Cold Cupcakes

It's days like today that I wonder why I left South Carolina for Maryland. Currently, it's 3:30 PM...and the temperature is 13 degrees. That's right...thirteen..not thirty. Yikes! I've ventured out to run a few errands and get to and from work, but that is about it. When I arrived at the office this morning it was 7, so I guess 13 is an improvement? It's all relative, I suppose.

Anyway, last night, I caved into my craving for cupcakes. As most of you know, I have a huge sweet tooth. Dessert is often what I look forward to most. I like cake, and I guess I've always liked cupcakes...but not like I do now! Back in the summer, a cupcake bakery opened in Eastport (a subdivision or seceded colony of Annapolis, depending on your point of view). For the past few years I've been hearing that cupcakes are all the rage, and I wondered why. Various cupcakeries have popped up in larger cities..New York, DC, Baltimore...but the Baltimore Cupcake Company was the first one I heard of in Annapolis. I thought "How good can a cupcake be?" And then, one day last summer, I swung by and picked one up. And I was hooked.

Last night's purchases from L-R (Pink Vanilla Woo, Cookie Dough, Dark Chocolate Raspberry)

Over Thanksgiving break, I had cupcakes from a Mt. Pleasant bakery with my friend Sallie (hi, Sallie!), and it reminded me how hooked I am. I picked 2 up during the crazy singing season one evening as a quick treat, but it didn't quench the craving. Actually, it made it worse. During Messiah rehearsal one evening. I was having a severe case of the cupcake blues. Everyone kept offering me treats (homemade cookies, fudge, snacks), but all I wanted was a cupcake. Performances came and went, Christmas came and went, and I never got to slake my cupcake thirst.

Until last night. I had a few minutes, so I went out of my way as I drove home to pick some up (Thank goodness Eastport is not really on my way home or I'd have cupcakes every day!). I made my selections and headed home. As I was gushing in a text about how yummy they were, I was asked the question "What's the big deal about cupcakes? What makes them better than something else?" I had to think about this question for a minute. And then, I realized the simple truth. For an icing lover like me (I used to buy tubs of icing and eat them in one sitting), cupcakes have a much higher icing to cake ratio than a regular piece of cake. The Baltimore Cupcake Company's have a huge icing to cake ratio. And therein lies the answer to my cupcake craving. It's really a pretty way to feed my icing addiction without being the piggy Page who eats icing straight from the tub...

Pink Vanilla Woo up close (vanilla icing on chocolate cake)

A blurry shot of Dark Chocolate Raspberry