These easy Turtle cupcakes take all of the elements of everyone’s favorite Turtle candies and turns them into rich, moist chocolate cupcake decked out with all the ooey gooey caramel, crunchy pecans, and chocolaty goodness you’d want!
Love chocolate dessert recipes? Be sure to make these hot chocolate cupcakes, this amazing Oreo Cookie poke cake or this easy chocolate wafer cake.
Table of contents
Turtle Cupcakes with Caramel Buttercream Frosting
Drop what you’re doing right now, go to the kitchen, and take this recipe with you. This decadent chocolate cupcake is a must for any chocolate turtle lover!
They’re made with a rich fudgy boxed cake mix topped with a whipped caramel buttercream frosting, adorned with chopped pecans with a chocolate and gooey caramel drizzle.
They’re moist, bakery-style, and have tons of chocolate and caramel flavor with the satisfying crunch of toasted nuts. These make incredible holiday desserts or special occasion and a delightful treat when craving turtle candies for the rest of the year!
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Ingredients You’ll Need
- Cake mix: I use Betty Crocker Triple Chocolate Fudge cake mix and the other ingredients required on the package. This flavor is ultra chocolaty! But feel free to use any favorite box of cake mix. The extras you’ll need are oil, eggs, and water.
- Brown sugar & salted butter: Caramel combines light brown sugar or dark brown sugar with melted butter and cooks it until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is smooth. Use unsalted butter and a pinch of salt if that’s what you have.
- Milk: The milk gets added to the brown sugar and butter mixture to add a creamy texture and make it a rich consistency. Use any % of milk or evaporated milk.
- Powdered sugar: When whipped with the cooled caramel sauce it becomes a delicious frosting!
- The Toppings: toasted pecan crumbles, chocolate sauce, caramel sauce.
Variations To Try
1. Fill the cupcakes with a gooey center! Insert some caramel bits or chocolate candies into the center of the cupcakes once they are cooled and before frosting. You can scoop out the center of each cupcake with a cupcake corer.
2. Top each one with a whole pecan for decoration.
3. Feel free to use a homemade chocolate cake recipe if you’d prefer.
4. Add chocolate chips to the batter for something a little extra!
5. Turn the frosting into salted caramel frosting by adding ¼ teaspoon of salt to the frosting mix.
6. If caramel frosting isn’t your thing, chocolate buttercream might be!
7. To enhance the flavor of the cupcakes, add a splash of vanilla extract.
How to Make Chocolate Turtle Cupcakes
I bet you’d never think chocolate cupcakes that look this elegant would be so simple! Follow these easy steps and impress your guests at your next gathering.
Step 1: Follow the directions on the package of the boxed mix to make the cupcake batter in a large bowl. Use a whisk or an electric hand mixer on medium speed.
Step 2: Fill cupcake liners in a regular-size muffin cups only ¾ full. Bake them, again according to package directions, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Step 3: To a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, just slightly melt the butter before whisking in the brown sugar. After about 3-5 minutes, it should start to simmer and the sugar should dissolve.
Step 4: Remove it from the heat and whisk in the milk to combine. Allow it to cool completely.
Step 5: Make the caramel frosting.
To a large mixing bowl, beat the powdered sugar and caramel sauce until fluffy. Pipe or spread the cooled cupcakes with frosting, drizzle with chocolate, and extra caramel sauce then top with chopped pecans.
Tips
- There is enough batter for 24 turtle cupcakes. However, if piping the frosting instead of spreading, you’ll only have enough for 12. Instead of doubling the frosting, make 2 separate batches.
- Allow the cupcakes to cool completely otherwise the frosting will melt if they’re still warm.
- Using a larger pan will cook the caramel faster than a small saucepan as there is more surface area for the mixture to spread.
- Watch the cupcakes! Don’t overbake them. They are ready when a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Sometimes it’s hard to see when dark chocolate cupcakes start burning.
FAQ’s
This turtle cupcake recipe is meant for 12 cupcakes, however, you’ll have enough batter for 24. Feel free to make more, just remember to make an extra batch of frosting. Avoid doubling the frosting recipe.
I like to use the open star tip with a piping bag when I want to be a little fancier with my presentation. Turtle cupcakes are fantastic no matter what they look like, so don’t stress about the piping!
Sure you can. Just add ½ Tablespoon of milk and beat to combine.
You can adjust this by adding 1 Tablespoon more powdered sugar and beating until smooth.
Absolutely! While we are trying to recreate the elements of turtles, you can adapt this recipe by using whatever cupcake flavor you want. Caramel, chocolate, and pecans go well with vanilla, banana, and more!
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Turtle Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the Cupcakes
- 15.25 ounce Betty Crocker Triple Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix plus ingredients on the package
- ½ cup Vegetable oil or canola oil
- 3 large Eggs
- 1.5 cups Water
For the Caramel frosting:
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ½ cup salted butter
- ¼ cup milk
- 2 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup pecans toasted and chopped
- Chocolate syrup to top
- Caramel sauce to top
Instructions
Make the Cupcakes
- Prepare cupcakes, according to package directions.15.25 ounce Betty Crocker Triple Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix, ½ cup Vegetable oil, 3 large Eggs, 1.5 cups Water
- Fill 12 cupcake liners ¾ full. You will have leftover batter for another 12 cupcakes but the frosting will You will need to make a 2nd batch of frosting for those. (That is recommended instead of doubling the frosting recipe).
- After baking, remove the cupcakes from the oven and place them on a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
Make the caramel frosting:
- In a medium saucepan, add the butter and barely melt over medium-low heat.½ cup salted butter
- Once the butter has slightly melted, add the brown sugar and whisk for approximately 3-5 minutes until the mixture begins to simmer and all of the sugar is dissolved. A smaller pan may take a little longer than a larger pan.1 cup brown sugar
- Remove from heat and add in the milk and whisk to combine.¼ cup milk
- Allow the caramel to cool completely.
- Add the powdered sugar to a large mixing bowl and then add the cooled caramel sauce and beat with an electric hand mixer until combined and fluffy.2 ½ cups powdered sugar
- If the frosting is too thick, add ½ tablespoon of milk. If the frosting is too thin, add a tablespoon of powdered sugar
- Add the frosting to a piping bag and frost the cupcakes (I like using the Open Star tip). or you can spread with a knife as well.
- After frosting the cupcakes, drizzle with caramel sauce and chocolate syrup and add the chopped pecans.1 cup pecans, Chocolate syrup, Caramel sauce
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclosure
Nutrition information is automatically calculated and should only be used as an approximation.
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