So I've never claimed to be domestic...

...but this was totally was not my fault. It was the oven's fault. Seriously. But I'll start from the beginning.

So at work tomorrow we are having a little Halloween party with a bake off. Apparently there are prizes. So I wanted to branch out of my normal boxed cake mix endeavors and bake something new. There's a fabulous blog I've been following, Eat Run Read, so I headed there for inspiration. I decided to go with the very seasonal Carmel Apple Cupcakes with Carmel Cream Cheese frosting.

The recipe seemed easy enough. 

gather

mix

pour

And here is where the problems started. My oven is evil. I had it preheated to 350 degrees, and about 10 minutes into baking the kitchen started filling with smoke. That may seem a little dramatic, but the smoke alarm was going off and Maggie and Ange were laughing at me (I was on the phone with them, I'm not loosing my mind) - it was a little out of control.

from the surface they look fine

but unwrap them and not so appealing any more

 Solution: Take the salvageable ones, cut the burnt bottom off, and put it in a new cupcake wrapper. and frost. I didn't have enough ingredients (or time, or the patience) to make another batch, and I tried one - they were actually delicious.  Minus the burnt bottom layer. The rest of it doesn't taste burnt.

They don't look that bad do they?

I'll let you know how it turns out at work tomorrow.
 

my prize for 3rd place in the Halloween office bake off

I beat five other desserts, so I guess they weren't that terrible after all.
I think I have the frosting to thank for that.

I'm not domestic. But I try.