Recipe fail

[jethrien]

All right, Mr. Pastry Chef/Cookbook Author, let's have words.

This cupcake recipe called for 1 1/2 cups of cream in the cakes and 1 cup of cream in the filling. That totals to 2 1/2 cups of cream for the recipe.

I bought one pint and one half pint. That totals to three cups. (A little less, actually - I've found that the pints don't quite contain two cups.)

In the directions for the cupcakes, you call for 1 1/2 cups of cream. For the filling, you tell me to mix the peanut butter with 3/4 cups of cream. Then, several steps later, you have me whip and fold in the other 1 1/2 cups cream.

...what?

That brings the total to 3 3/4 cups cream. Do you see a problem here?

Also, for the record, if step 3 starts "Pour ganache over batter" and ends "Pour batter into cupcake tray", there should not be a "chill four hours" hidden in the middle of the step.

And perhaps it's because of the insufficient chilling, but if you fill the 12 specified cupcakes 2/3 full as directed, there's way too much batter. When filled 5/6, there's still enough batter for 16 cupcakes.

Clearly I didn't read the recipe quite carefully enough when doing the shopping trip or planning the evening. But then, generally, recipes don't require you to redo the math or hunt for Easter eggs. If they're actually written well. Just sayin'.

Comments

[maydove.livejournal.com]

I am so confused by the ordering of "Pour ganache over batter" and "Pour batter into cupcakes tray." Does the ganache just magically stay on top as you pour it into the tray? (Or maybe this is okay? I haven't done much baking.)
I get the sense that this is just one of many problems, though.

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

No, that was actually ok. There was a foundation of batter that you then poured ganache over, then melted butter over that, and stirred it all together. Then you put it in the fridge for four hours. Then you put it in a pastry bag and piped it into the cups. It's not that any of the individual steps didn't work so much as that the way they were grouped hid the fact that there was a four hour pause lurking. Usually, when you have actions grouped together, they're short actions that have something in common - separate the eggs, beat them to a light froth, and fold them into the batter. When you then start with a new bowl or a new piece of equipment or stop working entirely for several hours, it's customary to start a new step number.

This felt as if someone wrote a two page document with no paragraph breaks and then randomly hit "enter" a couple times at random intervals. Usually, there's supposed to be a logic to paragraph breaks, and usually if you skim something, you don't expect them to bury the most important part in a subordinate clause in the middle of a overly long paragraph.

[maydove.livejournal.com]

At least he could have put it in all caps. It's sad that many potentially delicious cupcakes may be ruined by poor editing...

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

They came out ok, but not really worth the effort.