Caramel cupcakes with pecan

My mom knows I'm into baking so she surprised me with this super cute book full of the most amazing cupcake recipes (Ingrid Hancock Bjerknes: Kuppikakut / WSOY. They have an english version as well called, surprisingly, Cupcakes). It was hard to decide which ones to try first: mojito cupcakes, marshmallow cupcakes or perhaps Baileys cupcakes. The lucky winner was pecan nut cupcakes with caramel topping. The combination of those two sounded (and tasted) heavenly, and the picture sealed the deal. Ok, my versions didn't turn out that pretty, but they were delicious. Especially served with whipped cream. I think the photo in the book has been taken right after pouring the topping, whereas in my picture the topping has already dried up. 

See the recipe below and enjoy!

Caramel cupcakes with pecan

INGREDIENTS

Dough
300 g pecan nuts
200 g warm margarin
1 1/2 dl sugar
1 1/2 dl brown sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
mocha essence (I skipped this one)
4 dl sieved wheat flour
1 dl grinded almond
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3 dl whipping cream
1 banana

Caramel topping
60 g margarin
100 g brown sugar
4 tabelspoons light syrup
1 1/2 dl whipping cream

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat the oven up to 180 Celcius.
2. Roast the nuts in oven about 15 minutes and let them cool down. Crunch half of them and leave the other half for decoration.
3. Whip margarin with sugar until fluffy.
4. Add eggs one by one while whipping.
5. Add cinnamon and cardamom (and a few drops of mocha essence). Whip until smooth.
6. Mix flour, grinded almond and baking powder together and add into dough. Whip for a few minutes.
7. Add whipping cream little by little.  
8. Squash the banana and add into dough.
9. Add crushed pecan nuts.
10. Fill cupcake tins half full and bake them for about 15 minutes.

Caramel topping
1. Measure margarin, brown sugar and syrup into pan and heat while mixing until bubbly. Continue mixing for another 2 minutes.
2. Add cream and keep mixing until thick.

Decoration
The topping is very running so use high edged cupcake tins. Decorate cupcakes with nuts (either crunched or whole ones). Pour the topping on top.