No, not cupcakes. But I made macarons that turned out perfectly and I wanted to brag (although I did cry a little when I realized that I had forgotten to spray down the cookie sheet before piping the dough and I ended up spending 30 minutes scraping them off with a knife).

Just try to tell me these aren’t adorable.

These little babies (Vanilla cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream frosting: I cheated on Martha with Magnolia bakery for the actual cupcake, but the ideas for the decorations came from her cookbook) were a birthday present, along with 16 less-creatively dressed friends.

I’m also considering singing and dancing around my kitchen to this little number from my braces days an element of their success.

Martha called for 1/2 c. sour cream, but when I found pasta from last week’s dinner in the tub of Daisy, I had to improvise. Although not explicitly recommended anywhere online, I substituted 1/2 c. of a ricotta cheese/heavy whipping cream (blended to about the consistency of sour cream). The texture of the cupcakes didn’t suffer. And although I can’t causally make this conclusion without having used sour cream also, I would say they were probably creamier than they would have been otherwise, which I find a plus.

The frosting, although delicious on its own, overpowered the cupcakes a bit. I’m not sure what would be the best way to fix this, except use less frosting. A filling was suggested, but I’m not sure that would neutralize the sweetness of the frosting any, if only to make the cupcakes even sweeter. Without frosting, they resemble banana muffins, except a little smoother and less grainy texture-wise.

Roasted banana cupcakes with honey cinnamon frosting.

Rating: 7

Coconut cupcakes with 7-minute frosting (meringue)

Ratings: cupcake: 7 out of 10; frosting: 6 out of 10

Chocolate chip cupcakes with mint buttercream frosting.

Rating: 4 out of 5