Thanks so much, Nancy – they were a quite tasty combination of flavors! I just took my favorite chocolate cupcake recipe and then made up a batch of vanilla swiss meringue buttercream (used Sweetapolita’s recipe – found here: http://sweetapolita.com/2010/11/rich-ruffled-chocolate-celebration-cake/ ) and added vanilla bean caramel sauce until it had enough caramel flavor for my taste! For the caramel sauce, I used Annie’s Eats recipe which is just to die for!! Here’s a link for that one: http://annies-eats.com/2011/07/25/vanilla-bean-caramel-sauce/ This is also the same sauce I drizzled on top before sprinkling a tiny bit of sea salt on top. I will say this – I think the next time I make these – I’ll even add a tiny bit of the caramel sauce inside each chocolate cupcake as well! Nothing major, just enough to get a nice little burst of caramel inside the cupcake as well :)
Becky, North Carolina, http://www.cakesbybecky.blogspot.com