Cupcakes – Where have I been?

To me, cupcakes were the things I made for my child’s birthday parties, or large family dinners. You can’t beat the convenience of the perfect serving size, wrapped in a paper to keep your fingers from getting sticky, and no need to dirty a plate and fork, and to send your kids on their way (usually encouraging them to go outside). Mine were made of chocolate, vanilla, yellow or frankly, any cake mix that happened to look good on the grocery shelf that day. Throw on some frosting and it is good to go. If I was feeling adventures or more festive sprinkles were added. Cupcakes were, well, cupcakes. And, since I am not much of a cake lover, I figured these were good enough since I received no complaints.

At least that was my attitude until this last spring. I’ve come to learn that cupcakes do not have to be boring. Erin Kelly, one of my critique partners, makes a pina colada cupcake to die for. I’ve had the pleasure of enjoying these twice and am ready for more. The two pictured are the Margarita and Pina Colada Erin shared with us last spring. The one pictured below is Vanilla on Vanilla with a Chocolate Wolf, which I assume was inspired by the Paranormal Historical Regency Triology by another critique partner, Lydia Dare. All of the pictures were provided by Erin.

Besides delivering delicious cupcakes when she attends conferences, Erin also posts some of her recipes (not just cupcakes but other wonderful recipes too) on her blog at http://haveyourcakeandreadittoo.blogspot.com/. I have not had the courage to try and bake one of her cupcakes yet because I am fairly sure they won’t be nearly as good. However, I think I will attempt to tackle one of them this holiday season. But, as it is only September, let’s not think of the holidays just yet.

I thought Erin was basically a great baker who liked to share her cupcakes. I had no idea of the cupcake phenomenon out there until my critique group mentioned Cupcake Wars one evening. What? Backup, what are Cupcake Wars? Well, it turns out to be a reality /competition show on the Food Network. The competition begins with 4 bakers and each has an assistant. At the end, it is down to 2 competitors who have to design a display for 1,000 cupcakes, which they have to bake (with the help of 4 additional bakers). As soon as I found out about this show I started watching. I am hooked, as I am with most of these types of shows. But, my reality TV addiction is better left for another blog. Most of these competitors have cupcake shops/stores. Again, I had no idea stores like this existed. We certainly don’t have any where I live, which is probably a good thing since I have recently developed a liking for cupcakes.

But, it doesn’t end with the show. One of my critique partners recently shared a blog she found which only purpose is to seek out cupcake bakeries in New York City and report their findings from where the bakery is located and the cupcakes they ate. http://www.nycupcakeguide.com/ Since I plan on attending the RWA National Conference next year, which is in NY, I may just have to take an extra day to do my own cupcake tour, relying on this blogs recommendations. Though, I may save the tour for after the conference so I don’t have to worry about my clothes not fitting during the conference. I’ll bring something loose to wear on the plane home in anticipating of cupcake consumption.

I guess my main question is, when did cupcakes become such a big deal? Not that I think anything is wrong with it, but I have to wonder where I have been while all this was going on because these ain’t your mama’s cupcakes?