It has been a while since I baked anything as I have been busy experimenting cooking dishes. I baked some marble cupcakes for my little boy who has been harrasing me for them. Not bad for the first time though I made some mistakes eg. I didn't swirl the mixture of the cocoa batter with the plain batter to give it the marble effect. I only did it a little bit so it's not exactly `marble-lie'. :D
Plus I think I cheated a bit on the ingredients so I had some cracks at the top of the cakes which didn't affect the texture as it was still smooth and light. Probably over baked it a little as I thought it was for 30 minutes but in actualy fact 20 minutes.
Got the recipe from: Little Girl Big Appetite Marble Cupcakes
I also didn't use the heavy cream as I didn't have them in the fridge and also it's difficult to find them in the supermarket. Anyway....
There is also another site which you can experiment : Marble Cupcakes
Here are two sites with some good tips on possibilities of failed beautiful cupcakes. I found it helpful and a guide in manipulating the ingredients. Most importantly follow the recipe.
http://www.ingredientexperts.com/content/view/41/53/
http://www.landolakes.com/tips/Faqs_print.cfm?QCategoryID=2
I suppose it isn't that important especially with cupcakes you normally put frosting on top to cover up any possible blemishes...hehehe......