Alas

I thought of about 12 things I wanted to write about, but alas, my brain could not hold them and my fingers didn't have a chance to translate them anyway.  It was one of those days at our house with 4 under 4. 

Doing the Math

Twenty four!  That's how many egg whites it would take to make 96 cupcakes from scratch... 24!  I made this recipe for confetti cupcakes last year and they were truly spectacular.

Aside for last year's attendees:  You may remember that they were a little dry, but that's because I stored them improperly.  They were quite yummy when I made them.  Because I take myself too seriously, I made them again on my birthday in January and got rave reviews. 

To make them spectacular, I used special cake flour and baking sugar.  However, our dear friend Betty (Crocker, that is) puts magic in her cake mixes and I could do roughly* the same 96 cupcakes with only 12 eggs.  And Safeway has Betty's cake mix on sale for $0.99/box.

The question is: does the savings in time really pay off in dollars? 

*I say that Betty's cupcakes are roughly the same because most people aren't foodie-wanna-be's like me so they may not even notice the difference.


Doing the Math...

• I bought eggs on sale for $1 per dozen at QFC.  I will need $2 in eggs for the recipe or $1 in eggs for the mixes.
  
  
  
• The other big expense is the fat.  The cake mixes call for vegetable oil and the scratch recipe calls for butter.  I would probably substitute butter in the mixes anyway because it tastes better.  I need 1/3 cup (~5.5 tablespoons) for each mix and 6 tablespoons for each recipe.  At $1.99/lb for butter at Costco, I'll need $1.50 in butter for the mixes and $3 in butter for the recipe. 

Cake Mixes: $3.96 for mixes, $1 for eggs, and $1.50 for butter = $6.46

Recipe from Scratch:  $1 for flour and sugar, $0.50 for other stuff (that's probably over-estimating), $2 for eggs, $3 for butter = ~$6.50

Since it costs the same, what should I do?  Are the better tasting cupcakes worth the extra work?  I have until Saturday night to decide. 

Either way, this is the frosting I'm making. 

Day in the Life

Before 9am, I had unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, scrambled 10 eggs, fed 3 children and nursed the 4th, washed-dried-reapplied my sheets, made coffee, and changed a crib sheet because of a diaper malfunction.  At 9:30, I think I finally sat down to drink my coffee.  Usually, I would consider that a productive day, but it didn't stop there.  I found and crafted free ways to decorate for our 4th of July party, added to the party plan, washed and folded more laundry, made salsa fresca and fish tacos, bathed 2 children, picked out clothes for church tomorrow, and fertilized the tomatoes.  I even flirted with my husband a few times throughout the day and had a requisite mid-day meltdown where I had to leave for 30 minutes.

I work hard throughout the week and even scramble a little (a little too much, that is) on Saturday to get stuff done because Sundays are for resting, fellowship, and fun.  The dark load can wait until Monday... by then it will have much offspring anyway.