Potlikker

miette's gingerbread with cream cheese frosting

Before I selected this recipe from Miette, I made sure to read the eratta that came out a bit after the book was published. There were a few errors. I printed it and tucked it into the back of the book for future reference. I was tipped off by the Food Librarian who received a new book from Amazon. Since my review copy came from the publisher, I was not so lucky.

Another gorgeous cookbook with scalloped edges, floral green and white endpapers, glossy pages, and pink, green, and black fonts. Photography by Frankie Frankeny details the steps in icing the Tomboy Cake, the perfected mass production of pink meringues, and droplets of dew beading blueberries in the fresh fruit tartlettes, and then some.

But, instead of making the cake, I decided to whip up cupcakes to share with my librarians. We meet each Wednesday morning as part of our website redesign and we take turns bringing goodies to share to make the work more pleasant. Since I'm not cooking much at all, other than the occasional bit of pasta for Elsa and I for dinner, and I've been dying to try a recipe from Miette for ages now, the gingerbread filled the bill. 

Especially since it's made with Guinness. Naturally, when I bought the six pack I ran into a relative with whom I go to church and I felt as if she gave me the MAJOR STINKEYE about the Guinness in my cart, even though she didn't say a word about it. It's not as if I declared "The Guinness is for cooking" cause, y'all know I'm well over the legal drinking age, and as an adult it's not like I need to justify anything to anybody.

Although that's just what I did. Shoo. I swear. Must be living in Appalachia. Or just going to a family/community church. But she lives clear over in Virgnia and it's not like I expected for her to be 50 or 60 miles over in my town shopping at my hippie grocery store anyway!

Enough said. I love cooking with beer. I think that's my calling. Beer cakes, beer breads. The yeastiness is something to behold. 



The preparation is similar to the Nigella Lawson Guinness chocolate cake that I love making wherein you combine beer with other items and let it warm in a large saucepan, stirring regularly, not letting it stick to the bottom, get overheated, etc. etc.

Plus, you'd think I'm such a beginner in the kitchen. And sometimes, I think I am. Instructions said to fill the cupcake liners with 1/2 cup of batter and be done. And that's good news to me because I usually overfill. It's that stomach bigger than the eye dynamic. Then my cupcakes expand and bake well over the liner or cupcake cup/holder, whatever you like to call them. 

I'm not an expert at cupcakes. Nor at icing, either. I'm not a perfectionist. Styling a plate so that it looks picture perfect doesn't make my day. I'm more interested in how it tastes. Because plenty of things look pretty but don't taste worth a hoot. As you can see, my attempt at icing failed. I used my pastry bag with one of the nozzles. It was my first time! Ugh. Such a failure. I need lessons.

Next time I'll use a ziploc bag and no nozzle. Because actually I practiced this technique two weeks ago with deviled eggs at my sister-in-laws house. Her deviled egg mixture was very moist and had to be piped into the eggs whereas ours is usually thick and scoopable. So after an egg or two I had this technique down. Yet in these days of such specialization I know I can easily find a cupcake icing apparatus if I google such a creature. Dare I?

However, the icing was yummy: Typical cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and I added a smidge of peppermint extract. Or no, was that some other cupcake I made? 

I'm easily confused. 

Whatever. Regardless, the gingerbread was awesome. The recipe is a keeper. The cupcakes grew moister each day I kept them under my glass cake keeper. The blend of so many spices is key. And my use of Penzey's cinnamon (and I forget which one I used, exactly, because I have several blends) is really what made it's flavor so stellar. 

And, I can't credit any foodies for turning me on to Penzey's. It was my knitting guru who introduced me to their fantastic products a few years ago. Yep. Awesome how serendipity plays it part.

So. Miette, from trying one recipe, I'm hooked on the cookbook and other than running my fingers along that sensual die-cut scalloped edge, I'll be flipping through the pages looking for more more more and cooking up more more more!

paris, my sweet

Imagine having a job that assigned you to Paris for two years. If dreams can come true, the did for Amy Thomas because she indulged in the City of Light's most fabulous chocolates and pastries for a year, or more while working on Louis Vuitton's advertising campaign. She writes about this year of hardship in Paris My Sweet: A Year in the City of Light (and Dark Chocolate). While I don't live and die for chocolate, I DO love all things Paris. Probably not as much as Thomas does/did. But, I can live vicariously through her, at least.

