The East, part 10: The Great Cupcake Project

It started at the grocery store when we ran into a very attractive idea: icing in a can.  It even included tips – star, leaf, ribbon and writing.  The only way we were going to justify taking that can home so we could play with the tips and the icing was to buy other things – a cake mix, normal boring icing.  It was going to be a noble project, something very fun and educational.  So educational that for several days after we took the whole sheebang home, I didn’t even want to think about hauling it all out and starting.  But today, on a bitingly cold and clear day, we did just that.

I wore Gin’s apron.  Frazz wore his own, and off we started, on the road to becoming bakers.

First job: one cupcake cup in each hole.  Think it’s easy?  Yeah.  Try it yourself.  Try it with four year old fingers.  And do it twenty four times (we know that’s how many because we counted.  We counted many times).

Then you have to measure out the water.  Which is actually fun.  Especially if you get too much and you have to sort of splash out the extra.

Careful pouring.  We have already “tried” the cake mix with a finger tip.  We can’t afford to lose any more of it in wild splashes.  So we pour slowly.

See?  Neat as a pin.  We are serious about this.

Checking the exact measurement of the oil.  Four liquid ounces.  Egg-zacly.

Three eggs.  I taught Frazz how to crack eggs back in KC when we made breakfast together.  That was when he was a little kid, and he’s gotten to be a total pro at it.

Not one wasted bit.

Not even any drips on the counter.

No pictures of the actual mixing as we did it together.  No hands for cameras.

We have moved to the table now, and have to get the hang of handling this thick, viscous batter.

Very careful.

Figuring out the drips.  Scraping works well.  You have to load up just the right amount, then scrape.

Blooping.  When you get the blooping just right, you don’t have to shake too much off at the end.

All full.  All cooked.  All cooled.  Frazz had even pre-heated the oven.  350 degrees.  But he only reached over the burners to do it after I had promised on a stack of Disney DVDs and demonstrated extensively that the burners were thoroughly cold.  Wisdom is the better part of valor.  Note that our shirt has changed.  This is because we spent most of the baking time “cleaning” the kitchen.  It took ten minutes to clean the bowls and stuff, and another fifteen to clean the sink out thoroughly with the spray nozzel.  Which Frazz took care of on his own.  Completely on his own.

Thus, as I said, we have changed our shirt to something less – soggy.

So we move on to the basic icing.  We chose reduced sugar commercial icing because I didn’t want to make the really good kind.  What we got was very sticky and thick, but still sweet enough.  You just have to be careful not to get stuck in the little can.

Careful.

And you have to avoid getting the cupcake itself stuck to your spatula.

One tool is tough.  Two is confusion.

Finally!!  The green stuff.  The trick here is how to hold the can and still have enough fingers left over to push on the nozzle so the green stuff comes out.

There are things you can do to make it easier.  Your tongue helps.

It REALLY helps.

And now, we have achieved technique.

Here it is.  The favorite cupcake.  Made with a minimum of mess and a maximum of focus.  A triumph of determination and skill

And cuteness.

Want one?