There’s something extra special about baking for someone you love, and these Caramel Surprise Heart Cupcakes are love at first bite! Heart-shaped fudgy chocolate cupcakes hide a gooey salted caramel centre, topped with fluffy pink heart buttercream. Whether it’s for Valentine’s Day, an anniversary, or just because – these cupcakes are like an edible love letter. An added bonus, they happen to be simple and easy to make with no special equipment needed!
Recipe Overview
- TASTE: Chocolate, salted caramel and sweet buttercream. What is there not to love about these Valentine’s cupcakes!?
- TEXTURE: The sponge is fudgy, dense and moist – just like a chocolate fudge cake. The caramel centre is gooey and sticky, and the buttercream is fluffy with a melt-in-the-mouth texture.
- SERVES: 12 cupcakes, perfect for sharing or gifting. This recipe can also be scaled down to make a small batch of 6 cupcakes instead.
Ingredients To Make Caramel Surprise Heart Cupcakes
For the chocolate cupcakes:
- Self-raising flour – Gives the cupcakes structure and rise. Can be swapped for 150g plain flour + 1.5 tsp baking powder.
- Cocoa powder – For that rich chocolatey flavour.
- White caster sugar – Sweetness the sponge and keeps it soft and tender.
- Eggs – Binds everything together and gives the cupcakes a rich flavour.
- Vanilla extract – Adds warmth and depth of flavour.
- Vegetable oil – Keeps the cupcakes moist and tender.
- Buttermilk – Creates a super soft crumb.
- Boiling water – Enhances the cocoa powder, making the flavour more intense.
- Salted caramel –The hidden surprise that makes these cupcakes extra special. Jude’s Salted Caramel Sauce works a treat!
For the pink buttercream:
- Salted butter – The base of the buttercream. I like to use salted butter to balance the sweetness.
- Icing sugar – Sweetens the buttercream and dissolves easily to create a smooth texture.
- Milk – Loosens the buttercream, making it extra creamy and easier to pipe.
- Pink food colouring – Use gel, oil or liquid-based food colouring to dye the buttercream pink. If you’d prefer a natural colouring, you could try using freeze-dried raspberry powder.
How To Shape Heart Cupcakes
Once you’ve filled your cupcake cases with mixture, it’s time to give them that adorable heart shape. You don’t need fancy moulds or equipment – just some kitchen foil! Here’s how:
- Tear off pieces of foil and scrunch them into little balls. Place between the baking tin and the top of the cupcake cases to create the curved part of the heart.
- Next, tear off small strips of foil and fold into 1-inch long rectangles. Place one on either side to create the v-shaped bottom of the heart.
Easy, right? Now pop them in the oven and they will retain the heart shape as they bake and rise. Once baked, carefully remove the foil pieces and ta-dah… you have heart cupcakes!
Filling The Cupcakes With Caramel
To get that delicious caramel surprise in every bite, you’ll need to remove the centre of each cupcake (without going all the way through). There are a few ways you can do this:
- Use a cupcake corer: designed specifically for this purpose!
- Use the base of a piping nozzle: a piece of equipment most bakers are likely to have. Although it can be tricky to remove the sponge from the nozzle.
- Use a small cookie cutter: I decided to use a heart-shaped cutter just because they made cute photos. But you can use any shape/size that works.
- Use a teaspoon: as a last resort you could use a spoon to scoop out the middle, although it’s a bit messy and fiddly.
Once the middle is removed (feel free to taste test), spoon the caramel sauce inside until it’s level with the top. Now it’s time to pipe the buttercream hearts!
Easy Buttercream Heart Decoration
You don’t need to be a pro baker to pipe these buttercream hearts, just a large star piping tip (I used the Wilton 6B) and a steady hand. To pipe the hearts, hold your piping bag at a 45-degree angle to the cupcake. Apply pressure and pipe a diagonal line from the top to the bottom of the heart, slowly releasing pressure as you reach the bottom. Now repeat in the opposite direction to create a heart shape. Top tip: practice first on baking paper until you feel happy with the technique. You can scoop the practice buttercream hearts back into the piping bag so it’s not wasted.
