thecoffeesnob

I halved the recipe the first time I made it as well. I always wing it and halve recipes, especially when I make little 7" cakes for birthday celebration, and - touch wood- they haven't worked out weird for me yet. Anyway just a quick update- my friend tried the same recipe over the weekend and her cupcakes turned out exactly the way they did the first time I made them. So it's definitely me, not the recipe. I've racked my brains all weekend, recalling every step and I think it could be the butter I used. I usually beat the butter cold right out of the fridge- it's really hot and humid where I am- till it warms up slightly before adding the sugar. And I remember it being pretty much liquid by the time I was done creaming it with the sugar the last time I made them. Will try it again, this time with another brand of butter and perhaps the air conditioning on, when i can look at a cupcake again. At least now I know it's definitely me. Can't wait to get this right!

Oh wow, thank you so much for your responses! Special K: Difference in egg sizes might be a possibility since I have to confess that I don't always weigh my eggs before baking with them. Lisa Shock: Yeap, I totally get you. I'm not a fan of using recipes with volume measurements for that reason (plus there's so much additional washing up to do!). Now that you've mentioned it, I have actually changed my set of measuring cups from an old plastic set my mum used to use to shiny new gorgeous stainless steel ones from Crate & Barrel. I have made several recipes I've made with the old set using the new ones and haven't had a problem so far but that definitely could be a factor. Quiet1: I always spoon my flour into the measuring cup and lightly level it out with a spatula. I do the same with the brown sugar, except I press it in slightly before leveling it out. Volume measurements are so vexing! Annebelle: That's a really good point I've never thought about but I've always used metal baking tins. Silicon kinda scares me with how plasticy they feel plus I'm really iffy about how they would hold out in the oven at such high temperatures and if they release any chemicals. Most certainly never gonna bake with one after what Lisa Shock said about the weird textures. Pastrygirl: Nup, I checked the recipe against the source (Carole Bloom's The Essential Baker); it does say 6 whole eggs (I halved the recipe). Compared it too against other cupcake recipes I have. Most of them use fewer eggs but more egg so I guess that might sort of even it out? Djyee100: Nope, not really to be honest. I usually set my oven at about 10 degrees lower than stipulated coz it tends to run a little hot. Again, thank you, guys, so much for all your help! I'm gonna have a friend try the same recipe out to see if it's me or the recipe then try it one last time, this time making sure I really cream the butter and sugars properly and weighing my eggs, before I can let this go. Will keep you guys posted.

Hi all, So I made these vanilla cupcakes a year ago and they turned out just perfect; light, fluffy and quite possible the best cupcakes I've ever made. Fast forward to last week, I made them again for a gift, thinking I had a sure winner on my hands. For some odd reason, this time, my cupcakes had butter bubbling out from the side and top. And although they had risen in the oven, they turned out really dense. Frustrated, I tried again, changing the brand of butter I used and checking to see if my baking powder had lost its effectiveness (it hasn't) and viola, I got the exact same results; tasty but really dense cupcakes. I'm pretty sure I'm not doing anything different this time- I cream the butter and sugars till light and cream, use eggs that are at room temperature and fold in the flour till just incorporated- and I've checked the recipe a million times to make sure I copied it right so I, for the life of me, can't figure out what on earth is going on. I have typed out the recipe below and would be so grateful if anyone can shed some light on this. I'm just tearing my hair out of frustration right now. Thank you so much in advance! Vanilla cupcakes 130g butter, slightly softened 1/4 cup caster sugar 1/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed 3 eggs, at room temperate Splash of vanilla 1 1/4 cup plain flour 1 tsp baking powder Pinch of salt 1/4 cup milk Preheat oven to 175. Line a cupcake pan with liners and set aside. Cream the butter till fluffy. Add the sugars and cream till light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the vanilla. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together. Fold half the flour mixture in, followed by the milk. Fold the remaining half of the flour mixture in until just incorporated. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared pan. Bake in the centre of the oven for 20-25 minutes or till skewer inserted in the middle comes out with dry crumbs clinging.

My Sunday breakfast consisted of homemade granola, Greek yogurt and sliced bananas. Incredibly simple but so good! If only all mornings could be spent this way instead of gobbling down a slice of toast in two seconds before rushing out the door to get to work. One can always dream, can't they?

Thanks! And thanks for directing me to that post- i have to check that out and try that method. Have a good weekend!

Hi guys, I made a batch of macarons using a recipe that involves the Italian meringue method that has worked for me every time before. Well, except today. I did everything as per the recipe. I recently got a new oven so i used the fan forced function to bake them for the first time (i used to use a conventional oven before) at 120C. I test baked 2 macarons just to see if the batter needed any more folding. They came out pretty decent. Then disaster struck. With the subsequent trays of macarons (i let the remaining batter sit in the fridge while i baked one tray and piped another. and cooled each tray before reusing it), there were some that came out perfectly round, some that lost their round shape after piping and even some that had little 'eruptions'. At first, i thought it might have been that i might have broken the skin of the macarons when swirling the colour in but it happened also with the plain macarons that i didn't touch after piping. On the bright side, i did get a couple of shells that came out pretty okay and filled them with rose, chocolate and vanilla buttercream. And we had a good chuckle about how artistic some of the 'erupting' macarons looked- the one on the far bottom left looks like a sleeping puppy, don't you think? Anyway any idea what happened with these little guys? Any help will totally be appreciated!

I made the chocolate streusel squares from this book the other day, following the recipe closely and i wasn't blown away by them. At the request of my best friend's brother who couldn't get enough of them, i made them again, this time rubbing the butter into the flour mixture to get crunchy streusel and underbaking the brownies a little and they were soooo good! Totally worth how involved this recipe is!

The first (and last time) i made profiteroles, within two hours of letting them sit in the fridge filled with whipped cream, i found that the fillings had been completely absorbed by the pastry! Has anyone ever experienced this? Could it be that my cream wasn't stiff enough or pastry not dry enough? Good luck with transporting them, ulterior epicure!

The lemon tart turned out really good! The pastry was a dream to work with and the filling was put together in no time at all. The tart had the perfect balance of sweet and tart- my idea of a really good lemon tart- and i caramelized the top which i thought was a really nice contrast to the smooth, silky filling

I totally agree! Plus that also means less washing up to do. I'm baking a lemon tart out of Simple Art today. It looks so good in the book!

56 in the last couple of years? Just this year alone, i've added 20 books to my collection. Oh, the shame!

I use this recipe and it works for me every time. It uses the Italian meringue method- cooking a sugar syrup over the stove before pouring it into the egg whites- which i prefer to just beating the egg whites till stiff peaks form. I've always wanted to try Martha's recipe out but was a bit skeptical. I can't wait to try it now that i know it works

I'm not big on buttercream as well so i totally get you. I imagine the frosted cake must have tasted really sweet and rich, considering the butter cake is pretty sweet and rich by itself. The strawberry jam- i went with my favourite brand that has no added sugar- went really well with the cake and i liked how the whipped cream seemed to have cut through the richness of the cake. Oh well, any reason to make that cake again's good enough a reason- you could always send some my way!

I love this thread- what a great idea!- and just have to contribute my 38 cookbooks. Off i go to Amazon now to order the five books that have been on my wishlist forever

I split the batter between a 12"x5" loaf pan and a 7" spring form pan. The loaf disappeared really quickly. The 7" cake was layered between strawberry jam and covered in sweetened whipped cream. It was served at a function my mum had this afternoon to rave reviews