Saturday, March 17, 2012

Weekend Cooking: How do you eat a cupcake?

Yesterday I reviewed How to Eat a Cupcake by Meg Donohue. I was just going to link up my review for Weekend Cooking, but then I couldn't resist asking this question!

In the early part of the book, Julia explains how she eats a cupcake:

It takes a person with a serious sweet tooth to hide desserts in secret stashes. Mine is that serious. The previous night, after trying one of Annie's cupcakes, I'd immediately walked into the kitchen, taken a mocha-flavored cupcake from a tray awaiting circulation, and hidden it behind a jar of wild-grain rice on a lower shelf in the pantry. Now, I walked to the kitchen, shut the pantry door behind me, retrieved the cupcake from its hiding place, and, feeling only the slightest mortification for my little covert cupcake operation, took a large bite.

I had, I'll admit, affected a certain style - a method, if you will - of cupcake eating. To begin, you remove the cupcake liner carefully so as not to unnecessarily crumble the cake, and set it aside. You then turn the cupcake slowly in your hand, taking bites along the line where cake meets icing, your mouth filling with a perfect combination of both components. Once you've come full circle, you gently twist off the bottom half inch of cake, a move that takes considerable finesse and leaves a delicate sliver of cake - the ideal size for lying flat on your tongue and allowing it to slowly dissolve, building anticipation for that final bite. To finish, you are left with the center cylinder of cake and icing, the cupcake's very heart, sometimes filled with a surprising burst of custard or jam or mousse, sometimes not, but always, always, the most moist, flavorful bite of the entire cupcake. Take a breath before diving into that final, perfect bite; it is to be savored for as long as possible. Finally, of course, you scavenge the crumbs from the cupcake liner you set aside during step one, then ball the liner into your fist and overhand it into the nearest receptacle. Make the shot? You get another cupcake.

But I've gotten ahead of myself. Back to that very first bit of hidden cupcake in the pantry: a soft cap of vanilla buttercream giving way to light, creamy mocha cake. I kept eating, turning the cupcake slowly in my hand. This was not rich, one-bite-and-you-couldn't-have-more chocolate. This was refined, complex chocolate cut with a hint of coffee and what else...Currant? Salt? A grown-up, masterful cupcake. it was perfect. I leaned back against the shelves in the cool, dark pantry and felt myself relax.

I am pretty sure that I have never seen anyone eat a cupcake quite like that. But then I wondered - exactly how do I eat a cupcake. There was only one thing for it. At lunch time on Thursday I headed to the cupcake shop that is conveniently located just around the corner from work and bought myself a red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting (the best bit!) so that I could see what my preferred cupcake eating methodology is!

It turns out that I like to cut my cupcake into quarters and then I eat the bottom part of the quarter, quickly followed by the top part which is a mix of the cake and the frosting, and then I repeat those steps with the next three quarters. Sometimes I will eat the decoration first (in this case a red heart made out of icing) but other times, like this week, I eat it last.

As much as I like the cupcakes from that shop, they are nowhere near as orgasmic as the one described above, and there isn't that much variety in the flavours, particularly compared to the other flavours that are described in the book which sound just divine!

So, my questions to you all....

What is your favourite flavour cupcake?


How do you eat a cupcake?



Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. For more information, see the welcome post.

42 comments:

  1. I always go for the spice flavors: so I'd be looking for ginger or molasses. I think I just bite in, eating from front to back ... but I may have to buy one today --- just for experiment's sake, you know. LOL.

    I have this book on my list to read.

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    1. Beth, I don't think we actually have spice flavours at the shop that I go to. I might have to go back to check again!

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  2. Hmmm.... my favorite cupcake.... must be.... white chocolate and cherry :)

    And how will I eat it... I just remove part of the wrapper and take a bite, holding the cupcake in the wrapper :)

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    1. Nice, although I like white chocolate and raspberry when I can get them.

      I never leave the wrapper on while I eat one!

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  3. I love vanilla cupcakes with orange buttercream frosting...hm, now I'm craving a cupcake!

    I also cut mine into pieces first.

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    1. Bookgirl, orange buttercream frosting sounds awesome!

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  4. When I eat a cupcake, I take the liner off, separate the bottom from the top, eating the bottom first. Why? I love the taste of just cake in my mouth, but love the take of iced cake too. This way I have my cake and eat it too. My favorite cupcake is devil's food cake with white icing. Second favorite is an iced spice cupcake. I never realized I have so many thoughts about cupcakes. Thanks for this post.

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    1. Alex, it is amazing how many things there are to contemplate about cupcakes.

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  5. Nothing beats a red velvet cupcake from Two Little Red Hens on the Upper East Side in NYC. It is heavenly!

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    1. Diane, I would like to make it to a NYC cupcakery some day!

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  6. My niece makes an amazing chocolate cupcake with peanut butter frosting. I usually eat mine with a fork and just take the top half of the cupcake so each bite is half icing half cake.

