Dulce de Leche Cupcakes

These cupcakes without the caramel stuffing are tasty; with caramel stuffing, they are ridiculously tasty! They are dense, which is especially important if you plan on stuffing them because they are easy to cut.

Picture-less recipe is at the bottom of this post. 

Before you start the cupcakes, you need to leave 8 hours to make the easy peasy dulce de leche. To do this, take a can of sweetened condensed milk and remove all labels. Throw it in a crock pot on low for 8 hours. After it cools, you have dulce de leche or easy peasy, gooey caramel!

Then we start on the cupcakes. It might seem tedious, but this recipe uses two bowls. In the first, add the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Mix this up.

In the second bowl, combine the sugar and eggs.

Mix these together.

Keep mixing until they are kind of frothy.

Add the vanilla.

Then add the butter and mix again.

Then add this wet mixture to your dry mixture and mix. Mix. Mix. Mix.

Then you add some sour cream. Can you guess what you do next? MIX!

Then you scoop your batter into wrapper lined cupcake pans.

Bake 10 minutes, then rotate the pans. This is what they look like after 10 minutes.

Then bake them for 10 more minutes and they should be done and will look like this.

Mmm! Beautiful cupcakes!

If you plan on stuffing them, cut about a 1" hole out of the middle.

Then fill the cavities with gooey caramel goodness.

While you are at it, add some caramel to your frosting!

Then frost. I use a single recipe of frosting for a double batch of cupcakes because I do not like a lot of frosting.

Then enjoy your cupcakes!

If you want the cupcakes to be salted caramel, simply add a dash of coarse salt right before serving. Om nom nom.

Directions

• Prepare caramel by putting a can of sweetened condensed milk (with labels removed) in a crock pot on low for 8 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line pans with cupcake wrappers. Single makes about a baker's dozen, double makes about 29.
• In bowl one, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
• In bowl two, beat together the sugar and eggs until slightly frothy. This can take up to 2 minutes.
• Add the vanilla and beat together.
• Add the butter and beat together.
• Combine mixtures from bowls one and two with beater.
• Mix in the sour cream.
• Fill the cupcake wrappers. 
• Bake for 10 minutes, then rotate pans. 
• Bake for another 10 minutes or until cupcakes are golden and a toothpick comes out clean.
• Once cupcakes are cooled, cut a small circle out of the top. 
• Divide the caramel between the cupcakes, reserving some for the icing.
• Prepare icing by beating together softened butter, powdered sugar, and caramel until smooth.
• Frost the cupcakes.
• If you want salted caramel cupcakes, sprinkle tops of cupcakes with coarse salt just before serving.
• Enjoy!