Salted Caramel Dark Choc Chip Cupcakes

Hi again! Long time no speak!

Salted Caramel is one of my favourite things of all time. I'm not always a fan of sweet with savoury but I just feel that salted caramel really really works. As it is now Autumn (my absolute favourite time of the year) I thought it was time to bring out the Autumnal-ish bakes! This is a recipe that I haven't attempted before so it was a bit of a guessing game. I chose to add dark chocolate chips as I thought they would tone down the super sweetness of the caramel. Its easy to get sickly with such a strong flavour. I had quite a few taste tasters for this bake and they seemed to be a success. So lets get started!

Recipe:
Cupcakes
6oz (170g) Butter (Softened)
6oz (170g) Caster Sugar
3 Eggs
6oz (170g) Self Raising Flour
1/4 tsp Coarse Sea Salt
1x 100g Bag of Dark Chocolate Chips (Keep a few aside for sprinkling at the end)

Salted Caramel Buttercream Frosting
1x 397g Can of Caramel
3oz (85g) Butter 
1/4 tsp Coarse Sea Salt
15oz (425g) Icing Sugar

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 170C and fill your muffin tin with 12 cases. I picked a bright Autumnal Orange for this bake. 
2. Cream butter and caster sugar until smooth.
3. Measure flour into seperate bowl and add salt. Add the flour and eggs gradually to the butter and sugar mixture.
4. Stir in dark chocolate chips, making sure to leave a few for sprinkling if you'd like!
5. Spoon mixture into cases and bake for 15-20 minutes or until a skewer/sharp knife comes out clean.
6. While the cupcakes are cooling, whip up your buttercream. Measure approximately half a can of Caramel into a large bowl along with the butter.
7. Measure icing sugar and salt into a smaller bowl and add gradually to butter and caramel mixture. Use an electric whisk to whip the mixture up until it is holding its shape.
8. When the cupcakes have cooled, use some of the remaining caramel and spread it on top of the cupcakes.
9. Fill up your piping bag with the buttercream and pipe away! I attempted to put stripes of the caramel into my piping bag before my buttercream so that it would make a nice swirl effect, which it did! BUT it only lasted for a couple of cupcakes so I wouldn't recommend it.
10. Sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips on the top to finish them off.

There we go! A tasty autumnal bake to cheer you up in this bleak weather!

Enjoy.