Here are some sweet little cupcakes that are very Autumnal and relevant to the upcoming holidays – Thanksgiving being the one on my mind at the moment. I know they look a little on the messy side but they are the perfect combination of pecan studded cake meets a slightly salty caramel frosting, meets a perfect scattering of roughly chopped pecans. And just delicious!
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups plain (all purpose) flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 1/4 cups coarsely chopped toasted pecans
113 grams/4 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Frosting
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
2 large egg yolks
113 grams/4 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1 cup coarsely chopped toasted pecans
Preheat your ovento 350f. Distribute mini muffin papers into muffin tins.
Whisk both flours, baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt in a bowl and stir in chopped pecans. Beat butter in a mixer until smooth, add brown sugar and beat until light and fluffy, then add eggs. Beat in sour cream and vanilla. Add dry ingredients and beat on a low speed just to blend. Divide batter amongst cupcake cases.
Bake until skewer inserted into center comes out clean, about 23 – 25 minutes for a large cupcake/15 – 18 minutes for a medium cupcake and 10 – 12 minutes for a mini cupcake. Cool in pan on rack 15 minutes.
Frosting
Stir sugar and 1/4 cup water in a heavy based saucepan over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to medium-high and boil until syrup turns a golden brown, swirling the pan occasionally (around 6 – 8 minutes). Remove from heat and add cream (mixture will spit and bubble so please be careful). Stir over low heat until the mixture is fuly incorporated. Whisk egg yolks in medium bowl and very gradually whisk hot caramel into yolks. Cool to room temperature.
Using an electric mixer, beat butter and salt in large bowl until smooth, then beat in caramel. Add powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
Spread or pipe frosting over cupcakes and sprinkle with chopped pecans.
Yield: 12 large, 24 medium or 36 mini cup cakes
Notes: the batter for these is quite thick and doesn’t smooth out too much when baking so ensure you even off the top of the uncooked batter as much as you can. Even with my best attempt of smoothing the tops, my cupcakes looked a little craggy although covering them with the caramel frosting turns them into these little beauties.
© 2011, Michelle. All rights reserved.
