These are THE BEST salted caramel stuffed cupcakes! They start with a homemade (but easy!) rich and buttery salted caramel sauce. Then, that caramel sauce is stuffed into the center of perfect vanilla cupcakes, is used to make the silkiest salted caramel cream cheese buttercream, AND is then swirled into the buttercream on top. I really put caramel every place I could in this recipe and I have no regrets about that.

What makes these Salted Caramel Stuffed Cupcakes the BEST?

The SALTED CARAMEL SAUCE. Not to brag or anything, but my homemade salted caramel sauce is unreal. It’s rich, buttery, slightly salty, and has a deep caramel flavor, but it’s also SO easy to make. You don’t even need a candy thermometer. You can find the recipe here. You can absolutely sub a store bought salted caramel sauce in this recipe if you’re in a pinch, but just make sure whichever caramel sauce you use has a smooth and pourable consistency.
PERFECT Vanilla Cupcakes. I recently started testing cake and cupcake recipes using the reverse creaming method and I’m here to confirm that it is FAB. These vanilla cupcakes are soft and moist and have the most perfect and tender crumb. Plus, the reverse creaming method isn’t any more difficult than the traditional way of making cupcakes.
The Salted Caramel Cream Cheese Buttercream. Otherwise known as the best buttercream of all time. It’s perfectly smooth, creamy, and silky. It’s also so easy to make. Good luck on not eating it all straight out of the bowl.

Tools & Equipment

Kitchen Scale This is the only way to guarantee that your bakes turn out exactly the same as mine. It’s so SO easy to improperly measure ingredients when using measuring cups/spoons. Using a kitchen scale when baking also means less dishes so it’s really a win-win.
Cupcake Pans I really like these cupcake pans from USA Pan, but any metal cupcake or muffin pan will do the trick. I recommend avoiding using silicone or nonstick pans because they don’t hold their heat as well and can cause your cupcakes to bake unevenly.
Spatulas I use regular sized and mini rubber spatulas every time I bake. It’s especially important to do a final mix by hand when making cupcakes to ensure the batter is mixed evenly and there’s no butter or eggs resting in the bottom of your mixing bowl. If your batter isn’t mixed evenly, your cupcakes won’t bake evenly.
Light Colored Bottom or Stainless Steel Sauce Pan I recommend using a stainless steel sauce pan when making caramel sauce at home. Stainless steel is light enough in color that you’ll be able to easily monitor what’s happening with the sugar and it also conducts heat evenly so the sugar caramelizes evenly and doesn’t get too hot in one area and burn.
Piping Bag & Tips This isn’t required for this recipe, but if you want to pipe the frosting on top and swirl extra caramel sauce into the frosting, you’ll need a piping bag and tips. I use these disposable piping bags, and a french star tip (Wilton 8B or Ateco 869) for these cupcakes.
Cupcake Liners My go to when making cupcakes is a simple natural parchment liner. I think they’re classic and they let the cupcakes shine.
Stand or Electric Hand Mixer Buttercream requires a LOT of mixing, so if you have a stand mixer, I’d recommend that. But, a hand mixer is fine, it’ll just require a bit more work.

How to make Salted Caramel Stuffed Cupcakes

Make the Salted Caramel Sauce.

First, you’ll need to make the salted caramel sauce. You can find my recipe for homemade salted caramel sauce here. If you half my recipe, it will be the perfect amount for these cupcakes. (Or make the full batch so you can eat some straight off a spoon.)

You can also use your favorite store bought salted caramel sauce, just be sure to use one that is smooth and has a pourable consistency. If you use a caramel sauce that sets and isn’t pourable, it will set inside the cupcakes and be too sticky and hard to chew.

Make the Vanilla Cupcakes.

