So I asked my co-workers what type of cupcakes would they like for valentines day and one replied facetiously “How about human tears?” Well, I never turn down a challenge so here we are Forever Alone Cupcakes (or a brown sugar cupcake with vanilla buttercream and salty caramel sauce)

Salty Caramel Sauce

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 1.7 ounces unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 drop of red food dye

Directions

1. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the sugar and water over medium-low heat until the sugar dissolves.
2. Increase the heat and bring to a boil, without stirring and boil until the syrup is an amber color, about 5 to 6 minutes.
3. Remove the sugar from the heat and carefully whisk in the heavy cream.
4. Stir in the unsalted butter, and salt and then the red food dye.
5. Transfer the caramel to a dish and cool.

Brown Sugar Cake

• 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
• 4 ounces butter, softened
• 3 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups cake flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup buttermilk

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350°. Line a muffin pan with paper cupcake liners.
2. In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt.
3. Cream light brown sugar and dark brown sugar with butter until smooth
4. Add the eggs, one at a time
5. Beat in  vanilla.
6. Add about 1/3 of the dry mixture and half of the buttermilk to the wet mixture. Beat until smooth. Beat in another 1/3 of the dry mixture and the remaining buttermilk. Beat in the remaining flour mixture, blending well.
7. Fill cupcake tins about 2/3rds and bake for about 15 to 18 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean.

Buttercream Ingredients

• ½ pound of butter softened
• 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 tablespoons milk

Instructions

1. Cream butter.
2. Add powdered sugar and cocoa into the mixing bowl. Mix.
3. Add vanilla extract, salt, and milk/cream and beat for 3 minutes.
4. If your frosting needs a more stiff consistency, add a little more sugar. If your frosting needs to be thinned out, add additional milk 1 tablespoon at a time.

I also got a wonderful arm exercise making butter, because I didn’t have buttermilk. So here’s a recipe on how to make butter and the process buttermilk. I used the butter made for the butter cream.

Butter (Buttermilk)

• Heavy cream

1. Fill a jar or tubberware with heavy cream and close the lid firmly.
2. Shake the container back and forth. After several minutes, the cream will turn into whipped cream and then turn yellow (i.e. butter) and separate liquid (buttermilk).
3. And there you have it butter and buttermilk in less than 10 minutes. (It’s like a productive version of the shake weight!)