Food of the Gods

My freshly baked chocolate cupcakes, decorated with confectioners' sugar.

"More than any other food, chocolate delights and enchants, tantalises and comforts." (From: The Ghirardelli Chocolate Cookbook) Which is why, when I had to select a quick and delicious treat to bake yesterday morning, I chose to not bake vanilla cupcakes, but chocolate cupcakes.

I am a firm believer that however nice you decorate a cupcake, the secret will always be to make sure that it tastes even better than it looks.  My alltime favorite cupcakes is plain vanilla, with a soft color frosting and hundreds and thousands as the only decoration.  That being said - nothing can compete with a delicious chocolate cupcake with dark chocolate frosting or plain with only a sprinkling of confectioners' sugar.

The Cacao Tree's name was given to it by the Swiss botanist, Carl Linnaeus in 1753.  Theobroma means "food of the gods". Apt.   It takes about 400 cacao beans to make half a kilogram of chocolate. The Aztecs believed chocolate to be an aphrodisiac. Although this isn't excatly true, chocolate does contain phenylethylamine (PEA), which creates a chemical reaction in the brain similar to that of falling love. (The Little Chocolate Book, Woolworths)

Which is why chocolate is one of the best sellers in all shops.  Linda Grayson once said that there is nothing better than a good friend, except a good friend with chocolate.  That being said, however, Milton Zelma said that the giving of chocolate to others is an intimate form of communication, a sharing of deep dark secrets. 

"Chocolate is the answer ... who cares what the question is?"

Have a wonderful day dear reader.