Sugar-coated Shangri-La

What's that awesome smell...?

Sunflower Cupcakes from the book Hello, Cupcake!

I was young and amazed.  The little cakes were topped with plastic rings and tasted delicious.  I got frosting on my nose and all over my hands.  It was my first cupcake, and I can only assume the chaos it created after the second one.  It was the beginning of an obsession.

Cupcakes, compared to big and normal cakes, have always been a reason to celebrate.  You cannot look serious when you eat a plump, chocolate cupcake with pink frosted flowers on top.  Japanese businessmen can’t even pull it off.  The cupcake is the only treat you cannot eat sad.  Ice cream, cookie dough, éclairs, doughnuts and doughnut holes: these are all comfort foods you devour while miserably watching soaps and drowning in self-doubt.  The cupcake is the dessert you eat with your friends as you get over it.

America has been paving the way for the popularity of the cupcake.  Thousands of specialty cupcake stores have sprung up around the country, numerous bakery-themed reality shows in their wake (as in the Ace of Cakes, Carlos Bakery, D.C. Cupcakes, and televised cupcake baking competitions).  Following suit are the cute-obsessed countries of Japan, South Korea, and China. 

Decorators have expanded the cupcake dynasty to not count taste as the leading factor, but design.  Frosting techniques are being developed and being specialized by the bakers, leading to more whimsical designs and decorations on the little cakes.  Traditional flavors are being tested as well.  Instead of just vanilla or chocolate cupcakes, there are now hundreds of flavors, like strawberry mango, caramel cappuccino, and dulce de leche.

All of these musings lead up to one goal:

2.) Perfect the Perfect Cupcake Recipe

I'm not just talking about a Plain-Jane vanilla cupcake you can get out of a box.  I want to create my own addicting flavor to add into the pot; something I can pass on to my kids and make whenever I feel like it. The instant cure for the munchies, baked (haha).  

But for now, I'm not sure what that flavor could be.  But when I find it, I know it will be totally worth it.