Tomorrow is a very good friend of mines birthday and so of course I offered to make her a cake. She is having her party at our usual neighborhood bar, which is great. It's the type of bar that when I walk in my drink is already waiting for me on the counter. It's wonderful. I asked her what kind of cake she wanted and she told me to surprise her, but not without saying carrot cake first. So naturally I choose to make a carrot cake. I choose a recipe that I randomly found the other night, http://biscuitsandsuch.com/2011/01/29/carrot-cake-with-goats-milk-caramel/. From the description it sounded great, however, it turned out horribly. I should have been warned when I saw that it used goats milk which is thinner then milk, olive oil which has such an odd flavor, and only 1 cup of sugar. The recipe did not give good instructions for the carmel sauce which turned out horribly and the final baked cake looked like everyones dreadful idea of a vegan cake. Everything about this cake was wrong. I am not sure what happened.... I followed everything correctly and yet it was awful. I have made carrot cakes before that have been wonderful....
With only a bit of panic, I checked my pantry and found I had all the ingredients to make chai banana cupcakes with a cinnamon cream cheese frosting. These cupcakes are extremely simple and take no time at all. I brought them to the party and everyone loved them. I kept noticing people sneaking them out of the box the whole night. I am happy to have made such a successful simple cupcake. When in doubt always have a backup cupcake that is easy to make and tastes great!
