As I type I have a second batch of mini cuppycakes in the oven. Tonight I experimented and well....I failed. I don't know why I'm even going to let them finish baking.See for the last few months I've been meaning to make a fun and special cake project and tonight I was going to do it. I won't go into details cause I'm going to try again...
Basically, the project is going to be a mini cake with surrounding mini-cupcakes, or what I call mini cuppycakes or cupcake bites. If you recall for St. Patrick's day I hit gold with my chocolate cupcake bites! They truly were a hit.
Tonight I thought I could recreate them. But this time I was going to do a vanilla cake with a buttercream Nutella filling. The surrounding cupcakes would have either the Nuttella buttercream or regular vanilla frosting on top.
I didn't burn the cake or anything crazy like that. It just didn't taste amazing. I was so disappointed. I didn't want to go any further. There was no way I was going to bust out four pounds of powdered sugar and my expensive Nutella. This cake was not worthy!
In my head I heard Gordon Ramsey screaming at me "Shut it down, SHUT it down!"
I'm going to list some mistakes I think I made. Don't get me wrong, this wasn't a complete disaster, it just didn't meet my standards.
Potential Mistake #1: French Vanilla Cake Mix. I haven't found my own signature cake recipe or developed one, so in the meantime I'm using cake mixes. Wilton actually recommends Duncan Hines, I've used them since my cake classes and haven't had any complaints. In fact I've only improved them with some mix-ins.
These mix-ins coupled with this particular mix could have been the problem.
Potential Mistake #2: Sour Cream, I usually use the BYU Creamery's. This time I used a different brand, Daisy Brand.
Potential Mistake #3: Semi-sweet chocolate chips: this was another mix-in. In the past I've used Macey's milk chocolate chips.
Potential Mistake #4: Jell-O Instant Vanilla pudding: Though this is my favorite mix-in, maybe it just competed with the french vanilla-ness.
Potential Mistake#4: All of the above: I think this may actually be the real mistake. Maybe all these flavors just didn't work together.
Or...maybe I just don't like French vanilla?
Either way, I couldn't bring myself to finish the cake. It would have been another two-or-so hour investment and I wasn't going to do that to myself.
Don't let me scare you away from these mix-ins cause they are AMAZING! (In fact, I will be posting the measurements and details in the near future.) They seriously worked like a charm when I did the chocolate cake last month.
Well the buzzer just rang, I better take the cuppycakes out of the oven and throw them away.
7 comments:
This hobby is slowly growing into full-on dementia. Not only was this not a "complete failure," as you seem to be implying, but they were actually quite good.
Becky, sometimes I think you set the bar too high. Even Julia Child served dishes that weren't 100% perfect (thank you Chefography week!)
You know, I bet if you brought them over here instead of over to your trash, they would be well taken care of. ;) You're still genius!!
I'm sure they tasted fine... but my guesses are if you weren't happy that it was probably the combo of the sour cream and the pudding. Maybe just one or the other next time.
Hello, I can tell you exactly what it was......SEMI-SWEET chocolate chips. There is nothing I hate more than semi-sweet chocolate chips. I don't care what anyone says, they should never ever be used for anything. I think I am crying right now......
Macey's chocolate chips- worthy of any dessert. Semi-sweet, who buys them??? Even if I am dying for chocolate, which is always, I won't go near them! I think the sour cream may have made it taste off? Stick with what you know! Good luck next time!
Um, I love semi-sweet just for the record ;) it balances out the sugar flavor perfectly.
Baking failures are tragic though, aren't they? Jon could identify with Adam, I've been known to throw a tantrum or two when my pie dough hasn't come together perfectly. And I told you about my double butter buttercream incident! *Sigh*, it's a process!!
My sister sent me pictures of some cupcakes that her friend made for their Cinco De Mayo office party: Tacos! He made the shells out of tinted white chocolate, chocolate cake inside for the meat, iced with green "lettuce", sprinkled with orange colored coconut "cheese", and topped with diced maraschino cherry "tomatoes". DARLING!
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