225gsoftened butter / margarine / spreaddairy free if necessary
225glight brown sugar
4eggs
1tspcaramel extractor vanilla extract
For the filling
1x 397g tin Carnation carameldairy-free caramel linked in FAQ section
For the buttercream icing
150gbutteror dairy-free hard margarine if necessary
300gicing sugar
100gdark or milk chocolatemelted and cooled (dairy-free if necessary)
mini gluten free millionaires shortbreads - I bought larger ones and chopped them up!dairy-free if necessary
Instructions
For the cupcakes
Preheat your oven to 160C Fan / 180C and place cupcake cases into your cupcake tin. I put a little bit of rice under each case as it helps absorb excess moisture.
Cream together your softened butter and sugar using an electric hand whisk. Do so until lighter in colour and fluffier in texture.
Gradually add your eggs (I whisk briefly in between each addition). Then add in your caramel or vanilla extract and mix once more briefly.
Sift your gluten free flour, baking powder and xanthan gum and then mix with your electric hand whisk until combined.
Spoon your mixture into your cupcake cases and place in the preheated oven for about 22 minutes.
Remove from the oven, check that they are baked through. Allow to cool briefly in the tin and then move the cases to a cooling rack.
For the buttercream
Melt your chocolate (I do this is the microwave in short 15 second bursts, mixing between each), put to one side to cool whilst making the rest of the buttercream.
Ensure your butter is soft and at room temperature. I find it takes a good hour out of the fridge to soften, but never let it go too soft! Place your butter into a stand mixer and mix on a medium speed for about 5 minutes until the butter has gone a lot more pale in colour.
Add your icing sugar gradually. I add it in 2-3 stages and beat for about 3 minutes between each addition. Start your mixer slowly to save your kitchen from a real icing sugar mess, but then increase the speed to medium / high for each of your 3 minutes.
Then add in your cooled melted chocolate - mix briefly to combine. It should be the right consistency at this point. If you think it's too thick you can add a small amount of milk, or too thin add a little extra icing sugar.
To assemble
Once the cupcakes are cool, you need to make little holes in your cupcakes to fill with the white chocolate and hazelnut spread, use something circular to make a small hole - I used a metal piping nozzle. Just make sure you don't go too deep as you need some of the cake beneath to hold the filling!
Spoon Carnation caramel (or a similar caramel sauce) into the hole you've made in each cupcake. Fill it full!
Spoon your buttercream into a piping bag with a large star nozzle. Then pipe your buttercream on top. If you don't want to pipe it, you can spoon it on top too!
Finish with a mini millionaires shortbread on top (I cut up a larger one into smaller pieces as you don't need much per cupcake!)