Cupcakes, Cheesecakes and Cookies!

I guess I become a little obsessed with things.  Most of what I do is self taught.  Last summer, I had a cookie from the bakery.  Then I began to wonder how they made their cookies so large and thick and all a uniform size.  So the quest was on to bake the perfect cookie.  I did a lot of research online and started with my all time favorite cookbook (Hersey's Recipe Collection).  I must have baked dozens of cookies and although they were not perfect (since I am a bit of a perfectionist, the perfect cookie could never be achieved) I did turn out some really good cookies.  After that, I turned my thoughts to cheesecake.  At one time, I had three different cheesecakes in my refrigerator.  I don't know how many varieties of cheesecake I made before I was satisfied that I could make a decent one.  Now months later, I have to admit I've joined the cupcake craze.  I am working on gourmet cupcakes.  I have even gotten my daughter Emily on the bandwagon!  We've made devils food cake with raspberry filling and raspberry cream cheese frosting.  Then French vanilla cake with orange cream cheese filling and orange buttercream frosting.  And white cake with strawberry filling and strawberry cream cheese frosting. Emily's favorite and she actually made this one on her own...banana butterscotch cake with brown sugar frosting. We've so far made about 5 different types of cupcakes.  Remarkably, they have all been pretty good.  As Emily says, the presentation is everything so we've been working on the appearance as well as the taste. Thanks to all the folks who gladly test our creations...my coworkers, Tony's coworkers, Emily's college friends, and our church congregation!