A few weeks ago, I was in Cape Cod, MA and visited Cupcake Charlies. Its a little cupcake store in the shopping center and they are a very talented bakery. If you go there, you won't find all sorts of bakery goods, just pretty creative cupcakes. I am not a cupcake fan, I do not like the texture of cake at all, but these are fun to look at. You can tell hard work goes into these, they look absolutely amazing. The frosting looked so creamy and delicious and perfect applied to the cupcake. They have a bunch of different types of cupcakes, different frosting flavors, and they put little candies on top. They have cookies and cream flavored with an Oreo, they have fruity pebbles, mint chocolate chip with a mint chocolate square, pumpkin flavored with little pumpkin candies all around the frosting, and so much more.You can probably think of anything that would be delicious on a cupcake and they'll have it. Over all the shop was cute. They sold cute little shirts, cups, mugs, and a whole bunch of little things to advertise themselves. Any cupcake lover would admire the whole place. I can't say anything about how they taste because I didn't have any, but my family loves them. They did have one thing other than cupcakes; they had balls of brownie dipped in chocolate on a stick, like a lollipop, which is what I had and is what so delicious. They also had measuring spoon sets on display which you could buy, and they had little seashells and starfish on them. They were so cute that we bought them for our home and even though we don't bake a lot, they are nice to have on display in a kitchen. If you are ever in the Mashpee commons of Cape Cod, you should definitely check this place out, especially if you like cupcakes. – Sam P.

My friend Alexa and I both love to bake and we love baking together. Whenever we are together we create our own recipes or alter already existing ones. Our products usually end in success taste wise, not always looks wise. The other day when I was at Alexa’s house, we decided to alter a snickerdoodle cookie recipe. We have played with that recipe before and thought that we could recreate what we had made a year ago. We were far off. We started adding the ingredients that we could remember and the ones that we thought would complement the other ingredients. The cookie dough tasted great and even better than before, so we started to cut shapes and ad a cinnamon and sugar spread on top. We were able to account for everything but how much the individual cookies would spread. After opening the oven to check on them we saw our different cookies massed into one giant rectangle, pan size. Even though they didn’t look attractive, we knew they would taste great. But our misfortune continued. Alexa and I are both terrified of spiders, and Alexas cat Spooky loves to chase anything that moves that is smaller than him. A spider ran across our cookie tray within a couple of minutes of it being out of the oven, causing Alexa and I to back away from the cookies. Of course the cat decided to chase the spider. Our poor cookies were fed to the birds that day. At least it was fun to make. BEFORE AFTER

The Chocolate Fudge Dream When you hear homemade chocolate fudge sauce what do you think? I think of creamy, warm, rich chocolate melting in my mouth. What else could make this more perfect? How about homemade whipped cream with a light fluffy sponge cake? A few years my grandma and I were baking in the kitchen trying to figure out what to make for desert and we pulled out an old recipe that my grandma’s mother had made. After adding a little bit more sugar and a few other ingredients, it became a great success. It’s now known as in our family as the traditional birthday cake and it just tastes so sweet and yummy. First you make the sponge cake and after you cook it, cut the cake in half and let it cool. Then it’s time to make the whipped cream. Add confectionery sugar, vanilla extract and heavy and blend it in a kitchen aid blender until it’s whipped. Spread a thin layer of it on between the two half’s of the cake and then put the top half back on top. Then start to make the chocolate. Mix cocoa, flour, white sugar, milk and butter and cook on the stove until melted. After it’s done and ready to serve, pour the chocolate over the cake and it’s ready to eat! -Sydney A.

In Baking and Pastry last week we made Irish Soda Bread. I had never had Irish Soda bread and had no idea what it was supposed to taste like, look like, or even what the ingredients were. Our group of four received the recipe and looked it over. It seemed like pretty normal ingredients; one thing I didn’t know is that dried fruit went into Irish Soda bread, and caraway seeds. When I saw that caraway seeds were in the ingredients I had no idea what they were. I just assumed that they were, like other seeds are to me, flavorless. Little did I know they were not. Our group gathered the ingredients and equipment needed and made the dough. After we had finished scooping them onto the pan and putting cinnamon on them they were put in the oven. About 10 to 15 minutes later they were finished and we went to divide them up. As soon as I took a bite of the Irish Soda bread I knew that the caraway seeds were not tasteless, instead it seemed to be the only thing I tasted. Other then that, I liked the dried fruit in them and the cinnamon, it added a nice “fall flavor” without it being overwhelming! -Emily A.

I love food. Who doesn’t? When someone asks me what my favorite food is I literally change my answer every time because there’s no way to choose just one, although I got to admit my answer usually has to do with desserts. I like Mexican, Italian, Chinese, burgers, and anything fried. I don’t consider myself a picky eater, but there are some foods that I just cannot stand. Olives are probably my least favorite food, and I cannot fathom how someone could eat those slimy things that look like eyeballs. It may be weird, but I’m not the biggest fan of caramel, and I cannot stand cheesecake or candy corn. I love sweet things, but sometimes things just are too sweet. That’s probably why I’m in love with dark chocolate—it’s not too sweet. So Katie Moss and I made biscuits the other day during class, and we got the recipe with lard in it. I don’t know about you, but the word lard just sounds absolutely repulsive to me. I picture some brown, thick, gooey, moldy substance that shouldn’t even be considered as an ingredient that humans put in their food and eat. However, it wasn’t that bad once I got past the name of it. It looked like a very light- colored butter, and the biscuits came out good. My sister and I made this very interesting dessert over the weekend. We made our own cookie dough and put it in a 9 X 9 pan. Then, on top of that we put a layer of Oreos, and then brownie batter. The end product was so gooey and delicious! All the flavors came together and each complemented the other. So good! When I went to California about 4 years ago, a food chain that’s really popular there is In and Out Burger. This place was the best burger joint that I have ever been to. It amazed me to find fresh lettuce and tomatoes being chopped as I peered over the counter, expecting to find those ingredients coming out of some pre-packaged container. The menu there literally consisted of hamburger, cheeseburger, hot dog, fries, and a milkshake. It was the simplest menu I have ever seen! Everything was fresh and the burger was great for the low price you got them for. I may just have to take a road trip to go back there again! Something I love doing with my mom, though very traditional, is baking an apple pie when autumn begins. The one thing that my mom puts on the top that makes it different from any store bought pie is the crumb topping. My mom chops bits of butter into the flour/ sugar mixture. After that pie is baked, it is amazing because you have little fried bits of sugar and butter in every bite of pie, to give you a little more sweetness. A couple weeks ago I went to Buffalo Bills in Monroe for 20 cent wing night, and the wings were pretty good. However, my teammates and I found hair in the wings. There were little pieces of hair, but there were also long pieces. The waitress said that it was just chicken hair, but I’m pretty sure that chickens don’t have hair that’s 12 inches long. I’m not trying to discourage you from eating there, but just be aware that if you go there for wings, check before you eat! Sarah L.