Cupcakes are Lame... or at Least I Keep Telling Myself

I'm over the cupcake, in theory. They are so fashionable that they have become passé. A new Magnolia Bakery has moved in to the Upper West Side, so now ladies, babies and dogs can experience their confections a little closer to home. Hauling your butt down to the West Village, waiting in line with countless tourists for that bite-sized treat can be a grueling task.

So, in theory, I'm over them... and yet, I keep making them.

Hypocrisy? Perhaps. Delicious? Definitely. I feel like a hamster in a sugar-coated wheel, running away from and to this American dessert. There is just something about the cupcake. For a person like myself, a girl who is often looking for her will-power, a diminutive dessert is ideal. I could cut myself a huge hunk of cake, or I can savor one darling little cupcake. They are the perfect size to satiate my sweet tooth.

These cupcakes were topped with Swiss Meringue, a not too sweet concoction of egg whites and sugar that beats the pants off of 7 Minute Icing. After mounding each cupcake with the pillowy topping, I put them in the broiler for a moment. They browned to a lovely, crisp top, firming ever so slightly. The cupcakes were like little bites of meringue pie.

So I guess I will continue making cupcakes, I will just hate myself while eating every delightful morsel. I'm just a cupcake masochist.