Last week I got it into my head that I wanted a pink-frosted birthday cake. I make a pretty decent layer cake, and sheet cakes are really easy, but cupcakes sounded like fun.
I got a recipe in the mail for some great-sounding cupcakes (they were even pink!), but when it came time to make them, I didn't have all the ingredients. And besides they made 24 cupcakes since they started with a cake mix, and I didn't want 24.
So I found a recipe for cupcakes from-scratch in a magazine that claimed they were the perfect cupcakes. They sure looked perfect in the photo. Best of all, the recipe was easily cut in half to make only 12.
I've made some good cakes, and I make great frosting, which is the best part of a cake as far as I'm concerned. I'm actually more of a pie lover, but I had that whole nostalgia thing going last week with my birthday and all, and I just had to have cake.
So, I set out to make cupcakes. I don't have a good track record with cupcakes. They just don't come out perfectly. I must overfill them because they tend to spread over the top of the cupcake liner and they're usually flat on top.
In the magazine photo, the cupcakes had high, peaked centers, just like cupcakes should have. The liners didn't gape open around the edges. They looked wonderful.
Mine didn't come out looking anything like that. Once again, flat, spread-out tops, liners that pulled away from the cake. I should have known this would happen. I tried another (perfect) cupcake recipe from a magazine last year, and the same thing thing happened. Plus they didn't have any taste as far as I was concerned.
Here's a tip about magazine photos. I know a little about food styling, and what you see in the photos is not necessarily entirely accurate. Food stylists really dress up food. You know how Thanksgiving turkeys always look so moist, so succulent and shiny in photos? They spray them with glycerin to make them look like that.
Most of the time, the food in photos is inedible by the time they get done fancying it up. I've decided all those perfect cupcakes are just pieces of foam shaped to look like cupcakes. Either that, or they bake 200 cupcakes to get the one perfect cupcake for the photo.
Next year I'll bake a pie. Karen, my best friend from high school, once made French Silk Pie, and ever since then it's been my favorite chocolate pie. I kept her recipe for years, but apparently not long enough because now I can't find it. This one, from Betty Crocker, cooks the eggs instead of using raw eggs like the original recipe.
French Silk Pie
3 ounces unsweetened dark chocolate (like Ghiradelli or Lindt)
1/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup heavy whipping cream, plus more for garnish
1 baked pie shell
Melt chocolate and butter in a 2-quart saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Mix together sugar and cornstarch, and stir into chocolate mixture.
In a medium bowl, beat eggs with electric mixture until thick and lemon-colored, about 5 minutes. Stir them into chocolate mixture. Cook over medium heat 5 minutes, stirring constantly, until thick and glossy. Stir in vanilla. Let stand until cool, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, beat whipping cream in a chilled bowl with electric mixture on high speed until stiff peaks form. Gently fold chocolate mixture into whipped cream. Spread in baked pie shell, cover and freeze about 4 hours.
Serve with dollops of whipped cream on top. Freeze remaining pie.
From Betty Crocker.
Sharon Vail lives in Powell Butte. She enjoyed a splendid birthday, flat cupcakes and all. Readers may contact her at svail3@netzero.net. "Cooking from the heart of Oregon." |
