Light bulbs, trials and errors

In the cartoons when someone has a great idea (or so they think), a mysterious floating light bulb right above their head turns on. That is what it felt like when I had the ingenious idea of creating my cuptails. My first thought was a Merlot cupcake with a ganache frosting.....the rich, deep flavors of merlot, sweetened and paired with a dark chocolate....yum. Like I have stated previously, I'm not a baker, so I had no idea how to create such a recipe so I put my thinking cap on and figured I would use a red velvet recipe that I had (Paula Deen's to be exact) input merlot somehow and then use Ina Garden's ganache recipe. This all made sense in my non-bakers mind. So I knew that the merlot by itself would probably not have enough flavor in a tablespoon or two so I made a merlot reduction - half sugar/half merlot boiled down to a honey like syrup. The merlot flavor was still very prominent but very sweet. I made the cuptails using some of the merlot reduction but what I ended up with was a red velvet cupcake with a ganache and not much else. I was bummed because I thought it would be so easy.

So back to the drawing board. I went online to try and figure out how to enhance flavors in baking and saw the suggestion to use just a dash of cayenne. Attempt 2. I made the recipe again, this time using wine, a thickening agent and a dash plus of cayenne. Not bad but the cayenne left behind a burn that you really only experience when drinking bad merlot - not what I was looking for........but on the bright side - I nailed the frosting by using a chocolate butter cream and adding the merlot reduction. Attempt 3. This time I followed the recipe I had, used the merlot reduction plus a thickening agent, less cayenne, more cocoa and purple food coloring, in hopes it would look more like wine. This was the worst one yet!!!! It was flat, Barney poop purple and tasted like play doh. How frustrating, I was getting worse, not better and thoughts of quitting and breaking that stupid light bulb flittered through my mind. The thing that kept me going was that the merlot cuptail was not my only experiment at that time. I had also created Lemon Drop and Pina Colada cuptails that were really good (although the Pina Colada was a bit too sweet in the frosting - easy fix). I had also created a Kahlua Coffee Mocha cuptail that was delish! So I thought maybe the merlot isn't going to happen at this time.

But I'm relentless at times. I went online, found that someone else had created a red wine cupcake and I tried her recipe. It wasn't bad, still not enough of the merlot flavor and she used oil instead of butter and I must admit, I have come to the conclusion that there is NO substitute for butter! This was attempt 4. So my 5th attempt I decided to use a zinfandel instead. It was the closest yet. I used butter, and a berry puree this time, some of the same old stuff and rose food coloring. I still would not consider this recipe perfected but I haven't given up.....the problem is, I have so many idea's for new cupcakes that are turning out so well that I haven't taken the time to work this one out yet, but I will.....oh yes, I will.