Crazy for Cupcakes

Hello. My name is Joan and I am addicted to cupcakes. I think my toddler is too. This can be directly attributed to an article I wrote recently for the Tennessean and All the Rage about the cupcake trend in Nashville (watch for it later this month). After many hours of deliberate and exhaustive research, I can safely say Jack Henry and I are not only addicts but unapologetic cupcake snobs.

Don't get me started on the grocery store varieties - those dry little cakes piled high with artificially colored shortening-based frosting, drowning in gaudy sprinkles. Their power over you will be no more once you have been to cupcake Nirvana.

For me, cupcake love bloomed with my first taste at GiGi's Cupcakes on Broadway. The moist cake, all butter buttercream icing, fondant flowers, chocolate ganache, cream fillings and edible gold dust took my breath away.

And yet, my journey was not over. What followed were myriad cupcake adventures that were sinfully fun for both me and my little boy. While I do my best to nibble thoughtfully, he practically lays his face in the frosting, taking it in with mighty boyish licks.

If you're still a skeptic, taste and you will see. A cupcake (done right) is a wonderful thing indeed.

Pictured: a delicate beauty from my favorite cupcake baker, Shara Lunn. Her treats can be purchased by special order or at Fresh by CaryAnn in Mt. Juliet.