Furtive Little Feelings: Let them eat cake. Lots of cake.

Confetti Cupcakes - Vanilla cake with chocolate buttercream

Before you swiftly leave this page thinking this is going to be an instructional blog about how to make cakes, it's not.

If you are a friend of mine on Facebook you will occasionally see a random photo of my most recent bake pop up on your news feed. Quite often I stick to the same sponge recipe because for the most part it has been fool proof. So yeah I tend to use that and jazz it up with different things. However yesterday I stumbled across this blog here...

http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2012/06/01/classic-yellow-funfetti-cupcakes-with-milk-chocolate-frosting/

Above is the recipe I used - The cakes are delicious by the way! What is about to follow in this blog is in no way a reflection on the recipe it is purely the fact that sometimes I just do not have a clue what I am doing.

And neither does Oprah

Source: mediaoutrage.com

The recipe was an american recipe so would give me a chance to try making something using measuring cups rather than scales. I thought using these cups was going to be easy peasy. IT WAS NOT. The cup didn't fit inside the flour so I had to spoon the flour from the tub into the cup and then flatten it off thus getting flour all over everything. Same goes for sugar and butter.

This is a lie.

Source: talltalesfromasmalltown.blogspot.com

So between scooping and spooning and measuring I was dashing back and forth to the computer to read the instructions. I had measured everything out and the recipe said I had to

"beat the eggs and sugar with a stand mixer (with paddle attachment) or electric handheld mixer until light and foamy, about 2 minutes."

So I set the timer and whisked my little heart out for two full minutes. It looked light and foamy and wonderful. So I skipped back over to the laptop for my next instruction.

"While beating, slowly pour in the butter and then the vanilla."

Right... WAIT what?! Damn, I was supposed to have already added the butter in that two minutes and it's supposed to be melted. So I quickly melted the butter and whisked it in cursing myself for not reading ahead in the recipe.

"While mixing, add half the dry ingredients, then add all the milk, and follow with the rest of the dry ingredients."

Source: alltheragefaces.com

So by now I had been whisking for at least three and a half minutes. I tried not to feel too tense about the fact I had done this all wrong. I mean when I make cakes usually it feels like a very precise thing to do, whereas today I was just freewheeling and hoping for the best! Anyway I kept whisking and adding and whisking.

"Do NOT overmix the batter."

Source: alltheragefaces.com

For GOD sake! So I had been whisk, whisk, whisking for about six minutes and I was supposed to have done all of the above within two minutes! I had come this far though so I put the batter into the cases and put them in the oven with a heavy heart not knowing what I was going to pull out of the oven...

No one is more shocked than me that these babies came out looking pretty good! So I followed the recipe for the chocolate buttercream and other than making twice the amount that I actually needed. It was SO good. I think I 'tried' about a quarter of the mixture just to make sure it was as good as I thought it was. I think the addition of salt is what makes it so damn more-ish!

Anyway here is the finished product...

OMNOMNOM