The Queen Bee of Cupcakes

It's about time for another confession. I'm kind of moody. Say what you will about girls and their mood swings...but I'm a contradiction of highs and lows the majority of the time.

I wish I had a naturally sunny disposition, but in truth I'm sort of one of those people with a perpetual thundercloud looming. There might be a window of baby blue sky to the east, a cluster of white cotton ball clouds off to the west, and the tail end of a rainbow peeking out straight ahead...but you can bet an ominous grab-your-rain boots-and-run gray cloud will be hurtling overhead soon.

Sometimes my bad moods bring enough luggage for an extended stay and sometimes they just blow on through. More often than I care to admit, I indulge my inner 4 year old and sulk until bedtime rolls around. On the rare occasion that I feel like being a grown-up, I make a concerted effort to snap out of it.

Nothing cheers me up quite like the discovery of a new bakery. This afternoon both Mom and I were feeling a little stir-crazy, so we headed out for a leisurely drive on Route 1. Before we hit the jackpot, we checked out Mainely Custard's, an old-fashioned homemade ice cream stop with a new frozen custard special every day (today's was mint chocolate chip - yum!). But my lousy mood wasn't entirely chased off with July's promising flavor menu (cookies n' cream on the 14th and mocha chip on the 26th!)...

By the time I left Clayton's Cafe and Bakery, I couldn't even remember why I had been grumpy in the first place. Brightly colored paintings hung on the walls, a delicious-looking sandwich menu hung overhead, teensy cheesecakes beckoned from behind glass cases, stacks of tangy lemon bars bookended an enticing shelf of goodies, pick-bins full of childhood favorites lined the counter, and a display of homemade entrees (including baked stuffed haddock!) encouraged us to throw our dinner plans out the window.   

Clayton's Cafe and Bakery in Yarmouth, ME

However, nothing from this array of delectable goods stole our hearts quite like the gigantic cupcakes at the front of the store. Four of them, as big as cakes, and oh the smell of them...we just couldn't resist. We hemmed and hawed over which one to choose, forked over our $10.95, and took a roundabout route home (so we could avoid a main street with excessive potholes - I needed the boys' surprise to be intact for a mini photo shoot!).

Behold the queen bee of cupcakes...a marble cupcake with vanilla buttercream frosting and drizzles of dark chocolate.

Cake-Sized Cupcake

Silky Buttercream and Chocolate Zigzags

With Cupcake Liners, For Scale