Lemon and chocolate was so overdone. How many times had he seen a lemon and chocolate cupcake? Johnny couldn't even remember how many times he'd had to make those when he was learning how to make cupcakes - apparently the sourness of the lemons and the bittersweetness of the chocolate was supposed to be extremely hard to balance. The twenty three year old had found the perfect mix of the two a few batches in, but for some reason his old boss just wanted him to keep making it over and over and over and over... and over.
Now, he wanted to make new flavors. Glitter and Gold was known for being crazy and flashy and outlandish - they couldn't put chocolate lemon cupcakes back on the shelf, even if they'd wanted to. It just didn't fit the store anymore. They needed something shiny and new and great. Their peanut butter and jelly cupcake (a peanut butter cake with a swirl of grape jelly and a grape frosting) was an absolute hit. He'd needed a peanut butter and jelly stroke of genius, but no great flavor combination was coming into his head. He was sure he was just having a brain fart - a lack of sleep equaled a lack of creativeness lately, it seemed.
Johnny scratched through the list of flavor ideas, crossing them off as he shook his head and sighed. He'd have his Eureka moment soon, he hoped. Until then, it came down to perfecting his Root Beer Float cupcake - the foaminess of the frosting didn't quite stand as much as he'd want it to, no matter how much he'd whipped it.
The jingling of the bells at the door distracted the British-Nigerian, causing him to look up from the kitchen. His eyes met the face of a beautiful woman with long, blonde hair. Blondes were definitely his type, he thought. "Hi, welcome to Glitter and Gold!" He told the woman, letting himself smile as he approached the front counter. "Is there anything I can get for you today? Anything you've been craving? Chocolate? Vanilla, maybe?" He raised his eyebrows, resting his elbows on the counter as he leaned forward.
