So, first things first, what do you think of the new look here at Lemon Sugar? I’ve been working tirelessly with Cory at Zesty Blog Consulting for months now, trying to make my ideas come to life. I have to say that Cory has done a great job, and I would highly recommend his work to any of you working on a blog or website. He’s patient, quick and can make just about anything happen!
There are a few changes to the blog as you can see, most notably the recipe index bar above. Give it a try, browse around, and certainly let me know if you have any questions. Be sure to sign up for my email subscription feed, so you’ll never miss a post – they’ll all be delivered directly to your inbox.
I have to thank you all for your patience while the site was down and unavailable, but we’re back up and will only be fixing things in the background now, so you’ll have constant access to the site whenever you need it.
Now, let’s talk about these cupcakes.
Have you ever had a turtle ice-cream sundae? It’s basically vanilla ice cream with caramel, hot fudge and pecans, and it is a fantastic treat. This is a turtle sundae in cupcake form, and it’s very possibly even more fantastic than the ice-cream version.
The cupcake is incredibly dark and dense, but not dry at all. They are filled with homemade hot fudge, topped with a creamy vanilla buttercream, and garnished with plenty of caramel, pecans and yep, more hot fudge.
If you don’t want to make your own hot fudge, you could certainly buy it, but please try the homemade version at some point. You can make it ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator so that will definitely make these come together more quickly.
I also used homemade caramel sauce, but that recipe is coming soon in another post. Totally worth it, and do stay tuned for that recipe.
I’m pretty sure that these will make an appearance again on my husband’s birthday, because he was a huge fan of these. Even my girls who don’t normally go for nuts in their desserts didn’t mind these one bit. But really, how can you say no to hot fudge, caramel and pecans?
Hope you love this recipe, and hope you love the new design here at Lemon Sugar. Thanks for stopping by today, and be sure to leave me a note below and let me know you were here.
Enjoy!
- 3 and ⅓ cups all purpose flour
- ⅔ cups dark unsweetened cocoa powder
- ⅔ cups regular unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon baking soda
- 1 and ⅓ cups brown sugar
- 1 and ⅓ cups sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 and ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter at cool room temperature
- 3 cups buttermilk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 5 eggs at room temperature
- 4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
- 3 tablespoons butter, unsalted
- ⅔ cup water
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 6 tablespoons corn syrup
- Pinch of salt
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 and ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter at cool room temperature
- 2-lb bag of powdered/icing/confectioners sugar
- ¼ to ½ cup heavy cream
- 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
- dash of salt
- 1 cup finely chopped pecans
- ½ cup caramel sauce
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Prepare 2 cupcake pans with greaseproof paper liners.
- Sift together cocoa, flour, baking soda, salt into a bowl.
- Add remaining ingredients (sugar, brown sugar, salt, butter, buttermilk, vanilla and eggs) and beat on medium speed for 3 minutes.
- Fill cupcake liners ½ to ⅔ full.
- Bake 16-19 minutes or until firm on top.
- Remove from tins and allow cool completely on a wire rack.
- Melt the chocolate and butter very slowly in a double boiler or in the microwave, stirring frequently until combined.
- Meanwhile, heat the water to boiling in the small, heavy saucepan.
- When the butter and chocolate have melted, stir the mixture into the boiling water.
- Add the sugar, corn syrup and salt and mix until smooth.
- Turn the heat up and stir until mixture starts to boil; adjust heat so that sauce is just maintained at the boiling point, stirring occasionally.
- Allow sauce to boil for nine minutes.
- Remove from heat and cool for 15 minutes. Stir in vanilla extract.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter until smooth and creamy.
- Add powdered sugar, cream, salt and vanilla extract. Beat on low until incorporated.
- Increase speed to medium, and beat for 4-5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add more cream if necessary to reach desired consistency.
- Place cooled hot fudge sauce into a small piping bag fitted with a small star tip or filliing tip.
- Carefully fill each cupcake with a small amount of hot fudge. Reserve remaining fudge for topping.
- Pipe a large dollop of buttercream on each cupcake.
- Using a spoon, remove a small indentation of frosting out of the top of each mound of frosting.
- Combine caramel and chopped pecans in a small bowl, stir to combine and completely coat.
- Spoon a generous amount of caramel/pecan topping into each frosting indentation. Be messy. Messy is good.
- Top each cupcake with a drizzle of the remaining hot fudge.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
- Enjoy!
