Boo Math.

"You take the good, you take the bad,
you take them both and there you have
The Facts of Life, the Facts of Life."
I've never seen the Facts of life. I was more of a Mary Tyler Moore kinda gal. however, this song plays loudly in my head when i think about what happened to my cupcakes last night.
Some background: Brother bear, Sister Bear and baby Bear or coming over for dinner tonight. As the sole resident of my apartment, I don't cook often, and almost never for others. So i was excited to plan a menu. Also, as a pastry student, I don't "cook" in general, so i wasn't looking for anything ambitious for dinner. For dessert on the other hand, well, you know me. I had found this wonderful recipe for Chocolate Graham Cracker cupcakes with Marshmallow frosting. perfect!
i got home and took inventory for a shopping list. didn't need bittersweet chocolate, I had unsweetened! (yes. i didn't notice that minor detail til the bitter end. bah dum chiiing!) the main problem was this recipe was for 24 cupcakes, which is just absurd. I am in no position to eat leftover cupcakes, but i'll be damned if i let them go to waste! So i cut the recipe in half. which would have been easy as pie if the measurements were weighed, but they weren't. So 1 3/4 cup becomes .875 a cup, and COME ON what does that mean?!
So I gambled and guessed and closed my eyes and figured it couldn't come out too bad right? baking is a science, my friends. no dashes, pinches, handfuls. Now I know first hand.
The batter was VERY soupy, there was clearly a lack of starches to hold the thing together. if you can put cupcake batter in the tins with a ladel, you're doing it wrong. but i thought, maaaaaybe it will all come together at the end.

It looked alright going in, there was a glimmer of hope. I placed them very carefully in the oven, careful not to spill any over the sides (!). After 10 minutes I was supposed to turn them, and in this time I was getting ready the Marshmallow frosting, assuming nothing could be bad enough frosting couldn't cover it. When I opened the oven to turn them I saw this:


And i promptly threw out the marshmallow frosting. I know! I should have saved something from this ordeal, but I was defeated. Crushed. Kinda laughing....
I'm sure there's a moral to this story, and i think you already know what it is.
Open your eyes when you're baking! Read the damn recipe! Get the right chocolate! it all matters, believe you me.