Cake vs. Cupcake -- Round One

Sorry but I'm going to have to write more about M's upcoming birthday party. In fact, I think it's safe to say you'll be reading about it for some weeks to come. And then a brief reprieve until September when I focus on Z's first birthday.

I have almost, but not quite, decided to bake instead of buy M's birthday cake. If you've never bought a cake at a bakery (no, Safeway and Costco do not count), then let me be the first to tell you they aren't cheap. Not by a long shot. It's pretty standard to pay upwards of $100 for a cake. So in an effort to save a little casheesh and maybe spend it on something more fun (like, say, a birthday gift for the birthday girl), I have almost convinced myself to make my own cake.

I say almost. That's because I still have one niggling concern. It's that I would like to create this:


but it will, instead, most certainly look like this*:

* Is it me or 1) does the green blob and squiggle (which I suspect is supposed to be a balloon) look like a lost sperm? 2) and is "Oop" the child's name? Or are the parents trying to hint (with the help of the green sperm) that the kid was a happy accident (Oops)?

Now I'm wondering if I should embrace cupcakes instead. Cupcakes, if you haven't noticed, are a "big thing" these days. Cute, boutique-y cupcake bakeries are popping up all over the place. In fact one opened up not far from here and rumor has it another is opening up in downtown SJ (Mecca of culture that it is). Aside from the fact that they're de rigueur, cupcakes are the perfect size for kids, and easy to make (aka hard to fuck up). And because they are so popular, there appears to be an abundance of cupcake cookbooks on the market, which means lots of yummy recipes to choose from.

So it's cupcakes all 'round, right? Well...not so fast. Here's my dilemma. We've got a lot of folks coming to our shindig. That means I have to bake, and then decorate, quite a few cupcakes. I'm no Martha Stewart but I do feel compelled to do SOMETHING that fits in with M's princess theme. Do I really want to commit to creating several dozen perfectly decorated cupcakes, especially considering I have never actually decorated a thing in my life?

What do you think? Or should I just say "screw it" and order a cake at my old standby?