Guest Post: Cherry Chip Cupcakes with Cherry Frosting

Cherry Chip Cupcakes with Cherry Frosting
Made by Boyfriend!

1 Box Betty Crocker Super Moist Cherry Chip cake mix.
1 Can Betty Crocker cherry frosting.

Preparation & Steps
Read box. Don’t mess up.

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My first guest blogger! It's so exciting! And guess who it is? Boyfriend! That's right! I'm letting him have a voice! He made me some cupcakes the other day, and when I came over, he made a joke about wanting to take pictures and write a post about it to put up here.. Well I didn't think of it as a joke! I made him actually write it! So here he is! Take it away Boyfriend! (Oh. PS: Since you know I can't keep my mouth shut about anything, any of my comments will be in pink from here on.)

As the first guest on the Busty Baker’s blog, it is only right that I write about my attempt to make cupcakes for her. These cupcakes were about 2 years in the making due to various reasons, the primary one being that I’m just lazy. As she is the baker, I could never actually hope to live up to her expectations and actually make something from scratch so what you see here is something straight from the box. That’s right; there is a review of a boxed cake mix here on the Busty Baker. (*gasp*)

To begin, the story began many months ago when I actually purchased this cake mix for the purpose of making cupcakes. This was the second time I purchased these items as about a year and a half earlier, I purchased the items to make them then, only to find that I would eat the frosting over the course of 2 weeks. This I might add, was me eating it by the spoonful or putting it between graham crackers. I blame my mother for teaching me this little trick to make the most of an open can of frosting. (My mom does the same thing! Oh and he eats through jars of peanut butter this way too..) Either way, the actual box of cake mix sat for about 12 months in the cupboard until I moved out of that apartment. It was thrown out in defeat.

Forward to the latest purchases of the products in which I was to make cupcakes for the Busty Baker. (For my birthday.) As this had become almost a little joke between the two of us, the purchase was met with a sense of determination. I was going to finally break down and do this. I do cook for her sometimes but I really never went as far as to actually bake something. As a person, I’m not much for experimentation for baking. I like pretty much anything she makes for me, but for myself, the most I’ve ever done is white cake with vanilla frosting. For myself, plain is fine. As such, although the Busty Baker has scores of baking cookbooks to use, we decided that her favorite boxed flavor, cherry chip, would be what I would finally make. (Baby steps.)

As one would think, there really wasn’t too much to the actual preparation and making of the cupcakes. Of course, this would not happen without some sort of setback. (It just wouldn't be the Busty Baker's blog if there wasn't at least 1 thing that goes wrong!) On the day I was going to make the items (*ahem* a month after my birthday), I found I had lost the blades for my hand mixer. Luckily, I had only opened the box of the mix and did not start the process of actually trying to mix the items. The Busty Baker came to the rescue and brought her hand mixer over. This was the only piece of not personally owned equipment that was used.

Personally, I am a fan of batter. This batter though just did not taste right. Granted, I am not sure if this mix included any baking soda in it, but that’s exactly what it tasted like was spilled in it. After everything, I think it was the actual cherry chips that were used in the mix that added this flavor but it was pretty noticeable. (It tasted fine to me.) As such, I did not eat my customary spoonfuls of batter or even lick the blades of the mixer. That job was left to the Busty Baker and she made quick work of the leftovers. (It was tasty!! What can I say?) I ended up making enough to fill up the 24 possible cupcakes holes I had in my tray. (Believe it or not, he actually has more cupcake pans than I do. I had to borrow his for CupcakeCamp.) Exact science was not used in the measuring of the batter so of course we ended up with the full range of sizes. Cooking was straight forward as one would expect. I did let them cook for a few minutes past the recommended time on the box as they did not seem firm enough for me. The Busty Baker was not allowed to make any comments or suggestions during this entire event so if I screwed up, it was totally my fault. As I did not have a toothpick or tester to see if everything was done, it was all eyeballed. In the end, they came out exactly how I figured they would. Fine.

Icing was a very casual affair. As we both are fans of icing, I was very liberal on the application. (I did have to open my mouth and make a suggestion once during the event.. The cupcakes weren't cool enough when he wanted to start icing, so the first 2 kind of melted a bit before I suggested we wait a little while longer.) Of course, there were already a few cupcakes eaten before the icing even started. To me, the baking soda taste still persisted but was not as strong. The Busty Baker said they were fine and exactly how she liked them. Now, the Busty Baker provided sprinkles and goodies to top the cupcakes as she has about 100 different containers of items to choose from. Don’t even get me started on her collection of sprinkles. (It's not THAT bad. There's not anywhere near 100. It's probably only about 10 or 15.) Again, the application of sprinkles was not an exact science but it was fairly messy.



In the end, we each probably ate about 5 cupcakes apiece that evening. (I only felt slightly sick.) These were made for her so she ended up taking most of them home. I am not a huge fan of cherry flavored anything so in the end, this is best. (I ate the rest of them in like 2 days..) Would I make these again? For her, of course, but for myself, probably not. I will next branch out to actually attempt to make something from scratch. This time I promise it won’t take two years. (It better not!)

-Boyfriend