The Cupcake Chronicles

“Ok, Pix. Everything’s ready now, come and help now!”

Within seconds of her calling out, Blaze heard the scrambling of Pixie’s paws from the floor above her, quickly followed by thumping as he ran down each step with blinding speed. The footsteps only got louder until he finally burst into the kitchen, skidding on the tiles to a stop.

“YES! Finally! It’s cupcake time!” He cheered as he approached the counter, hopping onto the stool Blaze had set up so he could see over the counter. It was covered with mixing bowls, measuring cups, ingredients, and baking trays already lined, ready for batter. Pixie reached out to grab one of the eggs, but Blaze quickly intervened, blocking him with her paws.

“Hold on, did you wash your paws?” She asked.

“Of course I did!” He whined and rolled his eyes. “See?” Pixie proceeded to shove his paws into Blaze’s muzzle. They smelled faintly of orange. Blaze pushed the kit’s paws out of her face. 

“Ok, ok, I can tell. Either way, the eggs aren’t first. We need to mix all the dry ingredients first, like it says here. Then all the wet ingredients get mixed in a separate bowl.” 

She grabbed a sheet of paper which contained a recipe for red velvet cupcakes and cream cheese frosting she had found online and printed it out. She hoped this one was a good recipe or that she was even allowed to use a recipe that wasn’t her own. They were for a charity bake sale, after all, which is why she wasn’t taking the easy way out with a pre-made box mix.

Also, there was the… ahem… “other thing” that Blaze wanted to do, so from scratch it is.

“So, you can start mixing all the dry stuff through a sift, and I’ll start creaming the butter. Then I’ll let you crack the eggs. Just be careful and don’t spill anything.”

“Yeah, yeah, I got this!” Pixie chirped, reaching for a measuring cup and going for the bag of flour. Blaze plugged in the electric paw mixer, and began mixing the softened butter at a low speed. The two continued with their separate bowls. 

When it came to eggs, Pixie was surprisingly good at it, not getting any shells in the batter. Blaze combined the two bowls of ingredients, creating a thick, red batter. Pixie watched eagerly as Blaze pulled the baking tins closer, grabbing a small spoon to pour the batter into them.

“Ooo, can I lick the spoon? Please, please, please??” The kit begged.

“Not now! I’m still filling them! Wait until I’m done, dude.”

“But there’s so many to fill!”

“Dude! Just wait!”

“Fine…”

Blaze scoffed as she continued to fill the liners. It didn’t even take that long to fill them all. As promised, she passed over the spoon to Pixie, who went to town on that poor thing.  Blaze put the trays into the oven carefully, making sure nothing spilled out of them.

“Ok, now we just need to wait…” Blaze scanned the recipe again. “...20 minutes. Then, cooling time. After that, we can decorate them, ok?” She waited for Pixie to respond, but he was too distracted, staring through the oven door at the goods.“Pixie?” She tried again “Hey, don’t you still need to do all your cards for your class tomorrow?”

That got his attention. “Crap!” Those were his last words before he bolted out the kitchen and back upstairs to his room. Blaze did nothing but stare as he did.

She should prep the icing bags for now, those were always annoying to fill. If she was going to do that, she should also get the sprinkles ready. And…

She grabbed the shopping bag she had left on the table. Inside there was a container of heart shaped sprinkles the two of them were going to put on all the cupcakes for decoration. It wasn’t the only thing that was in there, however. 

There was also a very small container of detailed candy decorations. They were ones that she had to buy individually, and at a pretty hefty price. 200 cloud coins each, all for a piece of candy not even the size of a toe bean. They were all shaped like different plants and flowers, as well as a big heart. There were a few shaped like carnations, a few orchids, and a couple four leaf clovers. There was also another flower, one that was bigger than all the others, and meant as the center piece.

A purple hyacinth.

Am I really going to do this?

Blaze became extremely nervous at the thought of making and handing out the special cupcake. Was it too corny? Is something like this their style? She sighed.

Sorry… Maybe another time…