Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Almost Chiffon Cupcake Disaster

Posted by - Nancy

I can't believe I am first this month. Wow.

Anyway, I almost wasn't going to participate since I still have cake left over from last month and I am not supposed to be eating too many sweets. However, my husband invited a co-worker and his wife over for dinner tonight, so rather than feeding them frozen leftover coconut cake, I opted to bake some chiffon cupcakes.

A quick internet search popped up Alton Brown's Chiffon Cupcake recipe with rave reviews, both on the flavor and the ease of the recipe. And let's face it, who want's a finicky recipe when you are dealing with whipping egg whites? So yesterday I set out to make chiffon cupcakes. Unfortunately, with my pregnant judgment, I chose to make them after naptime. Note to self: a sick, cranky toddler is not the best sous chef, but live and learn.

The recipe went together easily enough, plus it was so fun to see this heavy batter become light and fluffy after the addition of the whipped egg whites.


Humm...there were 12 of these...
Me thinks my toddler has been here...

Because Alton swears by the scale
Using my scale, Alton

Ribbon Stage
Ribbon stage

Stiff Peaks
Stiff peaks

Now here is where things really went wrong.

I filled my cups 2/3 full. I baked my cakes for the suggested 30 minutes. I flipped them around and rotated the pans after 15 minutes. I checked the centers. However, something went wrong. It could have something to do with the quick load of laundry I folded and tried to put away while these were baking. It could have to do with my uncalibrated oven. Or maybe my pans suck. Whatever it was, I am pretty sure the bottoms of my cakes shouldn't have looked like this:
Ohh, not good eats.

What to do? The rest of the cake was still good, just the bottom tasted burned. So after some brainstorming I had an idea. First, a bit of kitchen surgery:
The aftermath

Next some jam 'glue':
A little strawberry jelly and non the wiser

And a dip in some ganache:
After a swim in the ganache

And tada:
Save! Chocolate ganache chiffon cupcake sandwiches

Chocolate Ganache Chiffon Cupcake Sandwiches. Light, fluffy and a strawberry surprise!

11 comments:

Rena said...

Ok, you are officially a genius! What a great idea! Well done. :)

Peggy said...

Way to think like a kitchen MacGuyver!

Dorrie said...

What an excellent save! I'm impressed! The pregnant mind makes us all do silly things... Once when I was pregnant I didn't realize I forgot the sugar until after I tasted the cookies!
Well done!

Unknown said...

Thanks everyone. I was glad I was able to save the cupcakes since they are so light and fluffy and taste great. Hopefully my dinner guests will like them too. I will let you know after tonight!

Jen said...

excellent save is RIGHT! that is the whole challenge!

Anonymous said...

Now, that is using your noodle!!! Way to go!!! Sometimes the best things to come out of the kitchen are when things don't turn out according to plan. They look fabulous! Bravo!!!

Yours Truly said...

nice way of fixing the problem, i always end up burning the bottom of my angel food cakes also...i think its something to do with the batter being so light. try foil wrapping the pan, it works wonders

cocoa and coconut said...

Wow, they look amazing! I love the height, and the contrast of the heavy chocolate with the light cupcake. Well done for salvaging your cakes.

Unknown said...

Thanks again everyone. They were a hit at dinner last night. Everybody enjoyed them quite a bit.

Colleen said...

those are awesome!! super-clever save!

Veronica said...

Nice save! I'm very impressed by your Macguyver-like solution.