Italian Buttercream Fail
Sep. 7th, 2010 06:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tju_tju_tju_tjuI should've known better than to do something even moderately difficult like Italian Buttercream because I have no idea what I'm doing and I suck. I can't even separate eggs, for God's sakes.
It just goes to show, everything I do I am hopelessly mediocre at. I wanted to throw out the cupcakes but my mom won't let me because she says my dad will eat them, even though I know he won't because he never eats anything I bake. I don't want yet another cupcake from a mix with fucking store-bought frosting because I am an incompetent idiot.
Just forget it.
ETA: I calmed down after about a minute and made regular buttercream instead. And I still got to use my cool dessert decorator thing, so yay!
What happened was, I couldn't separate the egg whites to save my life. The yolk kept falling out. I don't know if it was the eggs themselves or if it was me, but the yolk was running all over the place and I wound up wasting about 18 eggs trying to get six goddamn egg whites. So I told my mom to please get me some egg whites from the store (I didn't feel like going) when she got home from work. So I poured the egg whites into the bowl, mixed it, put the sugar and water on the stove... and I think where I might have messed up was letting the sugar cool for a bit because I wasn't sure if the egg whites were doing what they were supposed to be doing, and then the sugar wound up caramelizing in the bowl and it was RUINED FOREVER.
So I went and cried in my room for a bit and felt like fail before I decided that I wanted to finish my damn cupcakes, even if I had to make regular, sugary buttercream. Luckily I still had some confectioner's sugar left over from last time, and it wasn't a ridiculous amount so this instance of buttercream frosting wasn't as sugary as the last few times.
It just goes to show, everything I do I am hopelessly mediocre at. I wanted to throw out the cupcakes but my mom won't let me because she says my dad will eat them, even though I know he won't because he never eats anything I bake. I don't want yet another cupcake from a mix with fucking store-bought frosting because I am an incompetent idiot.
Just forget it.
ETA: I calmed down after about a minute and made regular buttercream instead. And I still got to use my cool dessert decorator thing, so yay!
What happened was, I couldn't separate the egg whites to save my life. The yolk kept falling out. I don't know if it was the eggs themselves or if it was me, but the yolk was running all over the place and I wound up wasting about 18 eggs trying to get six goddamn egg whites. So I told my mom to please get me some egg whites from the store (I didn't feel like going) when she got home from work. So I poured the egg whites into the bowl, mixed it, put the sugar and water on the stove... and I think where I might have messed up was letting the sugar cool for a bit because I wasn't sure if the egg whites were doing what they were supposed to be doing, and then the sugar wound up caramelizing in the bowl and it was RUINED FOREVER.
So I went and cried in my room for a bit and felt like fail before I decided that I wanted to finish my damn cupcakes, even if I had to make regular, sugary buttercream. Luckily I still had some confectioner's sugar left over from last time, and it wasn't a ridiculous amount so this instance of buttercream frosting wasn't as sugary as the last few times.
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(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-07 10:45 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-07 11:42 pm (UTC)I just feel dumb because every website and video implied that it was really easy and only idiots wouldn't be able to do it.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-07 11:07 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-07 11:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-08 12:01 am (UTC)i set out to make boyfriend a whiskey cake from our fav restraunt in disney for his birthday and ended up with chocolate cake and whipped cream frosting after my attempts at mousse failed miserably
point is, you'll never know how to do something until you try it, and the more you practice the better you'll get
and i would def eat those cupcakes
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-08 12:06 am (UTC)I wish I had enough money to just buy, like, 100 eggs and practice separating eggs all day, but I don't, haha. ONE DAYYYY
Hee, thanks! :D
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-08 01:41 am (UTC)I made red velvet cupcakes a few weeks ago, tried a few things differently than the recipe said, and they came out soooo weird. The texture was completely off. I thiiink I may have overmixed the batter.
Those cupcakes look amazing. I love how decorating with piping bags instantly makes everything look so professional and awesome.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-08 01:51 am (UTC)Yeah, it's difficult to get it exactly right. You either overmix or undermix and bvrcevcy5o3v. I can't imagine how anyone figured out how to do any of this!
Thank you! I agree. I'm so glad I have this decorating thing now. Though it's a bitch to clean.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-08 09:34 am (UTC)I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT BUTTERCREAM IS. All my food is microwaved/put in the oven for a certain amount of time and then removed, all done. YOU ARE A GENIUS, SERIOUSLY ♥
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-08 03:08 pm (UTC)Buttercream is basically just frosting, lol. There are a whole bunch of different kinds. The one I ended up making is the easiest kind to make -- just a stick of butter, powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract. Aw, thank you! <3
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-08 11:58 pm (UTC)Seriously, like everyone else said, it takes practice. Every time you or your mom makes anything that has eggs in it, practice separating them. Since most things you'll use eggs in won't need them to be separated, you won't be ruining it if you can't do it, and you won't be wasting eggs since you need them anyway. :D So you can practice and get better at it without buying a million eggs. ^_^ Yay!
Also, I know it's really hard to actually do this, but you can't listen to other people when they say something's easy. Different stuff is easy and difficult for different people. Spelling is really easy and calculus would be really difficult for me, but maybe you're a whiz at math and can't spell your way out of a paper bag. :D So someone else saying it's easy doesn't mean anything. I know it's hard not to feel like crap when you seem like the ONLY person who's bad at something, but hey, even just TRYING is a triumph sometimes. That whole "the only sure way to fail is to not try" thing. Yeah. *sagely nod*
I'm proud of you for persevering and making the cupcakes anyway, and I'm happy that you're posting your successes AND failures. It takes a big person to admit that they cried over frosting (you're totally not alone, by the way) and I think it's awesome. <3 And I know one day you'll get it. I wouldn't be surprised if you ended up owning a famous bakery in NYC and having your very own show on the Food Network and writing books about cupcakes. XD <3 Don't be sad, and don't give up, either.
WOW I'M LONG-WINDED SORRY <3
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-09 12:27 am (UTC)I'm one of those people who wants to quit when I can't do something perfectly the first time, ha. It's something I'm trying to get over, but it's difficult. I have my father's temper, lol!
Oh, thank you! hahaha oh man, if I had my own cupcake shop in Manhattan that would be so terribly awesome. Or maybe a cookie shop.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-09 03:00 am (UTC)<3! I will come and visit your cupcake/cookie shop EVERY DAY when I am a famous author and you are a famous cupcake/cookie chef. XD