Chocolate Caramel Cupcakes with Meringue Ghosts

These black cocoa cupcakes are filled with my foolproof salted caramel sauce and decorated with a swiss meringue piped into cute little ghosts! It's a great shareable halloween dessert that's festive enough without requiring specialty decorations.

For more cupcake recipes, try Fudgy Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes, Lemon Meringue Cupcakes, and Small Batch Vanilla Cupcakes. 

Ingredient Notes

• Flour: Use a high-quality unbleached all-purpose flour or GF 1:1 flour.
• Cocoa Powder: I used a combination of dutch process and black cocoa powders for an extra rich chocolate experience.
• Baking Powder: Be sure your baking powder is fresh by testing it some water.
• Butter: Use high-quality butter, such as European-style butter for best flavor.
• Sugar: You'll need granulated sugar for the cupcakes, caramel, and meringue.
• Eggs: Be sure your eggs are at room temperature before adding them to the batter.
• Sour Cream: You can also use plain whole milk greek yogurt.
• Oil: I recommend using light-tasting extra virgin olive oil, but any neutral oil will work.
• Salt: Add a bit of kosher salt to balance out the sweetness of the cupcakes and meringue, and a pinch or two of flaky sea salt to the finished caramel sauce if desired. 
• Cream of Tartar: For the caramel, a small amount of cream of tartar will help stabilize the sugar, preventing it from crystalizing!
• Water: My caramel recipe uses the wet method, which means that a couple tablespoons of water is added to the sugar, coating each crystal and ensuring they do not crystalize again as they are melting and caramelizing. 
• Heavy Cream: Be sure your heavy cream is lukewarm before adding it to the caramelized sugar, or it may seize up.
• Egg Whites: You'll need about two egg whites for the meringue.

See recipe card for full information on ingredients and individual quantities.

Step by Step Instructions

This recipe is a basic cake method, involving creaming the butter & sugars together, adding the eggs & vanilla, and alternating the dry & wet ingredients. To break up all of the elements over two or three days, make the caramel sauce and cupcakes 1-2 days ahead of time, then assemble and decorate the day they're meant to be served. For the full ingredient list and method, see the recipe card at the end of this post.

STEP 1: Make the batter. Make the cupcake batter by creaming together the butter & sugars, then mixing in the eggs & vanilla, and alternating adding the dry & wet ingredients. 

STEP 2: Fill and bake. Fill the cupcake pan with 5 tablespoons of batter in each cup. Smooth out the batter and tap on the counter to release any air bubbles. Bake for about 24 minutes. 

STEP 3: Cool. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely on a wire rack. 

STEP 4: Make caramel. Make the salted caramel sauce. For more detailed step by step instructions, see this post. 

STEP 5: Fill the cupcakes. Remove the centers of the cupcakes and fill with the cooled caramel sauce.

STEP 6: Re-top. Place the tops back on the cupcakes.

STEP 7: Make the merengue. In a double boiler, heat the egg whites, sugar, and salt, whisking frequently until it reaches 160 degrees F or until the sugar is completely dissolved and the egg whites do not feel grainy. Transfer the bowl to the stand mixer with a whisk attachment. Whisk on high speed until soft peaks form, then add the vanilla. Continue mixing until stiff peaks form

STEP 8: Decorate. Pipe the meringue onto the cupcakes and add black sprinkles to give the ghosts eyes!

Expert Baking Tips

• The caramel sauce MUST be cool for filling the cupcakes, so I recommend making it at least 1 hour ahead of time. Caramel sauce can be stored in the fridge for 2-3 weeks, so it can be made far in advance if necessary. 
• If you do not have black cocoa powder, you can use an equal amount of dutch process cocoa powder.
• Use a neutral oil, such as vegetable or canola oil. I recommend using light-tasting extra virgin olive oil.
• It can be difficult to tell exactly how much to fill a cupcake pan, so to make it easier I recommend adding 5 tablespoons of batter to each. I used a 2 tablespoon & 1 tablespoon cookie scoops. 
• These cupcakes are best enjoyed the day they are made. If you would like them to last longer or to make them ahead of time, hold off with the meringue until the day they are served. 

Storage Tips

Store these cupcakes without meringue in an air-tight container at room temperature for 3-5 days. Cupcakes with meringue will last for only day. 

All of the recipes on this blog are carefully developed with gram measurements so you can easily recreate them in your own kitchen with success. Volume measurements are extremely inaccurate and leave room for significant errors. Not all measuring cups are made equally, so your one cup of flour will be different from my one cup of flour. By providing precise measurements in grams (aside from minor ingredients, which are given in tsp/tbsp), you can make these recipes accurately and with less cleanup! All you need is this kitchen scale. 

If this still isn't enough to convince you, I have provided volume measurements in the recipe card. If you are interested in understanding the conversions, this is the best conversion chart.

But trust me, once you try baking in grams you'll never turn back!

Happy baking! x