Messes and Successes - it's a mess this time

It's hard for me to come to terms that during testing, all recipe tweaks are not always gonna work.  I learned that in a BIG way yesterday.  I made raspberry cupcakes and chocolate cupcakes in the morning (both new recipes) with the plan of frosting the raspberry with whipped ganache and the chocolate with peanut butter frosting.  I've done the ganache before and it came out perfect and my first pb was just a little too stiff.  Well, between being on the phone for about 3 hours getting applied for private insurance, running the oldest to the dentist and eye doctor AND running a few errands for the hubby, I wasn't able to frost until after dinner.  I was tired and unmotivated, but was planning on testing out the shipping method I discovered (gotta love Google) and had to get the frosted cupcakes in the freezer for an overnight chill.

The ganache had been in the fridge pretty much all day and was hard as a rock.  So, I figured I'd start with the pb and adjust the amount of cream to make it smoother.  So, I WAY over compensated and ended up with frosting that was entirely too soft.  It tasted fine but was lacking in the pipeability department.

I figured the ganache would be ready by the time I was said and done with the pb. Not so much. I should've let it sit for a bit longer, but I really wanted to just sit myself! I thought maybe if I whipped in a touch more cream it would help... NOPE! It was so stiff and grainy looking. I was so frustrated and had ganache everywhere.

So it's back to the drawing board! In the words of the wise Dory... "Just keep swimming".

A little note on taste and flavor combo - I'm having a real hard time with a chocolate cake recipe that "speaks" to me. The 3-4 I've tried have been just ok. The ganache REALLY overpowered the raspberry, so I think I'll give it another go with whipped cream frosting.