Free The Cupcake Diaries Collection: Katie and the Cupcake Cure; Mia in the Mix; Emma on Thin Icing; Alexis and the Perfect Recipe by Coco Simon Page A

don’t think there’s room in the bowl for anything else.”
    We scooped all of the batter into the cupcake tins Alexis put out for us. Because of all the stuff we mixed in, there was a lot of batter left over.
    “I don’t have any more pans,” Alexis said.
    “No problem,” I told her. “We can always bake more when the first batch cools.”
    Mrs. Becker came in to preheat the oven for us.She raised her eyebrow when she saw our cupcakes.
    “My, those look interesting,” she said.
    “Wait till you taste it, Mom,” Alexis told her. “You’re going to love it!”
    While the cupcakes baked, we whipped up some plain vanilla icing.
    “Should we add anything into the icing?” I asked.
    “I think the cupcakes have enough inside them,” Mia said.
    “Good point,” I said.
    We cleaned up our mess while we waited for the cupcakes to bake. When the timer rang, Mrs. Becker helped us with the oven.
    “Do you take them out now?” she asked.
    “We need to test them first,” I said.
    Mom had taught me how to stick a toothpick into the middle of a cupcake. If it came out clean, it was done. But if it had batter on it, the cupcake needed to cook more.
    I stuck a toothpick into the middle of one of our mixed-up cupcakes. When I took it out, it wasn’t clean. But it didn’t have batter on it. It had gooey marshmallow, chocolate, and a sprinkle stuck to it.
    I frowned. “I’m not sure if it’s done or not,” I said.
    Alexis looked over my shoulder. “They lookdone. They’re a little brown on top, see?”
    I realized there would be no sure way to tell if the cupcakes were done. We might as well take them out. Besides, I was dying to try one! The delicious smell of baking cupcakes was taking over my brain.
    We put the cupcakes on a rack to cool. Normally, we talk a lot when we’re waiting for cupcakes to cool off. But that day we stared at our cupcakes, like we were going to cool them off with the amazing power of our minds alone.
    Finally Mia blurted out, “Maybe we should try them without icing. You know, to get a true sense of how they taste.”
    “That sounds very logical to me,” I said.
    We each picked up a cupcake. They were warm, but cool enough to handle. I unwrapped the paper and took a bite. A hot, gooey mess of chocolate and marshmallow exploded in my mouth.
    “Mmmmmm,” was all I could say.
    Alexis had a weird look on her face. “It’s too sweet!”
    “There’s no such thing as too sweet,” I told her, and Emma nodded in agreement.
    Mia had another complaint. “They’re kind of messy,” she said, wiping her hand on a napkin.
    “Let’s see what my mom thinks,” Alexis said.
    She left the kitchen and returned with both parents. Mr. Becker was tall and skinny with curly hair and glasses like his wife.
    “I think you girls have a great fund-raising idea,” he said. “Everybody loves cupcakes!”
    Alexis handed one to each parent. “They’re not iced yet,” she said. “They might taste different when they’re iced.”
    We held our breath as Mr. and Mrs. Becker bit into their cupcakes. Mrs. Becker made the same weird face that Alexis had.
    “My, they’re very sweet!” she said.
    “They’re tasty,” said Mr. Becker. “But I’ll tell you something. I’m not a big fan of marshmallows. Never liked them. You know what makes me happy? A plain vanilla cupcake. Mmm.”
    I thought of Callie’s dad. “I think that’s a parent thing. Parents like vanilla cupcakes.”
    “And don’t forget, parents are a big part of our sales,” Alexis reminded us.
    I was starting to feel discouraged. “But plain vanilla cupcakes are boring! We need our cupcakes to be extra special so everyone wants them.”
    “Well, maybe they could look special,” Mia said.
    “What do you mean?” I asked.
    “Well, this is a school fund-raiser, right? Maybethey could be in the school colors or something,” she said.
    I immediately knew what she was talking about. “Mrs. Becker, can we have another bowl,