(cheater) Chocolate Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting

When you're in a pinch, you're in a pinch and you make it work.  In this case, it did!

The Perfect Cupcake Recipe (using a box mix)
Ingredients:
1 box mix (any flavor, but get the good kind - Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker)
3 large eggs
1/2 cup butter, melted (use butter, not margarine!)
1 cup of water

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Melt the butter in the microwave.
3. Add cake mix, eggs, and water to the butter in large bowl.
4. Mix on low for 1 minute.  Then mix on high for 1 minute.  You will be amazed that your batter is nice and thick and creamy - not thin and runny like it is when you follow the box instructions.
5. Fill cupcake papers (tip: use an ice cream scooper, one scoop is just the right amount per cupcake!)
6. Pop them in the oven for 20 minutes.
7. Let cool.

Salted Caramel Frosting
Ingredients:
2 sticks butter at room temperature
8 ounces of cream cheese
3-4 cups sifted powdered sugar

Instructions:

1. 1 cup salted caramel (recipe in above frosting link)
2. Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed until creamy.
3. Add 2 cups of the powdered sugar into the butter/cream cheese mixture and beat to combine.
4. Add 1 cup of the salted caramel and beat to combine. 
5. Add additional powdered sugar until the frosting is the sweetness and consistency you desire.

Comments:

• I didn't have time to make the salted caramel for the frosting, so I used Trader Joe's Fleur del Sel caramel sauce.

Recipes from Tidy Mom and Kimberly Taylor Images