I Was Supposed To Measure That?

I don't like being exact in my measurements when I bake. In fact, I don't really like following the recipes at all and usually end up adding extra ingredients. Sometimes, this goes horribly wrong. Like the other night when I told Steven (boyfriend) I would make us blueberry pancakes for dinner with the fresh blueberries he and his family had picked. I printed out three different recipes and looked at the ingredients... Then I just started throwing things together in the bowl.

What I discovered is that this method only works for the fortunate few who have been blessed with true culinary talent. For the rest of us, it produces flat, chewy pancakes with little flavor and burnt blueberries. In all fairness, they weren't COMPLETELY inedible. Steven made some berry sauce to put on top in place of maple syrup and the pancakes were almost tasty drenched in that delicious mixture. I ate a couple before deciding on Life cereal for dinner. Steven ate the other 12. (Somewhere between pancakes one and five he said I should start a blog and write about my successes and failures in the kitchen. The pancakes were a big hit with him. He said they were "revolutionary". They were something alright.)

My point is, somethings just need to be measured. The only thing (I like to think) I have truly mastered without measuring is my version of buttercream frosting. It's so easy it is hard (even for me!) to mess up. Here is my (general) recipe.

Buttercream (for roughly 12 cupcakes. More is you don't like frosting as much I do!)
1 stick softened butter
1 1/2 - 2 cups confectioners sugar
1-ish teaspoons of vanilla (or other) extract

All you have to do is whisk these three simple ingredients together and you have made a delicious frosting. In place of vanilla extract, you can use orange, peppermint or any other you so choose. I like to add a little cream here and more sugar there, but it's really up to you. Some people pull out the big mixer but I always prefer to use a bowl, a fork and a little manual labor.

The other night I made chocolate buttercream by dumping (literally. It was a mess. No one warned me of the dangers of cocoa powder) in some dutch-processed cocoa powder that I had used in the cupcake mix itself. I also added in a tiny bit of Hershey's chocolate syrup for good measure. It was good, I promise.

 (chocolate/almond cupcakes with cinnamon buttercream)

To top my chocolate/almond cupcakes, I chose to attempt a cinnamon buttercream. All I did here was add some cinnamon to my frosting mixture! It was easy and soo good.

What it comes down to for me is taste - not measurements. You have to keep tasting your creation and make sure you like. Otherwise, there  is no point making it.