In thirteen chapters Thomas tours would-be tourists through Paris's chocolates, bonbons, cupcakes, macarons, cakes, cookies, madeleines, muffins, carrot and banana cakes, and whatever else she encounters. Recently reloacted from New York, much of what she writes compares Parisian trends to New York trends, and so this book could be useful for those with eyes for the Big Apple as well.

Even though cupcakes are so "over" you'll find them on every corner of NYC. She mentions Beyond Magnolia, Buttercup, Billy, and Sugar Sweet Sunshine. But also says that when you stand on a corner watch out for cupcake trucks--CupCake Stop. Paris boasted four or five shops such as Cupcakes & Co., Berko, Synie's Cupcakes, and Sugar Daze and Sweet Pea Baking. 

But what's really valuable about Thomas's book is the context she provides. So, if you didn't know the backstory on Magnolia Bakery and how its former manager left to open his own near replica, then you might learn a thing or two. But, that's a NY tale, not Parisian. So while there are some NY tales, most of it is Parisian based. While exploring Paris she blogged about it too and shared all her new finds with the world at large.

The terrible thing about the book is that I want to sample everything Thomas writes of. And can't. Must travel to Paris. And that's the one thing I truly hate about yummy food books: Reading about buttery croissants and then being unable to try one for myself. Thomas has a keen eye and nose for the best combinations of flour, sugar, and eggs. 

Thomas mentions the typical Parisian frostiness and how impossible it was making friends. Eventually she found her place with a group of expats. But then a large decision loomed: Spend another year in Paris, or return to New York? Her priorities changed while she lived there, and New York wasn't as appealing as when she left it. Yet, she didn't feel as though she belonged in Paris 100 per cent, either. What to do?

Deciding where her heart and where her life belonged sent her into a lengthy list of either-or questions and answers. But you'll have to read the book to learn her ultimate decision.

Sidebars at the end of each chapter list her picks for shopping for the best chocolates, pastries, cakes, cookies, etc. and a full list of Paris and New York bakeries with addresses, phone numbers, and websites precede the index.

The color map illustrations of NY and Paris spots Thomas recommends on the front and rear flyleaves by Gary Hovland lend the book a delicious je ne sais quois!

zombie cupcakes

Librarians are touted for their attention to detail and powers of organization. I'm not that kind of librarian. Um, perhaps that was the librarian of yore. Or maybe it is only the cataloger. Sometimes, in cover letters for jobs, I pretended to be detail-oriented or super-organized because I thought that was the employer's expectation, but pshaw, that ain't me, anyone who knows me knows that.

Neither is toiling for hours with fondant to create a zombie cupcake from beyond the grave, but I admire those possessing the skills and patience to do so. It seems a little bit Martha Stewart, a little bit Morticia Addams. When Zombie Cupcakes arrived in my mailbox the book impressed me, because I so love the macabre, but I put it aside and didn't think about it again, until now.

I dismissed it because of its fondant decorations without considering the underlying cupcake recipes. Fondant looks odious to work with. Also, it doesn't look like it tastes good, either. Those are the two reasons I dislike it.

Duh.

I'm more about the cake than the icing, anyway. Zilly Rosen's cupcake's flavors range like this: Red velvet, blue banana, key lime, white velvet, devil's food, mud, applesauce & caramel, carrot cupcake, chocolate-mint, gingerbread, pumpkin, and a few other flavors. 

Where else can you learn to make maggots from Half and Half? The techniques featured in Zombie Cupcakes are invaluable and once you learn them, you can transfer them to larger projects like cakes and other ornamental food projects. I wonder whether the cartoon illustrations adequately demonstrates forming the fondant figures and objects. The photographs are excellent and the chiaroscuro lighting is perfect for the spooky subject and sets the books tone.

But, it's a spooky little book. And, since zombies pop up irregardless of season----zombies love Paris in the springtime-- zombie cupcakes are appropriate at any event.

the provenance of a fish & the big bad cupcake

If you're a parent, Babble is a great resource. I forget to eat properly in the mad dash that is my life these days. I think I have the work-life balance monster whipped, because I adamantly leave work at work and leave no room for blurred boundaries, no chance of work coming home with me because my home life is too important for work to intrude. 

Somehow I missed an article way back in December about 10 brain foods for moms that should help improve brain functioning, not just for moms, but for all whom are cognitively impaired. The best thing is that most of the foods listed are my favorites, like avocado, blueberries, and salmon, except that the salmon must be wild salmon and that, of course is fraught with all manner of politics. 

