Cupcake Bliss

         

Last week I volunteered to provide dessert for our division luncheon.  Knowing my penchant for the culinary equivalent of double booking, I decided to make a simple cake.  No fancy desserts. no crèmes, no sauces, no mousses, no parfaits.  Just plain eggs, sugar, flour vanilla cake.  How long do you think this new leaf lasted?  All of two days.

What happened?

Well, I was taking a break from writing so I could recover from the flurry of work activities and spending my evenings trolling through some wonderful new blog discoveries (you'll find several on the links to your right).  Following a few links, I came across two fabulous blogs devoted to cupcakes:  Cupcake Bakeshop by Chockylit and All Cupcakes all the Time.  Utterly wonderful. 

A few months ago I was having lunch with Annie at the West Egg Café; we were intrigued by the dessert selection, which featured Red Velvet (ack!) cupcakes and (shudder) Coca Cola cupcakes.  I hear that the Belly General Store, in Virginia Highland, was voted as having the Best Cupcakes in town.  Having tried neither restaurant's offerings, I can't weigh in; but I was so entranced by seeing a cupcake that I couldn't stop staring, thinking how pretty the red velvet cupcake looked with its ivory cream cheese frosting (and yes, I totally admit I had a moment of weakness thinking that if I was ever asked to do a red velvet wedding cake again I would make a tiered red velvet cupcake "cake" instead of the monstrosity that I made for Krista's wedding). 

Now I did stick with plain vanilla cake, but after being inspired by some of the cupcakes I saw, tried to have some fun with the icing.  There's so much so you can do with a good cream cheese frosting, star tips and sprinkles!  What's not to love about a cupcake?  Who says they're kid indulgences?  Dress 'em up and they can give any petit four a run for the money on elegance. 

I'm transported by cupcakes.  Aren't you?

Comments

[linda]

your cupcakes look very beautiful! especially the one with pink frosting and sugar...

[Tanvi]

So pretty! My favorite is the pink with sugar, and the polka dot is adorable! Is it also icing? It looks almost like fondant.

[Gabriella True]

Cupcakes. inspiring litle things aren' they? Thanks for the Chockylit link. I knew about the other one. I have no idea how to do decorating flourishes when it comes to piping anything. But you are right there are lots of easy things you can do instead. My friend just gave me one of those tiered cupcake stands so I will have to get busy sooner than later.

Yours look lovely!

[Cath]

Linda, thank you! I'm in love with that pink & sugar cupcake -- it's the same design I used for my friend Katja's birthday cake and translated beautifully to cupcake form.

Tanvi -- yes, the polka dots are fondant! I had some leftover fondant, and after the disastrous attempt to pipe dots, decided flat dots worked better.

Gabriella -- cupcakes are really wonderful. I just loved how sweet they looked together on a plate...

[Ivonne]

How beautiful, Cath!

I must admit that I have a deep fondness for cupcakes. They're perfect. They bring all the qualities of cake and dessert only better in that they're individual. So I don't have to worry that someone got a bigger slice of the cake than I did. (Yes I worry about these things ...)

I'm also glad to hear that you discovered Cupcakes by Chockylit. If I wasn't jealous of the fact that she works across the street from the Ferry Building in San Francisco, then I would most certainly be jealous of her gorgeous cupcakes.

Well done!

[Stephanie]

One of my mother's day gifts was the Wilton tiered cupcake stand! I can't wait to use it...

[barbara]

I love cupcakes. Your pink one is so pretty. I've replaced birthday cakes with cupcakes. They look great all piled up high on a plate with a candle in the top.

[beastmomma]

Those do look lovely and I bet the process of preparing them borders on being life changing.

[cath]

Ivonne, wow, I'm even more jealous of Chockylit than before. And yeah, I'm right there with you on the sizes of cake slices!

Stephanie -- okay, I need to see these famous tiered cupcake stands. I want one!

Barbara - I think the next party we have, I'm doing cupcakes. I've noticed this sense of wonder that adults experience when they pick up a cupcake to eat.

Jaspreet - after looking through Chockylit's site, I'm pretty sure it's a Zen experience...

[moose]

1. There is a Citizen Cupcake one block from my office. I can sit with a chocolate cupcake and coffee and be utterly blissful for at least three whole minutes before the cupcake is reduced to crumbs. Then I vacuum up the crumbs.

2. I would love your Alton Brown scone recipe! I would be oh-so-pleased if you would send it to me. Thanks, Cath!

[Lizelle Green]

Lovely cupcake images... very bad to introduce cupcake blogs (with divine recipes) to a pregnant woman. shame on you!... but thank you.

[keiko]

They are so pretty, Cath!

[cath]

Moose, I will email you the recipe!

Lizelle -- like I said: If I could ship them to you without damage, I would!

Keiko -- thank you!

[eliza]

here in portland there's a cupcake store called saint cupcakes that i'd love to try, cupcakes are cute! i love your cupcakes presentation