This could be considered a companion post, I guess, to my other blog, where I just posted about, how, for some recipes, you need a lot more than ingredients to make a recipe come out-- sometimes you need to know how to make the recipe work out, and practice it, because there are techniques involved that you may not be used to. This post, however, is a sad commentary on how sometimes what is promised on a box is not necessarily accurate, how when you just don't have time to do things from scratch you might find yourself in trouble, and how necessary it is to have vanilla flavoring in your home.
Yes, vanilla flavoring. You read that right, and may be wondering why it was again that I actually write this blog. But I digress.
Here's the scenario: I had agreed to bring two dozen cupcakes to an event, so I thought I was prepared. I don't do much baking in the way of desserts, so I just picked up a cake mix. Said cake mix claimed that using its contents would result in a yield of 24 cupcakes. Perfect, right? My husband wanted to make the cupcakes with one of my children, so I let them have at it. It was a couple of hours before the planned event, so we would have wonderfully fresh cupcakes to present at the scheduled time, right? In theory.
My husband came to find me to let me know that the batter was gone and the count stood at 18 cupcakes. OooooK. There's always a recipe to be found on the iternet, right? Right, no problem. Well, no problem finding the recipe. Check, check, check on the ingredients, until we got to the vanilla flavoring. In my defense (which ends up amounting to not much) I was sure we had vanilla flavoring in the house. I was actually shocked to find that it wasn't in my kitchen cupboard. Well, then, it must be elsewhere, because I was sure I had some. A thorough search, however, proved me wrong, wrong, wrong. Now on to plan B. Time was running out. So I made some calls, found someone in the neighborhood to loan me some vanilla, and went to borrow it.
Long story short--the recipe in question took at least an hour to make, and we were running out of time. On to plan C.
I found someone else (don't I have great neighbors?) who was willing to part immediately with a cake mix, which would take a lot less time to throw together. The cupcakes were made and frosted, and I made it to the occasion, in the Idaho wind, only a little late. But late enough to be embarassing.
And then left at the end of the event with, if memory serves, 11 cupcakes.
So, what are the lessons from this experience? Well, for me personally, I went out and bought more vanilla flavoring. As has been said elsewhere on the internet (sorry I forget who said it, since I have read so many great blogs) something along the lines of , "three is two, two is one, and one is none". I thought I had one, but turns out I had none...
Make sure that what is said on a package is actually going to meet your needs. My package said 24 cupcakes, but it didn't work out that way. This was a dessert/treat thing, so not as big of a deal as say, a package of pancake mix that you are planning to use to feed x number of people that will only feed n number of people in the case of an emergency. Servings are not the same for everyone, and someone else's idea of a serving may leave you or someone that you're responsible for hungry when it's really inconvenient...
Just because you don't usually cook/bake something doesn't mean you won't wish that you had the means to do so in an emergency. In that vein, I now have a few cake mixes at my disposal, though who knows when I will use them... :)
Ah, yes, kind of embarassing, but I have never claimed to be an expert, so hope that someone else will benefit from what I'm learning as I go along...hence, that's one answer as to why I write this blog. Oh, and as a final note, the fact that I ended up with 11 cupcakes at the end of the day shows that sometimes things work out so much better than you think they will...
Thanks so much for reading--hope all is well with you and yours. Weird weather here (this is Idaho :)--it was snowing this morning....
Yes, vanilla flavoring. You read that right, and may be wondering why it was again that I actually write this blog. But I digress.
Here's the scenario: I had agreed to bring two dozen cupcakes to an event, so I thought I was prepared. I don't do much baking in the way of desserts, so I just picked up a cake mix. Said cake mix claimed that using its contents would result in a yield of 24 cupcakes. Perfect, right? My husband wanted to make the cupcakes with one of my children, so I let them have at it. It was a couple of hours before the planned event, so we would have wonderfully fresh cupcakes to present at the scheduled time, right? In theory.
My husband came to find me to let me know that the batter was gone and the count stood at 18 cupcakes. OooooK. There's always a recipe to be found on the iternet, right? Right, no problem. Well, no problem finding the recipe. Check, check, check on the ingredients, until we got to the vanilla flavoring. In my defense (which ends up amounting to not much) I was sure we had vanilla flavoring in the house. I was actually shocked to find that it wasn't in my kitchen cupboard. Well, then, it must be elsewhere, because I was sure I had some. A thorough search, however, proved me wrong, wrong, wrong. Now on to plan B. Time was running out. So I made some calls, found someone in the neighborhood to loan me some vanilla, and went to borrow it.
Long story short--the recipe in question took at least an hour to make, and we were running out of time. On to plan C.
I found someone else (don't I have great neighbors?) who was willing to part immediately with a cake mix, which would take a lot less time to throw together. The cupcakes were made and frosted, and I made it to the occasion, in the Idaho wind, only a little late. But late enough to be embarassing.
And then left at the end of the event with, if memory serves, 11 cupcakes.
So, what are the lessons from this experience? Well, for me personally, I went out and bought more vanilla flavoring. As has been said elsewhere on the internet (sorry I forget who said it, since I have read so many great blogs) something along the lines of , "three is two, two is one, and one is none". I thought I had one, but turns out I had none...
Make sure that what is said on a package is actually going to meet your needs. My package said 24 cupcakes, but it didn't work out that way. This was a dessert/treat thing, so not as big of a deal as say, a package of pancake mix that you are planning to use to feed x number of people that will only feed n number of people in the case of an emergency. Servings are not the same for everyone, and someone else's idea of a serving may leave you or someone that you're responsible for hungry when it's really inconvenient...
Just because you don't usually cook/bake something doesn't mean you won't wish that you had the means to do so in an emergency. In that vein, I now have a few cake mixes at my disposal, though who knows when I will use them... :)
Ah, yes, kind of embarassing, but I have never claimed to be an expert, so hope that someone else will benefit from what I'm learning as I go along...hence, that's one answer as to why I write this blog. Oh, and as a final note, the fact that I ended up with 11 cupcakes at the end of the day shows that sometimes things work out so much better than you think they will...
Thanks so much for reading--hope all is well with you and yours. Weird weather here (this is Idaho :)--it was snowing this morning....
