ModernGear Food: Cup your cake

I've been a journalist for 14 years now, in one form (radio, television, print, web) or another, and after all this time, I will tell you my simple secret to a good story: research.

Though it's a seemingly simple step, the actual task can be tough - trying to find out enough about a topic so that I can speak to it from some base of knowledge while under time constraints is difficult.

But, I haven't been reporting the news on television for a few years now, and so my days of researching subjects like punctuated equilibrium* are over. Since then, I've discovered that sometimes prep for a story can actually be a pretty sweet gig.

Like this blog post, for example. I'd just heard about a product called the Cup-A-Cake, and getting to the bottom of it was going to require some serious field research.

In case you can't quite make out where I was headed, it's the Frosted Cupcakery in Long Beach.

I had it all planned out - I was going to go in, buy myself a cupcake and a Cup-A-Cake cupcake protector ($2.99 at Cupacake.com), and see if my cupcake made it home unscathed.

The Cup-A-Cake was designed and patented by moms with that whole 'having your cake and eating it too' thing in mind...so that they could send cupcakes with icing on top with their kids, without them (the cupcakes, not the kids) getting squished. Necessity is the MOTHER of invention, dontcha know?

empty Cup-A-Cakes

Cup-A-Cake with its precious cargo

Cup-A-Cakes on the job, UPSIDE DOWN and not wasting a lick of icing!

So that's how the story was supposed to work, but then...I was waylaid by the daily special...

... and the Frosted Cupcakery vixen asked me, "Would you like that for here or to go? How about some milk?" and I was a goner.

What? It's called research, people.

But listen, I had a good, long look at the Cup-A-Cake and I can see that it works like a tiny bodyguard, protecting your precious cargo. Unfortunately, first I'd have to get the cargo into the actual case in order to test it and today that just wasn't happening. Guess I'll have to go back tomorrow!
You can get your very own Cup-A-Cake at cupcake shops near you, or order online with delivery to the U.S. and Canada. And in honor of this post, later today I'll be adding a Cup-A-Cake to the Goodies Giveaway, so get your entries in today (click here to see how, if you're new 'round these parts).

*About that punctuated equilibrium thing...I've never actually done a story on the subject, just saw it on a bumper sticker: "HONK IF YOU UNDERSTAND PUNCTUATED EQUILIBRIA"!