Cupcake Trial 1: #Fail

I just spent the last 2 hours learning 2 very important lessons.

1) Know what you can and cannot substitute when baking. I believe that baking is one of those things that when doing it, principles like measurements and ingredients are things that cannot be edited. As you will recall. I am making cupcakes for SIL's surprise baby shower this Saturday. I decided to do a trial run (I know now that it will take a few trial runs). I found the cupcakes that I want to mimic, except I'd rather not use food coloring and I really don't like the traditional icing. Since I know SIL is a health nut/med-surge nurse/choco-holic, I wanted to do a cupcake that would meet her needs and not send her or the guests into a sugar coma. So. I read an article recently that said you could use blueberries as a substitute for the color of the icing. Part 1a. of lesson one. Read how-to articles in their entirety. Don't. I repeat. Don't assume.

2) Always test on a loved one & since they are programmed (most of them) to be kind. Push the limits. I had the Senator test the cupcakes and at first he was so afraid to tell me they sucked (my words, not his). Here's goes the convo:

Me: "Taste!" Senator: *biting into the cupcake* "Not bad." *looking up to the left at nothing* Me: "Well!?" Senator: *glaring at me w/ deer-in-headlights look* "it's good" Me: "Okay" Senator: "Ummm, flavor." Me: "flavor?" Senator: "Flavor. The flavor is off. It's good..... but." Me: "But what!?" Senator: "The blueberries. It makes it...." Me: "I feel like I"m not getting good feed back."

This type of strenuous, tortuous, conversation went on for the better half of my baking experiment. Finally, he comes into the kitchen and says to me "it's the Jell-O pudding. It makes is weird and not cake-y like a cupcake. You can't substitute the coco for Jell-O pudding mix. You need, coco powder." "Thank you", I said. "That was just what I needed to know".

The aforementioned statement leads me to my bonus lesson for the evening. JELL-O pudding mix, is not the same a coco powder. Period.