I have been adding different fillings and frosting to the cupcakes for some great combos. Some take more work than others, but they're worth the work!
My first trial:
Chocolate Cupcakes with a Caramel filling and Vanilla Buttercream frosting.
I use Duncan Hines cake mixes - they tend to stay nice and moist (I know it's cheating!!). I pulled a small amount of the center of the cupcakes out (a corer works great!) then melted down some Kraft caramels with evaporated milk for the caramel sauce. I tried to pipe it into the cupcakes with a piping bag, but the sauce was way to hot and too runny. It went everywhere! Luckily, enough of it got into the cupcakes, although it sunk right in. (I'm still trying to work out the perfect balance between caramel and milk to make the caramel sauce not so thin...). I topped it with a simple vanilla buttercream frosting, recipe found here.
It was delicious! The second time I made these, I used one of these to fill the cupcakes and it worked so much better than the piping bag! I also added cocoa powder to the buttercream and I think it was even better that way. MMmmmm....
I think my next combo will be chocolate cake with a peanut butter frosting...
