In exchange for the dinner Steven cooked for me last night, I promised to bake him whatever cupcake he picked out from one of my cookbooks. Ofcoure, I already knew he’d pick out the pecan ones because they looked the most Southern.

About 15 minutes into the 25 minute bake time, I smelled something burning. Running into the kitchen, I saw smoke billowing from my stove! Seconds later all three of my smoke alarms were screeching like the annoying (but vital) PASS devices we use at the fire department.

The butter/brown sugar/honey mixture that lined the bottom of each cup had bubbled up the sides of the cakes and had spilled over onto the floor of the stove and burned. However, I’d invested too much time into this project, so I did my best to clean out the black, boiling goo and continue the baking. I put a flat pan below the cupcakes to catch anything new.

How did they taste? Fantastic! I was expecting a burned taste, but they actually turned out perfectly!