Cupcake Evolution

"Make cupcakes!" is a command often heard at my house. And since I have a sweet tooth too I make no objections to pulling out my muffin tin and plopping in a few cupcake papers. Last week I chose a recipe from Cooking Light entitled Lemon Angel Food Cupcakes. I substituted Key Lime zest and juice for the lemon but otherwise the recipe remained unaltered. My idea was to present summery light cupcakes topped with a real slice of tart key lime. So simple. So sophisticated. As you can see . . .



However . . . my son, Jonathan (age 4) promptly ripped off my lovely limes and demanded sprinkles. Sprinkles are an important affair in our house. They go on pancakes, ice cream, bagels, cereal, or can even be eaten as snacks unto themselves. So, sprinkles were selected.

As we were just finishing the last cupcakes, my son realized that the frosting I'd used (a delicious limey one by the way) was not dyed the blue he had originally desired. I'd hoped to get away without making any blue frosting. After all, the blue lips and tongue I get after eating anything blue do little to enhance my appearance! But since I had extra frosting we swirled some blue gel into the last of the icing. The boring white frosting was scraped off and replaced with the brilliant one. And the last of the sprinkles went on.

So, in my house . . . cupcakes often go through an evolution. From sophisticated to sprinkles to simply perfect for a preschooler!