Ruby's Pirate Booty...

...is seriously outgrowing her pants. The cupcakes I attempted this weekend aren't helping matters. Good thing I'm taking them all to work tomorrow!

I don't know what got into me, but I felt the need to do some serious baking this weekend. I was inspired by the "Ming Makes Cupcakes" website. Instead of the raspberry sour cream, I substituted Greek yogurt and blackberries. I attempted the marscapone cream frosting (I churned butter instead), so made a honey cream glaze (followed the browned butter maple icing recipe, substituting honey). I also baked the Guinness Chocolate cupcakes (those taste phenomenal!!) and made the cream cheese fluffy frosting and used a tablespoon of leftover Guinness instead of the vanilla.

I'm disappointed with the consistency...the cupcakes barely hold when I peel away the liners. I'll need to experiment with higher temps/longer bake times or maybe something more to bind the ingredients? One lesson learned is blackberries are too big for small cupcakes...really need to stick with the smaller berries like blueberries or raspberries. Another lesson is to try other frosting recipes. While taste is alright, I'm not getting the consistency I want. Either too flat/sticky or too hard.

There is a fine line for beating the marscapone cream into soft peaks before it turns into butter. Literally. Very sweet tasting, but that's what it is. Probably tasty for a crusty roll or bagel, but not for a cupcake. Definitely want to try this again, but I'm looking for a very fluffy/light result.

The browned butter honey glaze...tasty, but too flat. I want a honey frosting. Something that has more air in it. Need to experiment more.

The cream cheese fluffy frosting was not the expected fluffy. I wanted something airy like a buttercream. Something I could frost with a knife and make a nice cone shaped peak. This was fluffier than the glaze, but it had the viscosity of plasma. Would make a better filling than topping. But that taste--this was exquisite. Adding the little bit of Guinness was a good move. Will experiment with that again.

So I expected the finished cupcake to be great, but it basically fell apart after the first bite! The cake doesn't hold up. I need to experiment on this, too. But it tastes really good, so at least that's a start!!