C is for Cupcake

In the past few years, I've created a Valentine's Day tradition that will probably last the rest of my life. And it's all my book's fault.

Food plays a huge role in my book. In the first chapter, Jordan shows a certain level of disdain for everything he's forced to eat, that is, until Tom walks into his life holding a key lime pie. Part of the relationship my characters create revolves around food, and there are plenty of scenes with food descriptions. The idea of hunger has a more symbolic use, besides just being actually hungry for food, but hungry for the things you desire and life in general. But that sort of hunger can be revealing, and that's exactly what Jordan is afraid of.

So there's a cupcake scene. It's in the third chapter and it's probably one of my favorite scenes in the whole book. I do have a lot of fun writing in depth food descriptions, which this scene obviously has. But it's also a very revealing scene. There's an unspoken attraction between my characters and even though they can't acknowledge it, they're both very much aware that it exists. The tension gets to be so much that actually eating this cupcake is almost a sexual experience.

But anyway, onto the actual cupcake! I've made them twice, because why not? I honestly don't remember how I came up with the idea for this scene, or even the flavor of the cupcake. But since in the book, Tom makes these cupcakes for Valentine's Day, I've started making them, too. This year I brought them to work and they were a big hit. The cake is vanilla with just a hint of lemon, with raspberry filling and raspberry buttercream. I'm honestly not that great of a baker, but they get better each time I make them. Someday they'll be perfect.

And, no, I did not create the recipes myself. My fictional characters can be that good, but not me. So since I should give credit where credit's due, and because you totally want to make them, check out the recipes for the Vanilla Cupcakes, Raspberry Filling, and Raspberry Buttercream.