{"id":11,"date":"2011-03-09T23:50:20","date_gmt":"2011-03-10T07:50:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ryotakahashi.com\/blog\/?p=11"},"modified":"2011-03-09T23:50:20","modified_gmt":"2011-03-10T07:50:20","slug":"experimenting-with-sprinkles-cupcakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ryotakahashi.com\/blog\/archives\/11","title":{"rendered":"Experimenting with Sprinkles Cupcakes"},"content":{"rendered":"

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to try making Sprinkles’ strawberry cupcakes<\/a>, with the accompanying strawberry frosting<\/a>. I’ve only been to Sprinkles a couple of times, and that was a couple of years ago at least. From what I remember, their cupcakes were quite good, although a bit pricey ($3.25 each at the time). So why not try recreating them at home, for a fraction of the cost?<\/p>\n

\"IMG_3668\"<\/a>
\nI followed the recipe on the website as-is, and then I spooned the batter into the cupcake liners. See how some of them are all wrinkly? That seems to happen a lot when I use the Wilton baking cups. (I was trying to use up some leftover Wilton ones, that’s why I used them this time.) But it doesn’t seem to happen with the Reynolds ones. Odd, since Wilton stuff is usually pretty good quality. I couldn’t really find anyone else with the same complaint after doing some searches online, though. Anyway, moving on with the baking…<\/p>\n

\"IMG_3669\"<\/a>
\nAfter 22 minutes in the oven, they were done, as the recipe promised. They were looking pretty good so far. You can’t really see it in the picture, but they had a slight pink hue.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_3671\"<\/a>
\nThen I made the strawberry frosting, again according to the recipe. I love that nice pink color and the fact that it’s completely natural. Well, if you count the butter and powdered sugar as natural.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_3672\"<\/a>
\nEven after applying a pretty generous layer of frosting on each cupcake, I still had quite a bit of frosting left over. After actually making the frosting at home and seeing what goes into it, I shudder at the thought of eating all that frosting they put on the cupcakes you buy at Sprinkles. That’s the horrifying thing about baking, you realize how bad these delicious desserts actually are.<\/p>\n

I stared at the cupcakes and thought they were pretty plain-looking, although they did have a nice festive pink color. Since I don’t have Candace Nelson’s fancy little Sprinkles dots, I thought I’d try putting little strawberry slices on top instead. To give it that homemade, fresh touch that you can’t get at Sprinkles.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_3673\"<\/a>
\nOK, so maybe they were a tad big.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_3674\"<\/a>
\nI thought they looked pretty good for cupcakes made by an amateur.<\/p>\n

I tried eating one. It was kind of dense. Not really like the cupcakes you’d get at Sprinkles, at least from what I remember. But the recipe said they’d taste just like the ones from the store! So I read the comments. There seemed to be consensus that<\/p>\n