Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate Cupcakes

I started with a moist chocolate cake substituting 1/2 of the soy milk with Kahlua coffee flavored liqueur. While waiting for the cupcakes to cool I made some caramel. Caramel was fun, it was a waiting game mostly with the candy thermometer. So as I was waiting for the caramel to get to it's specific needed temperature I watched "Who's That Girl" a classic 80's film starring

Madonna- LOVE HER!!! So good times while making the caramel! Then it came time to start whippin up the frosting. I chose to do a dark chocolate frosting. It's a deep, dark satiny frosting and it has a wonderful sheen to it. So after putting the whole hot-mess together with the caramel center hiding under the piped peak of satiny chocolate frosting, I topped it off with some sea-salt. The salt draws out the caramel's (vegan) buttery taste and highlights the sweetness.

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes topped with chocolate buttercream and garnished with walnut's and dried cranberry's! Hoooo wants one says the owl.

Chai Cupcakesalaganza!!!!

So fall is here and I love it! And what better to accompany you on a chill day than a deliciously smooth Chai Cupcake. Chai is a black tea that is brewed strong with a combination of spices and is mixed with milk and sugar. The spices vary from recipe to recipe, but for my recipe I used cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, cardamom and a pinch of pepper.

I loved making my very own chai for this recipe to include in the cake batter and frosting. For the cake itself I opted for brown sugar and maple syrup as sweetener instead of organic sugar. The sweetness is needed to bring out the full flavors of the spices. Topped with a mini cinnamon stick who could possibly say no.