Cupcake Nation

noun:
small cake baked in a muffin tin

As a life-long cupcake connoisseur, it doesn't surprise me to see the little charmers hanging out on decks and porches across America. I'm not sure what they are thinking from those spots or their plans for the future. But, in the current world environment, what could be friendlier or more benign?

I live in a nice neighborhood, but I'd rather see chocolate cupcakes over the fence than those two yippy dogs next door. They've both been to obedience school -- individually and as a team -- but, based on the non-result results, the owner should demand a refund.

Cupcakes don't yell something about the Oklahoma Sooners at me on College Gameday or bark loudly every time I go out to water the tomatoes. One of them is named "Boomer." I'm hoping that a plan to add a "Sooner" isn't on the drawing board.

Cupcakes don't shoot off firecrackers leftover from July 4th past August 30 after 10 p.m. at night. Cupcakes don't have four vehicles plus a boat for three residents sticking out into the street in direct defiance of the Highlands Ranch Community Association bylaws.

If only everyone could be a cupcake.....

I have a lot of terrific friends on Facebook -- some I know and some I "know" from being a part of the world's biggest pen pal program. But, one of my friends on Facebook isn't even, well, human. I found my friend, Sprinkles Cupcakes, because of a favorite blog (see blog roll).

Said blog, "Cupcakes Take the Cake," has a Facebook group and "introduced" me to Sprinkles. I am not so fortunate to live in a market with a Sprinkles, although I know because of my friendship with Sprinkles that Palo Alto, CA has one now. I get all the memos.

For any fan of cupcakes, this blog is a daily orgy of Flicker-based photography, the likes of which has caused me to create a notebook just for cupcake decorating ideas. It seems like every cupcakery (a real word!) in the U.S. is linked to the blog.

Like most subjects, the cupcake has its detractors. Hard to believe, huh?! But some humorless folks - men and women - have tired of all the attention paid the mighty cupcake. Lately, the CTTC blog hosts themselves have begun to take issue with the "misuse" of the term cupcake.

There it is -- that's the segue.

The CTTC doesn't know I'm guilty, but I am not afraid to admit it. I have definitely used the word "cupcake" in the past few weeks to describe a relatively weak college football opponent for a college football powerhouse. The context involved the reshuffling of rankings after the first week among the top ten teams due to cupcake vs. non-cupcake results.

I don't have anything against cupcakes. I just don't believe that a #1-ranked team that blows a cupcake out of a stadium in the first week should complain if the #3-ranked team plays a non-cupcake, gets the same result, and subsequently takes over their higher ranking. Because the #2-ranked team also sort of blows out a cupcake. ESPN, the AP poll, and the Coaches Poll agreed. So, it must be true :)

Dick Vitale is guiltier than me. He has his very own "Cupcake City" award, bestowed upon Division I basketball teams with many lesser opponents on their schedules. The colloquial use of cupcake logically extends to the phrase "loading up on cupcakes."

Yum.

If I was going to load up on cupcakes, I'd be torn among the Fighting Red Velvet Creamcheese Frostings, the Demon Dark Chocolate Vanilla Buttercreams, and the Mighty Devilsfood Mints.

I think ALL of my cupcakes would be VERY competitive.