The end of another week. Not my personal best, on the upside, yesterday was good. Today we have been out to Workington, nothing exciting, only called in at Dunelm and Asda. I still have baking on the brain and am still thinking about a second run of the Disaster Cupcakes. Monday and Tuesday are a bit busy for me, so I will have a few more days contemplation. I will also see if they freeze okay. It goes against the grain somewhat to freeze cakes for me. I want to get the recipe right, and not mess with the quantities, just do exactly how it appears in the book. I don't think we can get through 24 cupcakes before they go stale, so if I can freeze a few I will. If I can't freeze, then it's back to the drawing board.
I'm still slugging away at ASJ. The rows are starting to get longer now. I only have 14 more ridges to do till the next part of the pattern. Then I decrease 15 stitches at either end. The centre section will then have 225 stitches. The increases continue until there are 270 stitches on the centre. So that is, hang on I need to work this out......brb.....Houston I have a problem that my tired mind can see through at the moment. At the point I decrease the 15 stitches, I will have 225 stitches between A & B (the increase points). I need to continue working the increases until there are 270 stitches between A & B. This doesn't add up to me at the moment - all to do with odd and even numbers. The stitches are increasd 2 per row, so I can't go from 225 to 270. I'm sure it will be as clear as mud with the cold light of day! I think the answer is to increase to either 269 or 271 stitches. I don't think it will make much difference to be honest.
I'm sure all this rambling means nothing unless you have done and Elizabeth Zimmerman Adult Surprise Jacket where K=an odd number.
I may be taking a natural break from the ASJ over the next night or two as I have a cloth to do for a swap. I have found a pattern I want to do. Until it is swapped, I can't really let on - it may spoil the surprise!
I would like to get as much of the ASJ done by the time the new Jane Austen Knits arrives on my doorstep, which should be in the next week or two. I am counting on being tempted to do something as soon as it comes! I want to have a look over the last JAK magazine as I there was quite a few things I wanted to do in there. Mostly shawls, a pair of gloves or two and a few pairs of socks. And I have the new Knit magazine waiting at Fobbles for me - collection shall be tomorrow. Last months preview showed a small shawl that got my interest..... I must get cracking with ASJ and make some headway with the Lydia Crescent Shawl. All this knitting and so little time!
3 comments:
dammit. now I am obsessed with this cupcake thing! :)
You said they tasted fine and the texture was all right so why were they destined for the rubbish bin?
I am assuming that you are using the US edition of the book and has not been adjusted for UK cooks. I also apologize in advance if I seem condescending since you are likely a more experienced baker than I am!
Be sure that the cream cheese is at room temperature when you assemble the cupcakes.
"Sugar" in US recipes means "granulated sugar" unless otherwise specified. Since US recipes specify volumes and not weight, the ingredients can't be easily switched without adjusting because castor sugar weighs more by volume than granulated sugar.
Also, in the US, cream cheese is Kraft Philadelphia cream cheese, and is generally sold in a brick shape. It is dense but spreadable. The company also makes a whipped cream cheese but the unwhipped type is the default unless otherwise specified.
Also, the fat content of US cream cheese and cream cheese in the UK is apparently vastly different. Philly is generally 34-35% fat (lower fat versions exist), but according the the BBC, UK cream cheese is different: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/cream_cheese
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cream_cheese
Also, US butter has less butterfat than European butters.According to wikipedia, US butter is 80%, european butter is 85%.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butter
"Butter" means sweet cream butter unless otherwise specified. Either salted or unsalted can be used although I've seen several baking books which use unsalted butter in their recipes, although this is only explained in the books' introductions and not the individual recipes (apparently, this just affects the saltiness of the final product).
I tried finding the recipe online but the only ones I found involved "one box of Betty Crocker Devil's Food Cake mix" and "one container of vanilla frosting" so not much help.
I hope this helps!
Of course, if the cake recipe calls for vegetable oil instead of butter, disregard the whole digression about butter.
Now I am really craving sweets. I think I will make some oatmeal raisin cookies! :)
It is easy to obsess about cupcakes! It is the US edition I have, I will think twice next time about this. Actually I think I bought it online so didn't ;look at the recipes first. Note to self for next time.
The cream cheese I used was Philadelphia.
The cakes wen tin the bin as they were too moist and fell apart when the were handled, although were not crumbly. I think they were too moist and had too much mix per cake paper.
I have found so many differences converting cups to metric or imperial, it's daft. I'll stick with the set of cups I have and see how trustworthy they are!
Post a Comment