As I’ve mentioned sometimes before, we get to celebrate birthdays quite often. Our birthday season starts in March, then we have another one in April, May, June, July, August and then the last one of the year comes right before New Year’s in December. We finally had the official birthday party for the Niner! As you can imagine, the birthday girl was SO excited! I had my oldest and her two friends organize the party games and the whole affair went smoothly even though we had nearly twenty kids over (including our own).
Since it has been a bit busy lately, I tried to think of a way to make things easy and provide an activity for a bunch of little girls full of giggles and nervous excitement! We decided on cupcakes. The best part was that each guest could decorate their own using an assortment of candies.
I searched the internet for different options. I have sometimes suspected that our birthday girl is a “super-taster”. She has a very particular taste. She has for an instance never eaten candy, only chocolate and preferably dark chocolate. If the other kids get candy, she will come in the kitchen and ask me if I have any baking chocolate on hand. She also likes dark rye bread with cheese and plain yoghurt and she prefers to drink milk or water. They don’t tend to believe me at the dentist when I insist that she never drinks sodas and only ocassionly will have juice.
With these requirements in mind I found a blog called the Brown Eyed Baker that featured a chocolate salted caramel cupcake. I thought that this might do the trick.
Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcakes
1.2 dl plus 1 tbsp/ 1/2 c plus 1 tbsp good quality cocoa powder
1.2 dl plus 1 tbsp/ 1/2 c plus 1 tbsp hot water
5.3 dl/ 2 1/4 c flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
225 g/ 1 c plus one tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
3.8 dl/ 1 2/3 c sugar
3 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1.8 dl/ 3/4 sour cream
Preheat the oven to 175 C/350 F and line two muffin pans with paper liners. I made 22 cupcakes with this recipe.
In a small bowl whisk together the cocoa powder and hot water until smooth.In a separate bowl mix together the flour, bakin soda, baking powder and salt. Combine the butter and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook until the mixture is smooth. I allowed it to bubble for a minute or two so that the sugar was partly melted. Transfer the mixture to an electric mixer and mix for about 4-5 minutes so that it has cooled
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the vanilla and cocoa mixture and mix until smooth. Reduce the mixer speed to lo and add the flour in three parts alternating with the sour cream. Mix only until incorporated.
Spoon the batter into the lined muffin tins, so that they are about 2/3 full. Bake for about 18-20 minutes. If using a convection oven reduce the baking time by a couple of minutes.
Frosting
220 g/ 1 c unsalted butter at room temperature
225 g/ 8 oz cream cheese at room temperature
1.2 dl/ 1/2 c salted caramel sauce
9.5 dl/ 4 c powdered sugar
Click on the following link for the Salted Caramel Recipe by the Brown Eyed Baker. She has great step by step insructions and photos.
Beat together the butter and cream cheese for about 5 minutes. Add the salted caramel and beat until combined. Reduce the speed to low and slowly incorporate the powedered sugar. After the powdered sugar has been added beat on high for another 2 to 3 minutes until is has gained a fluffy texture. Using a pastry bag and a tip of your choice pipe the frosting on the cooled cupcakes. The original recipe by the Brown Eyed Baker garnished the cupcakes with a drizzle of salted caramel. Since these were intended for the birthday party I decided to skip the step.
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Happy birthday, Marian! It looks like you had a fun party! I wish I could have been there… 🙂
And the cupcakes look delicious!
We would have loved to have you here too! Marian thanks you for the birthday package! 🙂
Sounds yummy and the birthday girl looks pretty happy:)
She was a really happy girl! She had quite the smile when everyone sang “Happy Birthday.”
I’m not a big cake eater, but those cupcakes sound delicious.
Your post reminded me of my daughters birthday parties – I always found the girls parties required far more organizing than the boys parties. Little girls like to be entertained, and little boys like to run around and make noise. it sounds like this one was a great success. Happy birthday to your nine year old.
You had me giggling out loud at the computer! 🙂 That is probably quite true that little girls want more entertainment and I’m sure that many little boys parties involve a lot of noise! But I must say that the little girls weren’t very quiet either 🙂
Yes, yes yes!!! Cupcakes are beautiful and a very Happy Birthday to the beautiful birthday girl.