And there you have it – Caramel Surprise Heart Cupcakes that look as gorgeous as they taste. Perfect for surprising someone special (or treating yourself, because self-love is important too!). Enjoy! ❤️
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Mocha Black Cherry Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the mocha cupcakes:
- 150 grams Self-raising flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking powder
- 40 grams Cocoa powder
- 100 grams White caster sugar
- 100 grams Light brown sugar
- 2 large Eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 80 millilitre Vegetable oil
- 150 millilitre Buttermilk room temperature. You can also make your own buttermilk by mixing 150ml milk with 0.5 tbsp white wine vinegar/lemon juice. Let sit for 10 minutes then use as per the recipe.
- 50 millilitre Boiling water
- 3 tablespoons Camp Coffee Essence
For the black cherry filling:
- 1 large can (~400-500g) Pitted black cherries in light syrup I used Cooks & Co
- 1 tablespoon Cornflour
For the cherry buttercream:
- 50 ml Milk
- 150 grams Icing sugar
- 0.5 teaspoon Salt
- 300 grams Unsalted butter room temperature
- 4-5 tbsp Cherry pureé we'll use the pureé we make for the filling
For the decoration:
- Fresh cherries whole and halved
- Dark chocolate to grate on top
- Chocolate hearts
Instructions
Start by making the mocha cupcakes:
- Preheat the oven to 160°C fan / 180°C conventional and line a 12-hole cupcake tin with cases.
- In a large bowl, whisk the dry ingredients together to combine.150 grams Self-raising flour, 1 teaspoon Baking powder, 40 grams Cocoa powder, 100 grams White caster sugar, 100 grams Light brown sugar
- In a separate bowl, whisk the wet ingredients (apart from the boiling water and Camp Coffee Essence) together to combine.2 large Eggs, 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract, 80 millilitre Vegetable oil, 150 millilitre Buttermilk
- Fold the wet into dry until smooth and combined. Now stir in the Camp Coffee Essence and boiling water.3 tablespoons Camp Coffee Essence, 50 millilitre Boiling water
- Divide between the cases, filling each one almost to the top (leave 1cm space). Tap the tin to remove any air bubbles. Double-check that the cases are still straight and haven't moved.
- Bake for 20-22 minutes until the cupcakes have risen and the middle of the sponge springs back when lightly pressed. Don't worry if the cupcakes have cracked on top, this is normal. Let them sit in the tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
Make the black cherry filling:
- Pour the can of cherries and syrup into a medium-sized saucepan. Heat over medium-high until bubbling up and the cherries have softened (about 5 minutes). Remove from the heat and use a potato masher or fork to break up the cherries.1 large can (~400-500g) Pitted black cherries in light syrup
- Strain through a sieve into a jug. Pour the clear syrup back into the saucepan. Blitz the mashed cherries in a blender until puréed.
- Add the puréed cherries and cornflour to the saucepan. Heat for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the purée has reduced and thickened. Leave to cool and thicken further.1 tablespoon Cornflour
Make the cherry buttercream:
- Microwave the milk for 1 minute until piping hot. Stir in the icing sugar and salt until fully dissolved.50 ml Milk, 150 grams Icing sugar, 0.5 teaspoon Salt
- In a separate bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the butter for about 5 minutes until soft, whipped and almost white.300 grams Unsalted butter
- Gradually add the milk mixture and cherry purée, beating well until the buttercream is smooth, fluffy and combined. Keep taste testing until you're happy with the sweetness. Optional: if you would like a pinker buttercream, feel free to mix in a little bit of colouring at this point.4-5 tbsp Cherry pureé
- Spoon the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle.
Assemble and decorate the cupcakes:
- Remove the middle of each cupcake using a piping nozzle or cupcake corer. Fill the cupcakes to the top with the cherry purée.
- Pipe tall swirls of buttercream on top of each cupcake.
- Finish with grated dark chocolate, fresh cherries, and chocolate hearts. Enjoy!Fresh cherries, Dark chocolate, Chocolate hearts
