test baking, take 1

So, baby Jud's birthday party is going to be at our house this weekend and I've been planning it for at least 4-6 weeks.  Lyndsey and I decided to do cupcakes (which is the theme of his party) instead of the usual cake.  My family doesn't care much for "birthday, wedding, shower" cake, so I decided I'm going to make the cupcakes myself.  After lots of recipe searching, I decided to make white cupcakes with buttercream icing, and chocolate cupcakes with chocolate buttercream icing.  Original?  I think not.

Today, I set out to do my "test" baking, since I don't have much baking experience, and I surely don't want to embarass Jud on his first birthday.

Aside from the cupcakes being too big, which is an easy adjustment to make, they turned out and taste great.  Then, to the icing. 

Remember, this was a trial run.  So, I proceed to make the chocolate icing.  But first, I need to back up a bit.

The first problem I encountered is that my grocery store doesn't carry the very first item on the list of ingredients: 

"4 packets (1 oz ea) Nestle Toll House ChocoBake Pre-melted Unsweetened Chocolate Flavor"

I kid you not...it took two lines on my legal tablet to write this ingredient down.  Should have been my first clue.  But it wasn't.  Obviously I've been watching too much of the Food Network Channel...or maybe I've been visiting too many cooking blogs, but for whatever reason, I decide it will be okay to substitute Nestle Toll House chocolate chips...4 oz of them.  Should work.  Or not.

Directions:

1)  Microwave Nestle Toll House ChocoBake Pre-melted Unsweetened Chocolate Flavoring and 1/2 a stick of butter, uncovered, for 30 seconds.  Done.

2)  Stir. Done.

3)  Transfer mixture to a small mixer bowl, and cool to room temperature.  Done.

4)  Beat sugar, 4 T milk, vanilla, and salt into chocolate mixture just until of spreading consistency.  Done.

Did I mention earlier that I have zero experience baking?  If not, I meant to.  I did exactly what the directions said to do and assumed the chocolate chips weren't supposed to be fully melted.  Well, there is a saying about the word "assume" that I can't remember at this very moment, but it does apply.

So, here is a picture of my test batch of chocolate cupcakes.  Not beautiful...the icing should be darker.  And WOULD be darker had I made sure the chocolate chips were fully melted.



Oh well, I bet Terry will eat a couple of them, regardless, and if they aren't too terribly bad...I will send them with him to work tomorrow.

Up next:  White cupcakes with buttercream icing