Oh yes, this is quite the tale of deceit. It is the story of an innocent little baker, eager to please her book club group with some tantalizing seasonal cupcakes. She scoured the internet searching for the perfect recipe and slaved away in the kitchen, only to be crushed by sadness at the discovery that her cupcakes tasted nothing like the ingredients she'd put into them. It is a dramatic tale of loss and betrayal, worthy of being ranked with Shakespeare's best. Or not. Perhaps it's just another all too common story of trying out an recipe from a random blog and coming up with something less than stellar. Reminds me that it's sometimes best to stick with recipes from published cookbooks.
The recipe in question was meant to be Eggnog Cranberry Cupcakes with White Chocolate Spiced Buttercream from Your Cup of Cake. From my book club's taste test the only flavors that could be detected in the finished product were the cranberry and the spice. Disappointing because my husband loves white chocolate and we both love eggnog, so I was hoping for a great combination of seasonal flavors here. Unfortunately, the eggnog flavor disappeared completely and there wasn't enough white chocolate in the frosting to actually give it that flavor. Still, the amount of spice is spot on and the frosting is nice and fluffy. If I hadn't told anyone what the cupcake was supposed to be they would have happily assumed I'd served them spiced cranberry cupcakes.
On top of that I took the trouble to leave a comment on the blog post basically saying that while the cupcakes were good they were not as advertised/what I expected so I was left disappointed. I didn't intend for it to be a mean comment or anything, just trying to help other readers out in case they're tempted to try this recipe. When I visited the page again later in the day to work on this blog post I noticed that the blogger had deleted my comment. That makes me a little mad. That's pretty poor blogging behavior right there, to censor things so only comments from adoring fans are shown and "real" comments from people who have tested the recipe get deleted. Despite the number of other delicious-looking cupcake recipes on her blog I don't think I can trust that her blog posts or the comments are honest and helpful so I'll pass on making anything else from her blog.
4 comments:
Hey - thanks for this post! I always read the comments on a recipe, just to make sure the reviews are up to par. I would hope any baker that's worth their snuff would listen to the comments, then adjust and experiment the recipe as needed! Good to know that I can skip that blog :)
That is a double disappointment. I would prefer that someone who has tried out something from my blog let me know what they thought of the result whether it was a positive or negative experience.
If we are going to post directions, we need to be open to hearing how it worked out for other people.
You didn't do anything wrong in letting her know. She, however, has done her readers a disservice by not letting them see that the recipe may need adjusting if they expect to get the eggnog and white chocolate taste.
That stinks! I love eggnog so I would have been disappointed by those results as well. I recently had the same issue with a pumpkin snickerdoodle recipe. Yes it was a snickerdoodle but the pumpkin flavor was pretty much non existent and they were really dry. I also tried an orange chicken recipe that was supposed to be amazing and it was so bad that we couldn't even eat it.
I have tried some pretty bad recipes from published cookbooks as well though so I think it is kind of hit and miss no matter where you find the recipe. Everyone's tastes are different I guess.
I agree, it's bad form for her to delete your comment. I think on recipes especially it's important to be able to see what others have said who have already tried the recipe. I guess you know to avoid any other recipes from the same site.
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