Where the Heart is

My assistant went home for the weekend to visit her family, and naturally, I followed her there. A perk to being imaginary: I can go wherever she takes me, sans plane ticket. It was warm and sunny in Los Angeles, and she had a promise to keep.

A couple of months ago, her two adorable younger cousins, Nathan and Alan, were ooh-ing and ah-ing over the cakes displayed on this blog. Over the phone, she promised them that she'd whip something up for them the next time she flew down to visit. Now, it was time to fulfill that promise, and being cake-related, of course I was there to inspire.

Alan had specifically asked for something chocolatey (and who can blame him?), while Nathan has been a cheesecake fan for as long as my assistant can remember. This was going to easy. Chocolate cheesecake, done. But when my assistant opened the fridge to grab ingredients, guess what she saw? A huge box of ripe, ruby red strawberries. We. Can. Never. Resist. Strawberries.

And as a result...
Some very girly-looking cupcakes for some very boyish boys. They didn't seem to mind though (whew!).
What we have here are some classic chocolate cupcakes (boozeless, of course! Apologies to anyone looking for a cocktail cake concoction. Next post!) topped with strawberry cream cheese frosting and a fresh, juicy strawberry half.
Here they are sitting prettily in my assistant's precious cupcake tray that she hasn't used since she moved to the Bay Area. Too bad she couldn't fit it in her carry-on.

And for the grown-ups with less of a sweet tooth, we whipped up some chocolate bundtlets with just a sprinkling of powdered sugar and a tiny strawberry whole:
Voila and
Tada and
There.

Nathan and Alan, I'm so glad you enjoyed the cupcakes. Pace yourselves, boys!