Thank you for the birthday wishes! We had a lively and fun party!
Marian is a beautiful birthday girl! The cupcake decorating is a great idea ….and salted caramel sounds to die for. June is birthday month here and the girls want cupcakes …..so I will tuck this idea away!
The cupcake decorating was not too hard to do and everyone seemed to be pleased. 🙂
Happy birthday to Marian! It sounds like she and I have matching palates 🙂
🙂 Thank you!
Omg! I love how you incorporated salt in both the batter and frosting. I’ll have to go check out those links you posted. And great photos!
-JulieC
Do check it out! Just had a salted caramel latte today with some of the leftover caramel! It was delicious even though I usually prefer my lattes plain.
Oh my goodness!! Salted caramel latte… sounds amazing right about now!
Looks like you had a very special birthday party. I love your daughter’s sweet smile and her beautiful dress.
She loves the dress, and has been using it for about three years! She always pulls it out for birthday parties.
How lovely.
Happy Birthday Marian! If more sprinkles and topping are better than these little cupcakes are the best!
If you ask the guests, I think that they prefer lots of frosting and sprinkles and candies 🙂
Big like for birthday party table, looks great! Happy birthday to BH girl!!
Thank you so much! I’ll pass the message on to her!
This cupcake recipe looks wonderful and what a fun activity for the kids to do!! 🙂
Kenley
Thank you so much for your comment! 🙂 It was a fun and easy activity!
Happy Birthday to the Birthday Girl!! It looks like an amazing party 🙂
Thank you! It certainly was 🙂
Delightful cupcakes. Love that the kids got to decorate their own with candy.
Thank you Kathleen! It gave though busy little ladies something to do. 🙂
A belated happy birthday to your pretty daughter. What a smile!
Letting the guests design their own cupcakes was a great idea. What kid wouldn’t like that?
She was glowing the whole evening enjoying her birthday party and the attention. It makes it rewarding for the parents to see their children happy!
I like the sound of your daughter – that’s a proper chef in the making 🙂 Beautiful photos and lovely ideas as always.
Yes definitely! And we have been working on tasting new flavors with her and slowly but surely she has been learning to like new things!
I absolutely love this salted version. I am drooling as I am reading the ingredient list. Really….danny
And beautiful photos.
Thank you so much! The salt brings a nice contrast to the sweetness of cupcakes. I personally really like the matching a salty and sweet flavor.
How lovely !! The sweet table looks so appetizing and incredibly awesome !! Good job ! Your girl has to be proud of her mother 🙂
Thank you so much, You are so kind!
I hope she had a happy birthday! The cupcakes look great!
I believe she did, she was all smiles!
What a fun party! I would be very excited too if I get cupcakes for my birthday. 🙂 It’s especially fun to let the kids decorate their own.
Let’s hope you do get cupcakes for your birthday! You’ll have give a not-so-discreet-hint to someone 🙂
Sounds like a neat party activity – a cake one can decorate. Belated happy birthday to your daughter. 🙂
Thank you so much, I’ll pass the birthday wishes on to her!
What a fun idea, having everyone decorate their own cupcakes!
We went to a wedding today, and the groom’s cake was dozens of devil’s food cupcakes stacked like a tree. They were the hit of the reception.
I can imagine that cupcakes stacked like a tree can look quite spectacular when arranged nicely. Thanks so much for stopping by!
Just found your blog. Very interesting!
Glad you stopped by! Your blog and cakes are fun to explore!
Thank you 🙂
Fun post as always. Birthday wishes to your pretty girl!
Thank you so much for the birthday wishes!
What a fabulous idea. I have a grandchild birthday coming up and this could be perfect. Of course, my grandchildren would never notice that lovely home made caramel in the icing, so I might save that for my next adult party:-)
🙂 I can imagine that they would enjoy the cupcake decorating even if with a simpler frosting!
Those cupcakes looks professional. You’re a skilled baker!
Happy Birthday greetings to your daughter. My daughter also didnt care for candy. She’d go trick or treating at Halloween and then come home and give all her candy away to other kids at our front door.
Thank you so much! Your daughter sounds just like mine 🙂
Mmmmmh… Looks amazing. I need to try these!! 🙂
Very pretty cupcakes for a very pretty little girl! 🙂