donna hay "BAKE AT HOME" Vanilla Cupcakes

Friday was the day for me and my good friend Fizzle Out to get together to take some piccie’s while making the donna hay "Bake at Home" Vanilla Cupcakes . If you have read my past posts about making the donna hay "a cook's guide to Vanilla Cupcakes you would know that they weren’t very successful- shape and size were fine but the dense texture and heavily buttered flavour was not nice at all. 

When Fizzle Out arrived at my place I had made some lunch for us, while we were eating we were chatting about this and that and started talking about my very unsuccessful attempt at the a cook’s guide cupcakes. Expressing my confusion on what the hell happened to them- TWICE, she asked to take a look at the recipe. While reading she asked if my BAKING POWDER was in date, my puzzled face must have been a dead give away that I had no idea if it was or that they had an expiry date. I went to the cupboard and picked up the packet and started to laugh I was like um it expired in May…. Fizzle Out started laughing also but then looked at me ask said “That’s BAKING SODA, not powder- is that what you used?  Giggling awkwardly I replied, “is there a difference? I thought one was the Aussie name and one was the American name. Laughing even more so now Fizzle Out let me know that yes there is a big difference and this must be why the Vanilla Cupcakes were a small disaster.

The purpose of making the “a cook’s guide” vanilla cupcakes, were to compare if paying the $7.99 to make 12 cupcakes is worth it and do they achieve the same result. To settle this debate I will now have to make the “a cook’s guide” vanilla cupcakes AGAIN (third time lucky) using the correct ingredients… All I can say is sorry DONNA HAY!

Now back to the donna hay Bake at Home Vanilla Cupcakes, I was sent the range by donna hays peeps to give it a whirl and blog about my findings. I opened the box and inside was 12 Cupcake Liners, 1 Packet of Cupcake Mix and 1 Packet of Icing Mix, reading the back of the box it had a small list of fresh ingredients that I needed to add:  Cupcake Mix needed 125g Butter, 2 Eggs, ¾ Cup of Milk and the Icing Mix needed 125g Butter and 1 Tbs of Milk. Well that easy every amateur cook has those ingredients on hand at any one time.

donna hay
"Bake at Home"
Vanilla Cupcakes

Reading the box I followed all of the “donna hay way” instructions to the minute and measurements. There is lots and lots of whisking/whipping involved, so i am now very glad i had my kitchen aid on Friday (Find out what happened to my kitchen aid).

The end result was pretty dam good if I might say, I had bought a piping bag to give them the extra wow factor but the cupcakes on the box hadn’t been piped only iced with a spatula, the a “cooks guide” ones had been piped.

Cupcakes Baked to Perfection

I might be a little biased with my findings as I am a cream cheese frosting girl, I love it, so the butter based icing for me was not that pleasant to eat as I felt like I was eating whipped butter, which you basically are. The texture of the icing was perfect for using a piping bag or spatula it just made me feel unhealthy which I know probably sounds weird as I am after all eating a cupcake. The cupcake its self had a fluffy texture that peeled perfectly out of the liner, it was a beautiful pale yellow and tasted delicious with a hint of vanilla, a perfect afternoon reward for a day in the kitchen.

donna hay
"Bake at Home"
Vanilla Cupcakes
by Lady Dash

At this point, I would have to say that this trial was a success- it made 12 Bake at Home Vanilla Cupcakes that look picture perfect and tasted really good but until I  make my final decision on whether it is worth the $7.99 purchase price plus fresh ingredients I will have to let you know, once I make the donna hay “ a cooks guide” Vanilla Cupcakes with Baking Powder not SODA…..

Score 9/10 (It was the icing that didn't make it 10/10

Thanks so much to Fizzle Out more my amazing photos they make such a difference.