Chocolate Pretzel Cupcakes.
Chocolate covered pretzels are one of my favourite snacks, sweet, salty crunchy, what’s not to like? Well how about making it into a cake? Well look no further!
These chocolate pretzel cupcakes have a crunchy pretzel base, hidden chocolate chips, and a rich mind blowingly good chocolate coated brown butter buttercream. They are insanely moreish and are perfect with a cup of coffee.
Easy to make and even easier to decorate they do not fail to impress! So if you like salted chocolate with nutty crunchy pretzels give these little beauties a go!
Ingredients
For the pretzel base -
90g finely ground salted pretzels
25g melted butter - Cooled
1tbs Runny Honey
For the Cupcake Batter -
120 ml buttermilk - see recipe for how to make if not available to buy
120 ml strong brewed coffee (cold)
100 ml vegetable or sunflower oil
2 Medium eggs
185 g caster sugar
140 g plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
35 g dark cocoa powder
50g Chocolate Chips
For the brown buttercream -
200 g softened Browned butter - see recipe for method
320 g icing sugar
3 tbsp milk
50g Salted pretzels crushed
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp Fine sea salt
For the decoration -
100g Dark chocolate - roughly chopped
50g Butter
Chocolate covered pretzels to decorate.
Flakey sea salt - Optional
Method
To make the Browned Butter
In a shallow saucepan place a 250g block of softened unsalted butter and begin to melt on a low heat stirring occasionally. Once Fully melted keep stirring and allow the foam to subside, at this point you should see white flecks in the yellow liquid butter, these are the milk solids, these are what we want to brown (caramelise). Keep an eye on the solids and keep stirring until the solids start to turn a golden brown. The darker the colour the more nutty and deep the flavour, be careful not to burn it, sometimes it will foam up, this is perfectly normal, simply turn down the heat and keep stirring. Just before the solids reach the colour you want, transfer the liquid butter to a heat safe bowl and allow to cool to room temp, then cover and refrigerate until solid. When ready to make the buttercream, remove and allow to come to room temperature.
1 -
Preheat your oven to 180 dec C and line your cupcake tin with paper cases,
In a bowl or zip lock bag, crush the pretzels into a fine crumb, mix with your melted butter to make a mixture resembling wet sand, and evenly distribute between the cupcake cases. Once done press the mixture down firmly with the back of a spoon or end of a rolling pin to create a firm smooth base - set aside. Brew some strong coffee and allow to cool.
2 -
In a large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients - flour, sugar, bicarbonate of soda, salt, cocoa powder and chocolate chips if using. Once sifted, set aside.
3 -
In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients - eggs, buttermilk, oil, coffee and vanilla. Once combined, add your wet mixture to your dry and mix gently until just combined. Do not over mix. This mixing step is very easily done by hand with a balloon whisk.
4 -
Evenly fill each cupcake case two-thirds full (these do not rise too much when baking) and bake for 15 to 20 mins depending on your oven or until a tooth pick, when inserted, comes out clean. Another way of knowing if they’re finished is if they spring back when pressed gently. Once done, set these aside to cool fully, transferring to a wire rack after 10 mins.
To make the Buttercream -
1 -
In the bowl of a stand mixer (you can also use a hand mixer), beat your softened, but not melted browned butter on medium speed using a paddle attachment for 3 to 5 minutes until pale and fluffy.
2 -
Once pale and fluffy, add half of your icing sugar and mix on low to prevent a cloud of sugar going everywhere. Once mostly mixed in, beat again on high for 1 minute before repeating with the remaining icing sugar. Once combined, scrape down the bowl, then beat on high speed for 2 to 3 mins to make a super fluffy and pale butter cream.
3 -
Add the salt, vanilla and crushed pretzels then mix to combine fully, scraping down the sides of the bowl to ensure everything is fully mixed. Add one tbs of your milk and mix - you are aiming for a soft, fluffy and easily pipe-able mixture. If it is still tight/thick, you can add the remaining milk 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing between, to reach the desired pipe-able texture.
4 -
Once achieved, cover and set aside to decorate, I recommend making the buttercream just before decorating to stop it stiffening / developing a crust. If you want to make it in advance and store it, cover it with plastic wrap, making sure it is touching the surface of the buttercream to stop air getting in, and store in the fridge. When ready to use, bring to room temperature and beat briefly to fluff up. You can add a touch of milk to soften if it still thick. This can be stored for 1 week in the fridge or up to 3 weeks in the freezer in an air tight container.
To make the Ganache -
In a bowl set over a pot of gently simmering water (double boiler) or in the microwave very gently melt together the chocolate and butter until the chocolate is almost fully melted then remove from the heat and stir continuously until fully combined. If you would like to ensure the ganache is super glossy reserve a few pieces of chocolate aside and add to the fully melted ganache this will temper the chocolate. Let cool but not set it needs to be a dipping consistency.
To Decorate -
Using a wide open piping tip and piping bag (you can also use a pallet knife to apply if you prefer) pipe a large mound of icing in the centre of the cupcakes ensuring to generously cover the cake. Once piped set aside in the fridge for 10-20 mins for the icing to firm up a little but not fully set. This is a good time to make your ganache.
Once the icing has cooled and set, gently dip them into the ganache being sure to coat your mound of icing fully and evenly, allow the excess to drip off before placing on a wire rack, and topping with your chocolate coated pretzels, I used two per cake but this is entirely up to you. Alternatively you can top them with crushed regular pretzels should you not be able to or not want to use chocolate coated ones. Once you have decorated the cakes let the ganache set at room temp, then keep in an air tight container for 2-3 days.
