Brown Butter Pumpkin Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting
We got home yesterday from a ten day trip with Travel Oregon. We loved every second of our vacation (stay tuned-I will be doing a few posts about our trip), but it is always nice to come home.
I have a travel hangover and was tempted to not write this blog post for today, but I made these Brown Butter Pumpkin Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting before we left on vacation and have been dying to share them with you. They are the BEST pumpkin cupcakes I have ever tasted…and I am not saying that because I made them:) They really are life changing.
I fell in love with salted caramel sauce when I made Apple Crumb Bars with Salted Caramel. I actually had leftover caramel sauce from the bars and that is what inspired these cupcakes. Making homemade caramel sauce is SO worth the extra effort…and see, you can get two fabulous desserts out of one batch of caramel sauce. Bonus! And the salted caramel sauce is good enough to drink by the gallon, but try to save some to make the frosting:)
The brown butter, pumpkin, and salted caramel frosting come together to create the most heavenly cupcake in the history of cupcakes. I am usually a cookie person and can pass on cupcakes, but if you put one of these Brown Butter Cupcakes with Salted Caramel in front of me I would devour it in a heartbeat. And if you tried to take a bite, I would fight you for it:) There really are no words to describe these cupcakes. They really are pumpkin perfection!
It is officially fall now, so get out the pumpkin and make these Brown Butter Pumpkin Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting. This is the perfect pumpkin recipe to kick-off pumpkin season! And if you are a pumpkin fan, like me, make sure you check out these 50 Pumpkin Recipes for Fall!
Brown Butter Pumpkin Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting
Yield: 15 cupcakes
The best pumpkin cupcakes you will ever eat!
Ingredients:
For the Brown Butter Pumpkin Cupcakes:
3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 2/3 cups all-purpose Gold Medal flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggsFor the Salted Caramel Frosting:
Salted Caramel Sauce:
2 cups granulated sugar
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into pieces
1 cup heavy cream, at room temperature
1 tablespoon fleur de sel or Maldon sea salt flakesFrosting:
3/4 cup butter, at room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup salted caramel sauceDirections:
1. To make the brown butter pumpkin cupcakes: preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line muffin cups with paper liners and set aside.
2. In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat and continue to cook, swirling occasionally, until butter turns golden brown, Skim foam from top, and remove from heat. Pour into a bowl to stop the cooking, leaving any burned sediment behind; let cool.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. In another bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, sugars, eggs, vanilla extract, and brown butter. Add the flour mixture, and whisk until just combined.
4. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer pans to a wire cooling rack and cool completely before removing cupcakes.
5. While the cupcakes are cooling, make the salted caramel frosting. First, make the salted caramel sauce. Make sure you have all of the ingredients ready. Once you start the caramel sauce you have to pay close attention so you don't burn it. To begin, heat the sugar over medium high-heat in the bottom of a heavy 2-3 quart saucepan. When the sugar starts to melt, start whisking the sugar. The sugar will clump up, but keep whisking. It will continue to melt. When the sugar is melted, stop whisking. You can swirl the pan to move the sugar around.
6. Continue cooking the sugar until it reaches a deep amber color. Make sure you watch the pan very closely. This is where it is easy to burn the caramel. You want the caramel to reach 350 degrees F. If you are new to making caramel, I suggest using a thermometer.
7. As soon as the sugar reaches the dark amber color, carefully add the butter. Whisk until butter is melted.
8. Remove the pan from the heat and carefully pour in the heavy cream. Whisk until cream is incorporated and caramel is smooth. Whisk in the fleur de sel or Maldon sea salt flakes.
9. Let the caramel sauce cool for about 10 minutes in the pan. Pour the caramel into a large mason jar and cool to room temperature.
10. To make the frosting: beat the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium-high speed until light in color and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low, add powdered sugar, and mix until completely incorporated. Turn off the mixer, and then add the salted caramel sauce. Beat frosting on low to combine, and then increase to medium-high and beat until airy and thoroughly mixed, about 2 minutes.
11. Frost the cooled pumpkin cupcakes with the salted caramel frosting and and drizzle cupcakes with extra salted caramel sauce, if desired.
