The Morning After

What happened last night?

Well…there was a good amount of beating just to get things started…

And then I played “just the tip”…

I laid it on pretty thick…

Then took it all off…

Eric got really excited toward the end…

Sorry I’m not sorry.

Seriously you guys…these cupcakes were the best cupcakes I have ever tasted in my entire life. I am not prone to hyperbole. Yes, I get really excited about everything, but I wouldn’t say this if it weren’t true. They were INSANE. I like gourmet cupcakes, but I have never loved anything from Magnolia as much as a good old-fashioned Duncan Hines cupcake from a box.

Until now.

Betty Crocker has gone down! I followed this recipe for white chocolate cupcakes and this recipe for the frosting and followed these directions for frosting them all fancy. The cupcakes had the super moist, springy texture of a boxed-mix cupcake, but just tasted better. And the frosting…oh my God. The white chocolate wasn’t overpowering and every bite was just perfect, buttercreamy goodness.

I’m not going to lie, the frosting was one of the hardest baking projects I’ve ever done and I was really intimidated about what was essentially a science experiment. I was armed with a candy thermometer and pound of butter (YUP) and by the end had frosting everywhere (including my hair, my foot, and up my leg when I knocked the extra frosting on the floor…and it was so fluffy that Eric helped me scoop off most of it since it hadn’t hit the floor…and even if it had, I wouldn’t have cared because it was so goddamn good). But even though I only was able to make five cupcakes look pretty and I had to do about four rounds of dishes to make this meal happen…I will do it again before too long because the effect was mind-blowing.

Eric got some good news yesterday and we were feeling celebratory, so I bought champagne to have with the cupcakes and the homemade mac and cheese (try not to pee your pants — I’ll post the recipe tomorrow).

I was anticipating a major food hangover, but none of the food was too rich or sugary, and I was able to (somehow?) practice self-control and only have one serving of mac and cheese and one cupcake. We actually felt so great after dinner that we headed to Memorial Park and went for a really nice three-mile walk.

I’d say this was officially one of the top five meals of my life. The gorgeous weather in Houston this week, the fact that we survived such a brutal fight, the good news yesterday, and the fact that it was the eve of my favorite month of the year….it was all just too good.

October is starting off so right!