by Coco Simon
Katie nodded. “We can try that. It’s always the first suggestion. It’s just that applesauce does have a lot of sugar in it itself. You kind of might as well use real sugar.”
Katie made a third batter now, opening the jar of applesauce and measuring out the proper amount. I like applesauce (much more than sweet potatoes), so I had high hopes for this batch.
Meanwhile, we needed to start brainstorming about our real work, the kind that earns money. My favorite kind!
I opened the ledger where we keep track of all our business and scanned the recent entries. “Oh, we’ve got a sweet sixteen coming up,” I said. “In two weekends.”
“Cool. That could be fun. Just for starters, I’m thinking all pink and ruffly, like a quinceañera,” said Mia, referencing the Latina rite of passage she was looking forward to in her own life.
“Whose party is it?” asked Katie.
“Um, Martine Donay?” I wasn’t sure I was pronouncing the name right. I’d never heard of her.
“Martine Donay?!” said Mia incredulously. “She’s having a sweet sixteen? With cupcakes?”
Katie and I exchanged a worried glance. “Um, yeah?” I said.
Mia laughed and smacked the counter with her palm. “Wow. I’ve seen it all now. Who’d a-thunk it? Martine Donay!”
“Who is this person?” I asked. I was getting a little annoyed. “Emma, do you know her?”
Emma smiled. “Yup. She’s not exactly the sweet sixteen–type. She lives around the corner. I see her sometimes, but I don’t think she would know me.”
“She’s a friend of Dan’s, for starters,” said Mia, referring to her stepbrother, who’s a heavy-metal music nut.
“Oh,” I said. That told me a lot.
“A total rocker chick,” continued Mia. “Black leather, ripped jeans, chains—the works. I can’t imagine what kind of cupcakes she’d want.”
“Well, it was her mother who contacted us,” I said, looking at my notes.
“We’ll need to get in touch with them and see what they’re hoping for,” said Emma. “This ought to be interesting.”
I made a note in the ledger and agreed to contact Mrs. Donay and set up a meeting.
“Anything else lined up for that weekend?” asked Katie.
“Two kids’ birthday parties—a seven-year-old boy, Sawyer Reese, and a five-year-old girl, Libby Murray—and this weekend, only Mona’s minis, as usual, and book club for Mrs. Gormley. She requested the bacon caramel cupcakes. I think it’s that same book club we’ve baked for in the past; it just moves around from house to house. They love our bacon cupcakes.”
“Best idea I ever had!” crowed Emma as she helped Katie ladle the two revised batches of batter into the cupcake liners in the muffin pan. “And you all laughed at me!”
“Live and learn, that’s one of my mottoes,” I said with a shrug.
“Oh, Alexis, what isn’t one of your mottoes?” teased Mia.
“It does help to have organizing principles, you know,” I said with a sniff, but I was really only pretending to be annoyed. I know my friends love me and all my quirkiness. That’s why the Cupcake Club is so much fun. I get to totally relax and be my true self with these three girls.
“Yes, you’re very organized,” agreed Katie with a gentle teasing smile. “So, what are we doing for the kids’ birthdays?”
I looked back at my notes again. “Okay, they each only need two dozen. Sawyer is having a dinosaur-themed party with a dig for ‘fossils,’ so he wants something that looks like mud. Libby wants pink ballet-themed cupcakes with fluffy pink frosting.”
“Cute!” said Mia. We all nodded.
“Any other cupcake business?” asked Emma.
I glanced around the ledger page. “Well, we were talking about getting a quote from Matt for some new flyers to hand out to new clients.”
“Ooh, good idea!” agreed Mia. “He does such a nice job,” she said to Emma. “My mom recommended him to her boss for their next graphic design needs.”
“Cool! Thanks! I’ll tell him,” said Emma.
Matt is very talented at graphic design and computer stuff. We’ve used him for posters and flyers and mailings and more, and we’ve always been really impressed by his talent. I especially like using him for projects ’cause then I get to hang out with him more and it gives me an excuse to call or text or e-mail him!
“I’ll send him an e-mail for a quote.” I made a note to myself. “We should brainstorm about what we’re looking to say about ourselves and what we offer.”
