Monday, April 18, 2011

And I'm back with lots of Chocolate!

So much baking has gone on since I last posted, yet finding the time to sit down and blog has been difficult.  So here it goes, I have one more month before my half marathon.  It is a long distance for me and I am starting to get a little nervous for it.  Mostly just anxious and excited though.  I decided to do a longer run this last weekend and increase my mileage.  I was feeling really good about 8 miles in, so I decided to keep going.  By mile 10, I don't think that my legs wanted to move anymore and I kept on telling myself to go faster.  All in all, I finished the 10 miles in 1:35 which wasn't bad for me.  Feeling good about myself on the drive home and cruising with the window down, I got a burst of energy, so whipped out the bike and went for a ride...only to get 10 miles in and tried to stand up to climb a hill when my right calf became one mangled knot. WTF! Almost caused me to lose control and crash, but I managed to keep it under control and walk my bike back to the car.  A little stretching and looooots of water, I was feeling much better by the end of the day!  All in a days work and pretty proud of myself for pushing that 10 miles out...maybe next time I will skip the ride afterwards. :)   

So back to the baking...I had mentioned earlier that I had given up Chocolate for Lent, but made a weee little exception for some Devils Food Cupcakes for my boss.  It paid off when I asked for a day off next week and he responds with "Since you did make those fabulous cupcakes for me..."  All in a days work I guess :) and a delicious Devils Food Cupcake with Caramel Buttercream and Chocolate Toffee covered Pretzels.
You can find the cupcake here

The frosting was actually fun to make:

1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. water
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) salted butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar

2-3 cups crumbled Chocolate Toffee covered Pretzels

Briefly stir together granulated sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Continue cooking, without stirring, until mixture turns dark amber in color, about 6 to 7 minutes.

Remove from heat and slowly add in cream and vanilla (just start with a tablespoon or two), stirring with a wooden spoon until completely smooth. 

Set aside until cool to the touch, about 25 minutes.

Beat the butter ]in the bowl of a stand mixer on medium-high speed until light in color and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low, add powdered sugar, and mix until completely incorporated.  

Turn off the mixer, and then add caramel. 

Beat frosting on low to combine, and then increase to medium-high and beat until airy and thoroughly mixed, about 2 minutes. 

Mix in crumbled pretzel bits.

Refrigerate if not using immediately (or to harden the frosting a bit).

**I spread the frosting on instead of piping it on since it was very sweet.  I had a lot of extra frosting too, so it can be modified very easily.

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