Sasha's Kitchen: Chocolate Devil's Food Caramel Cupcakes

I made these delicious cupcakes straight out of the Magnolia Bakery cookbook and they were delicious.  The frosting is a light caramel frosting that gets its flavor from brown sugar, rather than from a complex caramelization process.  The Devil's Food chocolate batter results in a light and delicious cupcake.  The recipe in the cookbook makes two dozen, but I cut it in half and made just one which was plenty for our purposes.  I haven't been baking much the past couple weeks but these were a hit.  Tomorrow, I'll turn my focus back to pies, and I'll be making a banana cream pie.  I recently stocked up on my canning supplies and purchased a new Martha Stewart pie book at The Brooklyn Kitchen in Williamsburg, as spring nears - time for fun fruit canning and pies on the horizon.  I can't wait for the first rhubarb jam and strawberry rhubarb pie of the season.  I'm also itching for ramps to be in season already too!

Magnolia Bakery's Devil's Food Cupcakes with Caramel Frosting (from this cookbook)
recipe makes 2 dozen cupcakes (I recommend halving)
2 cups cake flour
1 cup unsweetened dutch process cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 sticks of butter, softened
1 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs (I used two when I halved the other ingredients)
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 tsp vanilla extract

Frosting (here's the half recipe, sufficient for 1 dozen)
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 T dark corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract

Now to make the cupcakes, combine the dry ingredients for the cupcakes in a bowl.  Cream the butter with the two sugars in the mixer and add the eggs one at a time and beat to combine.  Slowly alternate adding the buttermilk and dry ingredients and then add in the vanilla.  Beat until smooth and combined.  Fill cupcake liners 3/4 of the way full and bake for 25 minutes or so at 325 until a toothpick comes out clean.  Allow to cool completely before frosting.

Beat together the butter and sugars for the frosting and slowly beat in the milk, corn syrup and vanilla.  It should take a good 3 or 4 minutes to get a creamy, smooth frosting when beating in your stand mixer at high speed.