The Present: Chocolate Cupcakes

About author / Christine Gable

Culinary enthusiast; kids cuisine and slow cooking; magazine recipe developer; professional writer. Her simple recipes are great for family dinners.

One important thing I’ve learned about when one of my kids expresses an interest in baking or cooking: Go with it.

The trick to building their long-term interest and supporting their enthusiasm is in first stopping to listen, and then to help as needed when they’re showing those glimmers of “kitchen encounter inspiration.” That’s right—no matter if it’s bread in the bread machine, a fruit pie for someone’s birthday, or an oatmeal cookie recipe that catches the eye, the time for action (and support) is in the moment.

The present moment.

For if I say, “Let’s do that next week,” is it really gonna happen? Or will 101 other things crowd in and take its place? And more importantly, will the kid(s) still feel like doing it then? (And that’s assuming all the ingredients are in the house and we’ve got the time and schedule free to undertake the effort.) Sometimes it’s just me and my adult-self draggin’ her feet. The kids are enthusiastic, they’re ready to go—so what’ up?

That's when I say OK and get out of their way.

Yeah, you heard me. Once the kids were about 8 years old, I noticed that they knew—and could handle—a lot more than I sometimes gave them credit for. And while I think of myself as a pretty open and independent person, I think we adults have to sometimes step out of our own way in growing self-confident and motivated kids. Any which way you slice it, it comes down to trusting that the kids know what they’re doing. Now I’m not talking about condoning anything irresponsible or foolhardy … and hey, I like a clean kitchen as much as anyone else. But I like kids that know how to cook even more. And best of all, kids that can clean up are just as in demand as kids that can cook. (Sure, I know that can be one of the least favorite jobs in the kitchen.)

That’s why we have gotten into the habit of regularly sharing duties in the kitchen. One cooks, another sets the table and clears and puts food away, someone else washes and one final person puts away. Now, we have four people in our family (three when Dad’s at work), so we’ve found a way to break it all down in a way that works. But the long and short of it is that the kids know that cooking is fun, that they can do it … and that there’s a little cleanup involved that can be kicked out in record time.

And that’s how this week’s recipe came to be—my daughter’s eyes opened in carnival-like wonder at the decorated devil’s food cupcakes at the store. You know, the ones that look so beautiful, but taste like puffed air and foam with an overladen sugary frosting? Yet here it was: another perfect opportunity to get kids in the kitchen.

“Would you like to try making some real chocolate cupcakes as soon as we get home?”

“With icing in the tube, Mommy … so that I can decorate them and make them pretty? … That’s so much fun!”

(How did she know to say those magic words … especially since I find icing in tubes so tedious—not to mention I’ve had more than my fair share of mishaps and mistakes with it.)

“I think we could manage that—hmmm, let’s see, we’ll need some confectioner’s sugar for making that easy icing recipe… let’s pick that up on our way out.”

And so the story played out. We arrived home and her enthusiasm was still high. I pulled the recipe out and she measured and mixed with nary a question. And while the cupcakes were baking we mixed up this easy icing together. Now while I did happen to have icing bags, I’ve heard that some folks use a sturdy ziploc bag—but every time I’ve tried that, it hasn’t worked so well (resulting in a few of those mishaps I mentioned).

All in all, it took less than ten minutes to mix and stuff the bag and rubber band it shut. And as soon as those little cakes were cool enough, she went to town.

Swirls. Dots. Tic-tac-toe boxes. Faces. She had just as much fun as she had anticipated. Maybe more.

That’s when I was so glad I pushed through that bit of adult-self initial resistance and encouraged her to bake those cakes that caught her eye. Forget saving that $4 on those sugary, styrofoam cakes—it ended up being an investment in her future, making a memory that was priceless.

Serves/Makes: 1

• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/8 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons milk (more if needed)