Frosting, Fun For All

You’ve probably gotten the idea by now that I love cooking classes. Never mind that I’ve been cooking practically my entire life, I love cooking classes. There’s always something new to learn, a tip to be gleaned, a technique to be tweaked or a favorite ingredient to be used in a new and different way.

With this in mind, I signed up for a cupcake decorating class held recently at my favorite grocery store. Two perfect food groups (cake and frosting) in one class, what’s not to love? Each student was given 8 cupcakes; 3 white, 3 chocolate and 2 red velvet. Frosting choices for the evening were butter cream, ganache and cream cheese. The two chef instructors discussed the characteristics of the different frostings, demonstrated a variety of cake decorating tips and frosting techniques and they even taught us how to slice a strawberry fan. With the tutorial complete, the seriously sugary fun began. The chefs presented a veritable buffet of toppings/decorating options: raspberries, strawberries, crushed pistachios, toasted coconut, jimmies, nonpareils, candy corn, red hots…the list goes on. Then we commenced to frost, decorate and embellish at will. We were, to coin a phrase, like kids in a candy store. At best, we each had eight delicious, decadently decorated cupcakes to take home; at worst, we got to eat the mistakes. Talk about a win-win.

This reminded me of my buddy Jarrod (remember him? http://kitchen-loulou.blogspot.com/2010/07/jarrod-me.html). After Jarrod issued that sweet edict “I want to cook with you” we had his family over for dinner and we did indeed cook together. The highpoint of the evening was dessert. I baked two dozen cupcakes earlier in the day and prepared a batch of butter cream frosting. When Jarrod and his family arrived I set out small bowls of sprinkles, miniature chocolate chips and sugar sparkles. While my sweet husband was grilling the entrée, Jarrod, his brother Jason, his mom and I had ourselves a cupcake decorating party. Jarrod and Jason let their imaginations run wild and piled on as must frosting and flair as those cupcakes could hold (and then some!) Did they look like cupcakes you’d see in a bakery window? Absolutely not, they were far superior to anything store bought. You could see the joy those kids had taken in creating their edible masterpieces. One bite and you could taste the love, every grin and giggle we shared that night flavored each cupcake like none I’d eaten before or since.

I think the key is the frosting, it’s just plain fun. Don’t get me wrong, I like cake, too, but really, it’s mostly just a vehicle for the frosting. The good part about people who don’t care for frosting (I know, it’s inconceivable, but they’re out there) is if you sit next to them at party, they’ll eat their cake, but you can have their frosting. Remember this the next you go to a birthday party and scope out the room for the person scraping their frosting aside and just eating the cake. You’d really be doing them something of a public service, preventing them from wasting food and all. A noble lot, us frosting lovers.

However, I digress (I know, ya’ll are shocked). Fast forward three weeks after my cupcake class my dear cousin Lisa took a cake pops class at a craft store in her home town. I’d read about cake pops countless times, been intrigued by them and had every intention of trying them, I just hadn’t quite gotten around to it yet. Once Cousin conquered her class, I was more inspired than ever. We spent the next three days emailing and talking about cake pops. Really, three days and I’m not finished asking questions; Cousin is sending me her tip sheet from the class. If you haven’t met cake pops yet, they’re basically crumbled cake & frosting formed into balls, perched on a lollipop stick, dipped in melted candy coating and decorated in myriad ways, your own imagination is the only limitation with these little gems.

In a haze of butter cream and cake crumbs, it occurred to me that we shouldn’t limit this kind of fun to kids or classes, why not make it part of your next dinner party, barbeque or game night? Make your own cupcakes or pick up some undecorated from your supermarket bakery, same with the frosting. Visit the baking aisle, the candy aisle and the produce department for topping options. Stop by your local craft store or culinary shop for even more specialized toppings and treats. Your friends and family will love it, I promise. Frosting really is fun for all.