Cupcake Wars!

Abhay has never been too fond of desserts except of course for cupcakes and even as far as cupcakes are concerned, he is only interested in the frosting. Every time we approach the bakery section in a grocery store, we are conned into buying cupcakes for Abhay who vows to devour the cake along with  its cream frosting.  Of course, like most promises, this one too is forgotten the moment he gets what he wants and we are left with six cupcakes (they mostly come in a pack of six) with their frosting polished off clean. So in our three years in the US, we’ve probably set a record as being the couple who’ve had the most number of cupcakes minus the frosting! :-) So off late, in an attempt to do some damage control, I’ve been trying my hand at baking. Though ostensibly meant for Abhay and his weakness for baked sugary treats, I realized that I quite enjoy working the oven. Unfortunately, all my efforts seem to be in vain as all Abhay wants is the cream on the cake! It doesn’t matter, if I have tried a new recipe, or managed to make it eggless or that the cake looks and tastes simply delicious. As long as the cake or the cupcake is not iced with a frosting, he couldn’t care less.So today I baked strawberry cupcakes and for the first time, tried to whip up some frosting as well. Did Abhay enjoy them? Hmm….well….no matter what you do, some people just cannot be pleased! :-)

Even if Abhay didn’t find the cupcakes to be delectable, I still read the book “Fancy Nancy and the Delectable cupcakes”, a Level 1 in I can read series of Early Readers,  by Jane O’Connor and pictures by Robin Preiss Glasser. Nancy can’t wait to return home from school to make cupcakes for next day’s bake sale. Once back home, she and her mother gather all ingredients and bake the most delicious looking cupcakes which Nancy decorates with sprinkles and frosting so as to make them  fancy enough to live up to her reputation. Once done, her mother asks her put the cupcakes out of Frenchy’s ( her dog) reach. Heeding  to instructions not being one of her specialties, she places them just where she is not supposed to and Frenchy gets the taste of her cupcakes before the bake sale. Devastated by the ‘destruction’, she realizes she’s will be a no show at school the next day. Just then her father arrives home with all the necessary ingredients that once again go into making fancy Nancy’s delectable cup cakes!! If only I knew the exact ingredients that go into what my fastidious four- year old deems “delectable cup cakes”!:-)