cupcake regret

last year about this time, i had written a post about bad chocolate that was supposed to make up for a failed (through no fault of his own) valentine's present my dear hubby had gotten me. this year he played it safe and bought me anime and a goggles. because every great steampunk outfit needs goggles. and gears, but that's a topic for another time. this post is about failed valentine's treats.

 so yesterday, as a treat for my kids, i made them special cupcakes. i've seen the fun-da-middles mix in the store for awhile, and then i found it on sale. and i had a coupon. and the boys had been particularly good. so i bought it to make later.

this was probably three months ago.

anyway, i wanted to make them something special for valentine's day. and being that i've been looking for a "something special" excuse to use that mix, i figured yesterday was the day. so i made it. it really was easy, all i had to do was make the cake mix part, fill cupcake cups halfway, put a bit of the pre-made filling in the middle, then cover with the rest of the cake mix.

i have to say that the pre-made filling was the strange part. it comes in a pouch and you're supposed to kneed it to make is soft enough to squeeze out of the tube it's packed in. it's white and creamy and looked exactly like toothpaste. i tasted some as i was putting it in the cupcakes, and it tasted strange. not bad, but it's not really a sweet filling. when i think filled cupcakes, i envision these. and honestly, that's pretty close to what i was expecting from this mix, a sugar over-load in cupcake form. hence why i was saving them for a special occasion.

well, i figured the heat from baking would transform the filling into something else, something better. sometimes i think that my oven is a magical box and not just something to heat things up with, but doesn't everybody?

anyway, the boys didn't want to have my super cute and awesome cupcakes for snack yesterday, they wanted to eat entire boxes of chocolate instead. i can't blame them, chocolate is fantastic. but i actually iced the cupcakes and put little sugar hearts on top, so when i say super cute and awesome i totally mean it. so, instead of having cupcakes for snack yesterday, i let them have them for breakfast this morning. because i'm awesome. and because it was a not good morning and i didn't feel like making breakfast or fighting about getting them to eat. and they wanted me to pack them lunches and i forgot to do it last night.

i also had a cupcake for breakfast. and it was really bad. the filling didn't get any better after baking. and the cake part was soft but solid. like mattress foam. and it was about as flavorful as mattress foam too. also, the box only made 12 cupcakes, so if i hadn't gotten them on sale with a coupon, i don't think they would be worth the money spent. the boys liked them well enough, but i'll stick to more homemade treats from now on.