In the Beginning There Was Butter Cream

The cupcake journey began after a recent visit to a local bakery.  I entered the tiny shop, it is in a very old one level farm house, and was immediately greeted by the display case, namely all of the things INSIDE the pastry case.  The donuts waved, the cupcakes smiled, and the cheery baker gave me a warm welcome to the quaint shop. I could feel the desserts waiting with bated breaths to see who the lucky winner would be.  After an inward debate of cupcake or donuts I finally decided and inwardly said, "I am 24 years old, why the hell do I need to chose one!" I chatted excitedly with Roberta about my purchases of a maple bar with bacon and my all time personal favorite, a vanilla cupcake with buttercream frosting and sprinkles.  I excitedly walked to my car with my treasures tucked under my arm and decided to drive in to the country to enjoy my desserts among the fall foliage.

I reached my destination and pulled over and after salivating the entire drive I opened the perfect boxed that housed the tiny cake.  The frosting was elegant and was in equal proportion to the cake, I hesitated for a moment admiring the things beauty and dove in.  A full bit from top of frosting to bottom of the cake.  My mouth watered with the immediate rush of butter from the frosting and then I was hit with a wall, a wall of cake. The build up proved to be more exhilarating than the event itself.  The four inches of butter cream masked any flavor of the cake and probably for good reason.  The cake was dense, almost like a boxed corn bread. The vanilla flavor was lost in the blandness of flour and the richness of the frosting was a lasting flavor in my mouth.  After sitting for sometime with the half eaten cupcake on my lap I felt a wave a disappointment that I was not given a light fluffy vanilla rich cake. The disappointment rapidly disappeared and was replaced with feelings of excitement that something so small could create a level of passion inside of me.  With the butter cream and determination smeared across my face I vowed to find and create the perfect cupcake.

This blog is a journey through bakeries, cookbooks, experiments, and is transforming a dream in to a reality.  I will be accompanied by my adoring husband of three months to the day, our goofy dogs Clementine and Bodhi, and the countless amounts of people needed to sample my creations.  This is day one and I am headed to kitchen to make brown sugar cupcakes with cinnamon pumpkin cream cheese frosting! Justin is hunting for the weekend and while the husband is out the Mad Housewife will create!