Gourmet Cupcakes versus Rice Krispie Squares

Cupcakes Versus Rice Krispie Squares

I recently had the distinct pleasure of  being invited to attend a birthday celebration for a very special one year old girl.

I never go to an event like this empty handed and offered to do some baking. I got an enthusiastic reply that my baking would be greatly appreciated.  I decided to bake some gourmet chocolate and vanilla cupcakes and make a pan of Rice Krispie squares. When I advised what I was bringing I got a squeal of excitement over the Rice Krispie squares and I actually laughed out loud thinking to myself really?? You are more excited about a non-bake easy to make treat over a delicious “made from scratch” gourmet cupcake.

The picture above was the first batch of test cupcakes – pardon the crumbs, these were the only three that made it out alive  to the picture taking stage…my volunteer taste testers gave the thumbs up.

I couldn’t stop thinking about the reaction over the Rice Krispie Squares and decided to take a poll (I did this with friends, family and co-workers).  The results surprised me.  Without explanation my question to them was “Your all-time favorite cupcake versus a Rice Krispie square, which would you chose?”

Ten out of 15 chose the Rice Krispie square (that’s 2/3’s of those polled)!!

I spent three evenings baking, testing and decorating both vanilla and chocolate cupcakes and  only about 20 minutes making a pan of Rice Krispie Squares.

I was on a quest to find out why more people chose the Rice Krispie squares over the gourmet cupcakes and that answer was given to me by one of the “30 something” parents at this birthday celebration.

He said and I quote “It’s a nostalgic thing, Rice Krispie squares bring back childhood memories, hey your cupcakes are delicious but you can go to a bakeshop and buy a gourmet cupcake, it’s hard to find a Rice Krispie square that tastes the way your mother made them, I could eat the whole plate of these”.

That answer put a big smile on my face and made me realize that sometimes the easy simple things are what bring the most pleasure.  The next time I am invited to an outing where the “30 something” crowd is going to be, I’m offering to make Rice Krispie squares..lol

I did some research on the internet and found two recipes  for cupcakes I would highly recommend (links at the end of the post).

Due to time constraints there are no pictures of the inside of the chocolate cupcakes that show an oreo baked in the bottom,  you will have to make a batch and taste for yourself – yum,yum,yum! For both the vanilla and chocolate cupcakes I decided to use a  Vanilla Buttercream Frosting (Betty Crocker recipe) tinted pink.

The two recipes I ended up going with were Perfect Moist and Fluffy Vanilla Cupcakes by Lindsay from Life Love and Sugar  and Oreo Surprise Cupcakes,  using the “best recipe of chocolate cake” (that is the actual title on You Tube).

I could not find the written instructions for the cake but the video is definitely worth a view.

The following video is for the Oreo Surprise Cupcakes that uses the “best recipe of chocolate cake” batter.

No matter if you prefer Rice Krispie squares over gourmet cupcakes, they are both a delicious Wandaful Thing!!