Hello Cupcake
Four or five years ago I made cakes for my colleagues to celebrate my birthday and back then it was a case of plain cases (or maybe coloured if the shop had them in) and a plain vanilla sponge with a drizzle of icing (i’m talking icing sugar mixed with water – sometimes Rose water at a push) and a sprinkle of hundreds and thousands.
The ‘cupcake craze’ didn’t exist – well not in the UK anyway – and so miniature cakes were better known as Fairy Cakes and the epitome of presentation consisted of a pair of fairy wings (made from a slice of sponge cut in half) placed on top of a dollop of butter cream – well it was a step up from the drizzled icing!
Then over the last couple of years the cupcake phenomenon has swept into the UK from over the pond and are taking the UK by storm with cupcake bakeries popping up on street corners and dozens of cupcakes being delivered to brighten up someones day.
Thinking about it my obsession, um, passion, probably started when I had 12 cupcakes delivered to my work place by a supplier as a Christmas present and that was the Christmas of 2008. I worked in London at the time and cupcake bakeries were fast becoming prevalent – especially compared to elsewhere in the UK.
When the corrugated box turned up saying ‘fragile’ i didn’t know what to expect. I opened the outer box carefully and inside was another box saying ‘Candy Cakes’. I know the name says it all, but I didn’t know what to expect, Cupcakes certainly didn’t cross my mind. The sweet smell of sugar was seeping through the box into the air and of course by this time a small crowd of colleagues had gathered around to find out what was in the box.
When I opened it, there stood 12 bright, shining, glistening objects – the cake was nowhere to be seen, hidden by all thick icing that had even dripped down to the case. This icing was like a pouring fondant that had set hard and to me the cakes looked way to sickly to eat, but that certainly wasn’t going to stop me trying!
12 cupcakes, cut in halves and quarters were demolished by eight of us in approximately two and half minutes but what stayed with me was the stir they caused when they were opened and exposed to the office.
Everyone loves cupcakes. They’re bite-sized, they’re easy to eat, they give you that sugar fix without being over-powering, they don’t spoil your appetite, they look as good as they taste and they bring a smile to everyone’s face – children, men, women, grandparents – even the boss.
You can’t go wrong with Cupcakes.
Want to get a smile? Give a Cupcake 
