I was just blog hopping and Meg at "Whatever" posted this today: http://megduerksen.typepad.com/whatever/2010/09/vitamins.html#comments What a great, easy way to make a difference. I'm in, how about you? Have I mentioned how much I LOVE blogging and the community it builds?
(Disclaimer: After I published this, I got to feeling bad about posting this cupcake story along with the link above. Seems sort of self indulgent to post about cupcakes in which I used about 6 eggs, when the kids mentioned in the link above might have only one egg per week. Then I decided I wouldn't unpost it, but I did want to acknowledge the disparity and hopefully it won't offend anyone.)
Now, on to the strawberry cupcakes I attempted the other day - using the Sprinkles recipe that was posted on the Martha Stewart website.
They looked promising at first and so very PINK. Don't you just love pink?!
Then it came time to make the frosting which I screwed up. It was a strawberry buttercream and when I mixed it, it was too sweet so I added more butter AFTER it was mixed. BAD IDEA... The butter wasn't quite soft enough, so it never fully blended, the longer I mixed it, the more it started to separate. It didn't look good. I put the entire bowl in the fridge to chill hoping that if it was all the same temperature maybe I could get it to blend together later.
When I was testing the cupcakes, the toothpick kept coming out with batter on it so I'd leave them in the oven a few more minutes. They ended up being a little dry, so I must have overcooked them. I don't know what happened, normally I am much better at this.
Oh well ... after cooling, I got the frosting to blend (mostly), and then tried to dress them up with a little colored sugar. But they just weren't right. I wasn't happy with the way they looked or tasted. (Although, that didn't stop me from eating a couple.)
Not my best effort, but thought I'd share it anyway because occasionally the trying part is just as important as the successful execution. Cupcakes aren't my forte, but I can rock some cookies. I might need to make a batch just to regain my kitchen confidence. :-)
