Yesterday’s plan was ambitious, but seemingly doable. Grocery store, make cupcakes, go to gym, fill and frost cupcakes, go to housewarming party. Considering this was to all happen within a 2-3 mile radius of my house, it didn’t seem crazy.

I probably had one of my clumsiest days in the kitchen…ever. I’m a decent cook and really a pretty good baker, but the cupcakes did not go well. In the end, they tasted fantastic, but it was painful getting there.

I set out to make the salted caramel chocolate cupcakes from Martha Stewart’s cupcake book, a publication I find both inspiring and overwhelming. The gorgeous photos and clean layout make it more like an  art book, but there are literally hundreds of recipes and decorating ideas – more than once I’ve put it down feeling confused and conflicted and no longer in the mood to make cupcakes.

But, yesterday I knew exactly what I wanted to make. The cupcakes are basically chocolate cake filled with salted caramel and topped with dark chocolate frosting. The actual baking went well. I baked about 20 cupcakes and cut out little cone-shaped divots for the caramel:

I saved the little cake chunks – good for a little mini treat:

The frosting was a little time consuming and messy, but still so far, so good.

Then came the caramel. I will spare you the gory details, but it took me 3 freaking times to get it right. And each attempt probably took about 1/2 hour and left me with a set of sticky, gummy pots, dishes and utensils. Turns out I was stirring when I shouldn’t have been stirring. Candy making is an exact, bitchy science in that way.

So, if you’re making caramel, DO NOT STIR once heat has been applied to the sugar and water mixture. Amidst the painful learning process, I also managed to drop 1/2 container’s worth of cocoa powder from the cabinet above my sink onto a strainer of clean dishes. I may have cried a little.

So, my gym ambitions faded pretty quickly once I realized I would be about 1.5 hrs late to the party. Luckily, not all was lost. While my 3rd batch of unstirred caramel cooked away on the stove, I broke out my jump rope, stability ball (not pictured) and 10 lb. hand weights and did some quick burst of cardio (jump rope), core work (sit ups on stability ball) and upper body strengthening (reps with hand weights) – all right in my kitchen.

It wasn’t what I had planned, but a quick work out is better than none. Note: my floor looks dirty here, but really it’s just old and battered (I recently swiffered).

Let’s hope my day today progresses a bit more smoothly…and less stick-il-ly.

Filed under: Cake, exercise