Splashes of colour filled the room and the smell of freshly baked cakes lingered in the air as I entered a delicious place.

A man with a huge grin and white apron stood behind the counter packing delicate little cakes for a lady who was patiently waiting.

I gazed at the shelves full of colourful cupcakes that rested on trays behind the glass. Pink, green, purple, white, yellow and orange icing was smothered on top.

The fabulous flavours of these tempting treats were displayed on white cards passionfruit, mint, strawberry, red velvet, lime split and chocolate to name a few. What would I choose?

A freshly brewed coffee was handed across the counter with a box full of cakes to the customer.

I noticed on top of the glass cabinet a tiered stand with vanilla cupcakes and pink and purple icing. A story rested in the branches of this stand, the story of Alice in Wonderland. I spotted the White Rabbit, Chesire Cat, Queen of Hearts and ‘Eat me’ sign.

Welcome to my world – ‘the world of storytelling.’

My mind wondered… storytelling through baking cakes.

All stories have a beginning, middle and end or that’s what I was taught at school.

 The little cakes start at the beginning as the ingredients – butter, flour, milk and eggs.

In the middle of the story these ingredients are mixed, baked and the end product, the cupcakes of course. The story finishes with the epilogue being the icing and final touches.

These cupcakes final touches ranged from light and dark pink roses on the strawberry cakes to purple butterflies on the vanilla and passionfruit treats. Like a cherry on top, a Malteser was placed on the mint cupcake and a Jaffa, on the red velvet cupcake.

Teamwork was involved in making this cupcake story come to life. Mark, the baker, nurtured and mixed the ingredients forming the characters and essential storyline. Whilst Madeleine, the designer, used her creativity to make the story unique. A mint flavour with a sweet chocolate taste or a tangy lime split, apparently a favourite in store.

As the rain pelted on the windowpane I chose the mint, red velvet and passionfruit cakes. I eyed the tempting treats as Mark carefully placed them into the box.

My mouth began to water. I could not wait for the tasting to begin.

Yes, these cupcakes were scrumptious.

The soft mint icing melted on my tongue and then I enjoyed crunching on the chocolate-coated Malteser, my favourite cupcake.

As I waved goodbye and thanked Mark and Madeleine for their hospitality, I secretly wished for another encounter.

Can you guess what happened next?

 No I did not bake cupcakes, I just enjoyed eating them and doing the storytelling.

But the next day on the road trip home, I had to grab another box and try more of the tempting flavoured cakes.

Naughty Me!

Sweeten your life and eat cupcakes.

Best wishes,

Juliet x

P.S. Visit Mark and Madeleine at The Little Cupcake Ballarat. Here is the link to their Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/cupcakeballarat/?fref=ts