Dr. Pepper And Amaretto.

So, I'm a teacher.  To be specific, I am a Kindergarten teacher in a private school.  Kindergarten is not a requirement in Texas, and some people prefer their child to go private.  In most situations, though, I exist to teach kids whose parents want them to skip a grade.  My kids will test out of standard Kindergarten next year, into first grade.  Despite the fact that, in 80 percent of the cases, their birthdays fall short of the September 1 deadline by a few weeks to a month.  Apparently, instead of their child being the oldest in their class, and therefore the first to drive to school (Which gives cool points), They prefer youngest in the class and of to college earlier.  So they can be 40 year old child-frees.


Anyway, enough about me.

Or, more about me.  This is my job.  My sister works in the same school in the Early Education wing.  She has toddlers.  (Our school goes from 6 weeks to 1st grade currently)

The thing about working with kids is that there is a completely different kind of stress from working with kids than there is working, say as a CSR in healthcare.  Which is a stress, but different.  i would go into a rant of why children's behavior has gotten completely out of hand in the last 10 years, but I'll allow more eloquent people to take up that issue (Mandi.)

Instead I will simply state that as Friday drew to an end, all I could think about was a solid stiff drink.

Thanks to a friend of ours, My sister and I were introduced to the delicious mixture of Amaretto and Dr. Pepper.  And last night, we hit the drink.  Our brother came over and joined in, too.  He doesn't work with kids, but he fancies himself an liquor expert.

We found that Amaretto and Dr. Pepper work so well, you can even do 60% amaretto in the mix and have it still be deliciously smooth.

However, too many glasses lead to a ridiculous amount of laughter and an inability to say "The Sarah Connor Chronicles."

So today, inspired as I was by the flavors, I decided to attempt to try them in cake.

While I wouldn't consider them a roaring success, since I am pretty lazy today, I do think they turned out pretty good.


I cheated, surprise, surprise.  I used a Paula Dean Chocolate Cake recipe.  Instead of water, I used Amaretto.  And instead of oil, I used melted butter.

While those baked, I tried my hand at a Doctor Pepper Reduction.

I saw a few recipes online for Dr. Pepper frosting.  But, I'm limited right now, with mixers.  I do not own a Kitchenaide (though I plan to fix this on Black Friday)

So, instead, I made up my glaze.  I reduced the DP into a syrupy consistency, then I made a ghetto buttercream, (5 cups powdered sugar, 1/2 cup Crisco ) mixing it all in the pan until smooth and then I took it away from the heat and tried to apply it to the cooled cupcakes...

Oh, and I topped it with Red Cherries.  Per My Sister's request.

The verdict?  They're suprisingly moist, but with a strong flavor.  The Dr. Pepper flavor is mild.  But, my sister, the self-proclaimed DP and Amaretto expert, likes them.

Also, i had to go back and drop bigger clumps of glaze on all the cupcakes.  So, Glaze big, if you try it.