caramel and ganache cupcakes

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!! So far my year has been pretty good except for...............

Having camera difficulties so the posts on here might be few and far between for a while, I have 1 more recipe ready to post but until I get a new camera it may be a while..:( also I wasn't really planning on posting this one so my pictures aren't very good..but these were really cute and yummy!!! They do not need the little gingerbread man but when I was making these I had these little guys sitting around and I thought they would be so cute sitting on top of my yummy cupcakes..and well they were!!! This is a cake mix recipe but its very doctored up..I kind of think that by the time I'm done doctoring a mix up its probably better than anything completely scratch.

I filled these with chocolate ganache, I filled a pastry bag with the ganache and a big star tip, insert it into cupcake and squeeze filling until it kinda slides back up to the top..does that make sense?? if not let me know and I'll try to help you figure it out!! the frosting was also using a large star tip. 1A I believe.



caramel cupcake
-1 box white cake mix
-1 c flour
-1 pkg butterscotch pudding
-1 c loosely packed light brown sugar
-1/2 c caramel sauce(like the ice cream topping kind)
-1 c water
-1 c sour cream
-3 eggs
-2 tbsp oil
mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients until combined fill cupcakes about 2/3 full bake at 350 for about 18-20 minutes

chocolate ganache
-1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
-1 cup heavy cream
-1 T sugar
microwave until melted and creamy about 1 minute at a time, let cool until thick enough to frost a cake without running all over...put it in the fridge for awhile or it will take forever at room temp..

butter creme frosting...
-1 cup shortening
-2 sticks softened real butter
-1 T. vanilla
-1 tsp butter flavoring(optional)
-2 lbs powdered sugar
-6-8 T. milk
-caramel syrup to taste

beat in mixer or with handheld until light and fluffy..this makes a TON of frosting.. I took about half of the frosting and put in separate bowl and added the caramel till I thought it tasted good, then I put the rest of the frosting in the fridge. It should last quite a long while. With the remaining frosting just bring it back to room temperature before you use it and whip it again to make it light and fluffy.

after I put the cupcakes together I drizzled the frosting with a little more of the caramel sauce, just for presentation, they really don't need it!!!! yummy!!!!