I tend not to eat salmon anymore because our waters are so over-fished and unless you catch a fish personally... well, I'm always a doubter, and I do not always believe what I am told about the provenance of a fish. When in doubt, cut it out. So I don't eat salmon anymore even though I love fish. 

Speaking of overfishing and our waters, I read a beautifully written and marvelous book, A Natural Sense of Wonder: Connecting Kids with Nature through the Seasons earlier this week in which its author mentioned how unsafe rivers, lakes, and streams were to swim in. If they're unsafe to swim in, I wouldn't eat anything caught from their waters, either. What a sad time in which we live.

Anyway, despite the fact that I don't like chocolate, and that Elsa does not either, I might try this chocolate avocado cupcake recipe connected to the Babble avocado page on the brain food story. When I make out my grocery list each week I give Elsa pencil and paper and she makes out her list as well. I ask what she writes on her list. It's always the same thing:

Cookies. Cupcakes.

She likes some cookies. She doesn't really like cupcakes, though she sometimes licks a bite of icing. And she doesn't like chocolate.

Even though there is a cupcake category on this blog and Elsa has a t-shirt or two bearing cupcakes we might eat them at birthday parties or special occasions. So they truly are rare events in the scheme of things. A few weeks ago on our drive home from Grammys I was happily stunned when she told me she is a Big Bad Cupcake.

Fruit of my loins is a Big Bad Cupcake. She makes me so happy. That and eskimo kisses. And every little things she does is magic. Children are delicious, delightful. I could go on and on, but this is a food blog. I keep reminding myself.

a smidge of Austin

On the airplane from Asheville to Atlanta--the first leg of my trip to Texas two weeks ago-- the flight attendant asked if I'd like some crickets. It was well after the last round of cleaning up and she said "Is there anything else I can get you? Some crickets, maybe?" I was ready with my automatic "No, thank you" and answered before the cricket part registered. But then I revised and added, "Well, if they're on the menu..."

That Laura. She was seated near the flight attendant and they chatted a bit. Somehow eating unusual food items came up, maybe a vending machine in a large international airport, and Laura told her that "my friend up there"--because somehow we were separated despite having booked and selected our seats simultaneously via phone and Internet--eats crickets.

When our flight attendant passed by again, I stopped and asked her what the most unusual food she'd eaten was. Eventually she answered alligator. She wasn't so adventurous when it came to eating different food. Once she was in rural Japan and could not eat what was for dinner because it was still alive.

After a two or three hour delay we finally left Atlanta and arrived in Austin. The first order of business was finding food. I'd asked Pamela what to do in Austin, and she recommended the yarn store, which has the cupcake truck next door. That was about all I knew for food.

The Delta InFlight magazine featured a photo of the Magnolia Cafe's "Sorry, we're open," sign. After seeing that, Laura remembered seeing something about it on a show on the food network. She watches way more TV than I.

It was graduation day in Austin so we spotted a few ladies in linen sheaths and heels leaving this decidedly alternative cafe; we ate at the Congress Ave. location. Most of the waitstaff were tattooed. A fellow eater bobbed his purple mohawk. Magnolia Cafe serves breakfast 24 hours, and is open 24 hours, too. While waiting for a table I spotted their tea & dessert board: Peanut Butter Pie. I was off the diet while in Texas, just so you know.

We were seated within 20 minutes and got down to ordering. Laura's shrimp quesadillas are above. The photo I took of my fish tacos is not so good. We shared bites of each other's food. I loved her guacamole and she tucked into my salsa. The peanut butter pie there was unreal. Its consistency was unlike anything I'd ever had. The flavor was robust. But the filling was more peanut buttery than cream cheese, if that makes sense. 

 

Seriously, a portable Airstream cupcake truck? It's the best. And a darling idea, really. I told Laura that we should buy an Airstream and take up cupcake making in East Tennessee; we could travel all over the southeast appearing at festivals and the like.

Yummy cupcakes, Hey Cupcake!  had red velvet, and after paying the guy--no sales tax on food in Austin or Texas or what?-- he asked if I was gonna take his picture. So I did. It's the cupcake guy. He was foxy, too. Could give Johnny Knoxville a run for his money. Their T-shirts were fabulous, too. The back read "Who you callin cupcake?"

adventures in cupcakery

While in Nashville a few days ago Laura and I spied Gigi's Cupcakes. We remembered it's location on our way to a yarn store and Ham & Goodys. The Ham & Goodys was no more. Laura said they had awesome lemon cookies, and I'm always up for a cookie caper. Didn't find Ham & Goody's, but got their phone number from the yellow pages at the yarn store and called and learned that the Nashville location closed down. They only do catering now. Drat.