It’s pretty cool how far we’ve come as a business from when we first started, and I’m not saying that to brag just ’cause I’m the CEO. I like thinking about things like mission statements and profit-and-loss sheets; these are the things I work on in the Future Business Leaders of America, a club at school, and they always come in handy in real life.
“Just do a quick thing at the top, like, ‘Four stylish friends plus professional baking experience times good taste equals the Cupcake Club,’ ” suggested Mia.
“That is awesome!” I replied, writing as fast as I could to get it all down. I love math, so any math-themed thing is up my alley.
Katie looked thoughtful. “Or you could do a recipe, like ‘two cups experience, one cup great taste, one cup style . . .’ uh . . .”
Mia warmed to Katie’s idea and kept it going. “ ‘Four tablespoons friendship . . .’ ”
“ ‘A splash of zest’!” added Emma.
“ ‘Makes: one great party treat’!” I added.
“That’s so good. I love it,” Mia said, grinning.
“What about your equation idea, though? I loved that too,” I said.
Mia shook her head. “No, save that for something else. I mean, write it in the ledger and we’ll use it later.”
“Okay. This is great. Thanks!”
“How much longer on these cupcakes?” asked Mia.
Katie looked at the timer. “Nine minutes.”
“I hope these work!” I said nervously. “No offense,” I added.
“None taken,” said Katie. “I hope they work too. Anyway, it could be good for us to offer a healthy option in cupcakes, too.”
I smacked my head. “Of course! Maybe if we hit on the right thing, we can put that in our flyer too. Like, ‘Now introducing our line of healthy options . . .’ ”
We cleaned up and chatted, and soon the cupcakes were out of the oven and frosted. Katie arranged them on two plates, and we all sampled one of each.
I tried the applesauce first, cautiously this time. The texture was good; they were nice and moist. I rolled the bite around in my mouth and found it pleasantly sweet—not overly so, like a regular cupcake, but pretty darn good!
“Hey! The applesauce ones are pretty good!” I said in surprise.
Mia was wide-eyed. She swallowed. “The sweet potato ones are really good!”
I made a face—ew, sweet potato puree—but I reached for one and then popped a bite into my mouth. She was right!
“Oh, Katie!” I said through my mouthful of cake. “These are delicious!”
Katie was chewing thoughtfully. “Thanks,” she said. “I think the sweet potato ones are actually the better ones.” She swallowed. “But do they have kind of a funny aftertaste?”
I moved my tongue around in my mouth. “I don’t know. Maybe. Not bad, though.”
“I think they’re great,” said Emma. “Do you want me to call in the experts?”
Any chance to see Matt! “Sure!” I agreed.
“They’re not that picky, remember,” warned Emma. “Hey, boys!” she yelled.
Soon, Emma’s brothers—Jake, Matt, and Sam—were thundering into the kitchen, and the cupcakes were quickly depleted. They resoundingly voted for the sweet potato version, and Katie decided to reuse the applesauce concept as a new healthy apple-cinnamon recipe for the fall.
“Are these really good for us?” Jake asked incredulously.
I nodded solemnly
. “Packed with veggies. Can you tell?”
Jake shook his head. “You’re tricking me!”
I looked at my friends. “That’s just the reaction we were hoping for!” and we all high-fived.
Coco Simon always dreamed of opening a cupcake bakery but was afraid she would eat all of the profits. When she’s not daydreaming about cupcakes, Coco edits children’s books and has written close to one hundred books for children, tweens, and young adults, which is a lot less than the number of cupcakes she’s eaten. Cupcake Diaries is the first time Coco has mixed her love of cupcakes with writing.
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
SIMON SPOTLIGHT
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
First Simon Spotlight hardcover edition January 2016
Copyright © 2016 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
SIMON SPOTLIGHT and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Text by Elizabeth Doyle Carey
Chapter header illustrations by Julie Robine
Designed by Laura Roode
Jacket illustrated by Abigail Halpin
For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or [email protected].
ISBN 978-1-4814-5524-4 (pbk)
ISBN 978-1-4814-5525-1 (hc)
ISBN 978-1-4814-5526-8 (eBook)
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2015954541