I love dessert. I’m sure someone out there doesn’t, but I think they’re abnormal and quite frankly un-American. Our love of desserts, and overall addiction to sugary goodness might as well be placed in the constitution. Of course there are sides to be taken, and more than the traditional two parties. Do you favor cake, ice cream, candy or something else? Years ago while in Weight Watchers I decided I would cut out all desserts unless they were chocolate. Since chocolate is my favorite, if I was going to use the points it should be on that and that alone. It worked very well, but now I’ve begun to expand my dessert horizons. Chocolate has its place, but it’s also quite cliché. I’m multi-dimensional so how can I have but 1 dessert option?
Nearly nine years ago, I made a deal with my mom. I’d get married indoors, and hence within the Catholic dogma (long story short: we wanted to be married outdoors but my diocese wouldn’t allow that so the issue became outdoors vs. Catholic service) if my mother made the pie for our reception. Pie? Yes, pie. I’ve never been a huge fan of cake, or icing. But homemade, fruity pies are oh so delicious. With an August wedding, why not take advantage of the available fresh fruit and do pies – homemade pies? And so a deal was cut – pies for indoors. Done. Why am I relating this? Sigh. Did you miss the one sentence in there about cake? Yes, it’s true; I’m not a huge fan of cake still. I’m even more particular about icing. And cupcakes are indeed mini-cakes so why are they infiltrating my life, and why have I entered into a possible obsession over them?
I’m not sure where the idea of cupcakes first entered my consciousness (recently). At this month’s gallery hop, D & I strolled around looking at all kinds of artwork. I saw fewer than half a dozen pieces that I liked at all. One piece was a small 5x7 oil painting of a single chocolate cupcake with white frosting. I picked it up to get a closer look. We were in an antique store / art gallery and this piece was placed on a small table too close to the ground to see without picking it up or plopping my butt down. It was much too crowded for the latter. Of course the shop owner saw me, and came over eager to tell me all about the piece and its creator. I didn’t know the artist though the shop keeper told me her name as if I should. I was also told that this small painting was available for $600 and that in the front room a smaller, pink frosted cupcake by the same artist was available for $400. What? Seriously? Okay, in her defense, if there is a famous cupcake artist out there and I’m just ignorant then, fine – let me know. Personally, I had a moment not unlike some I’ve had in modern art museums where I think hmm, “I could do that.”
Maybe two weeks later, while shopping at Barnes & Nobles I swear I saw a sign about cupcakes. I went over to it, expecting books on cupcakes but there were none. I can no longer remember if the sign was a mirage or actually there. Well, the sign was actually there, but I can’t recall if it really mentioned cupcakes or not. Later that evening while unsuccessfully looking for a 5-ingredient (or fewer) vegetarian cookbook at Barnes & Noble, I found myself in the baking section so I decided to look for the elusive cupcake cookbook. There was only one, but it was quite cute. I had no plans to actually make cupcakes and had no need for the book so we headed to checkout with our other goods. As we were leaving, I was reminded that I had wanted a snack from their café (a pseudo Starbucks). And what did my eyes spy as I walked up? Cupcakes!!!! I bought two, one of each flavor (double fudge; lemon blueberry). The next morning I photographed them on various decorated plates – then I ate them. Yum.
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