Toffee Cupcakes

Before I get into this recipe let me just say that I've come to realize something very important; the reality that not all cupcakes will be a success. I think I've been expecting every recipe and trial to end in a perfect cupcake. In actuality, some recipes aren't that great and sometimes my technique is gonna suck and sometimes both are going to be true at the same time.

That said, this toffee cupcakes is both a success and a failure. The frostings and the flavor profile were totally successful (read "successful" in a sing-songy voice). The cake, however, was unsuccessful (read "unsuccessful" in a monotone depressing voice).


Here is how this cupcake came about. My friend, Erika, and I tried to make toffee - a master recipe from our friend Christie. She warned us of the dangers of trying to make toffee on a humid day. We didn't listen. Also, we went about the whole process a bit haphazardly as we were crunched for time and surrounded by toddlers and babies - this was our "mommy" play date. I say that we "tried" to make toffee because although the flavor was fantastic, our toffee didn't set correctly and stayed soft.

Later on it hit me, this soft toffee would be perfect in a cupcake. I looked up recipes online and decided to go with my own intuition. I chose to do a browned butter cake with toffee pieces baked in the batter. I used a brown sugar frosting, coated with a chocolate ganache and topped the cake with more toffee pieces.

The cake recipe I got from Cupcake Project. One thing I'll say for this cake is that burning the butter was fun.

Unfortunately, the cake turned out dry. The flavor was not amazing either. The cake ultimately served as a vehicle for the delicious frosting and topping combo. The only thing I didn't do according to the recipe was use whole milk. I have a feeling the cake would have ended up a little more moist if I had. I would like to try another brown butter cake recipe, but I probably won't try this one again. I also found that the toffee pieces in the cake didn't make any difference for me. My hubby, however, liked the crunch of the nuts from the toffee in the cake portion.

I used two frostings for this cupcake to mirror the flavors in the toffee. The first was a brown sugar frosting I found in an old Taste of Home issue. This may be my all-time favorite frosting. I thought it would work great with this cupcake as butter and brown sugar is cooked together with milk to give it a very toffee-like flavor.

Brown Sugar Frosting:

1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/4 milk
1 tsp vanilla
About 2 cups powdered sugar

- Bring butter, brown sugar and milk to a boil over medium heat.
- Cook and stir 2 minutes.
- Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
- Cool to lukewarm.
- Gradually beat in powdered sugar until frosting reaches the consistency you like (I tend to like a thicker frosting).

The other frosting I used to contribute to the toffee flavor profile was a standard chocolate ganache. I had started my ganache while the brown sugar mixture cooled. By the time I was done piping my first frosting, my ganache was ready to go. It also has to cool down and thicken a bit to be able to coat the cakes appropriately. I dipped each frosted cake in the ganache and immediately topped with some additional chopped toffee.

The finished cakes went right into the fridge to set. It's the ganache that needs the setting. I like it to run a little so that it looks like a melty layer of chocolate over the top, but not so much that it starts to fall off the cake and take the topping with it.

I prefer to eat these particular cakes by peeling off the cupcake liner and cutting the cake portion in half horizontally. That leaves just enough cake so that I'm not eating pure frosting (although that wouldn't be so bad now would it?) and I don't notice so much that the cake is too dry.

I think these cupcakes would taste just as great with toffee that has been correctly made or even store bought toffee. I really liked that the toffee was soft. Soft cake, soft frosting, soft toffee - it really works for me. My husband would have liked more crunch. I'm not gonna go spoiling a batch of toffee just to get a soft version for cupcakes, but if it happens again it will be a happy mistake.