Sugar Rush

Last night, two things happened. First, my sweet tooth just wouldn't shut up. This is one of my life struggles. I love candy so much. Fun Dip, Nerds, Air Heads, Giant Sweettarts, Mini Sweettarts, you name it. The more sugar the better. Second, while meandering around the kitchen, I made a discovery:

So I found my solution. Perf. I decided to go on a cupcake spree and help make a dent in our overabundance of baking supplies. A win-win, if you will. I'm somewhat of a frosting connoisseur myself (remember the sugar addiction) and happen to believe in maintaining a high level of frosting integrity. I love frosting out of the can just as much as the next guy, believe me. This school year, Karley would leave me the leftovers from the frosting can after she was finished. I've realized that frosting is one of my love languages. But when I make a cake or cupcakes, I like to go old school: Betty Crocker. While this cookbook was published in the days of June Cleaver, it has done wonders for the world of frosting with such a simple yet perfect frosting recipe. Don't let those crazy feminists ever tell you that Betty Crocker was bad for womankind. I'm adding the recipe for you here. My one insider's tip in making this frosting for yourself is to add more milk than the recipe requires. First make it according to the book, then add milk until you get your own preference for consistency. I made 24 cupcakes and had a lot of frosting left over. The finished product is so sugary and delish, you'll never want to eat a whip-cream-esque-knockoff-awful-variety-that-comes-on-those-store-bought-cakes ever again.

I happen to believe that the best kind of cupcakes are chocolate cake on the bottom (devil's food, in this instance) with this vanilla frosting on top. I wanted to spice up my Thursday night so I raided the cabinets and found a bunch of food coloring. Yellow seemed sunshiney and appropriate, so I went with that. I'm also a big advocate of the KitchenAid mixer. My mom has had that thing for years and it is so great. Too many times when I'm in charge of the stirring, you'll bite into a huge chunk of butter that I didn't mix in all the way. It's easier and makes great batter. 

I'm actually proud of the minimal drips on those muffin pans. Usually I'm so messy I may as well just have dumped the entire bowl of batter over the cupcake papers and hoped for the best. Below you'll find pictures of the finished product, which I'm bringing over to my grandpa's after lunch today as a continuation of his birthday week celebration. Remember how I said there was leftover frosting? There isn't leftover frosting anymore. I'll say that much. I also should probably eat about seventeen whole cauliflowers today to counteract the damage I've done to my general health and nutritional balance. Worth it.