Week 21 Cupcakes - Rolo Cupcakes

For starters aren't these the cutest cupcake liners?  It's a baking Christmas penguin!  I found them last year somewhere and just couldn't resist them.  The only problem is that they're on the thin side so you can't really see the design after they've baked.  I've been waiting to use them so the penguin got to be the carriers for these Rolo Cupcakes.  I have a weakness for candy cupcakes and I was pretty pleased with how these came out

1. Source:  My Baking Addiction - a really great food blog

2. Ease of Recipe (1 being cake mix/canned icing - 5 tons of steps and very time consuming): 3.  It's a heavily doctored cake mix with Rolo's stuck in them but you do have to make the ganache and frosting.  Also the candy needs to be frozen so it's not something that can be made at the absolute last minute.

3. Changes Made: I used semisweet chocolate instead of bittersweet because that is what I had.  Next time I would definitely use bittersweet to temper some of the sweetness.

4. Problems:  None - this was a very well written recipe

5.  Overall Impression:  This frosting is not for the weak of heart.  It requires 1 full pound of butter.  I was actually pretty pleased with that because caramel frostings and I have had a love hate relationship with many being horribly sweet even when I leave out half the sugar.  Of course if you leave out half the sugar you end up with an unappetizing gravy looking thing.  All this butter gave the frosting a really rich buttery flavor with just a nice mellow taste of caramel.  The cake is deliciously moist and the frozen Rolo maintains its shape for a nice caramel-y surprise.  After tasting the assembled cupcake right after it was made I was unpleasantly surprised with how sweet it was.  All together it was just a little overwhelming.  After 24 hours the frosting mellowed a little and was really good.  I don't know if it was the time or maybe cupcake #2 just had a little less frosting.  Also I think using bittersweet chocolate in the ganache and adding the ganache with a heavier hand would have provided better contrast of flavors.

6. Quantity:  19 if you make big cupcakes like me.

7. Make Again?: Yes