Mmm... cupcakes?

My sister and her boyfriend came for a visit this weekend. It was super fun, because I rarely have visitors, but I love to play hostess. And I love to see my sister. Her boyfriend is pretty fun, too.

One of the big draws of visiting Freddy is, of course, The Market. I don't go to The Market often, because it's only on Saturday mornings, and on Saturday mornings I am usually asleep. My favourite thing to get at the market are the delightful New York style cupcakes. So when I heard I was going to have visitors, I started talking up the cupcakes like no one's business. You may remember that I adore cupcakes. They make me quite happy.

By the way, it was quite cold on the weekend. And when I say quite cold, I mean that it was -30 degrees. It made the short walk from car to The Market quite unpleasant. I think I actually felt my skin start to freeze. However, I had visions of chocolate cupcakes in my head, so I was determined to bear any hardship necessary to acquire said cupcakes.

Imagine my disappointment when there were NO CUPCAKES to be found at The Market.

I tried to put on a brave face, but I was quite sad. I got spring rolls and kettle corn as a consolation, but still, I wanted cupcakes.

We decided to make some cupcakes. From scratch. My student intern had lent me a cupcake recipe book, so after a quick (and chilly) trip to the grocery store, we were ready to make fabulous cupcakes.

Let me just say that making baked items from scratch is not my forte. I prefer a mix. From a box. Case in point, I slightly overcooked the cupcakes, and I somehow managed to mix the ingredients for the icing and not follow the directions properly. The results was a batch of dry cupcakes with runny, drippy chocolate icing. Almost inedible.

Sigh.

Next weekend, I'm breaking out the Duncan Hines.