Cupcake Month has come into full swing here at The Gourmet Foodie Blog. We have been baking up a storm as we try dozens of cupcake recipes. The best part of this? (Well besides the sugar induced coma) The smell of cupcakes the minute you walk in the door. What better way to start your day then with the smell of freshly baked cupcakes on Friday morning?? I have to say that this weeks choice was a toughy. I believe that the creativity of this cupcake helped push it into vicotry! The Turtle Cupcake is inspired after a very popular Texas style dessert consisting of a waffle cone, ice cream, caramel, chocolate and peanuts. I would have to rank that as one of my favorite desserts here in the Dallas area. The Turtle Cupcake consists of a vanilla and caramel swirl cupcake that has been topped with a chocolate fudge frosting and placed in a bowl shaped almond pitzelle and is then topped with chopped peanuts! Does it get any better then that?

Turtle Cupcake

Ingredients:
1 cup cake flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
pint salt
3/4 granulated sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter (at room tempature)
2 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup buttermilk
1 cup caramels

Directions:
In a small bowl mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until well combined. Add the egg whites one at a time beating after each addition. Mix in the vanilla. Alternately beat in flour mix and buttermilk, start and end with flour. Beat until smooth, but don’t overbeat.

Take the caramels and 1 tbsp water and melt in a small saucepan over low-medium heat, stirring constantly until caramels are melted.

Scoop a small amount of batter into prepared cupcake pan, just enough to cover the bottom. Then, add a spoonful of the caramel into each pan. Lastly add more cupcake mix on top to fill the pan. Your cupcake tins should end up being about 3/4 full. Bake in preheated over at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Remove from pan and let cool for ten minutes, then transfer to cooling rack and cool compeltely before frosting.

Chocolate Fudge Frosting

1 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar
3/4 unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 tbsp buttermilk
Pinch salt

Directions:
With an electric mixer beat all ingredients until smooth

Spread on cooled cupcakes and top with crushed up peanuts and even whipped cream if you would like!