According to my facebook memories, three years ago today… we had just transferred to Washington, and I was missing work, missing making frappuccinos, so to ease my mind until my transfer went through, I made these frappuccino inspired cupcakes. It’s crazy to me that three years later, we have now transferred to Michigan, and I’m feeling the exact same way!
Since we are still  in the process of moving in and getting our kitchen in order, I thought I’d post this “throwback” recipe.
I haven’t seen the caramel Iced coffee VIA in stores this year, but I have seen them in grocery stores and online. If you can’t get the caramel iced VIA, you can use the regular iced VIA flavor, and add a few tablespoons of the caramel syrup to give it that true CRCF flavor 😉
- 3 cups cake flour
- 1 tbsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. salt
- 1 stick of starbucks iced caramel VIA
- 16 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2 cups sugar
- 5 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1¼ cups buttermilk, at room temperature
- 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
- preheat the oven to 350° F. line two cupcake pans with paper liners and set aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the cake flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk together and set aside. Add the butter to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add two packages of iced caramel flavored via (if you want less of a coffee flavor, just use one package) Beat on medium-high speed for 3 minutes, until light and creamy in color. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat for one more minute.
- Add the sugar to the butter mixture, ¼ cup at a time, beating 1 minute after each addition. Mix in the eggs one at a time until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Combine the buttermilk and the vanilla extract in a liquid measuring cup. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients alternately with the wet ingredients, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients and mixing just until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix for 15 seconds longer.
- divide the batter between the prepared paper liners, filling each about ⅔ of the way full. bake 18-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. allow to cool in the pans 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- 1 packed cup dark brown sugar
- ½ cup half-and-half
- 4 tablespoons butter
- generous pinch of kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- Mix the brown sugar, half-and-half, butter and salt in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook while whisking gently for 5 to 7 minutes, until it gets thicker. Add the vanilla and cook another minute to thicken further. Turn off the heat, cool slightly and pour the sauce into a jar. Refrigerate until cold.
- 2 tsp unflavored gelatin powder
- 8 tbsp cold water
- 4 cup heavy whipping cream
- 8 tbsp confectioner's sugar
- bloom gelatin over cold water in small bowl to soften.
- scald 2 tablespoon of the cream. pour over gelatin, stirring till dissolved.
- refrigerate for 15 minutes, then whisk until smooth.
- whip remaining cream and sugar just until soft peaks form; whip in the smoothed gelatin mixture, stopping to scrape the bowl. whip until desired consistency
- 1¼ cups granulated sugar
- ¾ cup water
- prepare a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. in a small sauce pan, heat the sugar and water. do not stir. once the mixture has turned a dark amber color, pour on to parchment paper. once hardened, break apart.
Now to assemble the cupcakes.. using a knife, cut a small hole in the top of the cupcake. then fill with dark caramel sauce. frost cupcake with icing, top with caramel crunchies and more caramel sauce if desired.
Caramel ribbon crunch cupcakes
I know there are a lot of steps and a lot of components to these cupcakes, but they are worth it! In this recipe, I have recommended only one stick of iced VIA. I personally prefer 2 sticks in this recipe, as it creates a more “coffee forward” flavor. If you want more coffee flavor, add an extra stick!
You might notice that my cupcakes are served in demitasse cups instead of cupcake liners. Centuries ago, when muffin tins might not have been available, bakers baked cakes into pottery cups or ramekins You can use cupcake tins if you’d like, but sometimes I find it fun to bake cupcakes in all different sorts of cups! Using demitasse is my favorite. It makes an excellent gift! Here’s a cupcake and you can keep the cup! 🙂
We are still settling into our new house, and I am having to relearn my kitchen. My kitchen here is much bigger, the pantry is as big as the bedroom, but the oven and I are not getting along. I was told it runs “hot”. Imagine my surprise when I went to cook dinner the first night, set the oven for 350, and the thermometer I stuck inside read 500…… Quite the opposite of our oven in Washington, which would just randomly turn off. It’s always an adventure 🙂
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