The Muffin Alaina Didn't Know She Needed

Over the summer, Alaina and I became slightly obsessed with a Netflix show called Sugar Rush, where teams of professional bakers compete in three rounds, creating cupcakes, confections and full-sized cakes.

With Alaina's birthday coming up on September 6, we decided to try a variation of the show to see who would make Alaina's cake.

We planned a cupcake round for Saturday with three teams. One team would be eliminated, then two would compete with a confection on Sunday, and the winner would make the birthday cake on Monday.

Eric and I teamed up, Jason worked with Ben, and Janae decided to go solo.

The cupcake round had a hamster/bunny theme, and I thought I had the perfect idea. 

Alaina has researched both bunnies and hamsters extensively, and she's never afraid to correct misconceptions about these furry pets. For example, whenever someone talks about feeding a bunny a carrot, she tells us that bunnies actually prefer bananas.

So, I found a recipe for banana split cupcakes--which we were planning to present as the "ultimate bunny treat"--and Eric and I gathered our ingredients. We planned ahead, making a vanilla cream filling on Friday so it would be cool enough to put into the cupcakes on Saturday.

Janae, Jason and Ben hadn't done as much planning, and I helped Jason avoid a near disaster with his caramel filling for his carrot cupcakes (he hadn't read the recipe through and was adding all the ingredients at once!). 

Then I helped Janae follow her recipe for Heavenly Homemade Chocolate Cupcakes (my go-to recipe anytime we need chocolate cupcakes) and melt her colored chocolate, even filling her piping bags.

Being the most experienced and helpful baker, I wasn't prepared to be eliminated in the first round, but that's exactly what happened! After tasting all three cupcakes, Alaina told Eric and me that our cupcake tasted too much like a muffin. In her words: "I didn't want a muffin, but you gave me a muffin." 

Now, for the record, we'd made a banana cupcake--not a muffin--but it did have a bit of a muffin-like texture because it contained mashed bananas. In hindsight, we probably should have used a banana extract instead. But regardless of the reason we were eliminated, I was heartbroken that it meant I wouldn't be able to compete in the confection round or make Alaina's birthday cake--something I've done every year since she was born! I really thought Eric and I would win.

Anyway, the theme for confections was Alaina's favorite books, so Jason and Ben made a "Cornelius Fudge" wand out of fudge, and Janae ambitiously replicated the covers of all six Land of Stories books out of brownies and (quickly melting) ice cream, completing them at around 10 p.m. Although Jason and Ben won, by this point Alaina had had so many sweets, she said she couldn't possibly eat a birthday cake the next day and wondered if we could just have a fruit salad instead.

I wasn't sure whether this was a triumph or tragedy, but we did learn some things.

1. There is such a thing as too many sweets! We are all major sweet tooths, and none of us ever thought we'd reach our sugar threshold so quickly. When we're watching Sugar Rush, Jason often comments on how difficult it would be for the judges to taste so many sweets for a living, but I honestly thought I would never have a problem with it. After three dozen cupcakes, a batch of fudge and a full tray of brownies and ice cream, however, we all agreed that we didn't want anything sweet for a LONG time (or at least 48 hours or so).

2. Maybe sometimes a muffin is just what you need ... ask Alaina :)