smooth and thick frosting.
3. Transfer the frosting to a large piping bag fitted with a decorating tip.

Assembly

1. Remove the center of the cupcakes using a cupcake corer or apple corer and fill it with salted caramel.
2. Decorate the top of the cupcakes with caramel frosting.
3. Drizzle some caramel on top of the cupcakes and refrigerate for 1 hour before serving.