After a long summer of not much baking, I went oven crazy and made cupcakes four times in the past two weeks. First it was not my unbirthday and so you know there was no way I was not going to have cupcakes. I made vanilla with chocolate frosting. I used the Magnolia Bakery recipe. I’d heard so many raves about it being THE perfect cupcake recipe. Well it was delicious but not ultra heavenly or anything. Maybe I did something wrong. Everyone gobbled them up anyway. Maybe I should venture east and try one made by Magnolia proper so I can compare.

Then my boy had a playground date with some kids from his old school so of course I had to bring cupcakes. This time I made lemon with cream cheese icing and yellow sugar crystals sprinkled on top. I was so excited to use these large sugar crystals I got at Whole Foods that were naturally colored. They looked so pretty and cheerful at first, but the heat of the day made the color seep out of the sugar and disappear into the icing. Oh well. Delicious again nonetheless! Fresh lemon zest is the best in the west.

Then we had a BDAYBBQ to celebrate my husband’s and mine combined. This time I went for chocolate because I figured it would be a real crowd pleaser. Yeah, they were the best cupcakes so far. And I made them big instead of my usual mini. Decadent! I used my rubbery square cupcake thingies and they garnered some oohs and aahs. Yay!

Finally, I made a fourth batch for no special occasion other than because I had a large amount of carrots that needed to be used up. We forgot to put out the crunchy veggies at the BDAYBBQ, whoops! I just used my standby banana bread recipe and swapped out the bananas for carrot mush. Mighty tasty. Now I am tempted to see what other veggies I can cram into cuppies. Sweet potato and pumpkin come to mind. Reminds me of The Sneaky Chef. Difference: I am totally willing to disclose all veggie usage. Thanks for reading my tale of many cupackes. Sorry no pics. None of them came out nearly as delicious as the cakes themselves. Now here is a movie that you can watch that has nothing to do with cupcakes.

This is the project I mentioned in my last blog entry that was way back in July. (July? Oh my! Where did August go?) It was so much fun making this movie with Margot and her family. But I am not an excellent blogger so I forgot to show off until now. Actually, I have been staying away from the computer for the past two months because my baby has learned how to get up on the computing chair and seriously mess things up. Thank bejeezus for our new wireless mouse that can be placed high and away. Well it’s her naptime now so if you’ll excuse me I am going to try and tackle Mt. Inbox and maybe read a few of the 9,114 articles that are waiting for me in my Bloglines. Hmmm… but maybe I’ll have a cupcake first. Oh yeah and Mark’s actual un-unbirthday is in two days, with possible celebration tomorrow, so I guess it’s time to start planning the next batch of you know whats. Flavor suggestions anyone?