Friday, April 29, 2011

#38: Let There Always be Cupcakes!

The closest I come to bliss in my daily, humble existence is through the simple act of baking, decorating and consuming cupcakes. Cupcakes are the most beautifully crafted and delicious of desserts, and the act of creating them also happens to be incredibly therapeutic.



Baking is something I've always enjoyed, and though some might chalk it up to the fact that I love to consume the end product, I like to think it's a hobby that brings me back to my childhood. Every time I measure out a cup of sugar or grease a cookie tray, I have vivid flashbacks of watching my mom mom whip through a cake recipe in the kitchen of our childhood home. That simple image brings me back to the simple pleasures that only childhood innocence can afford.

As an adult, baking has become a kind of release, and while I was off sick from work, I needed the release just that much more. Christmas baking in 2010 consisted of perfectly decorated gingerbread cookies, flavoured shortbread, chocolate sugar cookies, and of course cupcakes galore! Productivity was never more deliciously rewarded!

Seeing how much pride and happiness baking provided me while I was sick forced me to make it part of my weekly (or at least monthly) existence after returning to work. So a couple weeks ago, a friend and I took a one-off cupcake decorating class! We got to test our creative skills by dyeing and rolling out fondant, and then applied our decorating skills with a delicious buttercream icing. The happy results are available in the picture below.

I might be all grown up, and restricted to adult obligations like full-time work, a hectic social schedule and organized activities, but knowing I can harness childlike bliss in the name of healing reassures me that I may still be young at heart.

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