How To Make A Librarian Smile: Cupcakes!

generikat (68)in #food • 8 years ago

Christmas Cupcakes For My Co-workers

Of the many hats that I wear in this life; the librarian life-garment has been perhaps the most educational, challenging, and above all, rewarding. I get asked questions all day long, and I get to ask questions in return. Everyday I learn something new. A lot of people are under the assumption that librarians sit around and read books all day. I barely get to sit at work nor would I have it any other way.

We live in a small, rural community of about 2,000 people. What that means as a community librarian is that I get to be a multifaceted employee. One day I might help run a children's STEM program, the next I might teach a class to adults about infusing herbal oils. In between reaching out to the community, I do tasks that satisfy the inner OCD part of my psyche. This includes checking in, washing, and shelving books, along with my favorite, mending, or book surgery as I like to call it. I love to resurrect a damaged tome with a bit of polyester binding glue and tape. Sigh, good times.

The greatest thing about my job though, is that I have the most amazing coworkers. My manager cares about the fact that I have a life outside of the library, lets us grow by taking on new tasks, trusts us to do what needs to be done without micromanaging or ridicule, and is sadly, retiring next week. My fellow trench-brarians are low drama, helpful, and always there to fill in if someone is in a jam. It truly is a great place to work.

That said, it being holiday time, I wanted to do something nice for my library compatriots. I might be known as a bit of a cake baker in these parts. One of my earliest memories is my mother, her skin glowing with a anxious sheen, hauling tiers of a wedding cake in our 1976 Laguna. My mom has the most amazing calligraphy-like handwriting, and she can write on cakes with a medieval script-like flourish. She is the artistic cake decorator of the family. I'm far more interested in taste. The worst thing in my food world is dry cake, it's like eating silica dusted wood-chips. At least I imagine that would be what dry cake is comparable too. Ugh.

Today I delivered 5 dozen cupcakes to my fellow librarians. I baked 8 dozen cupcakes last night, made 3 separate fillings, and dashed out two different garnishes. I got out of bed early, whipped up the frosting and put it all together. Here's the fruit, uh, cake of my labor.

Cupcake # 1
Pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese filling, cream cheese-buttercream frosting, and a homemade caramel lace garnish.

Cupcake # 2
Buttermilk almond cake with vanilla almond mousse filling, and an almond buttercream frosting, garnished with an almond bark pretzel tree.