1-Preheat your oven: First, line a 12-cup cupcake pan and sift together the dry ingredients for the chocolate cupcake base to ensure a smooth batter.

2-Mix the wet ingredients: Mix the wet ingredients separately, like the brewed coffee, white vinegar, vanilla extract, and canola oil, then combine them quickly to keep the batter light and airy.

3-Bake the cupcakes: Once mixed, pour the batter into the pan and bake for 15-20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

4-Prepare the cashew pastry cream: While the cupcakes cool, prepare the cashew pastry cream by coarsely grinding the cashews and heating the milk. Whisk the egg yolks with sugar and cornstarch, temper them with the hot milk, add the ground cashews, and cook until thickened, then cool it with plastic wrap on top.

5-Make the salted caramel sauce: Next, make the salted caramel sauce by melting sugar until it’s brown, adding butter and heated cream, and boiling briefly before letting it cool.

6-Prepare the buttercream: For the buttercream, cream the softened butter, beat in the caramel sauce, and mix in the powdered sugar and vanilla extract until smooth, adjusting as needed.

7-Caramelize the nuts: Finally, cook the cashews with brown sugar and butter for the caramelized nuts.

8-Assemble the cupcakes: Assemble by carving a hole in each cooled cupcake, filling with pastry cream, frosting with buttercream, and topping with nuts.