Cake No. 1

I'm not the fondest of cake--it's usually too dry and sugary--yet somehow I fell into a recent obsession with baking cupcakes and cakes. I can't remember how this happened, but I do know that it's been aided by the vintage-inspired cupcakes that Magnolia Bakery offers daily to their lucky NYC neighbors. My parents stumbled on Magnolia during their recent trip, and brought back a cookbook which I've been "borrowing" for the past month. (There are a couple of Magnolia Bakery cookbooks, but "More from Magnolia" features their best-selling cupcake and frosting recipes. You can also find the vanilla cupcake and buttercream frosting recipe here.)

My first batch of cupcakes was a disaster. Although they tasted amazing, they looked horrible. It was my first time to make anything other than cream cheese frosting and it seemed to separate into bits of butter. To make matters worse, I attempted to mix food coloring to create a nice and muted purple color and instead it came out looking like botched chocolate frosting. A friend took pity on me and encouraged me to try Wilton icing colors which is what I used here, and now love. (Thank you, Traci!) I am definitely a baking novice...sigh.

So here it is, my first layered cake frosted to anti-perfection, but sure to taste wonderful at our beach picnic this evening...