Salted Caramel-Stuffed Cupcakes with Gooey Center

These are the best salted caramel stuffed cupcakes — filled, frosted, and swirled with homemade salted caramel. Start with an easy, rich, and buttery salted caramel sauce, stuff it into moist vanilla cupcakes, fold it into a silky cream cheese salted caramel buttercream, and finish by swirling extra caramel on top. This recipe layers caramel wherever it belongs for maximum flavor.

What makes these Salted Caramel Stuffed Cupcakes the BEST?

The salted caramel sauce. My homemade sauce is rich, buttery, slightly salty, and deeply caramelized, yet simple to make without a candy thermometer. If you need a shortcut, a smooth, pourable store-bought caramel will work — just be sure it stays pourable at room temperature.
Perfect vanilla cupcakes. These use the reverse creaming method for a tender, moist crumb and fine texture. The method is easy and produces consistently soft cupcakes.
Salted caramel cream cheese buttercream. Smooth, silky, and balanced — the cream cheese adds tang while the caramel adds richness. It’s irresistible straight from the bowl.

Tools & Equipment

Kitchen scale — for accurate, repeatable results and fewer dishes.
Cupcake pans — metal pans (not silicone) give the most even bake.
Spatulas — regular and narrow spatulas help with final mixing and scraping.
Light-colored stainless steel saucepan — for watching sugar caramelize evenly when making caramel sauce.
Piping bag & tips — optional for piping frosting and adding a caramel swirl on top. A French star tip (Wilton 8B or Ateco 869) works nicely.
Cupcake liners — simple parchment liners let the cupcakes shine.
Stand or hand mixer — helpful for making the buttercream smooth and silky.

How to make Salted Caramel Stuffed Cupcakes

Make the salted caramel sauce

Prepare a salted caramel sauce and let it cool to room temperature or just slightly warm before using. A slightly warm caramel blends into the frosting better; hot caramel will melt it. You can halve a standard salted caramel recipe for the right amount, or use a pourable store-bought sauce.

Make the vanilla cupcakes

These cupcakes use the reverse creaming method for a tender crumb. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together dry ingredients: all-purpose flour, cornstarch, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Roughly chop the butter, add it and the vegetable oil, and mix on medium speed with the paddle until the mixture resembles wet sand — the butter should be broken into small pieces and coated in flour.

In a separate bowl or large liquid measuring cup, whisk together water and sour cream until smooth. Whisk in vinegar, eggs, egg yolk, and vanilla. With the mixer on low, stream the wet ingredients into the dry mixture until combined. Finish folding by hand with a rubber spatula to ensure an even batter. The batter should be on the thinner side; small butter lumps are fine.

Line two cupcake pans with liners — this recipe yields 15 cupcakes, so distribute 7–8 per pan and space them out. Use a cookie scoop to fill liners half full for even results. Bake at 350°F for 15–16 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean with a few moist crumbs. Cool completely.

Make the salted caramel cream cheese buttercream

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, beat room-temperature butter and full-fat cream cheese on high for about 10 minutes, scraping the bowl every few minutes. This long creaming creates a very smooth texture. Add half the powdered sugar and mix on low for 3 minutes, scrape, then add the remaining powdered sugar and mix on low for another 3 minutes.

Add room-temperature or slightly warm salted caramel and mix until combined. The caramel should not be hot. If the frosting needs thinning, add heavy cream one tablespoon at a time, though the caramel often yields a pipeable consistency on its own.

Assemble

When cupcakes are cool, hollow out a 1/2″ hole in the center of each using a paring knife. Save or discard the removed cake pieces. Fill each cavity with salted caramel sauce using a spoon or a piping bag for less mess.

If you want caramel swirls in the frosting, place a line of caramel up the inside seam of a piping bag before filling the bag with buttercream. Pipe swirls onto each cupcake so the caramel streaks through the frosting. Because the caramel can slowly soak into the cake, fill and frost just before serving and keep the cupcakes at room temperature for a gooey center.

What is the reverse creaming method?

Reverse creaming starts with combining the dry ingredients, then working the butter into them until the mixture resembles wet sand. The butter becomes coated in flour, which limits gluten development and produces a cake or cupcake with a fine, tender crumb. It’s not more difficult than traditional creaming and often simplifies the mixing process.

Salted Caramel Stuffed Cupcake FAQs

What do vinegar and cornstarch do in cupcake recipes? Vinegar reacts with baking soda to help leaven the cupcakes and contribute to a tender crumb. Cornstarch reduces the effective protein of all-purpose flour, mimicking cake flour for a softer, more tender texture without needing a separate flour type.
Can I make this recipe gluten free? I haven’t tested a gluten-free version, but a 1:1 gluten-free flour blend should be a reasonable substitute. Results may vary by blend.
Can I use store-bought caramel sauce? Yes — choose a smooth, pourable caramel that stays fluid at room temperature. Avoid caramels that set firm once cool.

Salted Caramel Stuffed Cupcakes

Description

Soft, moist vanilla cupcakes filled with buttery salted caramel and topped with silky salted caramel cream cheese buttercream.

Ingredients

Salted Caramel Sauce – recipe referenced in the instructions above.

For the Vanilla Cupcakes

1 1/2 C (175 g) All-purpose flour
2 TBSP Cornstarch
1 C (200 g) Granulated sugar
1 tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp Baking soda
1/4 tsp Sea salt
6 TBSP (85 g) Salted butter, room temperature
3 TBSP Vegetable oil (or other neutral oil)
1/4 C Water, room temperature
1/2 C (125 g) Full-fat sour cream, room temperature
1 tsp White vinegar
2 large eggs + 1 egg yolk, room temperature
1 TBSP Pure vanilla extract

For the Salted Caramel Cream Cheese Buttercream

8 oz (1 block) Full-fat cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 C (113 g) Salted butter, room temperature (unsalted is fine)
4 C (480 g) Powdered sugar
1/4 C Salted caramel sauce
Heavy cream (optional, to thin frosting)

Instructions

First make the caramel sauce and let it cool to room temperature or slightly warm.

For the Vanilla Cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 350°F and line two cupcake pans with 15 liners, spacing them evenly.
In a stand mixer bowl, whisk flour, cornstarch, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Cube the butter, add it and vegetable oil, and mix with the paddle on medium until the mixture resembles wet sand.
In a separate bowl, whisk water and sour cream until smooth. Add vinegar, eggs, egg yolk, and vanilla and whisk again.
With the mixer on low, stream in the wet ingredients until combined, then finish mixing by hand.
Fill liners half full and bake at 350°F for 15–16 minutes. Cool completely.

For the Salted Caramel Cream Cheese Buttercream

Cream butter and cream cheese in a mixer for about 10 minutes, scraping the bowl periodically.
Add half the powdered sugar and mix on low for 3 minutes, scrape, then add the rest and mix on low for 3 more minutes.
Add room-temperature or slightly warm salted caramel and mix until smooth. Thin with heavy cream if needed.

Assemble

Hollow a 1/2″ hole in each cupcake and fill with caramel.
To add caramel streaks to the frosting, pipe a line of caramel inside a piping bag before filling with buttercream, then pipe swirls on each cupcake.
Fill and frost close to serving time and keep at room temperature for a gooey caramel center.