#71 Ultimate Cupcake

Hermione

   Somehow,  some way, the origin of this recipe is MIA.  Like Michele  Urvater, I searched for a way to make the perfect cream-filled cupcake, like Hostess only better.  Being lazy, unlike Michele, my recipe needed to be one with fewer steps.  The internet presented one - called Ultimate Cupcake - which has you fill the minicake before baking, thus eliminating the tedious cut-a-cone-from-the-center-fill-and-close-up process.  Only it didn't work.  There was no creamy filling inside the cake, but the recipe did produce  extremely moist and tasty cupcakes.  Once frosted with Michele's unfailing, always perfect Beginner's Chocolate Buttercream (page 309, Chocolate Cake), they were irresistible, vanished completely upon arrival at a lovely outdoor party.  One observant soul even tracked me down at the gala to comment on how he adored the coffee in that frosting.  Next time, I'll apply more time to this endeavor using either Michele's method ( page 281, Chocolate Cake) or maybe Bobby Flay's inject-filling-using-pastry-bag technique (page 124, Food Network Magazine, The Chocolate Issue, March 2012).
   On the same afternoon, at this very picnic, present were a variety of pet laying hens and 15 or so French Something-or-other unnamed and anonymous meat chickens.  These fancy fowl have endeared themselves to the lady of the house but not at all to her husband, who maintains, "Chickens are stupid." All of these animals evacuated during the Waldo Fire first by traveling in an old family van from which the seats had been removed and perches installed, with no air conditioning and no working windows.  Time was of the essence, and it was hot, so a family friend quickly assisted with temperature control by removing front side windows with his handy Louisville Slugger.  The chicken-hating but kind-hearted man of the house then drove them 2 hours in 90 degree heat to a safe city; he incidentally failed to bond with any chicken in any way during the journey. The poultry survived evacuation by vacationing in an oh-so-generous family member's garage for the duration of the forest fire.

They come like this, just like Easter eggs!

   Finally, at this same gathering, a young man explained to me why all the Facetime, Skype, Facebook, and electronic social media in the world is just not as good as being in the same town as one's girlfriend. Won't go into it here, but if I ever write that romance novel, I have been educated.  I learned just what to say.