April 22, 2008

TWD - My cupcakes runeth over...

...and then they fell flat. The end result was pretty ugly, but they sure *tasted* good!

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie assignment was brought to us by Amanda at Slow Like Honey: Bill's Big Carrot Cake -- which I translated into Bill's lava-like Carrot Cupcakes. I wasn't sure about the whole carrot cake thing; like many other Dorista's out there I haven't historically been a big fan. But this is a Dorie challenge, I had a bunch of CSA carrots calling from the counter, and everyone loves cupcakes, right? So off I ventured.

I grated my carrots by hand, managing not to bleed in the process. My "mix-ins" included raisins and shredded coconut. And I seem to be out of cinnamon, so I tossed in nutmeg in its place. The batter came together quickly and easily, and before I knew it my cupcakes were expanding in the oven.

And expanding...

And expanding...

Then as they cooled on the counter, they caved. I noticed a lot of other cupcake-making Doristas had this problem (owing perhaps to the weight of the ingredients in proportion to the small amount of leavening in the recipe?) and chose to cover the flaws with frosting. In hindsight perhaps I should have tried that... but I figured there was no salvaging them physically and packaged them up for our dance group without frosting them.

And they were a hit. Even those of us who aren't crazy about carrot cake loved them. Without frosting, they pair beautifully with plain yogurt for an indulgent but quick breakfast.

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8 comments:

Cynthia said...

Drat! At least they tasted good.

Simona Carini said...

Ditto. They were a hit, so you were successful.

Cakespy said...

They say that supersizing is ruining our nation's waistline and culture. However, in looking at these, I think that supersizing in the oven made these WONDERFUL! :-0

Peabody said...

Seems no one was all that successful with making cupcakes with this recipe.

BC said...

I'm not familiar with the recipe but I had the same experience with another recipe. There was too much leavening and not enough structure (gluten) to hold onto the air. They expanded like crazy and collapsed like leaky ballons. I had a lovely crumble topping for ice cream!

Jenny said...

I had the same problem with me, seems to have been common for cupcakes.

Chou said...

Lava-like, cupcake like--No matter what I imagine they are yummy! :) Hope your laptop joins the world of the living soon.

Jessy and her dog Winnie said...

I do the same thing all the time!