At left, the cupcake baked at Martha’s recommended temp of 325. At right, the same amount of the same batter baked at 375.
I’m just saying.
I used to be quite addicted to Ms. Perfection in the 90s, before she went to jail and all. I would pick up the latest edition of Martha Stewart Living and tromp around town looking for all the arcane ingredients she called for.
The folks at Kroger and then-Beans and Grains and Things got such a hoot out of it. “Do you have any aged snail lard (or whatever)?” I would dutifully ask.
“Martha Stewart, right?” they would grin. I wasn’t the only one that had been by.
You know she was laughing just thinking about it.
Today, I used one of Ms. Perfect’s cupcake recipes for a dumb reason: loathing of math. My delicious butter cake recipe would need to be cut by 3.5 to make the right amount of cupcakes, and after a long day, that just made my head hurt. Her recipe was for just the amount I needed.
The recipe, which I had used before, was fine. The temp, however, was the problem. I had adjusted it before, but forgot today. She claims the cupcakes should be baked at 325. They oozed slowly upward and spread across the pan, making a sad little hat on each one.
Dangit.
I had enough extra for three more. I turned the temp up to 375, loaded the second pan and put them in. Perfection.
Martha, admit it. You do this crap on purpose.
Heifer.
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