Caramel Sundae Cupcakes

It's been awhile since I've done a post, not to mention one on cupcakes!  Spring is here and suddenly I have felt the need to tackle much needed chores around the house.  The mess just became too much for me and I threw my hands up and said 'Thats it! Everything is going!'  I didn't really mean that but I have had enough of all the stuff that we accumulate.  I am starting to live under the philosophy that less is more so anything not being used is going.  My husband was a little bit nervous but I assured him that he was still useful.  After all, there is a rather large deck being built that I need finished for my 30th.  By the end of last week my manic clean came to a slow halt and by Saturday I was ready to put my baking hat on again.

I have been eying up for awhile salted caramel cupcakes.  I love the combination of salt and sweet so the idea of these cupcakes sounds divine.  I got stuck in and made the caramel sauce and as soon as I tried it I started thinking peanuts (because I love peanuts) and then I started to think bananas, and then I thought how wonderful all of these would be in a cupcake.  And so became Caramel Sundae Cupcakes. I guess the salted caramel cupcakes will have to wait.

For the cupcake itself I made the one bowl chocolate cake into cupcakes.  You can find this recipe here.  This recipe makes approximately 30 cupcakes.  I made the mistake of filling them too much and only got 24.  Quite a few of the cupcakes spilled over looking much like mushroom tops.  I suggest only filling the cases 2/3 full.  Personally I would halve the recipe for these cupcakes as 30 is quite a lot and these babies are rich.

I then made the caramel sauce.  I found this recipe here.  I don't own a candy thermometer so I really had to guess on the colour of the caramel.  I think I slightly overcooked it but only just as the caramel really did come out super yummy.  If you don't want to make your own caramel you can now buy it already made from sweetened condensed milk.  Once the caramel was made and the cupcakes were cooled I used a round cutter and cut out a hole from the centre of the cupcake and then spooned a teaspoon of the carmel into it.  On top of the cupcake I cut up two bananas and put 2 slices on each cupcake.  I then spooned a dollop of buttercream icing and drizzled caramel sauce and crushed up peanuts on top.  As said previously these are ridiculously rich but crazy good.  They are really more of a eat with a fork cupcake.