A Party of Cupcakes

A group of geese is a gaggle and a bunch of whales is a pod, but what do you call a selection of the most divine cupcakes to pass your lips and jollify your tongue?

I call it a party of cupcakes.

These little beauties are from Love at First Bite in Berkeley, a delightful shop that offers such a fun and unusual selection that we had trouble choosing which dozen to take to the shindig at Stinson.

We arrived at the shop at 9am, ready to make our selection, only to discover that they don't open until 10am on Saturdays. Anguish! We pressed our noses against the glass doors, silently pleading with the bakers we could see at the back of the store busily icing a fresh batch. After a few minutes of our pathetic puppy dog stares, the store owner, a truly kind soul, took pity on us and invited us in to choose our party.

We had to have two of the pale green ones with green tea flavored icing, one for each color of piped flower on top. The shaggy coconut cupcake was irresistible, too. And one can't leave out the peanut butter decorated with a triangle of peanut butter cup, nor the Bunny Love with its mixture of carrot, pineapple and spices topped with a pecan bit. A mocha lover like me wanted both sorts, the smooth one and the craggy one rolled in cookie crumbs. Ya gotta have one of their signature Red Velvet, truly a rich red inside and topped with a red candy, and how could we resist the vanilla and chocolate ones decorated with colorful bibbits? We reluctantly left behind the pumpkin, the true carrot cake and several others for the next desperate customers to press their noses to the glass, an hour early but anxious to take a party to the party.