The Honolulu Zoo took me in with open arms. From volunteering once a week in the keiki (kid) zoo to working at the summer weekly concerts to pitching in for the annual fundraising gala. The initial project I was tasked with for the fundraiser was one part of a much larger whole of the silent auction. Within a couple of weeks of involvement, I agreed to more and more pieces until the 10 days prior to the event when the zoo consumed my whole life. Don't get me wrong; it was wonderful to be busy, adrenalin pumping, to-do lists all over the place, laundry piled up high, falling asleep before my head hit the pillow...though for a few days leading up to the event, the stress level was ridiculous, had to miss hula class, and I was completely disconnected from everything.
All of this is meant to paint a picture of what life was like in our house on Sunday evening the week of the Friday night event. For some reason, at 9:15pm, I decided that there was no time like the present to make cupcakes. Plus, cupcakes are meant to be shared, so I was planning to take some to the zoo office in an attempt to keep morale high during crunch time.
Our friend recently moved away from Hawaii and gave us a bag of grocery items, which included a can of frosting and cupcake papers. I bought a box of Betty Crocker a couple of weeks ago so we could have a little cake treat some rainy day. But, did I mention that we live in Hawaii? Every day is a rainy day but never a rained-out day. Any day can be a cupcake day!
One other thing to share: our furnished, leased condo doesn't come with a muffin pan or any other baking dish, and oddly, I was too cheap to buy the $4.99 pan I saw at Wal-Mart. Since our friend had also given us a huge roll of aluminum foil, I was sure I could finagle something to make cupcakes with and not spend any more money. I believe this is relevant information because having cupcake papers while only living in a place for a few months, seems kind of odd (not that this post is odd or anything). Just justifying why I had them.
The pictures below illustrate the steps I took to make cupcakes, which I would not recommend, mainly because there are other activities in life worth this effort. It did present a new challenge and reason to get the camera out, plus a break from ironing polyester tote bags.
Yep, that's the bottom piece of a broiler pan. We use it to make rolls, cinnamon rolls, and now, cupcakes. Why isn't there a cookie sheet in this place???
Trial and error led me to cutting a strip of foil about 3 inches wide, folding it, and wrapping the piece around the cupcake paper container before dropping the single paper inside.
Had to use all the colors and make sure the colors didn't repeat too many times.
Kept the number manageable. This is not the method one should use when making cupcakes for a large group or classroom, obviously.
Golden, still the proper shape, fluffy...success!
It was too late to frost them all, so I just made two for Jeff and me to taste-test.
Very yummy.
I was surprised by how many people were happy to see cupcakes at the office, especially since there happened to be a chocolate cake and a cheesecake for a staff birthday. All the cupcakes got eaten, receiving rave reviews. Betty Crocker doesn't disappoint.
What was I saying about giving tasks to busy people? I'm the kind of busy person that likes to add in a little sweetness to my otherwise overloaded plate. There's always room for dessert.
