Today, I was reminded by Mary Claire's kindergarten teacher that Wednesday is Nursery Rhyme day and all moms needed to have their assigned goods turned in to school by tomorrow. I'll begin by telling you that mom-help sign up was emailed out back in September. By the time I had emailed that I wanted to help, there was only one task no one had agreed to do: the cupcakes. So, I agreed to take on the ever popular task of making the cupcakes. Easy, right? Yeah, not so much.
First let me begin by reminding all of my friends that I am not a planner aheader. I am not type A, but rather B or C, or whatever letter you assign to a person that hates to have a letter assigned to them in the first place. Pretty much this tells you that I do things last minute. In fact, I do just about everything last minute. This little factor includes making cupcakes for Nursery Rhyme Day.
Now, because I have put these cupcakes off to the very last minute, and have not planned ahead to make them, I found myself in the strange predicament of not having one single box of cake mix on hand. And, with Bennett at Bible Study, I am at home with two sleeping kids, a car, keys, and money, but no babysitter. No biggie, I thought to myself. I'll just make them from scratch.
Before I go any farther with my story I know that I have some readers who have never ever ever used a boxed cake mix and would call that cheating (you know who you are!!!). But I LOVE a boxed yellow cake like you would not believe! It is my favorite! Mmmmmmmmmm......
I digress. Anyway, on to the scratch part. So I started pulling down my every-recipe-known-to-man cookbooks to find a yellow cake recipe that calls for ingredients I actually have on hand. What the heck is shortening anyway? That one threw me for a loop. But after skirting the shortening recipes, I found one that called for plain ol' butter that looked good. And easy.
HA!! Yeah Right!!
45 minutes later, I have yellow cake cupcakes for Nursery Rhyme Day. 45 minutes later! Like I have 45 minutes to spare the night before LAMBS. And that 45 minutes didn't even include baking time. Puh lease!
Ladies, do NOT try making cupcakes from scratch. Use a mix. Save yourself 431/2 minutes. You're worth it.
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7 comments:
i never knew about cake mixes until after we were married...my mom always did stuff from scratch! and yes, it did and still does take hours. she still makes bread, etc. from scratch as a 'stress reliever!' it's amazing how far we've come and how much easier things are these days:) next time call me and i'll run a box over...what a sweet mommy to spend that much time on it. i can't wait to see what character Mary Claire is!
this is hilarious and speaks to the heart of another not planner aheader. :) good for you for getting them done! are we still on for tomorrow night? :)
That's too funny... I bet you're hinting at one of the Wise sisters! Well, I can assure you that I have never made cupcakes from scratch, nor do I intend to! Good job though, the picture is certainly pretty!
I SO understand loving the cake box mix. I much prefer a mix (for cupcakes) than homemade. I also prefer the tube of chocolate chip cookie mix to homemade ones. And, after a few years of making my kid's b-day cakes and causing stress over their celebrations Brian and I discussed how we LOVE the taste of b-day cakes made at a bakery much more than any homemade cake. I should have never read your post. This visual person is now hungry for some cupcakes! :)
You are the super Mom. I once had a roommate (she took me in as a tenant when I was about to become homeless -long story) who did wedding cakes for a side business. All her baking classes insisted on boxed Betty Crocker moist cake mixes instead of baking from scratch saying they taste better and are easier to decorate. When I would return from work so many days during that time, I would smell her mega wedding cakes baking in the oven, and she always generously let me eat her cake tops. Yummy!
Oh - and when I got into my all natural eating kick, I thought I would try baking from scratch to avoid the trans fats in boxed mixes. However, shortening (aka CRISCO) is just one big tub of 100% trans fat so those recipes are no less unhealthy than good ol' Betty Crocker.
You rock! I bet you'll never run out of cake mix again. Yellow cake mix and the tub of chocolate frosting is a McKnight family tradition. I'll always remember the look of horror on Bennett's face when I told him my family's Christmas tradition was slice and bake sugar cookies.
HILARIOUS about the shortening!! HA HA!!! I love it! You rock.
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