Hey Cupcake!

If there is anything that can make a cupcake taste even better, it's ordering it from the window of an airstream trailer, then eating it curbside on South Congress (in Austin), all while watching the hip, beautiful people walk by. Mmmmm, mmmmmmm, it's good.

We purchased two cupcakes the last time we were in Austin - a chocolate cupcake with pink butter cream frosting, and a red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting (using the buy one get one free coupon). Both were everything a cupcake should be - moist, sweet, cakey, and precariously balancing a hefty tophat of frosting. Plus, for a small fee, the friendly server injected my cupcake with a substantial squirt of real whipped cream. Hostess cupcakes, you are put to shame!

I am infatuated with this trailer food movement. Austin boasts several airstream trailer eateries that I adore, including a creperie and a snow cone stand. The best part of the airstream setup in each instance is the simplicity of the location. I can't sugarcoat this, Hey Cupcake! inhabits what otherwise is just a dirt lot on the corner of a busy street. At night and after the close of business, the place looks more like the illicit camp of squatting hillbillies than a reputable dining establishment. But during the daylight, the long line stretching around the lot overshadow the ambiance of the local and hint at the delicacies within. The atmosphere is casual, just order your cupcake and squat on the curb for a quick indulgence.

And thanks to the wonder of email marketing, I just got word that Hey Cupcake! is pre-ordering Valentine's Day sweets. You can be my valentine if you bring me a red velvet with cream cheese frosting and sprinkles (but you will never be as sweet as my true Valentine, featured below as he fits an entire cupcake into his mouth).