Dr. Pepper Cupcakes With Caramel Cream Filling
Chocolate cupcakes made with Dr Pepper and filled with a caramel flavored whipped cream. I kept the filling recipe small, so if you like stuffing your cupcakes with a ton of filling, you may need to make a second batch.
Servings 36
Cost 5
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (9 oz) weight
- 1 cup granulated sugar (7 oz)
- 1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar (8 oz)
- 1 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder (1 oz)
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1 cup regular Dr Pepper
- ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips or 3 oz chopped semisweet chocolate
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter cut up
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup buttermilk or milk soured with lemon juice and at room temp.
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
Caramel Cream Filling
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter room temp
- ¼ cup packed dark brown sugar
- 1 ½ tablespoons whole milk room temp
- ¼ cup marshmallow fluff or marshmallow cream
- Pinch of salt
- 1 ½ cups sweetened whipped cream or nondairy whipped topping
- ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon of salt plus more if desired
Chocolate Frosting
- 8 tablespoons of unsalted butter softened
- 1 ½ tablespoons of sour cream room temperature
- 3 cups confectioners’ sugar sift or aerate before using
- ¾ cup natural style cocoa powder
- 1 tiny pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 to 6 tablespoons of heavy cream plus more as needed.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. and line about 36 regular size muffin cups with paper liners.
- Mix together the flour, sugar, dark brown sugar, cocoa powder and baking soda; stir in the salt. Set aside.
- Heat the Dr Pepper in a small saucepan over medium. When it starts to bubble, reduce heat to low, add the chocolate chips and stir until melted. Turn off the heat and stir in the butter. Set aside to cool for about 5 minutes.
- With an electric mixer (start on low speed and increase gradually), beat the eggs, buttermilk, oil and vanilla for 2 minutes. At lowest speed, gradually add the Dr Pepper mixture and beat for 1 additional minute. Gradually add the flour mixture and stir with a silicone scraper until well mixed.
- Divide the batter evenly between the cupcake cups and bake for 25 to 28 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Your should get anywhere from 34 to 36 regular size cupcakes.
- Let the cakes cool completely while you make the filling and frosting.
- Filling: Melt butter in a small saucepan. Add the dark brown sugar and stir until it melts and begins to boil (the goal is to dissolve the sugar). Remove from heat and stir in the milk. Return to the heat and cook, stirring, just until mixture starts to boil again. Remove from heat and stir in salt and marshmallow fluff. Transfer to a large bowl and let it cool completely. When brown sugar mixture is completely cool, fold in sweetened whipped cream or whipped topping. Keep chilled until ready to use.
- Make the frosting. In a large mixing bowl, mix the butter, sour cream sugar, cocoa, salt and 2 tablespoons of the cream as well as you can, then beat with a hand-held mixer until pasty and thick. Continue adding remaining cream and/or whole milk until you get a nice, smooth, spreading consistency.
- To fill the cupcakes, carve out a little hole and put the little nobs cake you've carved out aside. Fill the little holes with filling. Break off bottom of the cake nobs and squish the top back over the filling. Cover the tops with chocolate frosting.
Notes
I kept these cupcakes in the freezer until I was ready to serve them. They thawed in minutes. The filling, despite the fact I used whipped cream, seemed fairly stable, so if you put the cupcakes out frozen and let them thaw, they could probably sit at cool room temperature for at least an hour and a half.