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    1. Lisa, peanut butter frosting sounds a little overwhelming for me as I don't really like nuts, and my son has an allergy to other nut types, but I can imagine that for someone who does like it, peanut butter frosting would be delicious!

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    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  7. My daughter made the most delicious chocolate cupcakes last weekend with a recipe from Magnolia Bakery and fluffy peanut butter frosting from allrecipes.com. They were for her friend's birthday, but let us try one - Wow! Great post.

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    1. JoAnn, I haven't actually made any cupcakes other than using packet cake mix. I might need to experiment with some flavour combinations!

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  8. We have a new cupcakery in our town and they never quite live up to what I want it to be. Julia must be eating my cupcake! I think I cut mine up also but next time I'm going to try her method and see if it improves my taste buds. What a fun post!

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    1. Peaceful Reader, enjoy your next cupcake!

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  9. I love coconut cupcakes with lime icing. I usually eat all the icing first, then the cupcake itself - strange, I know!

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    1. Sam, that flavour combinations sounds so exotic!

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  10. I can't believe you cut your cupcake--I'm nowhere near that refined! I usually go for the icing first and work my way down, peeling the paper away as I go. We have a shop in town that specializes in cupcakes (not a typical sweet food in France, and they have an English baker who makes them). I always go for the carrot cake one with cream cheese icing, because the flavor reminds me of home. Yum.

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    1. Beth, the main reason for doing so is because I don't want to get frosting on my nose!

      I pretty much always choose a flavour that has cream cheese frosting whether it be red velvet, lemon poppyseed, banana or carrot.

      I am reading a book called Paris, My Sweet at the moment, and she talked about how cupcakes are becoming more popular in Paris. At the same times as macaroons were becoming popular in America, cupcakes were doing the same in France.

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  11. MMMM cupcakes....and oh, I love the orgasmic eating quote! lol I'm afraid I eat my cupcakes like she does - remove the liner, eat the cake part first, and then the last bit of moist inside cake and the icing. I save the best for last. Chocolate, of course! this was so fun to read, Marg!

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  12. I have been seeing this book around. The passage that you quoted is funny - she is REALLY into cupcakes. I don't have a method, myself, I just kind of dive in!

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    1. Libby, she is REALLY into them, which is lucky for her business!

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  13. Cream filled chocolate! With chocolate frosting, of course. And I confess, I eat my cupcakes with a fork. Otherwise I tend to get frosting smeared on my face.

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    1. Softdrink, I would like to try a good cupcake with a gooey centre. They do have one that has jam into the middle of it, but it was kind of non-descript when I change it.

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  14. my fav...how to pick? Let's say I am not sure I ever met a cupcake I did not like.
    How to eat it? start at one side and work across.

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    1. Cate, you will just have to keep trying just to make sure that there isn't any that you don't like it

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  15. I love lemon cupcakes and I have not method--but I like your idea of cutting it into sections-less messy that way! Lovely post-and now I want to go bake some cupcakes.
    *smiles*

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    1. Kim, I am impressed that you are going to bake. I would probably go and see if I can buy one from somewhere!

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  16. I LOVE CUPCAKES! I peel the paper off and eat the bottom first. Then the top. I like most kinds but given the choice my favorite is vanilla with chocolate frosting! I'm going to a bridal shower tomorrow at a cupcake bakery and I think for decorum's sake, I'll use your method!

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    1. Carol, that sounds like a fabulous place to have a bridal shower!

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  17. Fun passage! I haven't had a cupcake in years, but if I were to have one, it would definitely involve chocolate icing.

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    1. Haven't had a cupcake in years?? I admire your self control Joy!

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  18. lol This is a cute post! To be honest, I just open my mouth as wide as it will go and then stuff as much of the cupcake as I can into it. It's not terribly sophisticated. ;)

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  19. Great passage! I felt like I was eating that cupcake right along with the narrator! Only now my mouth is watering and I really want one right now! Yikes!

    I love that you went and did a little cupcake eating research for us. ;)

    My favorite cupcake flavor is ALL OF THEM! I don't think I ever met a cupcake that I didn't want to bite. I've had some really magnificent cupcakes from a NYC famous cupcake bakery called Crumbs. Dangerous! I probably tend to gravitate to pumpkin spice or some kind of mocha cupcake. omg want now.

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    1. Christine, it's the length that I go to for the blog. Otherwise, you would never have caught me going into the cupcake shop. *cough*

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  20. Chocholate Mud, eaten from the bottom first. There are no other flavours.

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    1. Apparently there are a whole world of other flavours Sean!

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  21. Typically, whenever I have birthday cakes, I smear off the cream and eat the cake with the fruits or whatever is inside/on top of the cake without the cream. Somehow I've transferred this habit over to cupcakes as well. I wipe off most of the "icing" swirled on top of a cupcake, and then eat the cake part with just a very slim layer of icing-residue left on the surface. This habit developed because I can't justify stuffing cream in my mouth with thoughts of all the fat/calorie in it...so I wipe off the majority of the cream. However, I LOVE looking at pretty cupcakes with HUGE swirls of icing because it's so delicately pretty!

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