Golden Syrup Cupcakes: A bit of a disaster

I had dreams with these cup cakes. Big fluffy dreams. I'm not really one for fancy, fancy cake making. I little cake, in a little cup with a little smear of butter cream or a drizzle of chocolate is usually enough for me. But thesw where going to be different. I'd taken out Ms Cupcake: The Naughtiest Vegan Cakes in Town from the library. My intention the golden syrup cupcakes. Skull and Crossbone cases would contrast with the mountain of swirled buttercream, delicate yellow sprinkles and drizzle of syrup. What happened?

In Which I Learn To Hate Self Raising Flour

The above picture was not the first time I made these cakes. I tweeted a picture of the first time I made these cakes. It looked like this:

Why? Well the cupcakes rose it the oven then deflated in the centre. As I tried to pick them up they tore and fell. The book suggested too much raising agent as the culprit so I took out the bicarb and baking powder and made a second batch.

In Which I Learn To Hate Buttercream, Piping Bags and My Hands

A day later than I'd hoped and it was time to decorate the cakes. I made a big batch of buttercream and popped it in the piping bag. Then I squoze, and I squoze, and I squoze. Then I frantically stopped squeezing and started screaming. The nozzle had flown right off the bag and the icing was coming out everywhere. It was too thick to come out of the nozzle so it just burst the whole contraption.

After stalking off in a mood, flinging myself to be bed and ranting at a teddy bear for a few minutes I came back and just smeared the buttercream on. I no longer cared.

In Which Our Heroine's Efforts Are Rewarded With Cake

The taste was fantastic though. And a nostalgia hit. When I made cupcakes at university I couldn't necessarily afford vanilla so I'l put a little golden syrup in the batter to give it some taste. My cakes looked ugly then too.