Bad Velvet Cupcakes

Not everything rosy turns out, well, rosy. Take these red velvet cupcakes, for instance. I was trying a new boxed mix - one that doesn't use artificial dye - and I was so excited to bake and bite. NOM. Look at what a rich red they are before they were baked. Aren't they pretty?

Once they were done baking, I decided to top them off by practicing some of my icing skills and making flowers. My skills sadly did not match my effort, but I was making them for family and knew they wouldn't mind. As far as they were concerned, it was free cupcakes for everyone!

Here's a close-up. While I wasn't going to win any awards, I was still proud of myself for trying. Practice makes you better, right? Now all I had to do was get them from our house to the rest of the family. In Texas. In the middle of the summer. In the trunk. (You can probably guess where this is going.)

And that's where it all WENT WRONG. The heat coming into the car on the hour-long drive melted those cupcakes' icing like buttah. Everything went smooshy sideways and my cute flowers turned into sunny-side-up eggs. Aw, man. :(

Luckily it didn't affect the taste, so we salvaged what we could and threw out the rest. Lesson learned? If you're traveling with frosting in the summer, then you better ice it just in case. Next time those cupcakes are getting freezer packs. And now you know, too. ;)