Preheat an oven to 350℉(180C). Line 24 muffin tins with cupcake liners. In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Add in bits of softened butter until no lumps of butter are visible and the mixture looks crumbly.
Whisk together eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla until well combined. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients in a slow and steady stream until just combined. Scrape down the bowl and beat on medium for another 20 seconds.
Fill each liner 2/3 full (using a large cookie scoop to transfer the batter makes this a quick and easy process).
Bake for 20-25 min or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow them to cool completely on a wire cooling rack before frosting. Set in the fridge or freezer to accelerate the cooling process if desired.
Snickers Cream Cheese frosting
Beat together softened cream cheese and butter; slowly add in powdered sugar alternating with milk until frosting reaches desired consistency. Add vanilla, salt if needed, and caramel sauce and beat until well combined.
Snickers cupcake filling
To make your cupcake filling, combine 1/2 cup frosting with 1/2 cup peanut butter and 2 tablespoons of caramel and stir to combine. Transfer to a small piping bag or ziplock.
Assembly
Once the cupcakes have cooled, you're ready to core them. This can be done with a cupcake corer, the back end of a large piping tip, or a plastic knife.
Transfer filling into cored cupcakes - I used a small piping bag, but a spoon would work.
Decorating
Now you're ready to decorate! Transfer your frosting to a large piping bag, and pipe in large swirls onto your cupcakes. Unwrap mini Snickers bars and cut each in half; place onto each cupcake with the cut end showing. (I thought the cupcakes looked cooler when the inside of the Snickers bar was visible on the top).
Decorate each frosting swirl with a drizzle of caramel, chopped peanuts, sprinkles, and halved Snickers bar - and you're done! Enjoy!
Video
Notes
(Please note nutrition information is an estimate and may not be exactly accurate.)