Chocolate Cupcakes

During the weekend, TheHusband asked for some brownies. Feeling bold, I offered to bake him a cake (I certainly know how to dig my grave, no? I make very good brownies and chocolate chip cookies, but cakes, I don't dare; I did actually, a few times---utterly brilliant failures!) and went to buy some of the ingredients. However, Jack Bauer comes first, and the cake had to wait for another day. This morning, though, I just went home after waiting over an hour for my ride to work, and with nothing to do all day, I set out to bake. But, as with any good show/movie, the "bida" encountered some roadblocks, i.e., lack of skill and, as with most of my "ventures," the lack of will-power to actually do something planned. (Trish, is this a Leo thing? Apparently, not! Congratulations, by the way!) Anyway, I'm a regular reader of MarketManila, and a few days ago, Mr. MM posted a recipe of a sinful-looking chocolate cake. So recipe, check (with fingers crossed, hoping that the skill would go with it). I figured, if I follow the recipe to the letter, what could go wrong? Will-power? Uh-oh. But as fate would have it, Onyxx posted a comment on this blog, and it prompted me to post something, and I thought, why not the cake? So, will-power? Check!

I made a few modification on the ingredients, as I don't know where to find the chocolate Mr. MM used, and even if I knew, I think I'm gonna keel over when I see the price. I used half Hershey's and half Ricoa (Tita Z told me that the latter is better for baking, but the former gives a more chocolatey color), and I added 2 tbsp of mayonnaise to give it a more moist texture. And, oh, I don't have a baking sheet, but I have a new 6-well silicone cupcake pan...so cupcake it is! The baking went well, although I think the househelp gets the frisson whenever she sees me baking, as this means that there would be tons of equipment to clean afterward. Anyway, I let the cupcakes cool, and made the icing/filling. And this is where it went wrong. I don't have any semisweet chocolate; Sharkteeth, my daughter, polished off all the chocolates during the weekend. So I ended up using Hershey's unsweetened cocoa powder. Uhgg, another roadblock! I don't have confectioner's sugar, so I just used granulated sugar, which made the icing a bit grainy. To lessen the graininess, I heated the mixture, thinking that the heat would melt the sugar (it didn't), and only then did I remember that I have a bottle of Karo syrup. Sayang! After the cupcakes cooled, I carved off the top and a bit of the inner part where I would put icing. I put enough filling and iced the cupcakes, with the ugly-looking ones getting sprinkles to cover up their, well, ugliness.

The cupcakes taste good enough, but really, Mrs. Fields, they're not. TheHusband, though, is quick to say that they taste great and that I should bake some again; lying is not one of his talents though.