Easy Bake

For Christmas I asked for only one thing- a Bella Cucina mini cupcake maker. For those of you thinking I’m a gift weenie I am so demanding of my husband the rest of the year it feels a bit over the top (even for me) to expect a gift as well. Anyway, my kind mother (who is also a sugar addict and can relate) gave me one. I’m sure you’ve already figured out the thought process behind these little devices. It’s the same one that has lined the pockets of every cookie and candy manufacturer in the U.S. and caused the waistline expansion of all sedentary gluttonous Americans. “It’s smaller so I can eat more and still be eating less than a regular cookie/candy bar!” Uh huh…

Anyway, I have always loved cupcakes probably because while I love cake it is impossible to make and eat an entire one when you are single which were my most productive baking years. After day 5 when the texture has gone from moist to soggy, the middle is caving in and the frosting is sliding off on the plate even a junkie is a bit turned off. But a cupcake…perfection! You can bake a full batch, freeze half and then dole them out as needed (breakfast, lunch, and dinner). Frost and eat!

Yesterday afternoon (3pm PST- remember that) I decided to test my new friend (I know it’s almost February but I’ve been busy being unemployed). I was not so ambitious as to make my own batter despite having checked out 3 books on cupcake/frosting recipes. I used good old Betty Crocker Triple Fudge cake mix.

Here is when it becomes clear why I changed my major from economics to English after only one semester. English had no math requirement. I don’t ‘do’ math unless it involves money. I can calculate percentage off and sales tax and know exactly what something is going to cost me. I can also balance the hell out of my checkbook but beyond that I’ve created a math phobia for myself. I won’t even try. Don’t want to hear about it.

A standard box of cake mix produces 3 cups of batter. A mini cupcake maker has 7 molds that hold 1T of batter then bakes them for 10 mins. YOU do the math because it never occurred to me. In fact just reading this is giving me the same headache I had for 2 years in highschool math class.

Obviously, some of this batter needed to be eaten without baking or I’d still be in the kitchen so I stepped up and did what I needed to do. And don’t make a face about eating raw eggs because I’ve gotten this far in life and survived and I think it’s bullshit. And no, salmonella has not been shown to cause MS so don’t go there either.

Bottom line: here is just one of my little cuties (I don’t always frost) and my next foray will be using one of the many yummy and appropriately scaled recipes that comes with the cupcake maker.

p.s. I will get better with the photos and fancy effects. I'm a very good photographer so it's most likely the equipment and I need a new camera........