Cupcakes!

Yesterday was lovely, simply lovely. I worked all morning, very early, so I was done work by early afternoon, with plenty of time to take in an afternoon stroll to the bank in the springtime sun. Then I returned home and baked a cake!

It was a day worth celebrating and I wanted to have something special with which to celebrate! Two years ago when I made it to Non-Smoking Fools’ Day I baked a cake and made some really messy, cement-coloured icing that caused me such strife that I very nearly broke up with my girlfriend, who was laughing at my pain over the phone. We laugh about it now, but it was hell at the time!

It ended up being a really ugly cake. I mean seriously ugly. I am no baker and I am certainly no cake decorator. It’s kind of hilarious, how bad it was, really. Witness:

Ugly as it was, it was actually really delicious. So much so that every time we have had some birthday or other cake-worthy party to celebrate since then, Kabuki requests the special coconut icing. I have since adapted it to make it not only even more delicious, but also less sloppy and ridiculous. And a more appetizing colour. Live and learn.

So this year I wanted to make that yummy cake again, complete with the miraculous, if trying, coconut-mascarpone icing that has gone from being my bane to being my specialty. However, this time around I wanted to do something a bit different with it. A few weeks ago I had rewarded myself with a trip to Kitchen Stuff Plus, one of my favourite places in the universe. I went in for a spatula and came out with a haul, including these nifty little guys:

They’re cupcake cups, but made of silicone so you can bake the cupcakes right in them! So cute and colourful. I was itching to post this find on here before, but wanted Kabuki to be surprised on NSF Day, so I kept my mouth shut until now.

The Ugliest Cake In History, however, had become something of a nostalgia by now, after all of our struggles, so I still wanted the cupcakes to reflect the old cake in some visual way. So I adorned each one with one of my ridiculous decorations from the old cake. And since my decorating skillz are so…interpretive that it may be difficult to tell what any of these illustrations are, I made another funky image map to explain them! To view it, click on the image below:

After enjoying a delicious meal that Michelle so kindly brought home from Chipotle, we sauntered over to Kabuki and the Good Doctor’s place to share the cupcakes and congratulations on all of our hard work. The cupcakes were a hit! I am really proud of the both of us.

And I have a whole cake left at home yet to be decorated… There may be more ridiculousness in that department still to come.