Back to basics and to share or not to share

Salted Lime Margarita Cuptail

When I first started this journey of creating cuptails, I thought I would need very different recipes for each cuptail with different ratios of different ingredients and I was on the verge of being overwhelmed. I really liked my idea and I wasn't ready to give up or just have 1 or 2 cupcake recipes that I would be known for bringing to every social event I attended. Then, like a light bulb turning on, I had another "bright" idea. Of all the recipes I had looked up, they all had some very basic ingredients: Sugar, butter/oil, eggs, milk, flour, baking powder/soda.....hmmmm there must be a reason for those to be used. I did some research online and discovered a few things. 1st off, my baking powder was probably 7 years old and no longer any good, therefore, I probably wasn't going to get much of a rise from it. That butter and oil were interchangable and really, it comes down to taste preference - butter, definitley butter. I also realized that there is a ratio involved that will help bind the ingredients and give you a moist and tasty cake - too much of one or not enough of another can cause various issues. So I figured out my preferences and my ratios and I created a Basic Recipe. Now all I needed to do was figure out how to get the flavors that I needed in each recipe to make it have the cocktail flavor I wanted. For example, a Lemon Drop consists of lemon, simple syrup and vodka. So my Lemon Drop Cuptail needed to have the basic recipe + lemon + vodka .......and voila - it worked! In fact in worked so well that most of my recipes work the first time around. I have a few that are still in the works but most are great!

So once I figured out the basic's, I started creating new flavors like a mad scientist. Well, all these cupcakes have to go somewhere, so I would send them to my husbands work and to my son's work and to my step-son and his friends. The more I gave out the more praises I received. Then my husband came home one day and said a co-worker really wants the recipe for my Salted Lime Margarita cuptail. I said "no". Along with my basic recipe, I have figured out a way to infuse the alcohols without throwing the balance off of the wet/dry ratio in my cupcake. I can make "virgin" variations of my cuptails and they are still moist and tasty. (I know the alcohols are all baked out but for certain events, I just feel the virgin version is more appropriate.) Anyway, I have looked all over the Internet to see if someone else uses this technique and have not seen it. In fact when I've watched TV shows like "Cupcake Wars" and others like it, they will usually put the alcohols in the frosting or only a tbsp. in the batter and then the flavor gets lost. I did see one person put the alcohol in straws and then put the straws in the cakes but I think I have come up with a whole new technique. I'm not sharing it either. Not yet anyway. BUT now the quandry is this, my husband, who is from the South says everyone shares recipes in the South and this co-worker is also from the South. So by not sharing, I'm being selfish and rude........but to be quite honest, I am thinking that I want to make cupcakes for a living.......wouldn't it be bad business to give out my secrets? I struggle with this one, and I'm thinking that I may give her a modified version that will still taste just fine but it won't give out any secrets......is that so wrong?