Cupcakes for Baseball

Updated 11 a.m., Tuesday, July 13: Our condolences to the Steinbrenner family. Baseball will not be the same. Our family's affection for the national pastime is well-known in this sphere by now. Almost as strong as my affection for Chris Tomlin. Well, Chris probably takes a small second to baseball, honestly. This year we had planned our family vacation around another MLB city we had yet to visit: Minneapolis/St. Paul, otherwise known as Joe Mauer's hometown. While there, we took in a game at Target Field--Elli's first baseball game--and, of course, procured a piece of Twins garb or two. Saturday we found ourselves, through sheer coincidence, all wearing our Twins shirts. In honor of the happy chance, and of the All-Star Game coming up this week, we decided to make some baseball-themed cupcakes. Elli was in love with the thought from the very first mention. In that half-hour between lunch and Elli's naptime, we set about, as a team, to whip up some cupcakes. All we needed: 1 box of yellow cake mix eggs oil vanilla icing red decorating icing It quickly became clear just how much Elli had been paying attention this past year in our kitchen adventures. First, Elli showed Daddy how to pour the cake mix in the bowl. Then she gingerly guided my hands as we cracked eggs into the mix. She even counted them for me. After adding the oil, Elli coached Daddy on the finer points of moving a hand mixer around the bowl to get all the dry and liquid combined into a smooth batter.

Next, she asked for the cupcake pan and commenced with plopping in the liners. "There," she said when finished.

She consented to having me pour the batter into the bowl, so long as she determined the sequence in which I filled the cups. Like any good coach, she was not far away with her encouragement, both ("Nice, Mommy") and dietary ("You eat it" while handing me a yogurt covered raisin). Gotta keep her star players' movitation up!

It worked. We finished prepping the cupcakes in what felt like record time, and it was time for the cupcakes to go in the oven, and for Elli to go into her bedroom. About two hours later, she awoke with a question: "Eat cupcake?"

She rushed into the kitchen to find Daddy hard at work putting the finishing touches on the "baseballs." Having been a keen pitcher for many years, Daddy could draw baseball seems with his eyes closed.

Elli settled in at the table with her baseball and a nice, tall glass of cold milk. While Daddy and I chomped our way through ours, Elli delicately licked the icing, savoring the sugary heaven at the pace of a baseball game.

The wisdom of a child.

Because we have only one cupcake pan and even less patience, we decided to make just one batch of cupcakes and use the rest of the batter for a small cake. On that cake, which will likely last us until the All-Star Game, I wrote, "Go National League" in what I'm sure will be futile hope that the tide will finally turn for the hard-luck NL All Stars. I just can't help myself from rooting for the underdog.

Overall Baseball Cupcakes Ratings (5 being the best):

Elli-friendly cooking: 5

Elli-friendly eating: 5

Simple: 5 (if you use a cake mix)

Fast: 4

Frugal: 5

Question for all of you: What creative things have you done or seen done with cupcakes?