Hey there, Cupcake

I now cringe when I think about every cupcake I've ever made. They should have got straight down the garbage disposal. I passed them off as something good. Hah! My world was revolutionized this Friday when I spent three hours making the most scrumptious cupcakes yet, under the tutelage of master cake maker Judy, aka my fake brother's mother.

It all started (okay, well not all of it) when I went over to my sister's house a few weeks ago. Judy, her mother in law, had made her a birthday cake. It was chocolate with peanut butter frosting. So delicious. I ate a giant piece. I told her I wanted Judy's recipe. Judy had made the wedding cakes for my sister and fake brother's wedding. They're good. Thus, my sister arranged a cake making lesson for February 12th.

The rest of it started several years back, like junior year of college. I got really into cupcakes after discovering the blog Cupcakes Take the Cake. I was into all things cupcake. I tried to get good at it but my homemade frosting really sucked. I tried various recipes, but the frosting was always too runny and not conducive to crafting into beautiful swirly decorations. But I really liked to decorate them.

For a brief moment in college, my friend Liz and I were going to start a cupcake/cookie business called Suite Delivery. We would deliver fresh baked goods every Sunday to the students living in the dorms, straight to their doors. Fifty-cents each. Sadly, it never came to pass.

I have two tubs full of candy colored sprinkles, various cupcake papers, toppers, food dye, frosting tips, etc. I'm also very excited about the ruffly apron I acquired circa November 2009. I had all the supplies, yet my cupcakes were below par.

Until Judy.

When I got to her house on Friday night, she divulged all her secrets to me. Recipes were written on the backs of envelopes. Inhaling the very scent of the various frostings made me nearly fall over from ecstasy. We made 152 cupcakes. One-hundred fifty-two.

 

(not the cupcakes I made)

We made chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting. Vanilla cake with lemon filling, topped with a vanilla-almond buttercream frosting and raspberry filling. Cherry chip cake with pink cherry flavored frosting. It was all scrumptious. Think of the high you might get from smoking an illegal substance and times it by ten.

Judy showed me how to properly fold parchment paper and make it into a pastry bag. She talked about her early days in cake making class, working under the head baker of Gerry Frank's Konditorei.

In the end, I came home with 30 mouth-watering cupcakes. I ate one for breakfast on Saturday morning, and it was divine.