cupcake debacle

The unimaginable has happened. A recipe that I set out to make DIDN'T WORK! It's very distressing as this has never happened to me before. Sure I'll have cakes that stick to the pan, or cupcakes a bit undercooked, but in this case I honestly have no idea what went wrong.

*deep breath*

Ok, this is what happened.

I set out to make the yummy looking Chocolate Chai Spice Cupcakes posted on Chockylit's blog. I spent an hour and a half on Tuesday night grinding up whole cloves and fennel seeds to make the chai mix, I went to the chocolate store near the Resistance Centre and spent $7.50 on 250 grams of imported speciality chocolate. I had Katherine crack 8 eggs into the batter at precise 30 second intervals, I weighed my ingredients precisely, I followed each and every instruction to the letter.

So why is it then that ALL my cupcakes fell (even when I refrained from opening the oven door to check on my babies)? Why did they turn out so damned un-cupcake-like? It is so frustrating!

Still, Katherine and Leigh loved the taste of them, and we are steadily getting through the 50 or so I made. The chai spice buttercream was delicious. So i guess it wasn't a complete failure. Still, there's no way I'd take what i made to an event or a party.

It may seem odd that I'm having a rant about this. The thing is, I get a lot of pleasure out of baking. It's so cool to put all the various ingredients together and come up with something delicious that people will enjoy. It's usually really relaxing, and this experience was just stressful.