Sunday, 21 August 2011

• Why Cupcakes Are, In Fact, Better Than Cake

  

  There has been an age-old debate about this, and I'm here to set the record straight. Cupcakes are, in fact, better than cake. I'm not 100% sure of the reason, but I am totally willing to put some ideas out there as to why this phenomena is accurate. All I know is, when someone offers me a slice of cake, I almost always say, "No thank you, I'm not really a cake person." But when someone bakes cupcakes, I'm stalking the table like a vulture.

  First off, a cupcake is an ingenious invention for its size alone. In four bites or less, you have yourself a perfectly frosted, delicious little treat. It's filling, and yet you can eat a second or third should you choose to.

  Besides this, there's no messy cutting or designated cutter for that matter. Dishes and forks don't even need to be used. All you really need is a napkin and an appetite.

  Cupcakes are also much harder to mess up. My mom and I have made so many lopsided cakes that had to be fixed with frosting than I can remember. Cupcakes, however, rarely come out crooked or mess up – because they're so little!

  What else? Unlike a cake, cupcakes can be individually designed to have diverse and beautiful designs on them. If you want to be creative and use food due to turn your frosting different colors, then cupcakes become your blank canvas. If you try to put different colored or flavored frosting on a regular cake, chances are the average person would end up with a messy and odd-looking concoction.

  Speaking of flavors, how often do tastes differ in a family of 4, 5 or more? Everyone has their own favorite cupcake flavor and frosting flavor, and almost always goes for the same flavor combination.

  In my family, my mom loves vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting. My brother Matthew and I love vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting. My dad likes chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting. And my brother, Andrew, well, would eat anything put in front of him.

  Because my mom's cupcakes are famous to our family and friends, she bakes them about 5 times a year for various birthdays.

  My nephew once asked her why she doesn't bake regular cakes. The room got quiet and everyone at the table just stared at him. It was as if the 8-year-old cursed. Did he just say to bake a cake instead of cupcakes. Why, that's like blasphemy in my house.

  An unfortunate cupcake situation was the time my friend Lauren and I baked, frosted, and designed 48 cupcakes for our camp kids. We literally sat at my kitchen table for three and a half hours perfecting those bad boys, individualizing them with different sprinkles and colored frosting and designs.

  The next day, I asked my brother to carry them out to the car for me. To save a trip, he proceeded to pile the two humungous trays one on top of the other. The entire bottom tray got its tin foil covering plastered onto all of its cupcakes. Every single one of the 24 cupcakes was ruined...and I cried.

  Do you prefer cupcakes or cake? Why?

  • 5:50 PM
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