I believe that this was the costume that inspired the name "Cupcake." She looks like she should be working behind the counter at a Danish Bakery selling them.
Elena also used to be just a tad plump for a skater -- size 6 for any regular gal -- and one time Dick was both critisizing and gushing about Sokolova, whose skating was not that great at the time. He was searching for some nice things to say since he had just said some not so nice things about her skating, thus he got caught up in how cute and perky she was and said, "She's so sweet and a little round, she just reminds me of a cupcake!" or something close to that. Cupcake stuck.
Rgirl
BTW, "Cupcake" is a pretty lean skating machine these days. I sat next to her in a cab with Volchkova on the way to the GWG in '98. The cab picked the two of them up at the biggest mall on Long Island, which tells you how young they were then. Vika looked like one of those teenagers who is gawky only because she has no idea how gorgeous she is. Elena was more confident and spoke a little English in response to my no doubt annoying attempts to tell them both that I enjoyed thier skating. I got their autographs, too. Any buyers? Just kidding, lol.