This is part of a much more extensive recipe, which includes ingredients for pastry cream, buttercream frosting, and a caramelized sugar topping. It is more detailed than any recipe from previous centuries, and fascinatingly, is preceded by so much non-recipe content that the site has a“ jump to recipe” button embedded at the top. It has a list of tools the baker may need, and the complete nutrition facts of the cupcakes listed at the bottom.
This recipe, as the reader is warned before clicking on the page, contains affiliate links. The“ tools” section calls for entirely unnecessary appliances like cupcake corers that the reader can purchase, which would give the recipe writer money. This is also at least part of the reason for the extensive pre-recipe text— the extra space on the recipe page provides more chances for ad revenue, and while the recipe itself can’ t necessarily be copyrighted, the charming anecdote about the author’ s mother’ s vanilla custard can be. I don’ t fault the author for finding more opportunities to profit off of her work, particularly in an era where cookbooks are a harder sell than ever before( because recipes, like this one, can be found for free online). This recipe comes with incredibly detailed, step by step instructions with photos to check your work and an extensive troubleshooting section. Anyone who clicks on the link can carefully follow along and make this recipe, ideally with an equally shareable and photographable result. But it is worth noting that while the information and the discourse needed to understand it are more accessible than ever before, the author stands to benefit by selling
44 TEMPO MAGAZINE— SPRING 2025