A Cupcake Kind of Day

First of all,  Happy Birthday to my brother Danny (still Danny to me, even at 55!) who lives on the west coast and won't be enjoying any of my cupcakes, though I did send him a photo of a cake I'd baked and digitally imposed "Happy Birthday Danny" on it!). Hope it's been a great day for him, and that he and his wife Suzette celebrate with a terrific dinner tonight.  If I were closer, Danny, you'd be having at least a cupcake!

It's been a very busy couple of baking days, and last night I made cupcakes for friends at work.  I brought in chocolate and vanilla cupcakes with buttercream frosting for our student assistant, Nikki, who is twenty-one today (happy birthday Nikki!). For Helen's husband Jimmy, an ardent Giants fan whose birthday today is being celebrated on Superbowl Sunday, I made devils food cupcakes with ROYAL BLUE buttercream frosting!

The cupcakes were all baked last night (with Henry's assistance) and I got up at 6:00 a.m. to take a quick shower before making the frosting.  There was a lot to do before leaving my house for the day, taking the cupcakes with me.  First I made the white buttercream for Nikki's cupcakes, and then moved on to a batch of frosting made very, very blue by Wilton's Royal Blue paste food coloring.  It seemed too light, and by the time it was just right, I'd used half the bottle of food coloring!  I decorated the cupcakes, packed them in boxes, loaded them into my Jeep and made it in to work right at the wire. I was in such a rush that I threw a couple of hot rollers into my now shorter hair and drove to work that way, ripping them out of my head about a mile from the office (a first, and hopefully a last, for me!).   I got to work exactly at 8:30 a.m., feeling as though I'd put in a full day already (with a very long day, still to go)!

I don't know what it is about cupcakes that people love so much, but I'm guessing that the little serving of sweetness in a fluted paper cup delivers quite a bit of happiness for its small size.  You look at a cupcake, and you have to think it's going to make someone's day.  It's going to say "I'm thinking about you," or "I wish you well," or "Hope you have a great birthday!"  They are like edible greeting cards. And cupcakes are usually eaten with two or more people sharing a moment, their individual desserts bringing them together in appreciation of food and friendship.

Cupcakes are great.

Cupcake Trio