Pink Lagoon Cakes

Vanilla cake topped with marshmallow frosting and sprinkles

The Lagoon Nebula, also known as M8, is located about 5,000 light years away in the constellation Sagittarius. Interestingly enough, pink is not a naturally occurring color. The color pink does not exist in the color spectrum and it has no attributed wavelength to it. There is not a single atom that produces the color pink. The human brain perceives wavelengths of light as color and it constructs the color pink as a means to bridge the gap between red and violet.

Oh gravity, thou art a heartless bitch.

I sprained my ankle tonight. Although this may sound like "no big deal" to most, I have managed to go my entire life without even the slightest injury. I also happen to be an extremely clumsy person with several close calls with danger.

Before you ask yourself what this has to do with pink cupcakes, it is because of the cupcakes that I injured myself. Well, they are at least partially to blame. I suppose my un-cat like reflexes are to blame as well... I was bringing my neighbor some cupcakes and it was dark outside which resulted in me under-calculating the staircase and falling down the last two stairs. To top it all off the cupcakes landed frosting side down!! There is a sad imprint of pink frosting a star sprinkles on the pavement still.

The cupcakes were pretty magical though. The marshmallow fluff frosting paired with the delicate vanilla cake was truly out of this world. Marshmallows make everything better, even a sprained ankle.

Vanilla Cake:
(Recipe adapted from all recipes; makes 12)
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk

Marshmallow Fluff Frosting:
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
16 ounces marshmallow fluff

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees; line a cupcake tin with liners.
2. In a medium bowl cream together butter and sugar; beat in eggs one at a time, then add vanilla.
3. Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
4. Alternate mixing in flour mixture and milk to batter and beat until well mixed.
5. Divide batter evenly among cups and bake for 20-25 minutes.
6. Let cool then frost.

Frosting:
Beat butter and sugar together until creamy; add marshmallow fluff and beat until blended.