MISSION 1: Make and ice cupcakes using NEAT IDEAS’ Easy Whisk; Cupcake Corer; Silicone Pastry Mat; Crafty Cook Cupcake Baking Tray & Silicone Icing Bag
Now this might sound like an excuse up front but I’m NOT a Mary Berry in the making. This particular gene – in abundance in my 93-year-old Nan who still makes the best flapjack in the world and oddly enough, my brother, seems to have escaped me entirely. Just so you know…
I found a recipe online (mistake #1) and bought the necessary – apart from a couple of items – so to fill in the ingredient gaps, I used a gluten-free cook book (I am gluten-free, you see – honestly not trying to make it harder on myself!) Most concerning at this point was the presence of mayonnaise on the ingredient list but – hey, I’ll try anything once :)
NEAT IDEAS’ Easy Whisk (available soon) and Neat Ideas’ Silicone Pastry Mat were a perfect combination. Easy Whisk is just that – easy, with its pump-action handle that makes the head spin – and the Silicone Pastry Mat kept the bowl securely in place, even when I tried the more vigorous two handed approach. Warning: it is easy to get over-excited at this point…
Neat Ideas’ Silicone Cupcake Tray nicely tucked away in the oven – the silicone handles were great heat protectors when pulling out the tray to check on progress (which I may have done a tad too often) and I used some of the silicone cupcake cases on a separate tray for the extras. They kept these little extras perfectly formed.
Neat Ideas’ Cupcake Corer was seriously impressive – even I could use it without any problems! Plunge it in, give it a twist and Bob’s your uncle: a perfect space in which to put a tasty surprise, in my case jam and lemon marmalade.
Now, this is where the whole experience takes a little turn for the worse. You see, I hadn’t appreciated the need to use proper butter for baking… (mistake#2) Olive oil-based butter is not great, I repreat NOT GREAT for making buttercream icing and in fact, makes it look a little like baby sick :(
However they tasted pretty good – if a little different – without the icing, in spite of the Mayonnaise or maybe, because of the Mayonnaise… Now there’s something to ponder. So I’ll have to wait for my adventure in icing. Think I need the lessons of my first attempt to sink in.
