The things we got wrong
This page is a log of corrections—not a list of successes. It exists because a site that promises recipes you can trust must also admit when it fails.
The reader gets two things from it: a way to measure whether the work here is credible, and a glimpse of the real process behind every recipe.
Most sites hide their mistakes. We publish them because the only way to earn trust is to show how it’s earned—and lost. What follows are the three biggest failures we’ve had to fix, in order. They’re ordinary, avoidable, and real.
Three we had to fix
The log starts with the most consequential. These are not failures of taste or technique—those are corrected quietly, without fanfare. These are the ones that made it into the world before we caught them.
The wrong temperature for tempering
- 1A guide to chocolate failure
The first tempering chart we published set the working temperature for dark chocolate at 30°C. It was wrong. The correct range is 28–29°C, and the error went live for six months before a reader in Berlin sent a photo of their seized chocolate. Paulette Quintero verified the numbers against three industry sources and corrected the chart immediately. The old version was removed, but the mistake stayed in the archives for transparency.
- 2A mislabeled ingredient substitution
A recipe for ganache called for ‘heavy cream’ but used ‘whipping cream’ in the test kitchen. The substitution worked, but the note in the ingredients list didn’t match. Paulette Quintero caught it during a routine audit and updated every instance where the two were swapped. The fix took three hours, but the confusion could have ruined a dozen desserts. Now all substitutions are flagged with a warning symbol.
- 3A photo that didn’t match the recipe
A caramel sauce recipe featured a glossy, restaurant-style shot of a saucepan with a drizzle—except the method called for a stovetop reduction, not a sous-vide finish. Paulette Quintero spotted it while reviewing the gallery and replaced the image. The old photo stayed online for 48 hours with a red ‘correction’ stamp before deletion. The lesson: every photo must match the exact method described, or it’s misleading.
What those three changed
These failures forced three new rules into place. The first was that no correction could be buried—every mistake had to be logged publicly. The second was a mandatory second review for all technical details before publishing.
The third was a policy to never delete a corrected page; instead, we mark it with a timestamp and a note.
Rules that came from mistakes
- 1. Never assume a number is right just because it’s repeated (from *The wrong temperature for tempering*). Every measurement must be cross-checked against at least two sources.
- 2. Substitutions must be tested and labeled clearly (from *A mislabeled ingredient substitution*). If it works in the test kitchen, it must say so—with the original ingredient noted.
- 3. Photos lie if they don’t match the text (from *A photo that didn’t match the recipe*). Every image must be verified against the method, or it’s replaced.
The people behind this
Paulette Quintero is the founder and editor of *Chocolate Recipes Cup*, where she turns kitchen experiments into recipes that actually work. She’s the one who signs off on every correction here—not because she’s perfect, but because she’s the only one who’d admit to getting it wrong in the first place.
Keeping a log like this isn’t glamorous. It’s sitting with a ruined batch of chocolate, knowing you’ll have to rewrite the steps, and then publishing the failure anyway. It’s the kind of honesty that makes people trust you—or walk away.
Paulette does it because she’d rather lose a reader over a mistake than keep one in the dark.
There’s a small mistake she’ll never log: the time she overbaked a chocolate tart by 15 minutes because she misread the oven’s digital display. The crust was crisp to the point of shattering, and she ate the whole thing in the car on the way home. No one else knew.
No one ever will. It’s the kind of failure that doesn’t belong in a log—just in the kitchen.
If you find a mistake here, the contact page is where to tell us. No email, no form—just the words. And if it’s a big one, you’ll see it in the next log.
There will be a next one
This list isn’t finished. The next correction could be a typo in a spice list, a miscalculated baking time, or a photo that doesn’t match the dish. When it happens, it’ll be logged here—no excuses, no delays.
If you spot something before we do, the contact page is the place to say so. We’d rather fix it twice than leave it wrong once.
The recipes are grouped by category: Appetizers, Beverages, Breakfast & Brunch, Desserts, Main Courses and Reviews.