I'm one of those self-taught "let's-try-this-out-for-the-hell-of-it" bakers, but I love it. It's therapeutic, and I love seeing people's reactions when they see AND eat my baked goods (luckily, it's all been positive). This is in my blood; my grandmother is an experienced culinary artist and my mom won cake decorating contests before my siblings and I monopolized her free time. I took up this hobby this past spring as a way to pass the time since my husband was working late hours, we have a much bigger kitchen now (we used to live in a studio in Tribeca that was the size of our current living room), and I could only clean so much of the house before going out of my mind. Therefore making an even BIGGER mess of flour and sugar and butter was the next logical choice!
I occasionally bring baked goods into work for people's birthdays and special events, and one of the running jokes is that my cupcakes are so addictive I must be sprinkling crack in them (trust me, there are no illicit substances in my baking!). Another frequent comment is, "How are you still so small with all the baking you're doing? I'd be eating all the cake batter and frosting and all the cakes!" My mind works in weird ways because my immediate response was, "Well, dealers don't use their own product." haha My co-workers and friends and family have become my taste testers and if they're hooked, I MUST be doing something right.
I'm always on the lookout for new flavors and random baking gadgets and interesting concepts with which to experiment. I've jumped into making carrot cake and hand grating 10 damned carrots because our "food processor" sucked, and that first attempt at carrot cake was one of my best (unfortunately, photos were not taken). I was using a five-year-old $10 hand mixer from Bed Bath & Beyond up until my wonderful mother-in-law bought me a magnificent monster of a KitchenAid mixer. I'm just willing to turn anything resembling a cake into a cupcake. This is just a hobby with the sole purpose of getting everyone hooked on a sugar high... and making people happy.
Disclaimer: I don't condone eating more than one cupcake at a time, but I'm not responsible for cake addiction, overdosing or withdrawal stomachaches caused by my tasty baked goods because you HAD to have 3 cupcakes in one sitting. =D