Note Miss Princess cupcake at far right bottom of case

Back to Gigi's. We stopped, hopped out, walked inside, and my eyes lit up. Great, gorgeous cupcakes in their cases. My yen for red velvet cupcakes was not satisfied. It was Friday. They serve Scarlet's Velvet several days a week, including Thursday and Saturday, but not Friday.

We bought four cupcakes each, took them out to the car, and sat and ate them there. I chose the Breast Cancer Awareness Wedding cupcake, Carrot Cake cupcake, Peanut Butter Cup cupcake, and Midnight Magic Chocolate Chip cupcake. Wedding Cupcake was scrumptious, but way too much icing. Carrot Cake was good. I've had worse and better, but theirs is a solid carrot cake recipe that will surely please any carrotcake lover. Peanut Butter Cup was disappointing. Only the icing was peanut flavored; the cake was chocolate. And Midnight Magic was good, if you like chocolate; it's Devil's Food, which I don't eat often enough. Gigi's is the place to go if you love icing, and theirs is perfection. As we sat we watched customers come and go and we commented on the cadre of police officers that entered Gigi's.

Breast Cancer Awareness Wedding Cake from Gigi's

After scarfing down my cupcake, Laura still had half of hers remaining, but I AM eating for two, I returned inside to grab a few napkins for your sticky fingers. One of the police officers guarded the napkin dispenser so I struck up a conversation with him. I asked what his favorite flavor was.

He said, "Miss Princess." With a straight face. Then he went on to tell me how strawberries were his weakness. He, and his fellow officers, always come in on Friday, and he's true to Miss Princess, which is white cake with fresh strawberries and butter cream frosting topped with pink sugar crystals.

And that is the most awesome thing I heard while in Nashville. Well, spoken, that is. The previous night's attendance at the IBMA awards was really something to hear, too.

Laura and I raced against time to return home in time for the baby shower she co-hosted for me later Friday night. I asked, long ago, that she make red velvet cupcakes for my shower, and decorate them like sheep. I spotted sheepy cupcakes at Cupcakes Take the Cake. Decorating them is fairly simple. We called them bloody sheep cupcakes and tried to figure out how to insert a gooey red cream into the center to make it a truly bloody experience.

The clerk at Gigi's mentioned two cupcake shops in Knoxville after we told her how cupcakeless we were in the Tri-Cities. With that in mind, we sought out red velvet cupcakes for the shower, as Laura likely wouldn't have time to mix, bake, ice, and decorate cupcakes for our event later that evening.

Oh, the power of technology. We didn't have a laptop, but I texted three friends who live in Knoxville, one of whom, I was sure would know where the cupcake shops were in town. All three responded with information, and one called and read off addresses and phone numbers to me, and that's how we learned there is a Ham & Goodys in Knoxville. I called them about lemon cookies, and they had some, and closed at 5pm, but we had to skip the lemon cookies and focus on red velvet cupcakes.

Called Magpies to ask if they have RVC cupcakes, and they did. I reserved a dozen and asked for directions to their shop. Kellie's text response indicated they were located in Old City, and I knew getting there was a snap from I-40, but there's a mess of construction and most all traffic is re-routed via I-275.

Arrived at Magpies and learned it was a bakery, not just a cupcake shop. Their interior was delightful, and there were mini cupcake samples that we indulged in, as well. The dozen cupcakes I reserved were actually mini cupcakes. Laura bought them, then saw regular sized red velvet cupcakes and bought a dozen of those as well. I inherited the minis.

The minis are perfect, really. Two bites. That's all. And the amount of icing on Magpie's cupcakes is just right, also. Nowhere near as overwhelming as Gigi's.

Then we hopped back into the car, re-joined the interstate and arrived home shortly past 5 pm. My shower began at 7pm, which gave Laura just enough time to turn a RVC cupcake into a bloody sheep cupcake.

The other two cupcake shops in Knoxville that we didn't explore are: Cities Cupcakes and The Cupcakery.

Ponchatoula is (bone fide) alright with me

Wouldn't you know that as soon as I bowed to the common ingredient list including box cake mix and strawberry flavored gelatin in the making of my strawberry cupcakes, that I'd come across a bone fide strawberry cupcake recipe? Just my poor old luck, really. But sort of scary, too. Like somehow, months ago when Foose dreamed up this cookbook, she included this recipe just for my sake. To redeem my hurt feelings about whether my cupcakes were "from scratch," for real. It was predestined. 