Note-you can use store bought salted caramel sauce, but I highly recommend homemade salted caramel sauce. It is the best. The salted caramel recipe will make about 2 cups so you will have extra. Store the cupcakes in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Pumpkin cupcake recipe adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes
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SaveIf you like these Brown Butter Pumpkin Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting, you might also like:
- Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Icing from Sweetopia
- Pumpkin Cinnamon Streusel Muffins from Two Peas and Their Pod
- Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting from Brown Eyed Baker
Welcome to Two Peas and Their Pod. We share a love of cooking, baking, and entertaining. We enjoy creating recipes that are simple, fresh, and family friendly. Join us in our culinary adventures-our kitchen is always open! 
Oh yay!! I cannot wait to make these!!
Oh man…these are trouble. The only reason I don’t want to make them…is becuase I might eat them all myself! These look simply delicious!
Yum, I’ll make a batch at Halloween!
Oh, wow! I need to make these for a tailgate party this weekend. One question though. How much of the salted caramel sauce do you put in the frosting?
Two Peas replied: — September 24th, 2012 @ 5:35 pm
1/2 cup of the salted caramel sauce. Look under the frosting part of the recipe:) Enjoy!
Just made these. I don’t normally like caramel at all. But this homemade salted caramel is quite possibly the best thing I’ve ever eaten. Does it need to be stored in the fridge or is it safe at room temp?
Two Peas replied: — September 24th, 2012 @ 6:08 pm
Yay! So glad you like the caramel. Store it in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Ours never lasts that long:)
I Drool. seriously, these look incredible Maria.
These sound amazing! I love the drizzly salted caramel. Yum!
I’m not into pumpkin, but I can’t resist salted caramel, and you just convinced me that pumpkin is so good!
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Oh my stinking goodness these look great!
I loved seeing pics of your trip on Instagram-it looked great! And these cupcakes look almost as good as the trip did….
Oooh, that frosting looks amazing!
Maria, thanks so much for linking to my pumpkin cupcakes! I’m looking forward to trying yours – they look and sound amazing! xo
Love salted caramel. I’m excited to start cooking with pumpkin!
These look absolutely amazing. I can’t wait to bake these and satisfy my “pumpkin tooth!”
I didn’t think i was ready for pumpkin just yet, but these cupcakes have totally changed my mind. Gorgeous!
These are gorgeous! Definitely making these!
I already commented about how yummy the caramel is… but the finished product is a whole new kind of delicious. Oh. My. Goodness. Worth every minute of prep. Possibly my new favorite cupcake recipe. They are a huge hit with my whole family! Thanks for sharing this!
Two Peas replied: — September 25th, 2012 @ 9:24 am
You are welcome! I am so glad you liked the cupcakes!
they sure look good!
salted caramel is my new obsession- making these!
These are amazing!!!
The flavor combo on these, holy ding dang, incredible! If these are your new favorite, I KNOW I’ll DIE when I make them. And I will be making them, STAT. pregnancy craving = pumpkin anything!
Two Peas replied: — September 25th, 2012 @ 1:46 pm
Pumpkin is a good craving to have! I hope you like the cupcakes!
These look sinful! I will have to make these soooon!
Oh my goodness do these look amazing! The caramel takes them over the top
Gorgeous!
I am LOVING these cupcakes! Such a great fall recipe.
Wow, this recipe is blowing my mind! So many of my favourite flavour combinations together… I wonder how a salted caramel cream cheese frosting would turn out? I may just have to try and find out!
I love collecting new recipes for the pumpkin season.
I’ve made Martha’s pumpkin cupcakes before, absolutely delicious! Great idea with brown butter and salted caramel!
My word! These look delectable! I adore the cup cake wrappers…….they look pretty enough to eat. What a fab post. Yummmmmmm…..
Deliciously drool-worthy! Especially the swirly frosting. Oh yum! You’ve got to teach us how you did the swirls, Maria
Totally stunning, Maria! Is there anything salted caramel can’t cure?
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I want to sink my teeth into one of these!!
Where do I find the sea salt flakes? I’ve never heard of them.
These sound absolutely delightful!
These look absolutely fabulous! I love brown-butter treats!
i made these yesterday and they are heavenly! so delicious! best cupcakes i’ve ever made! ever tasted, for that matter! i had to deliver a plate of them to three different families today because i would have eaten all of them within a few hours. thank you so much for sharing this! and for loving pumpkin flavored anything as much as i do
your blog is my favorite!
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I made pumpkin cupcakes (David Leite’s recipe) with caramel buttercream a few years back and agree that it is a completely heavenly combination! I could see how the salted caramel would be outstanding in the frosting as well.