#baking mistakes

[lostinmirkwood]

Making cookies

Melted butter in the pan I thought I’d made simple syrup in earlier. It was the one I’d caramelize onions and mushrooms in. I realized it after I’d put it in the cookie batter. So... we’ll see how this goes?

[mouser26]

Chocobo Puffs Part 3 Look Not Behind the Curtain

Part 1 Part 2 

Before We get to the final product I decided to share the “Blooper Reel” cause I did not do 2 days worth of work not to have some major mistakes.

ANd You don’t learn shit without making mistakes

Batch 1 Really went to shit...even looked like it! (THankfully I have roommates that will eat anything that’s free..)

The other left overs and rejects Made for good practice in getting the hang of the filling bag including learning I had to pucture the choux with something else before I could pipe in the filling. I used the stick end of an egg beater.

I REALLY wanted the filling to be BRIGHT chocobo yellow... sadly I only had one dinky bottle of yellow coloring from the $ store so we got a ...light real butter yellow. Also this filling is just vanilla pudding, mix milk, and cool-whip cause lets hear it for cheating

My filling bag.... Cause god forbid anyone think I did this with ‘real tools’ That’s a $ store ziploc with a cheap plastic tip for god knows what childhood cake kit. Suprisingly ruptures happened only twice... though spectacularly both times. Seriously the lil shits SPIT ON ME!

Ready to see what came out of all this Insanity? Really?

On to the Part 4 FInale!

[what-marsha-eats]

I would like to give mad props to any of you bakers out there. At nearly 41 yrs of age there is nothing that I do well (besides my job) and I guess Jesus needs average to below average folks just to balance things out. 😂 I am attempting to make vanilla almond cupcakes with salted caramel buttercream icing. Why? Because there's a closet baker inside of me who just wants to be a cupcake queen!!!! So far, I've managed to burn the fingerprints off my left hand, overflow the cupcake liners and scorch the caramel. Things are going well (heavy sarcasm)and I may be on my way to being a blue ribbon baker! Pfffft! If at first you don't succeed..

From the FB pg of Robin Lynn Brown

[limpingpenguin]

23rd January - and the results are in

I forgot the sugar in the egg substitute experiment brownie I made yesterday -_- It still tastes all right as long as you like really dark chocolate. And it actually tastes really good if you scoop some into a ramekin, top with a dusting of sugar, and zap in the microwave and serve with cream :) Needless to say I didn’t take it in with me so my fellow students will just have to wait for our next session when I make some more and inevitably forget something else… :/

[virgiieposts]

31 Hilariously Awful Cake Fails You Need To See To Believe.

31 Hilariously Awful Cake Fails You Need To See To Believe.

Each of us has our own specific set of talents and areas of life that we excel in. Some people may be great at keeping track of their finances and others may be swell bowlers. If you can’t do something as well as your neighbor, that doesn’t mean something is wrongwith you. … The only exception would be if you’re terrible at your job. For example, if you’re a baker and you can’t even handle…

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[tkstarrmysteries]

Crimes in the Kitchen: The Exploding Cupcakes

 Note to self: do not try to stuff a regular white mini cupcake  with a mini candy bar. Disaster will result.  Just Saying.

Yes, I know, Another disaster-rescue story. Why do I keep trying? And this one, I knew BEFORE I started. Sigh. But stay tuned. Here we go! 

This is the Story of how this:

Was supposed to look like this:

What was I thinking? Stuffed White cupcakes? Mini-cupcakes even? Sigh. I’m impossible.  White cake alone is just too light to support a heavy “surprise inside”. I already knew this. But I was so excited about the potential “fun-ness” of this recipe. Right off, you may be saying, well, why white then? Why didn’t you just whip up something  else? Well, as I started about 8pm and needed them the next day, I went for quick and easy. That meant cake mix. The only cake mix I had on hand was white. So, thinking like every other dreamer that maybe this time would be different, I plowed ahead. 

The baking procedure did seem fine. I filled the little muffin cups  about 1/2 to 3/4 then plopped a mini candy in the center. Baked for enough time then sat them out to cool. 

I knew right away I might be in trouble because many of the little guys had, indeed, exploded. Not kidding. Milky Way and Snickers were ‘volcano-ing’  out the center and over the pan. But I was still in denial. I thought, “Don’t Panic”. Nothing that a little frosting or chocolate drizzle can’t hide.  I continued in my blissful hopeful state running a plastic knife around each after a couple minutes of cooling. Despite a good amount of cooking spray, they both stuck and fell apart at the same time.  Ugh. Double Ugh. 

I have to get over the reluctance to take pictures of my self-made awfulness. After all, that’s the most fun, right? To look at someone else’s failures and take comfort in the fact that at least you aren’t THAT bad!  But I was so (unreasonably) disappointed at the results, I couldn’t bring myself to take pictures. So, just imagine ruined white minis..They looked something like this.

It was well after 10pm when I finally admitted partial defeat.  I ruefully scooped what was left of the  “Stuffed Cuppies”   into a plastic container and let them chill in the fridge for a night (“Time Out” for misbehaving  cupcakes). The next morning about 5am or so  I put the whole mess into my 6 cup stand alone mixer and threw in a1/4 cup or so of crunchy peanut butter. I then added a small tub of toasted marshmallow fluff (I mean, why not at this point)  and mixed the concoction up. Mini-M&M's were stirred in next for some color. I rolled the dough  into large teaspoon balls and placed them onto a Silpat cookie sheet. Lastly, I flattened the top and re-baked for about 18-20 mins at 350 until the bottoms were golden, the tops crispy and the centers still soft.

