It is OCTOBER! Can you believe it?! September came in and left all in the same minute for me. Where the heck did it go?! If the rest of the year is like last month I'm in trouble because I have zero holiday plans and I am not nearly prepared to finish up college. I'm in trouble.
Well seeing as October is here it is officially Pumpkin Everything Month, so we are going to start the month with a Pumpkin Pinstrosity and then let Marquette tell you about some of the other fun things we have planned for the month, so stick around!
Sweet reader Morgan sent us this back in 2012, and it was perfect for today's post. Check it out!
The Original
This recipe is for an easy half hour (start to finish) cupcake that only requires two ingredients!! Yes, I said two! A cake mix of some sort (they used yellow here) and pumpkin pie filling (which is pure pumpkin).
Here is Morgan's take...
The Pinstrosity
Not exactly what she was looking for. Here's what she had to say about it!
"I don't ever really cook. I use to be a good cook (circa 2006) but I got a 8-5 that was really overwhelming so we mostly lived on Starbucks and Panera. Well, I lost my job a week ago and decided to take this lull in my career to be a better wife and mom, starting with cooking real meals again. These pumpkin muffins looked like a good place to start. Mix two ingredients, apply heat, enjoy. Apparently, I'm more rusty than I originally thought because this is what I got...
The original said to it was ok to use different kinds of cake mix. I used angel food cake mix because it has half the calories. The "muffins" foamed up like the La Brea tar pit lava scene from the movie "Volcano" in the oven, fell completely flat after cooling down, and then chemically adhered themselves to the paper cups. After I hit send on this email, I'm going to work on my resume."
Don't beat yourself up Morgan! I did some digging for this one and learned a few things. I have always known that Angel Food Cake was picky, but I didn't realize just how picky till I got to poking around for this post. I even made a call into the pro--my mom. This one stumped her too, so I will share with you what I learned and chalk this one up to a case of bad circumstances.
First off, Angel Food Cake is picky about the temperature. The mix prefers room temperature and anything other than that can have bad effects on the egg white that makes up the majority of the batter. Perhaps it was cold where Morgan lives? The e-mail was sent in mid October so it could be cold depending on where she lives.
The other big thing I learned was that because of the egg whites the mix doesn't do well with oil. Any sort of oil, or greased pan can cause the mix to fall flat. I thought I had hit the jackpot here because I thought for sure the pie mix would have some sort of oil in it. Wrong. I also learned tonight that pumpkin pie filling is just that;pumpkin, and nothing else pumpkin, sugar, and spices; that's it. I'm not much of a pumpkin eater can you tell??
Another thing that Angel Food cake is picky about is how long you let it sit before you cook it. It is best to mix the cake, then put it straight into the oven, and here is where it may have gone wrong *may*, it is recommended to leave the cake in the pan and flip it upside down to cool. This insures that it won't fall flat. I'm not sure if this would be helpful with the cupcakes, but perhaps turning them upside down on a cooling rack would ensure that they don't deflate like this one did (a little bit).
I should not that I read all the comments on the original site and there were zero who mentioned anything about Angel Food Cake at all, let alone it working or not working so there is that. You are paving the way Morgan!!
*I got some of my info about Cake Science here. Check it out!
Anyone have any other tips for Angel Food Cake?? Let us know in the comments!! We are happy to be back Pinstrosipeeps!! Happy Wednesday!
The other big thing I learned was that because of the egg whites the mix doesn't do well with oil. Any sort of oil, or greased pan can cause the mix to fall flat. I thought I had hit the jackpot here because I thought for sure the pie mix would have some sort of oil in it. Wrong. I also learned tonight that pumpkin pie filling is just
Another thing that Angel Food cake is picky about is how long you let it sit before you cook it. It is best to mix the cake, then put it straight into the oven, and here is where it may have gone wrong *may*, it is recommended to leave the cake in the pan and flip it upside down to cool. This insures that it won't fall flat. I'm not sure if this would be helpful with the cupcakes, but perhaps turning them upside down on a cooling rack would ensure that they don't deflate like this one did (a little bit).
I should not that I read all the comments on the original site and there were zero who mentioned anything about Angel Food Cake at all, let alone it working or not working so there is that. You are paving the way Morgan!!
*I got some of my info about Cake Science here. Check it out!
Anyone have any other tips for Angel Food Cake?? Let us know in the comments!! We are happy to be back Pinstrosipeeps!! Happy Wednesday!
That recipe works with any cake mix - other than Angel. If you use white yellow or spice, you get a very pumpkin flavored cake or cupcake. If you use chocolate you taste chocolate. I'm type 2 diabetic and tell myself this is better than regular cake for me! LOL of course I tell myself that about pumpkin pie too. LOL
ReplyDeleteThe problem is the angel food cake mix. The angel food cake does need to be tipped over or tipped on its size so it doesn't fall from the weight of itself. That is also why the cake adhered to the cupcake liners. If you've made angel food cake in a loaf or tube pan you've probably noticed how much cakey residue gets left on the pan. It is that adherence that holds the cake to the pan when it gets tipped or flipped. Maybe some cupcake baker could pull of an angel food cake cupcake, but I don't think a cake mix has that ability.
ReplyDeleteActually... There is a difference in pure pumpkin and pumpkin pie filling. Libby makes "Easy Pumpkin Pie" which is: Pumpkin, Sugar Syrup, Water, Salt, Natural Flavors, Spices, where as their canned pumpkin is just that - pure pumpkin.
ReplyDeletePumpkin Pie Filling is different from Pure Pack Pumpkin. Pie Filling has the spices, oils, etc, that you need to add eggs and milk to to make pumpkin pie. Pure Pack Pumpkin is exactly that- nothing but pumpkin.
ReplyDeleteSo it is a possibility that , along with not inverting the pumpkin angel food muffins, there was something in the pumpkin pie filling that reacted badly with the cake mix itself.
I like to use one can pumpkin, one box streusel coffeecake mix. I'm not much of a mix girl, but it is very, very tasty and convenient.
ReplyDelete