The Cupcake Recipe That Lied to Me

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.

Bad Luck Streak in Baking School

As you may have noticed from my not-so-subtle whining in the past few posts, this has been a bad week all around for me, but most especially when it comes to baking. The vampire cupcakes I tried to decorate on Sunday looked more like demented and deformed ghosts had died (again) on top of my cupcakes. FAIL. The chili chocolate cupcakes I made for my book club were overfilled and baked over the tops of the pan in an unsightly manner. FAIL. And then there are the peach cupcakes I made last night as a last ditch effort to come up with a quality entry for Sweetest Kitchen's white chocolate Mystery Box Cupcake Challenge. I'm going to make the bold claim that this sort of thing would not have happened were I not sick. If I'd had more energy or a fully functioning brain I'd like to think that I would have noticed that the recipe I was preparing was an icky vegan one. You know, before I was halfway through putting the ingredients together.

Not that I have anything against the vegans out there, but I can't personally adopt a lifestyle that limits my food choices. I love food too much to give up anything, even though I do aim for a healthy, balanced diet and have been known to deny myself dessert if I'm feeling a little pudgy. I may rarely eat pasta because it's so high in calories and carbs but that doesn't mean I don't allow myself to order it if I'm at a restaurant that features great pasta dishes. I don't want to miss out on, say, devouring the most amazing rack of lamb at Fandango just because I can picture the critter it once was bleating in the field. By that same token, I don't want to miss out on the rich taste and texture that things like butter and eggs bring to baked goods. To me there's no substitute.

Aww, aren't you cute? Now get in my belly!

When I spotted Restless Chipotle's 50 Best Cupcake Recipes on the Internet I was overwhelmed by the number of delicious-looking recipes I need to add to my baking repertoire. I'd already been mulling over the idea of a peach cupcake for the white chocolate challenge so I was happy to see one on the list that was a little different than the peach cupcakes I'd made before. Since I wanted to add chopped peaches as a filling after baking I liked the idea of having the peaches in the batter pureed and blended in. While I did skim through the blog post to ensure she was actually recommending the recipe, I printed the recipe out without reading it (again, totally uncharacteristic for me). Once I got home I decided to use what little energy I had left to make cupcakes instead of dinner. It wasn't until I was nearing the last steps that I stopped and asked myself, "When do I add the eggs?" And then realized that eggs were not listed as an ingredient and that, suspiciously, the recipe called for water instead of the usual milk and vegetable oil instead of butter. It suddenly dawned on me that I was using a vegan recipe, which was a crushing disappointment for me because I knew I only had the energy to make that one batch so there would be no redos. Hoping that despite my fears the cupcakes would still turn out to be tasty and nearly indistinguishable from the "real" thing, I popped them in the oven and watched as they rose oddly. Mountainous peaks in the center of each one instead of the lovely, even dome I usually aim for. On top of that, I had my husband taste one before frosting and not only could he not detect the peach flavor, but he also found the texture to be off. More like a muffin than a cupcake and not even quite as good as that. They went straight into the freezer without being frosted until I can think of a better use for them, but if I run out of space in the freezer they will be the first to go in the bin.

Yes, 90% of this is my fault for not reading the recipe through before starting in on it. However, I can't help but be a little annoyed that the blogger who posted the recipe didn't think to mention it anywhere in her post and that the 50 Best Cupcake list didn't either. In fact, reading the original blogger's profile info reveals that she's a vegetarian, not vegan, so there were no hints that I needed to be on the lookout for funky vegan recipes.

Here's hoping that my and my oven's luck improves next week. And here's hoping that I ditch this crabby persona and go back to being my usual sweet and wonderful self once this ailment passes. One can dream...

When Good Cupcakes Go Bad

It's been a while since I last made a batch of bad cupcakes so I'd forgotten how disappointing it can be. I'd excitedly compiled the ingredients, practically able to taste how good these would turn out to be. Even made a special trip to Whole Foods, which is not exactly in our neighborhood, all to wind up with bad cupcakes.

When I found a recipe for Cap'n Crunch Cookie Cupcakes on Tasty Kitchen I was thrilled by the idea of using breakfast cereal in cupcakes. Sugary kids' breakfast cereal, to be precise. While I've never been a fan of Cap'n Crunch I have always liked Peanut Butter Crunch, which is similar enough to Reese's Puffs that I thought that substitution would work well. I also figured I could make these into standard-sized cupcakes instead of the mini ones called for in the recipe. Other than that I made no other changes yet somehow things went terribly wrong.

I think if I hadn't been blinded by the breakfast cereal concept I would have noticed that the recipe seems a little off. It's almost as if she took a basic chocolate chip cookie dough recipe and added more eggs and liquid to turn it into a cupcake. It calls for a lot of butter and milk but not much flour. As a result, the batter was soupy, but I've worked with runny batter before that turned out just fine in the end. Alas, that was not to be the case with these. I've never had this happen before but, while baking, the cupcakes bubbled like crazy as the excess butter and liquid heated and boiled. This went on for nearly 20 minutes straight and still the liquid had not cooked off. Once the cupcakes were cool and I removed them from the pan, I found congealed puddles of butter that had melted into the bottom of each well. I'm not talking about a little greasy film but measurable amounts of butter that had to be scraped out with a spoon. The cupcakes themselves are a little chewy and bland tasting. The leftover white chocolate ganache I paired them with helped a bit but still the end result is underwhelming and weird.


I'm not ready to give up on the zany idea of combining breakfast cereal with cupcakes but I think next time I'll stick with a tried and true recipe as the base. I've made brown sugar pound cake in the past that I think would be perfect for this and is probably similar to what the recipe's creator was going for with the cookie dough feel. While I'm obviously not recommending that you try this recipe for yourself I'm posting it here so maybe you can see where things went wrong.

Reese's Puffs Cookie Cupcakes
Recipe from multiplydelicious at Tasty Kitchen

1-½ cup all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoons salt
1 cup (2 Sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
½ cups sugar
½ cups packed light brown sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk
1 cup Reese's Puffs (original recipe called for Cap'n Crunch)
½ cups white chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a muffin tin with paper liners and set aside.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.

With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and both sugars until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl when needed. Beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the milk, and beating until combined. Stir in Reese's Puffs cereal and white chocolate chips (if using) by hand.

Fill each cup with batter. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until pale golden and a cake tester inserted in the centers comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes. Transfer tins to a wire rack to cool completely before removing cupcakes.

Yields 18 standard-sized cupcakes

Whipped White Chocolate Ganache
Recipe from Vanilla Garlic

12 ounces white chocolate (good quality)
3/4 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2-3 cups powdered sugar
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1) Chop chocolate and transfer to a heat proof bowl.
2) Heat cream until bubbles form around the edge of the pan. Pour cream over the chocolate.
3) Let sit for 1 minute then stir until combined.
4) Add butter to the chocolate (make sure it's soft) and stir until combined.
5) Whisk together sugar, salt, and vanilla in another bowl until combined.
6) Pour the sugar mixture onto the chocolate mixture, then stir until combined and smooth.
7) Let sit at room temperature until thickened, about 2 hours.
8) Beat with an electric mixer until fluffy.

Note: Keep close watch as this can suddenly separate.