Mud Turtle Cupcakes

The Mud Turtle Cupcakes from Rose's Heavenly Cakes have a lot of bits and pieces to make them up but they are tasty and impressive looking.  These were definite winners when I made them.

The ingredient list for these is somewhat intimidating.  This may be the most individual ingredients I've ever put together for one recipe.
 

I love caramel, but this made a LOT of caramel.  Far more than I'm used to making. Although I may have doubled the recipe...

Yeah, I definitely doubled the recipe.  This is way too much batter for one batch of cupcakes.
 

Without the decorations, the cupcakes are pretty good basic chocolate cakes.  Not too chocolatey or too sweet.

But after the decoration they're even better.  A little bit of caramel, some pecans, and some mini chocolate chips make these mud turtles amazing!