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I have noticed recently a little popularity trend regarding cupcakes….Katie Holmes has been quoted often about her love of cupcakes, even buying them for the whole crew on one of her movies. Katie Holmes being who she is of course, Mrs. Tom Cruise, she has egads of followers and so the little cupcake now reguarly makes appearances in the celebrity tabloid magazines (yes, I read them). Earlier this year I went to a friend’s beach house and in a white bakery box was a selection of truly gourmet cupcakes…these were not the yellow and white nasties offered in grocery stores, with their pyramids of shortening-and-sugar gloppy frosting and preservative-laden day old cake bases. Each one was a tribute to some larger version of itself…a whole cake…and someone had taken great care to make each one a miniature masterpiece. My friends there cut them in pieces so we could each savor the different flavors…these were not for inhaling and wiping one’s mouth on the back of our sleeves!

Even the word, “cupcake” is sweet. Sweet enough to become a woman’s nickname, a term of endearment. It’s got to be one of the smiliest desserts…”cheesecake” sounds rich, “pie” sounds homey, “creme brulee” sounds difficult. But say “cupcake” and I think of yellow and white gingham, aprons, freckles, picnics, kisses that make noses bump and faces giggle…

Maybe cupcakes in their tiny simplicity and bliss is sort of the antithesis of where I “am” right now. And maybe that’s exactly the reason I woke up today wanting one…specifically, a chocolate one with chocolate frosting…real, cocoa-y, buttery. Uh, I also wanted it served with a margarita for breakfast, which is also probably a symptom of where I am right now, but nevermindthat.

Cupcakes’ renewed popularity has worked to it’s favor. There are now blogs devoted to cupcakes, their history, recipes, photos, and frosting choices. Websites offering them for weddings (my friend recenly had beautiful cupcakes at his wedding), birthdays, graduations…major events that used to, without hesitation, use full-sized cakes. And no longer is your cupcake choice to take a box cake mix and just choose the muffin tin option…recipes are designed to make them from scratch with ease.

I found a yellow buttermilk cupcake recipe that we had all the ingredients for, and a cream cheese chocolate frosting recipe I thought I’d give a try. Unlike my usual “dump it all in the mixer and go” style for baking/cooking/loading my van, I decided to be more ritualistic about it today. I measured. And, I mixed my dry separately and my liquids in another bowl. Wait, wait…it gets better! I also skipped the elecric mixer and put in my “200 strokes by hand”.

Okay, forgive the enthusiasm. I watched Waitress this week, a FANTASTIC movie that sometimes hit a little too close to home, I didn’t want to see end, and included pie making scenes that would drive any woman to the kitchen to make food with deliberate joy. Watch it…you won’t be sorry.

So anyway, back to the cupcakes. I halved the recipe I found because we don’t need to overeat to enjoy baking, and they rose beautifully and quickly. They cooled quickly too. I think the whole mix-to-bake-to cool and frost took under 45 minutes for 1 dozen cupcakes.

To frost them, I swirled them upside down in the bowl. I’ve kind of always wanted to do that, having seen it on a cooking show about 15 years ago. It worked pretty well. I got even coverage, with only a few dabs with the spatula needed here and there. To that I added sprinkles and a little flower.

The result was yummy but could have been better. The cream cheese in the frosting competes with the buttermilk in the cake too much; a pure cocoa frosting would have been a better choice. The cake itself was soft and I had more than one creative idea strike me while I was working with them.

Favorite tip: use a ladle to scoop batter into your papers. Zero mess.

Here’s the recipe I used:

Buttermilk Cupcakes:

makes 12

2c. flour

1 t. baking powder

1 t. baking soda

3/4 t. salt

1 c. sugar

1 c. butter, softened

1 t. vanilla

2 eggs

1c. buttermilk

Mix dry. Mix wet. Blend. pour. bake at 350.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting:

makes enough to modestly frost 12 cupcakes, plus have some left for dipping pretzles into later!

1/2 stick butter, softened

1/2 block cream cheese, softened

about a cup of powdered sugar

about 1/2 cup of cocoa (okay, I didn’t measure that part; add in intervals and taste till you’re happy)

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