100 GRAND CUPCAKES WITH SALTED CARMEL FROSTING

Ingredients
Cupcakes
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
8 100 Grand snack size candy bars, cut into thirds and frozen

Frosting
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 pound confectioners sugar
1/2 cup caramel topping, plus more for drizzling
1 teaspoon salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla and beat on medium speed with a mixer for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water.  The batter will be thin.  Line muffin cups with paper liners.  Fill cups 2/3 full with batter. Add in one piece of frozen 100 Grand bar. Top with an additional tablespoon or so of batter to cover the candy bar. Bake 22 to 25 minutes.

To make the frosting, cream the butter in the bowl of an electric or stand mixer. Add the vanilla, salt and caramel syrup and mix to combine well.  Add the sugar, a cup at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition.  Frost cooled cupcakes.  If desired, garnish with additional carmel topping and chopped 100 Grand bars.  Makes 24 cupcakes.

Let's Dish
I love 100 Grand candy bars (though I rarely enjoy since they don't seem to be readily available, except at Halloween time) so I knew I would love these cupcakes from The Novice Chef.  First of all, the salted carmel frosting is out of this world!  I plan on using it to frost all kinds of things.  The chocolate cupcakes were fantastic too, but because the batter is thin, I had trouble keeping my candy bar pieces afloat.  Freezing definitely helps, but mine still sunk to the bottom of the cupcake.  But these were so delicious, no one cared! I recommend cutting the candy bars into thirds and then freezing them.  It's kind of hard, and messy, to try and cut them when they're frozen. If you can help eating the extra 100 Grand bars, chop a few up and sprinkle them over the frosted cupcakes.  Now I'm dreaming about all the other candy bars I can bake into cupcakes.

Who Dished It Up First
Jessica at The Novice Chef