Vanilla Cupcakes and a Delicious Baking Blunder

These simple vanilla cupcakes are beautiful, aren't they? They're delicious too.

So I was making these cupcakes for a graduation party and I made a few extras to take to a dinner party the following day. But the kids were about to arrive home from school and I didn't want them to be tempted by the beautiful cupcakes - not yet anyway - because they needed to last until the next day and they'd beg and plead for just one cupcake - you know how it goes - I just wasn't up for it. So I quickly hid the cupcakes in the cold oven. A genius idea - they'd never see them in there.

A few hours later, I'm getting ready to make pizza for dinner. I preheated the oven, forgetting that my beautiful cupcakes were still inside. Maybe it wasn't a genius hiding spot after all. After several minutes, I smelled the cupcakes cooking in the oven and realized my mistake. Aaargh! I couldn't believe I had done that - again! Fortunately, I realized it before the cupcakes had burned.

But then we took a fork to the cupcakes and realized that I may have created the most delicious dessert ever! The cake was warm and the Swiss Meringue Buttercream had melted into the cake, rendering it gooey and sweet and buttery. I likened it to a warm Krispy Kreme donut, or a vanilla version of molten chocolate cake, but so much better! They were all gone before the pizza even came out of the oven. Never before have I made such a delicious baking blunder! You should try it!

On Friday, I'll be showing you two cupcake towers you can make at home to display your decorated cupcakes!