The Best $15 Purchase

I've always been proud (well, let's be honest - boastful) about my homemade baked goodies. I painstakingly cream together butter and sugar with nothing more than my favorite wooden spoon, a lot of patience and generous output from my right bicep muscle. I brag that hard work and love are what make my cookies more delicious than others (that statement may have been a bit premature).


Last year, on one of our weekly trips to the Quah Target, we walked by the kitchen aisle (as we always do). I browsed the appliances and impulsively grabbed a $15 hand-held electric mixer. Not the fancy Kitchen-Aid stand up mixer. Not a mixer with multiple speeds, attachments, flashing lights, or other worthwhile technology. Just a $15 mixer with 6 speeds, 2 beaters, and an additional whisk attachment (although it only came with 1 beater, so maybe I even picked up the reject package). It sat and collected dust in its first year. 


During birthday season at work (yes, we have an entire season for birthdays - as in 5 of 7 team members have b-days within a 5 week period) the mixer was brought out of hibernation a few times. It wasn't until the year of the D3 (that is, Dirty Thirty) where I realized the true value of a handheld mixer.


Let's back up a bit. The week was the United Way Bake Sale, which is a "fundraiser" in all shapes in forms but for me it's a chance to annihilate the competition in the company. (I took 1st place for the 3rd year in a row, and won the coveted Red Spatula Award). I sold $175 in baked goods in about 5 hrs. The weekend was Sarah's D3 party, where I would break all my rules (i.e. "I don't bake cupcakes") and cater her cupcakes. My life has been a cupcake factory ever since. 

The Red Spatula

Sarah's birthday ended up with 5 flavors and over 70 cupcakes: Golden Butter w/ Fudge Frosting, Strawberry on Strawberry, Mocha w/ PB Cream Cheese Frosting, Autumn Spice w/ Maple Icing, and Lemon w/ Lime Icing. The Boyfriend came home from school to a house and front yard smelling like a bakery. Cupcakes aren't even the star of the show - it's all in the frosting!

Autumn Spice w/ Maple; Mocha w/ PB Cream Cheese

Strawberry on Strawberry; Lemon w/ Lime Icing

Golden Butter w/ Fudge

Homemade frosting comes from butter, powdered sugar, and an electric mixer. Hands down. I had butter in every nook and cranny in the house (even a bit on Kona the Pup) and enough powdered sugar to make even the DEA suspicious of Columbian coke dealers within my pastry operation. 


And if 70 cupcakes wasn't enough, I ended up with keg cups of leftover frosting in the fridge. What was a girl supposed to do? Throw it out? What a waste! Instead, I make more cupcakes for the Coworkers (ultimately building my reputation as a bad ass baker so that I can again annihilate in the 2011 Bake Sale). 

Next up - Melanie's D3. Here comes Freckled Strawberry Lemonade and Espresso Chip cupcakes. Strawberry cakes were the favorite, but the espresso frosting was definitely the buzz!


And last night - Lemon on Lemon for the Boyfriend's potluck at Microsoft. Plus Caramel Macchiato Brownies (milk chocolate brownie w/ caramel filling and espresso frosting). So what if I have a issue throwing away frosting? It'd be such a waste (typical psychology of a hoarder...)


And tomorrow - pudding filled white cupcakes w/ raspberry frosting for Barb's birthday. Gotta spoil my workplace "mom". I told the Boyfriend that I'd be done after those ones...


But I lied. Tuesday - Choco-holic Cupcakes for Tony's birthday. Gotta spoil the Payroll guy who fixes your mistakes (that's good business). 


Everyone always asks, "How do you stay in shape if you bake all the time?" 
I always say, "I don't eat what I bake."
Now, I should say, "I don't eat what I bake in front of you, I hoard it like a fat kid hoards cupcakes."