The Cupcake Factory

Posted on by mjlstories

The Cupcake Factory

claire-fuller-9

The Cupcake Factory

Her smooth creamy voice was muffled behind the white mask. ‘So these are the controls for the ordinary ingredients – flour, sugar, egg, raising agent.’

With a sanitised gloved hand she yanked each lever.

‘But I thought…’

‘Ah, it’s all in the topping – who bothers about the actual cake? This batch is for…’ She consulted a clipboard. ‘A leaving do.  We’ll set it for Nostalgia and Bonhomie with an after-taste of…It’s your first day, you decide.’

I scanned the dials. ‘Satisfaction and Contentment? Warmth and Relaxation? No, Guilt and Paranoia.’

‘Nice one. I can see you’re going to fit right in.’

M J Lewis ©2015

Thanks to Claire Fuller for this strange photo, full of fictional potential. My daughter tells me it’s a system found in many libraries and also that it featured in an episode of the BBC’s New Tricks, where Brian narrowly escaped being crushed to death. (My daughter also demonstrated what to do if someone tries this – whoever said fiction doesn’t teach you useful life skills?)

I, however, saw a Cupcake Factory. I have fluffy confectionery on the brain this week (don’t ask!), but I will also acknowledge a huge debt to Doug’s fine story (of Solitude, Mystery, Love and Beauty) that I read earlier today and somehow just wouldn’t go away.

Thanks to our gracious Friday Fiction host, Rochelle. To find out what other treats have been cooked up around the globe click here.

38 thoughts on “The Cupcake Factory”

  3. Dera MJ,

    I love the contrast between the huge component structures of your cupcake factory and their final product, the cupcakes themselves. I like that the controls are not limited to sweetness and light, but will concoct anything (apparently) in the wide range of human emotion. A wonderful story about a place where I would love to be employed. Thanks for thanking me for whatever small influence my story had on yours. The two buildings are probably side by side in the Imagination district, where stories are built and dreams run rampant.

    Aloha,

    Doug

    Liked by 2 people

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    • Hi Doug,
      You’re story definitely helped me to top those cupcakes!
      Glad you saw the contrast element. Cupcakes have always struck me as so far from real cakes as to have been produced in the Nuclear Cake Lab.
      I’m still looking out for the advert for recruitment to this place, but I think they approach you, perhaps when you’re travelling by rampant rickshaw in the Imagination District.
      Cheers,
      Miranda

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  6. Dear MJL,

    A cupcake factory? Sweet idea. Pun intended…always. 😉 I love that you went in an unexpected direction. This story is the epitome of the Thoreau quote that is my mantra, “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see. Beautifully imagined.

    Shalom,

    Rochelle

    Liked by 1 person

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  7. Interesting. I was watching Horizon on BBC last night where they’d introduced a virus into mice that could target stimulate an individual neuron. You can put viruses in cake?
    Good piece.

    Liked by 1 person

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    • I think you’ve just named this cupcake company!
      The anti-squishing is fairly simple, as demonstrated by my daughter – but I was laughing rather than paying attention. Think the gist of it is to sweep the largest books off one of the shelves and lie on the vacated shelf. I’ll ask her to test it for us.

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  13. I bet the factory front has a quaint cottage style facade to kid the public that everything’s hand-made by dear little old ladies in gingham frocks (or gnomes).
    In the UK there are four additives that government says must be included in white flour and because this is compulsory, they’re not included in the list on the pack. Because they are good “nutrients” (Iron, Thiamin, Nicotinic acid or nicotinamide and Calcium carbonate) I’m happy, but there does seem to be a thin edge of the wedge to all this.
    Peace and Happiness

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  14. Or gnomes in gingham frocks…
    The cupcake stand at Marylebone station has a dear little wheel on the front – to make the fixed stand look like the magic cupcake wagon just rolled in? It also sells a line called the Show Girls.
    You don’t always need to make it up!
    Didn’t know that about flour. Good for developing babies? But you’re right – should be listed still.
    By the way is that thin end of the wedge made of cake cos if so leave me some.

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  15. I like how you related frosting to different emotions. Isn’t eating an emotional activity anyway? It is for me. I found out when I went on a strict diet. Oh, I missed the sweet stuff. Great, imaginative take, MJL.

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