Cupcakes with noses

I have to say that I really don’t mind baking…it’s actually pretty fun and I love desserts – pies, cakes, brownies, muffins and cupcakes, so the end result is always something I know I will enjoy.  But lately, I have been having a difficult time even baking the easiest of recipes!  Seriously, just adding eggs, water and oil into a store-bought mix of cupcakes, something seems to go wrong!  So I started to do some research online and ended up coming across a plethora of forums, books, recipes and even entire blogs dedicated to how to bake properly!  I guess I never thought it was super easy, but I also never realized how complicated it was!  So hats off to all you bakers out there and I’m sorry if I ever took your baking skills for granted.  Most importantly, what I learned from my research is that many factors go into baking – using an electric stove versus a gas stove, ensuring the temperature is just right in your oven (to make sure your cakes are not collapsing), mixing too much or too little (so the end result isn’t too runny), altering your amounts of ingredients (depending on altitude), ensuring that you put just the right amount of ingredients into your pans before they go into the oven (so they don’t overflow), and even accounting for humidity!  So most recently when I baked cupcakes and they come out looking like these below, I wish I could blame it on the altitude, but Kuala Lumpur is only 22 meters (about 72 feet) above sea level, ha!  Therefore, I think I may have to blame it on a couple of factors here…the oven temperature (which I think is off), the humidity (which is overwhelming in KL) and the fact that I didn’t measure the ingredients into the pan properly.  No matter what the case, these cupcakes were the strangest looking cupcakes I have ever made, but they were still super yummy!

Someday, hopefully soon, I am going to attempt to bake these cupcakes.  The recipe sounds so delicious!

COCA COLA CUPCAKES

• 1 cup coca cola or other cola drink
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup powdered cocoa
• 22 large marshmallows

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 large eggs, beaten

Directions: Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Line cupcake pans with paper liners.  These cupcakes work best with the silver metallic liners.
Part One – In a small saucepan mix cola, butter, vegetable oil and cocoa. Bring to a boil, remove from heat and add marshmallows. Place lid on saucepan and leave until marshmallows begin to melt. Stir well.
Part two – Mix flour, sugar and baking soda in a large mixing bowl. Add buttermilk, eggs and vanilla.  Mix well.

Combine Part One and Part Two in the mixing bowl.  Spoon cupcake batter into cupcake pan liners until they are 1/2 to 2/3 full. Bake at 325 degrees for approximately 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cupcakes completely before frosting with Coca Cola frosting.

COCA COLA CUPCAKES FROSTING

• 1/4 cup powdered cocoa
• 6 tablespoons coca cola or other cola
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3 and 3/4 cup powdered sugar (one 1 lb box)
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions: In a medium saucepan, mix together cocoa, cola and butter. Heat over medium heat until melted then bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add powdered sugar, pecans and vanilla. Stir until blended well. Let frosting cool until stiff enough to frost cupcakes.

For more information on baking, please check out these sites:

http://www.cupcakerecipetips.com/cupcake-baking-problems-and-solutions/

http://www.livestrong.com/article/454110-how-to-bake-the-best-cupcakes-in-the-worst-humidity/

High Altitude Baking

http://www.highaltitudebaking.com/index.htm

http://www.themuffinlady.com/