Cupcakes #1

For my birthday a couple days ago I got this lovely Wilton Cake Decorating Caday and Tools. ( I don't know what's up with the spelling of Caday, but that's how it's spelled!) It comes with many lovely trinkets for a beginning decorator like myself. One thing I really like about it is that the booklet is so detailed and helpful! While it's tempting to start big, I forced myself to start with cupcakes. I mean, cupcakes, right? Piece of cake (haha). What could go wrong with cupcakes? I've made these a gazillion times with box mixes. They probably were mediocre and ugly as sin, but I've at least done it before!

I used this yellow cake mix recipe, which left me thinking "Holy cow egg yolks!!!" I had to put in 8 egg yolks, which is something I am not used to doing. (I saved the egg whites in the fridge because the thought of throwing them away made me depressed. We'll see if I end up writing a disaster post about those egg whites.) I put those cupcakes in the oven and this is what happened when I took them out:

Implosion! How can I possibly make beautiful cupcakes if this is what I have to work with?!?! Needless to say, this attempt with cupcakes was more of a disaster than a delicacy.

Why did they implode? I remember my sister telling me once that if you walk around too much in the kitchen they will inevitably implode. I know my one-year-old likes to bounce around a lot, so she could be at fault. I was skeptical though, so I did a google search. I found this very helpful article from Allrecipes (PS, I heart Allrecipes). Ah-ha! High altitude is the bad guy! I am at an altitude of around 4,500 ft. I am eager to try the advice about changing the ingredient proportions, but unfortunately I have leftover batter from this batch. So next time when I finish up this batch I will have to hope that adjusting the temperature will be enough to keep them from imploding. The next time I whip up a new batch, I will adjust the ratios according to that article.

Despite this obstacle, I still decorated them anyways. I let them cool (yes, always let the cake cool! Don't ever ever ever try to frost when it is not cool. Believe me, I know) and prepared a butter cream frosting from a recipe in the Wilton Beginners guide booklet. I have to honestly say I'm not sure if I like the taste of the frosting, but my husband is a fan. It was fun using the decorating tips and bags for the first time. I followed a simple flower design from the book. To compensate for the implosion, I actually filled the craters with frosting. I know, that's gross especially if you know how bad frosting is for you. I didn't know how else to compensate. Anyways, it's not the prettiest, but it's not a complete disaster.
Despite their problems, my family ate these up. That always makes up for a disaster :)