Lessons learned:
It was graduation weekend around here. Not for my household, but for several others. 32 dozen cupcakes went out the door within 24 hours. At least 7 dozen more red velvet went to the trash can. I think it was Ben Franklin who said (I'm paraphrasing here) that a fool is someone who does the same thing wrong over and over and expects a different result.
Took me 7 dozen cupcakes with minor tweaks between batches to finally give it up and start with a new plan. The problem? TOO MUCH BUTTER.
Now I know you're saying, how is THAT possible? But it turns out that butter in the batter doesn't make for tall, fluffy cupcakes (at least not at my house). They'd look beautiful and test done in the oven and then would slowly, slowly shrink into ugly little blobs.
So where does the poison ivy come in? Well, two weeks ago we were out in the woods helping my son with an eagle scout project. There was poison ivy along the path we were working on and I am officially allergic. I thought I got away without trouble as there was no poison ivy aftermath. I did go out to the tool box to grab a hammer to stake the cakes. Apparently the hammer had been in the ivy, because now I am itching and blistering. How did that happen -- I go to camp this week, and I usually come home with poison ivy.
Thanks to cake I'm taking it with me this year... The nurse and I are going to be good friends, I can tell. Maybe I'll make her a cake!