Imperfect Cupcakes
I just made 50 (and iced 27 of them…I ran out of frosting! *!@#$!) cupcakes tonight for Jane’s birthday party tomorrow.
It’s 10:45pm here. I started at 7:40pm.
I am so done with cupcakes.
I had this genius idea that since Jane is having a Bicycle Birthday Party (in honor of her receiving her first big-girl bike!), I would decorate the cupcakes to look like bicycle wheels.
Easier said than done.
They’re not ugly per se, they just don’t exactly look like bicycle wheels.
(I’ll post photos hopefully tomorrow. So, no, the cupcake pictured left is NOT one of mine!)
They actually look much more like flattened chocolate granddaddy long-legs. With an M&M for a body.
Seriously.
My problem is that what I can reasonably expect from myself based on my limited (and unschooled) cake decorating ability, my current level of exhaustion, and the quality of the materials I use (decorating icing in a tube!) is a far cry from what I actually expect based on my imagination and my aesthetic preference.
Think Martha Stewart, minus the house-in-the-Hamptons pretense, plus a hip, trendy coffee shop, minus the espresso-swigging-random-facial-piercing twenty-something pretense, plus all the child-appeal of Toys R’ Us, minus the over-commercialization.
Yeah, I know. It’s a problem.
I want Jane’s birthday party cupcakes to be perfect.
At least my version of perfection.
And they’re not.
They’re imperfect. (just like me.) (wince.) then (sheepish grin.)
It reminds me of a story MSJ (new designation: my sister, Julie) told me about an exchange between she and her son, Collins, just before his 5th birthday.
She was explaining to Collins that she was just going to get Publix cupcakes for his birthday party.
He was completely unaffected by this knowledge, I think.
Julie explained how our mother made all our cakes and cupcakes from scratch and decorated them really well in whatever theme or character or design that we wanted.
I’m sure she described some of the elaborate designs that Mom made on our many birthday cakes.
I’m not sure if he asked, or if Julie volunteered the statement, “All my birthday cakes, and Aunt Cathy’s too, were homemade!”
To which he replied, sympathetically, “I’m sorry!”, as if our birthday cakes had been sub-par to the wonderful Publix cupcakes that he would get to eat at his birthday party.
And there you have it.
Tell me again why I’m so worried about my imperfect cupcakes?
On second thought, don’t answer that.
(Just for the record, my cupcakes aren’t quite as bad as the one above. Hat-tip to 2Wheels for the photo!)
Filed under: General, Catbird, Random Thoughts, Jane on October 27th, 2006
I’m awful with cakes so I don’t even try the fancy decorating thing. I have no patience for it. Good for you for trying though. My 2 sisters, on the other hand, make and decorate beautiful cakes!
Happy Birthday Jane!!! Those cupcakes will taste great regardless of their shape or description.
Having already tasted a sample of said cupcakes, it really doesn’t matter what they look like because they taste amazing!!!! (way better than publix)
Jane will likely be thrilled with the M&M and pay no attention to the rest of the design! :o) Love you (from someone who waaaay over expects perfection from her own waaaayy not perfect baking!)
i, too, have had the pleasure of testing these cupcakes and they are awesome.
I tried to make a big “baseball” for Nick’s birthday this year. I put the cupcakes (iced in white) on a round plate and then attempted to ice the red lines for the laces (is that what they’re called?) over the entire top surface of all the cupcakes. I should have stuck to making just individual baseballs, but I was trying for the big effect. Nick loved it (which was the most important person to impress), but my Dad looked at them and thought I’d drawn railroad tracks.
Jane will love them! And they will taste way better than the grocery store version.
My mother wasn’t actually the best of cooks but she also must have had a good visual that wasn’t based on reality. One year she made me a three layer cake in three different colors. Mainly I remember it leaned - a lot (I think the layers had all risen too much). And I LOVED it and it’s probably my most memorable cake of all (I’ll have to ask - I think I was four that year…).
And, Collins response to it all - very cute…
[…] I told you so. […]
Sheetcakes girlfriend! Sheetcakes! Decorative icing is only for those talented souls appearing on the food channel! But even us mere mortals can gooberslobber enough on a flat sheetcake.
BTW, yes it’s your friend Allison’s husband here. It’s been awhile since we chatted about music and such at mine/Allison’s wedding. If I remember correctly, we debated the new Toad the Wet Sprocket song at the time.
I’m glad you and Allison got to catch up. It sounds like it was good for both of you. I would pontificate more about that, but my beautiful bride and best friend is pestering me to move on. Not to worry, I shall return!
Take care.
Steve, you rock.