- 3 and ⅓ cups all purpose flour
- ⅔ cups dark unsweetened cocoa powder
- ⅔ cups regular unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon baking soda
- 1 and ⅓ cups brown sugar
- 1 and ⅓ cups sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 and ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter at cool room temperature
- 3 cups buttermilk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 5 eggs at room temperature
- 4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
- 3 tablespoons butter, unsalted
- ⅔ cup water
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 6 tablespoons corn syrup
- Pinch of salt
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 and ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter at cool room temperature
- 2-lb bag of powdered/icing/confectioners sugar
- ¼ to ½ cup heavy cream
- 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
- dash of salt
- 1 cup finely chopped pecans
- ½ cup caramel sauce
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Prepare 2 cupcake pans with greaseproof paper liners.
- Sift together cocoa, flour, baking soda, salt into a bowl.
- Add remaining ingredients (sugar, brown sugar, salt, butter, buttermilk, vanilla and eggs) and beat on medium speed for 3 minutes.
- Fill cupcake liners ½ to ⅔ full.
- Bake 16-19 minutes or until firm on top.
- Remove from tins and allow cool completely on a wire rack.
- Melt the chocolate and butter very slowly in a double boiler or in the microwave, stirring frequently until combined.
- Meanwhile, heat the water to boiling in the small, heavy saucepan.
- When the butter and chocolate have melted, stir the mixture into the boiling water.
- Add the sugar, corn syrup and salt and mix until smooth.
- Turn the heat up and stir until mixture starts to boil; adjust heat so that sauce is just maintained at the boiling point, stirring occasionally.
- Allow sauce to boil for nine minutes.
- Remove from heat and cool for 15 minutes. Stir in vanilla extract.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter until smooth and creamy.
- Add powdered sugar, cream, salt and vanilla extract. Beat on low until incorporated.
- Increase speed to medium, and beat for 4-5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add more cream if necessary to reach desired consistency.
- Place cooled hot fudge sauce into a small piping bag fitted with a small star tip or filliing tip.
- Carefully fill each cupcake with a small amount of hot fudge. Reserve remaining fudge for topping.
- Pipe a large dollop of buttercream on each cupcake.
- Using a spoon, remove a small indentation of frosting out of the top of each mound of frosting.
- Combine caramel and chopped pecans in a small bowl, stir to combine and completely coat.
- Spoon a generous amount of caramel/pecan topping into each frosting indentation. Be messy. Messy is good.
- Top each cupcake with a drizzle of the remaining hot fudge.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
- Enjoy!
The new site design looks great! Almost as good as those rich gooey cupcakes…
For some reason your posts are just now showing up in my reader. Glad I didn’t miss them cause this looks great!
Maggie, I love the new site! These Turtle Cupcakes look amazing! They’d make a great partner with a cup of coffee!! PS. I will be subscribing!
Love the turtle cupcakes!
I made this one like 2 months ago… My favourite part was the frosting! It was very very good!!
Would love to win gift card…could to lots with it to get organized!! jacci1953@yahoo.com
I am going to try these cupcakes…I also would love to win the gift card. becyg@aol.com
This is a great recipe. i love anything “turtle”
swtss845@gmail.com
Lots of work but looks like its worth it! Juli.bythrow@gmail.com
These look amazing. Can’t wait to make them.
I would love to take over the Gift Card. Hope I win!
kdavis12048@comcast.net
these are awesome yum yum!!!!!!!!! muffinater2@hotmail.com
These look soooo good! Thanks for taking the time to share these awesome recipes on your web site !! Lizabethcrowell@bellsouth.net
Oh, my… god. The recipe is great but the photos I could eat right off the screen. You have all of my favorites in one cupcake. I might swap out the vanilla cream for a marshmallow frosting and make these as Scotchmallows for the kids.
This recipe looks SO good! My dad’s favorite candy is Turtles, so I think I’ll make this for his next birthday! YUM!
Hello. Does the buttercream need to be refrigerated? ie do the cupcakes need to be refrigerated after iced.
Buttercream can sit at room temperature for up to 48 hours. After that, it should be refrigerated. 🙂
I have a cupcake blog called My Year of
Cupcakes. I featured your Turtle Cupcake recipe on Day 117. Here’s the link if
you wanna take a look: http://myyearofcupcakes.com/2013/11/25/day-117-turtle-cupcakes/
Thanks for the amazing recipe!
The instructions don’t say when to add the vanilla to the hot fudge. Also is a Tbsp the correct measurement for the vanilla? I just added it after cooking for 9 min and it overpowered the coco flavor.
Sorry, you stir the vanilla in after the fudge has cooled for 15 minutes. I have adjusted the recipe.
How come this cupcake recipe makes so many. The first time I made it I got over 48 cupcakes. Now I cut it in half and still get over 24…?
The recipe makes 4 dozen. I cut it in half and got 28. 🙂