Little Cakes

Ditch the box - you're not fooling anyone. "Duncan Hines is Duncan Hines - everybody knows!" says Rebecca Masson. The head pastry chef for downtown's Ibiza and the Heights's Catalan restaurants will show would-be bakers how simple it is to start from scratch at her Little Cakes class today.

Cupcakes have been a growing trend for a few years now, thanks to Sarah Jessica Parker's Sex in the City character Carrie Bradshaw, who frequently indulged her sweet tooth at New York's Magnolia Bakery. "They've always had cupcakes, and pretty darn good ones," says Masson, who spent a few years perfecting her pastry skills in the Big Apple.

Masson has tried a couple of cupcakes at various spots in Houston and says she'll teach participants how to make treats as sweet as any that they'll find around here. She'll share recipes for her own brownie cupcakes with butter cream frosting, red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and vanilla cupcakes with chocolate butter cream frosting. "Plus, you get to eat [the] cupcakes, and them are good." 6:30 to 9 p.m. Central Market, 3815 Westheimer. For registration and information, call 713-993-9860 or visit www.centralmarket.com. $45.
Mon., Feb. 18, 6:30-9 p.m., 2008