Screen Doors and Sweet Tea arrived a day or two ago via our U.S. Postal Service. Couldn't help myself from browsing it immediately. The cover photo is super inviting; just completely appealing to my particular preference for food styling. And I'm the first fool in line handing over her credit card to buy almost any and every southern-themed cookbook. Now I don't call myself a fool because these cookbook authors are fooling me into something. No matter that they all have almost the same recipes inside.  There are always a few gems in each one. And certainly that is the cake with SCAST. 

I'm referring to her Ponchatoula Strawberry Cupcakes recipe. Batter made from scratch, and icing too, just what I dreamed of about a week ago. It's not too late though. There are still fresh, locally grown strawberries around. Must seek them out. Sadly, I barely used a whole pint of the gallon I bought. 

Frigid fruit and veggies taste terrible to me, so my berries sat out on my counter, and we're using that natural air conditioning a.k.a windows open. So they spoiled quicker than they should have if they were tucked into my fridge. Can you imagine knitted woolen strawberry cozies to keep each one warm inside that dreadful old icebox? I can.  The sad thing was throwing most of the lot out. Actually, the white fuzzy, almost projectile, mold forming on my berries reminded me of those fuzzy winter muffs that you see little girls of Currier & Ives era paintings carrying along on a sleigh ride, or an ice skating jaunt.

Foose covers a Delta meal from cocktails and appetizers on through magnificent, decadent traditional southern desserts. She grew up in the Mississippi Delta, then traveled a bit to work in big city kitchens. Then went off to cooking school in France, so her rendition of these southern favorites is well-informed. Right off her Cantaloupe daiquiri tempted me to throw caution to the wind about fetal alcohol syndrome and imbibe in such a delight. Yet, I shouldn't drink. And won't. But I'm keeping this one in mind for when I can have alcohol again. 

But I could have her Blackberry Limeade which looks refreshing and like it would soothe my nerves. The food photography/styling is delicious and enhances Foose's recipes. Unfortunately the scenic photography of the Delta, interspersed with those glimpses of heavenly southern food, appear more like stock photos and lack the intimacy and lushness of the latter.

Each recipe begins with a Foose anecdote. Readers learn about her great uncle Thompson alongside  Catfish Ceviche. Thompson preferred sleek cars to big old trucks so popular with all the Delta menfolk, and opened his catfish farming business in 1958.  A large sidebar following the recipe teaches the reader about the spawning and hatching of catfish.

There are lots of expected dishes like gumbo, turtle soup, cheese, grits, mac n cheese, country fried steak, and dumplings. Then there's the unexpected: Barq's Root Beer-Glazed Ham. This one, we'll have to try. Despite the kitsch factor of cooking meat in a soda pop brine, I declare that the end product tastes mighty good and receives rave reviews from our families.

The combination of her photo of egg salad and the recipe for Good Sandwich Loaf bread tempted my tummy, and pulled up to the Shamrock's drive-thru and bought an egg salad sandwich for lunch yesterday with eventual making of my own in mind. Already got lots of eggs for the egg salad and all the makings for the sandwich loaf. 

Those desserts...well, none of them jumped out at me like Sweet Tea Pie. Ooooooo-eee. I'll have to try that. Foose described it like so: 

The flavor tastes like state fair saltwater taffy, and the texture is like pecan pie without the pecans. I think you will enjoy it.

Last night on the phone I told Ian about the book and it's banana pudding recipe from scratch. Since we had a bad experience with the last from scratch banana pudding we made, um, we're reluctant to try it again. Another recipe that caught my eye was Brown Sugar Angel Food Cake. It takes 14 egg whites. Now that is a lot of cracking and separating of eggs. Though I don't ever yearn for angel food cake, that brown sugar twist might keep my interest long enough to try one. 

Be sure to read Fosse's notes to the left or the right of each recipe. She says to separate your eggs a day before making the Brown Sugar Angel Food Cake and that night-before step will result in a higher cake. When it comes to Angel Food, the higher, the better, you know, closer to the Pearly Gates and all those angels with their harps and halos. 