Now, as you know by now, I can never leave well enough alone, so I dressed them with a chocolate dip (my Go-To) and some confetti sprinkles to match the M&M's. Finally, success at about 8am (12 hours later)!!! Don’t worry, I was multi-tasking.  

I called the  colorful re-inventions “Triple Sweet Toasted Marshmallow” drops and amazingly they didn't last long!  

So, bottom line, get creative with your "disasters". Usually, throwing them together in another form and adding some more mix-ins will do the trick (if all else fails, dip ‘em in chocolate). It is  a little bit of extra work, but it’s usually way better than throwing out  all those delicious ingredients. Besides, you can learn from your mistakes.  I did.  Of course I did! Next time I’ll let the little cuppies bake a bit before plopping the mini bar inside. Now, whether I’ll remember about the white cake, well, that’s anyone’s guess. But I probably wouldn’t bet on it! 

[tkstarrmysteries]

Cookie 911: Baking Disasters And Rescues

Oops. Whoops. Oh No!  %*& $*&%$  It! and so forth...Those are the words of DISASTER. But after the swearing and the frustrated moaning subsides, the  “what am I going to do now” stage begins. Baking is as much about  humility as perseverance. You just have to have a sense of humor about it all. Disasters and disappointments come with the territory, especially if, like me, you experiment and tend to do too much in too little time.  I don’t know how those baking websites do it. It seems everything they do, it’s great, no reconstruction necessary. It’s as if they never had failures! But maybe that’s their magic, not letting us visitors see the dumped batches in the waste can.  I don’t mind sharing both my failures and re-inventions though. I feel the best when I can turn disaster into delectable! I’m no Alton Brown, but hopefully my amateur experiences are helpful for the those of us just trying to get those two dozen cookies safely to the bake sale!

Like most of us home bakers with full time jobs or other responsibilities, I’m usually a bit rushed and always multi-tasking(see above). So,  I tend to “power bake”. This means  I’ll bake several things at once for an event or project with hopefully enough to freeze for later. When I have the time, I try to make the dough or mix-ins ahead, but usually the baking magic tends to all happen at once. Just the way it is until retirement I guess! It doesn’t help that I’m always trying or tweaking new recipes.  If I stayed with the tried and true, I probably wouldn’t have so much trouble. Or fun either. I tend to get bored making the same thing all the time.

I started early learning about baking disasters. My sweet mom is neither a baker nor a cook, but she tried. However, most every birthday was celebrated with  an “earthquake cake”. A heavily frosted concoction designed to try and hide the  large crack resembling the San Andreas fault down the middle. We just didn’t level cakes as a family back then!  I tried to find a picture of one in my old family photos, but they have all mysteriously disappeared...mmm... so I had to go with this one  from King Arthur Flour Kitchens. Mom did the toothpick thing too. You get the idea.

My personal experience in disasters started with Friday night Chocolate Chip cookies for dad.   So many batches ended up looking like the one above --a big flat mess! Yet I KNEW i had followed the recipe, at least I thought I had. But my dad never complained, just broke off a piece and ate it.  Since then, I’ve learned the advantages of chilling the dough, using real butter and having an oven thermometer. (I'm sure our old oven was really 450 when it read 350). Learning  mise en place, a fancy French phrase for getting all your ingredients together FIRST and reading the recipe through at least twice BEFORE you start the mixing, has also helped. Even with all this hard earned knowledge though, I still scratch my head at times and wonder, “now how did this happen, and more importantly, how do I fix it?”.

 In many cases, i just re-tool my minor "oopsies": a dry cake (or cupcakes) becomes moist cake pops, a  chocolate cardboard like cookie gets chopped and revamped into fudgy-peanut butter-Oreo-chocolate brittle,etc. Necessity is truly the mother of delicious re-invention. And basically I’ve found that if you dip anything in chocolate, you got a hit! It’s become my go-to save.

Of course, there are always the major disasters, and not all the result of  the baking. Sure, there's the inexplicably bitter brownies, the way too buttery butterscotch blondies (hey the recipe called for 2 cups), the burned bottom cheesecake bites that never quite set on top (a true head scratcher)... But then, even when the baking comes out right and you think you're homefree, you have the flying rainbow frosted cupcakes in the backseat or the heaped cookie tray that mischievously slides off the cart ...well you get it...transport can be a b...well a bear anyway-bleh!! Although I’ve learned to better secure goodies in plastic containers and boxes in the car (seatbelts help too), I still fret  until I can deliver them safely and then back away quickly!

Like I said, being a home baker takes a sense of humor. For a few great laughs at someone else’s expense though, check out some disasters from  the King Arthur Flour Kitchens (the chocolate cake and flat cookie pix are from their site). Hey, if those experts can have bad baking days, I feel sooooooo much better. Actually, they have a few articles on disasters. Here’s one and another.  I can definitely relate to a few of these!!!!

So, what was your worst baking disaster? How did you save it (if you could)?

Do you have a favorite "oops" book that saves the day when it doesn't quite come out like the picture?

Please feel free to pass it on  along with that banana split cake pop!

We're all in this batter bowl together!