Live and learn

If I were one of those baking fanatics that invested their whole heart and soul into baking little sweet treats, I would be absolutely crushed at the result of these cupcakes.

Thankfully, I'm not a bakeaholic. These cupcakes can be deemed an "epic fail", which I just laughed off. And since this blog is the scrapbook of our baking adventures, it is only realistic that we record all the failed attempts in reaching "baking perfection". And we can only learn if we make mistakes right?

Right. Those were consolation words from my dad, who earlier on had said my cupcakes were inedible. My brother said it tasted like crumpets, which he hates. But my mum was the most forgiving out of my family, saying it reminded her of gai dan koh. Which I'm guessing is some Malaysian dessert. If only I actually knew what it was to actually treat it as a compliment!

Anyway, I'll let the photos speak for themselves. The cupcakes weren't golden, didn't rise, and it tasted dry with a strong egg flavour. Kinda like cardboard... but vanilla-flavoured.

Isn't it ironic how I remembered to use cupcake liners for this and not for our other successful cupcakes?

No amount of peanut butter could salvage this. Neither could Marmite or any other spread in my pantry.

The cupcake recipe was basically a recipe for Genoese sponge. I've never made sponge cake before which is apparently one of the hardest cakes to make (for a beginner like me anyway) and precision is everything. Well, I got lazy. While it asked for 2 eggs and 60g of caster sugar to be whisked for 10 mins until pale and thick, I glossed over that detail and just whisked the mixture until it resembled "pale and thick". That was the crux of this baking project. It was essential for the mixture to be whisked for 10 mins so that it would form an airy texture that helped in its rising (since no self-raising flour or baking soda was added).

The few ingredients and easy steps for this sponge cake recipe fooled me. Nothing's as simple as it seems!