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I am finally back from a mini vacation at Oglebay Resort in West Virginia. I’m so not the outdoorsy type; therefore, it wasn’t my favorite idea for a vacation. However, it was a great way to spend time with family, so I put aside my girly ways and dealt with the whole “roughing it” vibe. Well, if you consider hanging out in a cabin “roughing it”. I’ll touch more on Oglebay in an upcoming post, because today is simply devoted to these incredibly decadent Rolo Cupcakes.
While I was away, Kristan and Amber took over MBA for a few days with their Rolo creations. Both of their recipes had me craving caramel and wishing that I brought along my baking gear to West Virgina.
Before I left town, I whipped up these super simple Rolo Cupcakes using my Snicker’s Cupcake recipe as inspiration. I started with my favorite doctored up cake mix recipe, nestled a frozen Rolo in the middle of the batter, topped the baked cupcakes with caramel infused buttercream and finished with a drizzle of ganache and a Rolo. Are you drooling yet?
If you aren’t a fan of boxed mixes, simply substitute your favorite from scratch chocolate cupcake recipe. I’m pretty sure you’ll still have amazing results. Be sure to stop back tomorrow for the finale to Rolo Week, which may have something to do with ice cream. Yes, I went there – and you won’t want to miss it.
Rolo Cupcakes
Ingredients:
For the cupcakes
- 1 (18.25 ounce) package Devil’s Food Cake mix
- 1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 4 eggs; lightly beaten
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla
- 24 frozen Rolos (freeze for at least 2 hours)
For the frosting
- 4 sticks unsalted butter; room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ⅓ cup caramel syrup
- 1 1/2 pounds confectioners’ sugar
For the ganache
- 4 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped into very small pieces
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 24 Rolos for garnish
Directions:
For the cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Line (2) 12 cup muffin tins with paper liners or spray with nonstick cooking spray.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs, water and vanilla until well combined and smooth.
- Evenly divide the batter amongst the prepared pans. {I use a large cookie scoop from OXO to scoop my batter; it holds 3 tablespoons}.
- Gently push a frozen Rolo into the center of the batter and smooth the surface making sure to cover the candy with batter.
- Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until top is springy to the touch. A small divot may appear in the center of the cupcake, no worries though because you’ll cover that with frosting.
- Cool cupcakes thoroughly on wire rack.
For the frosting
- Cream the butter in the bowl of an electric or stand mixer. Add the vanilla extract, salt and caramel syrup and combine well.
- Begin adding in the sugar and mixing thoroughly after each addition. After all of the sugar has been added and mixed thoroughly, give it a taste and decide if you want to add in more caramel syrup. For thicker frosting you can gradually add in a little more sugar.
For the ganache
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, warm the heavy cream until very hot, but not boiling.
- Place chocolate pieces in a heat safe bowl. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and allow it to sit for about 5 minutes. Whisk the cream and chocolate until smooth and thoroughly combined. Whisk in the honey, corn syrup, and vanilla. Allow to cool for about 15 minutes. Do not let the glaze sit for too long or it will harden up before you spoon it over the frosting.
- Spoon the glaze on the tops of the frosted cupcakes, allowing it to drip down the sides a little bit. Don’t add too much glaze or it will drip all over your liners.
- Top each cupcake with a Rolo.
- Store cupcakes in the refrigerator. Remove them to room temperature one hour before serving.
Notes:
- Ganache from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen
Follow Jamie on Instagram. We love to see what you're baking from MBA! Be sure to tag @jamiemba and use the hashtag #mbarecipes!
Is the caramel syrup for the frosting thin (like Torani’s) or thick (like ice cream topping)?
Thinner caramel will work best. Thanks for stopping by.
-Jamie
Thanks Jamie!
So I’m getting ready to make these and just realize I only have vanilla pudding mix do you think it will really make a difference if I use it.
Hi Katie,
The texture will still be right, but I’m not sure what the taste will be like. I know it will be good, but probably not as chocolatey as the original recipe.
– Jamie
These are every bit as delicious as they look and they get rave reviews from the chocolate lovers! Definitely going to be a go to cupcake recipe…thanks for sharing!!!
Exactly what I was looking for! Just bought a big box of Rolo’s @ Sams Club hoping I’d find a recipe :) I’m making these for a birthday party with a “Turtle” theme. I’m going to add some chopped pecans w/the rolos to get that turtle candy effect.
I noticed the question about the rolos sinking to the bottom. How do you prevent that?
Thanks for the awesome recipe. Can’t wait to bake them! Gina
I can’t find 18.25 oz cake mix boxes. I only see the 15 oz. boxes. How should I adjust my dry/wet ingredients or baking time?
Thanks.
Hi Lourdes,
Thank you for your question. I have addressed this change in box size issue today, in the following post: https://www.mybakingaddiction.com/cake-mix-recipe/
– Jamie
I just wanted to say thank you for the amazing recipes. I am now required to make rolo cupcakes for any work event,,,baby showers, bridal showers, charity bake sales, birthdays & any event my coworkers can think up! Your recipe is foolproof and just yummy deliciousness.
I’ve actually converted this into a double layer cake format, and it was a huge hit.
please could you give me the recipe for how you converted it? thank you so much!!
Hi, I was so excited to try this recipe and it turned out great but I had one problem. I froze the rolos overnight and took them out just before inserting into the cupcakes and popping them into the over. I noticed though that all of the rolos sunk to the bottom of the cupcakes, melted and formed a round disc at the bottom of the cupcake so when you take the liners off to eat, the rolo sticks to it and you end up eating the rolo off the liner. A few didn’t stick but they were still melted into a flat disc on the bottom of the cupcake. How did you get around this problem? I thought of baking halfway when batter is already starting to set, then pushing the frozen rolo into the center, but not sure if that would work. The break in cooking time it takes to do this may just make the cupcakes go flat Any tips appreciated as I would love to make these again sometime.
I had the same experience with the rolo falling to the bottom and melting!!
Are you from cute girls hairstyles on YouTube also you might want to get the batter a little thicker before putting in the rolo
The cupcakes you show on your blog….are they mini cupcakes or regular sized cupcakes? I have often wondered how you get that pretty star like pattern for the frosting….My friend thinks you must use mini cupcakes to do that.
Thank you,
Marcia-
I do use regular size cupcakes. To get that frosting effect, I use the open star frosting tip, 1M. Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!
-Jamie