Come July Ian and I head west to Nashville and then south down the Natchez Trace, so I'm mostly hoping that we'll get a taste of good Mississippi cuisine, though it may not be Delta in origin, least not until we arrive at Natchez proper. Any recommendations, anyone?

strawberry delight

Recipes for Strawberry Cake that I found online disappointed me. Gelatin? Frozen strawberries? Ugh. Those ingredients seemed lame. Instead, I turned to my Blue Willow Inn cookbook. It's subtitle is "Bible of Southern Cooking," and I must say, that every recipe  I've made from the book turns out Delish!

Their recipe is simple, and similar to the ones found online, actually. So I was disappointed, skeptical, but tried it anyway. One box of butter cake mix, 3/4 cup of oil, 4 eggs, one box of strawberry gelatin, and one 10oz box of frozen strawberries, thawed.

Naturally, I used fresh strawberries. And I used much much more than the 4-5 oz they suggested for the cake's batter. I made cupcakes, two dozen of them, in fact, special-like for Rebekah's birthday. Ian helped me make a decision on what to top the icing with: sprinkles or strawberry slices. He asked "What will the kids like?" Oh, sprinkles, I suppose. So there was my answer.

Rebekah leads Biscuit

Rebekah is one of the sweetest young women I know. She turned 18 on Saturday, and I felt bad that I didn't have anything other than the strawberry cupcakes for her. But, she liked 'em. I took them over to Mize in Gray, Tn. because Rebekah worked Horse Days. She thanked me for them. Even asked, "Did you MAKE them?" Of course. All from scratch, ma'am!

And then had so much batter left over that I made a one layer cake as well. Didn't use their icing recipe. Used the one that Nigella suggests for her Guinness chocolate cake: creme cheese, confectioner's sugar, and whipping cream.

Sadly, no photos of cupcakes. They never look as grand as ones others make. I either overfill the cups or underfill them. This time, I underfilled them, and their appearance was rather poor. Sad, actually. Yet, they tasted good. I was very pleased with how they came out. Yum. Super good. Will definitely make this recipe again. And even though my batter and icing were much more strawberry loaded than the recipe called for, I still had at least a half pint of berries remaining in that container. So now what to do with the remaining 3 pints?

jumbo cupcake in the house

There is a cupcake staring me in the  face. It's a Jumbo Cupcake from Another Touch Bakery of Jonesborough, Tenn. Blogless Amy and I met for lunch today. I ran late.

She amused herself at the bakery. Sent me a text message about being at the bakery. I replied "There's a bakery?" Like, I think I'd know whether there was a bakery in Jonesborough because I'm first and foremost a pastry lover. But, no. I didn't know about Another Touch bakery. They make cakes. So it's not a "real" bakery. 

I think Amy is trying to sabotage my diet. But actually, she bought one for herself, also. And she's dieting, too. So she's sabotaging us both.

The cupcake, or so Amy told me over the phone, is a vanilla/almond cupcake with the same butter cream icing. And wow, is there icing? Too much of it. When I complained to Amy about her presenting me with the cupcake and my diet, she said I could just eat the icing. The icing! That's the worst of it. Surely the cake is healthier than the very buttery icing.

So much butter I can smell it. So much butter that the twenty minutes it spent in the car leaving Jonesborough and coming home kind of melted the icing a bit. At least my car doesn't smell like butter.

But my hands do. You see, I thought I'd try to carry the cupcake in to work inside my tote bag. Bad idea. It was sealed inside a Styrofoam cup with a plastic lid. The lid cracked open and I got icing all over my hands trying to snap it back in place.

Now that I've had a taste of the icing...well, I'll say that staring at it and not eating it is pure torment. I probably won't eat the whole thing. A good bite would do me. Maybe I can save the leftovers for the horses. I read somewhere that horses will eat cupcakes, even if the icing was licked off.

Btw, my crate & barrel cupcake holder/transporter arrived yesterday in the mail. Haven't unboxed it yet.

That butter aroma is something else. It wafts by my nose every few seconds or so. I want to wait until later, when I may actually be hungry, to eat a morsel or two to sustain me through this, my first late night at work, in ages.

cupcake carrying case

Despite my last bad experience in the world of cupcakes, I saw this cupcake carrying case at Awesome! and had to have it. One of the reasons I didn't share my last batch of cupcakes with anyone was because I had to split them into two or three plastic storage pieces and maybe you could say that looking at them in those containers depressed me and I couldn't bring myself to remove them from the house looking so boring and unloved. No doubt, I'll not have that problem with this lovely carrier that I ordered  tried to order from Crate & Barrel, except their website is all mucked up. Maybe I'll try later, or just call the 1-800 number to order the old-fashioned way.