Mom was really nice when she wrote to me and said, “You are very ambitious and adventurous. You're going to be a great cook. I know because trying is 90% of the requirement.” (Thanks Mom!!) This is something I need to keep in my heart and remind myself each time my baking outing fails- like this time, again.
This time, the adventure was to make a Cupcake Christmas Tree (tiny cupcakes, stacked in the form of a Christmas tree) for Gayle’s party. I didn’t want the entire tree to taste and look the same- and it would be too boring for me to make so many batches of the same thing. After going through a whole lot of combinations in my head- I settled on three: Double-chocolate swirl, Peppermint frosting and Candy rice Cupcakes.
I tried to melt the white chocolate bar Mom & Brittany left me. My last attempt to melt it in the microwave failed so miserably, I even melted a hole in the container. The double-boil method from the cooking instruction on the back of the box looked easy enough. As the white chocolate bar started to melt in the bowl, it still looked a little lumpy. So I borrowed Arthur’s idea from making icing to add in some milk. It looked really good. And my, was I pleased.
Happily, I started to pour a layer of the white chocolate into the half-filled tiny cupcakes. Then, I took a tooth-pick to try to swirl it around to mix the colors of the dark brown chocolate cake mix and white chocolate. In my mind, pretty cupcakes with white and dark brown circles started to form. How pretty! The outcome could not be further than that, as I took out the first batch of cupcakes from the oven.
For reasons still unknown to me, the cupcakes overflowed and the colors were a mess. It was definitely far from the pretty little things that I sent into the oven. The cupcakes did not rise properly like the Candy rice ones and looked flat. Not to mention, the baking tray had burnt sugar hard as rock all over. Lesson: To make swirled cakes, I need two batches of cake mix- using simply melted chocolate would not do.
It is defeating having your first batch to turn out like that, but I still had so many cupcakes to go- I must press on. But I could not afford to screw many more batches up. So I opted for safety, and sent batches of plain chocolate cupcakes and Candy rice ones into the oven. Now, I need to figure out the peppermint frosting.
I was not able to find mint extract in the supermarket (upsetting!), so I thought my peppermint frosting idea had to go kaput. In an instant of God-given enlightenment, I started to search for something peppermint at home- though I still wasn’t sure how it was going to help, but finding something minty would be a good place to start. No more peppermint wine, nor mint chocolate slice. Argh.
Lo and behold, a bag of peppermint candies! Would melted peppermint candies do the trick? I tried to double boil the candies- they turned soft, it’s working! But it was hardly liquid or substantial enough, so I threw the white chocolate bars in. And I got white chocolate peppermint frosting, this is yummy! Lesson: You do not need icing sugar to making icing! Arthur and I spent the rest of the evening putting on the icing for the petite cupcakes.
Susan and everyone else who bakes, advocate following baking recipes to the T. This is a serious problem for me. Every time I read cook books, I learn about different techniques, and get a whole lot of ideas swimming in my head. When the rubber hits the road and I am seriously trying to cook something from a recipe, I will be wondering if I can replace something with something, or doing something differently from another recipe. This time round, I was simply making up the recipe in my head. Creativity and instruction need to find their rightful place in my culinary outings.
This probably wraps up my cooking diary for 2008. I just want to thank-
my very forgiving & easy-to-please husband (who made superb chocolate fudge & yummy breakfast burritos without casualties- bravo!) for his advice and encouragement,
all the awesome cooks in the Kok family for your inspiration and tips,
my 2 very “willing” food-tasters at home for surviving the numerous tortures I have put you through, and
all of you who kindly had a bite or two of something I made so far.
Thank YOU!
2 comments:
hi xiu dun be discouraged, cupcakes are quite difficult to make but once u get the hang of it ..u will be an expert and all the pretty decos on it will cheer u up =)
I'm so impressed! I have always felt that baking is so rigid that I can't experiment, but you prove me otherwise. :) And you can't learn what works and what doesn't until you try it. I've always wondered how someone figured out that if you separate the egg white, whip it with sugar, and bake it, it's good to eat. Must have been someone adventurous like you!
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