This vanilla cupcake recipe uses the reverse creaming method and has quickly become my new go-to recipe. When making cupcakes the traditional way, you’d typically first cream together the butter and sugar. But, in the reverse creaming method, you start by whisking all of the dry ingredients including the sugar, then mixing in the butter. And what happens is, the butter gets broken down into small pieces and coated in flour which slows down gluten formation and results in a super tender, soft, and moist cupcake.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Start by adding the dry ingredients – flour, cornstarch, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt – to the bowl of your stand mixer and giving that a quick whisk to combine. Then, give the butter a rough chop before adding it to the mixer bowl along with the vegetable oil. Using the paddle attachment, mix on medium speed until it looks like wet sand, as pictured below. The butter should be in small pieces and completely coated with the dry ingredients.

In a separate bowl or large liquid measuring cup, add the water and sour cream and whisk until smooth. Then, add the vinegar, eggs, egg yolk, and vanilla. Whisk again until smooth. Then, with the mixer running on low speed, slowly stream the wet ingredients in and continue to mix until combined. Stop the mixer and do a final mix by hand with a rubber spatula to ensure everything is evenly incorporated. The batter should be on the thinner side. If there are some small lumps of butter – that’s okay!

Line two cupcake pans with liners – this recipe makes 15 cupcakes, so bake 7-8 per pan and space them out so they bake evenly! Fill each cupcake liner half full – I do this by using a traditional cookie scoop to make sure each cupcake is exactly the same size. Bake at 350 for 15-16 minutes or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean with a few moist crumbs attached. Let cool completely.

Make the Salted Caramel Cream Cheese Buttercream.

Add the room temperature butter and cream cheese to the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Cream on high speed for a total of 10 minutes, stopping every couple of minutes to scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl. This step is really important for getting that super smooth and silky finish.

Add half of the powdered sugar (2.5 C) and mix on the lowest speed for 3 minutes. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl again, then add the remaining 2.5 C of powdered sugar and mix on low for another 3 minutes.

Add in the salted caramel sauce and mix until combined. When adding the caramel, you want it at a room temperature, or SLIGHTLY warm. NOT HOT or it will melt your buttercream. But if you add it when it is just slightly warm, it will help to create the silkiest texture. You can add heavy cream one TBSP at a time to thin out the buttercream if you want, but the caramel should get it to a perfect pipe-able consistency – so I don’t find the heavy cream necessary.

Assemble.

When the cupcakes are cool, fill them with salted caramel sauce. Use a pairing knife to hollow out about a 1/2″ hole in the center of each cupcake. Discard the centers – or enjoy them as a little chef snack. Fill the centers with caramel sauce and set aside.

If you want to swirl extra caramel into the buttercream on top, prepare your piping bag with your favorite tip and use a butter knife or a skinny rubber spatula to create a line of caramel sauce up the side of the piping bag. Then, fill the bag with buttercream. Then pipe swirls on top of each cupcake.

The cupcakes will slowly start to absorb the caramel sauce, so I recommend filling and frosting these cupcakes right before you intend to serve them and keep them at room temperature so that the caramel stays nice and gooey! Enjoy!

What is the Reverse Creaming Method?

Reverse creaming basically means instead of creaming the butter and sugar first, you instead whisk the dry ingredients including the sugar and then mix in the butter (and oil if your recipes calls for it) after the dry. Doing it this way means that the butter gets broken down and then coated in flour, which slows gluten formation and results in a cake that is dense with a tight crumb, but also soft, moist and tender.

Using the reverse creaming method doesn’t take any extra work and isn’t more difficult in any way. I actually find it easier since we don’t have to worry about alternating wet and dry ingredients at the end.

Salted Caramel Stuffed Cupcake FAQs

What does vinegar and cornstarch do in cupcake recipes? These ingredients are here to enhance the texture of the cupcake. The vinegar reacts with the baking soda and helps the cupcakes rise and have a moist tender crumb. The cornstarch has a similar job – it reduces the protein content when mixed with all purpose flour, resulting in a mixture that works like cake flour creating soft and tender cakes and cupcakes, without having to keep an extra type of flour on hand.
Can I make this recipe gluten free? I have not tested a gluten free version of this recipe yet, but I think you could sub the all purpose flour with a gluten free flour alternative like the 1 to 1 GF flours from King Arthur Baking or Bob’s Redmill.
Can I use store bought caramel sauce? Yes. Just make sure whatever caramel sauce you choose remains smooth and pourable even at room temperature and doesn’t set into a sticky soft caramel state.

Salted Caramel Stuffed Cupcakes

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Author: Elizabeth Buuck
Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 15 min
Total Time: 1 hour
Yield: 15 Cupcakes

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Description

Soft, moist, and tender vanilla cupcakes filled with buttery salted caramel sauce and topped with silky salted caramel cream cheese buttercream.

Ingredients

Scale

Salted Caramel Sauce – recipe here

For the Vanilla Cupcakes

1 1/2 C (175 g) All Purpose Flour
2 TBSP Cornstarch
1 C (200g) Granulated Sugar
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Sea Salt
6 TBSP (85g) Salted Butter, at room temperature
3 TBSP Vegetable Oil (or any neutral cooking oil)
1/4 C Water, at room temperature
1/2 C (125g) Full Fat Sour Cream, at room temperature
1 tsp White Vinegar
2 Lg Eggs + 1 Egg Yolk, at room temperature
1 TBSP Pure Vanilla Extract

For the Salted Caramel Cream Cheese Buttercream

8 oz (1 block) Full Fat Cream Cheese, at room temperature
1/2 c (113g) Salted Butter, at room temperature*
4 C (480g) Powdered Sugar
1/4 C Salted Caramel Sauce – recipe here
Heavy Cream – optional if you want to thin out the frosting

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Instructions

First make the caramel sauce and let it cool.

For the Vanilla Cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 350 and line 2 cupcake pans with a total of 15 liners, spreading them out in the pan.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Cube the butter, then add it and the vegetable oil to the dry ingredients and mix using the paddle attachment on medium speed. Stop once the mixture resembles wet sand.
In a separate bowl or large liquid measuring cup, whisk the water and sour cream until smooth. Then, add the vinegar, eggs, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and whisk until smooth.
With the mixer running on low speed, slowly stream in the sour cream mixture until combined.
Do a final mix by hand to ensure the batter is mixed evenly.
Fill the cupcake liners half full, then bake at 350 for 15-16 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean with a few moist crumbs attached. Let the cupcakes cool completely.

For the Salted Caramel Cream Cheese Buttercream

In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and cream cheese for 10 minutes. Stop the mixer every couple of minutes to scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl.
Once the butter/cream cheese mixture is completely smooth add half of the powdered sugar (2 C) and mix on the lowest speed for 3 minutes.
Scrape down the bowl again, then add the remaining powdered sugar and again mix on low for 3 minutes.
Add the salted caramel sauce and mix to combine. The caramel should be room temperature or slightly warm, but NOT hot when you add it to the frosting.

Assemble

Use a pairing knife to hollow out a small hole in each cupcakes – aim for about 1/2″ wide and deep. Discard the extra cake, or have a nice little chef snack.
Fill the cupcakes with the caramel sauce. You can do this with a spoon, or I find using a piping bag is super easy and mess free.
To swirl extra salted caramel into the buttercream while piping you’ll have to prepare your piping bag in a certain way –
- Cut off the tip of the piping bag and insert your favorite tip – I used a Wilton 8B here. Then, use a butter knife or a long skinny spatula to create a line of salted caramel along the seam of the bag starting all the way inside the tip, and up about 4″ from the top of the bag.
- Then, fill the bag with the buttercream, again stopping about 4″ from the top of the bag.
- Twist the bag closed then pipe swirls on top of each cupcake.

Notes

*Unsalted butter for the frosting is fine too!

If you loved this recipe for my Salted Caramel Stuffed Cupcakes, be sure to leave a star rating and review below and tag @buuckfarmsbakery on Instagram and Tiktok. To save this recipe for later, click on the Pinterest icon on the recipe card above, or on any of the images throughout this post.