I. Love. Delish!

Lucky for me I recently had another business trip down to Austin.  This allowed me to pop into my favorite cupcakery - Delish.  Parking is not easy down on 3rd street, but it is so worth fighting for a spot once you get into Delish.  As I have done in the past, I decided to go with their cupcake of the day - S'mores.

1) the cake - per usual this cake was perfection.  The bottom was a layer of crushed graham crackers topped with a rich chocolate cake.  The flavors were spot on and the cake was surprisingly moist.  For some reason I thought it would dry out with the graham crackers...foolish.  2) the icing - a marshmallow topping, lightly toasted.  This icing was so good I could have eaten it solo, sans cake.  I absolutely love that it was toasted.  I personally like my marshmallows very toasted when making s'mores.  I am always the one the purposely catches it on fire :) mmm. 3) presentation - scroll back up and take a look at that picture.  This cupcake looked so perfect I didn't want to eat it.  All of their cupcakes look like they came right out of a book.  4) creativity - not incredibly creative.  s'mores cupcakes are pretty popular, but I like the way delish made them.  Each cupcakery makes them a little differently and I think this is the first time I actually saw one in the same format as an actual s'more.  5) overall happiness - a real crowd pleaser and yes, by crowd I mean me.  This cupcake again verified that delish is my favorite cupcakery in the country.  Everything they produce is just top notch.  Do yourself a favor, go to Austin, and go to delish.  Austin is such a great city and this cupcakery makes it 10x better.

enjoy!

j

Sin City

Friends, 


I'm going to warn you this post is a bit of a let down.  I just spent the last couple days in Las Vegas - to be honest, it was a couple weeks ago, but I have needed time to recover.  The trip was an absolute whirlwind bouncing from pool cabanas, to gourmet dinners, and ending each night at some crazy club.  This was my first trip to Vegas and it was amazing and overwhelming at the same time.  I flew out early on a Friday and then was to return Monday evening.  From the moment I touched down I didn't have a chance to relax until mid-day Monday.  Seriously, it was 8AM when we landed so what better way to start the trip than Starbucks with a double shot of Baileys?  Ayy...


On Monday I went out on a mission to find a Vegas cupcake.  I ended up at the Sugar Factory.  This place was incredible.  Candy everywhere, cookies, brownies, gelato, cake - it was like Willy Wonka real life.  As I stared into the case I am disappointed to say that I could not bring myself to order a cupcake.  I was so exhausted, dehydrated, and stuffed that I could not physically order a cupcake.  Shocking I know.  However, they did look pretty.  

Once the vodka and regret are all out of my system I might consider planning another trip back and promise to actually try one of these cupcakes.  If you make it to Vegas, please, stop in and let me know how they taste!  I recommend going at the beginning of your trip so you don't end up a mess like me and unable to eat one.  


sorry,
j

High Society

On a recent trip to Texas I was accompanied by my regional manager, Matt.  I love when Matt travels with me, because he lived in Dallas for several years and knows all the hot spots.  When I told him about batter up he said he knew of an amazing bakery right down the street from his old house - Society Bakery (www.societybakery.com). Society Bakery is located in the northern part of the city by "M"Streets.

The smell of baked goods smacks you right in the face when you walk in the door.  It is heavenly.  I could have sat there all day.  They offer more than just cupcakes and their entire selection looked phenomenal!  After a lot of back and forth I decided on a banana chocolate chip cupcake.  Now, normally I would never choose a banana flavored cupcake, but I loved the one Katie ordered at Sweet Mandy B's and I wanted to see if Society's would compare.

Just looking at this cupcake is enough to make your mouth water.  1) the cake - a yellow cake with chocolate chips.  Loved it.  I love yellow cake and the chocolate chips give it the perfect texture contrast.    The flavor was divine and the consistency of the cake was perfect.  2) the icing - AMAZING! It was a light fluffy banana icing that just melted in my mouth 3) presentation - just right.  Simple large swoop of icing.  Honestly, all of their cupcakes looked so good on the rack I had a really hard time deciding.  4) creativity - eh, not that creative.  Banana is pretty common in the cupcake world, and a lot of times it is paired with chocolate.  5) overall happiness - I was beaming after I ate this.  It was so delicious.  When I sat down I told myself I would only have half because I had spent the last couple days indulging in some tex-mex...well that didn't work out so well.  I think I was actually licking the fork for the final crumbs.  


This is by far the best cupcake I have had in Dallas!  If you are in the area you MUST make a stop at society bakery.  Parking is not the easiest, but once you get in there you will see it is worth the hassle.  I can't wait to get back down south to try more flavors!

sometime, anytime, sugar me sweet

On a recent trip back to Cincinnati I was determined to find a decent cupcake shop.  It was driving me crazy that I didn't know of a great cupcakery in my very own hometown.  Thanks to my friends at yelp I found Sugar Cupcakery (www.sugarcupcakery.com) in Milford.  This little gem is on Main St right across from 20 brix (great burger and extensive wine list - highly recommended).  I already had a full day planned with my dear friend Brittany, but I was able to convince her to take a break with me and shoot over to Milford.  We were very curious to see what Sugar had to offer because they are an organic bakery and mostly vegan!  Don't get me wrong I have a serious love for Whole Foods and the organic world, but vegan cupcakes?? Unfortunately when we arrived we were filled with disappointment because Sugar is CLOSED on MONDAYS!  As you can imagine I was not happy - to think someone wouldn't want a cupcake on a Monday, preposterous!  When I awoke on Tuesday, I still had images of vegan cupcakes dancing in my head so I trekked it all the way back to Milford, and I am so happy I went back. The lady at the counter could not have been nicer.  I told her how I had come out on Monday only to find out they were closed, so she gave me my cupcakes for free!  

They offered mini cupcakes so I was able to try 2 flavors!  My first choice was Blackberry (vegan).  I had never seen a blackberry cupcake so I obviously had to try it.  1) the cake - it had a muffin like texture.  I'm not sure if this was because it was vegan or if it was the grain of the blackberry.  I really enjoyed the actual flavor, but not a huge fan of the consistency.  2) the icing - Again, I really liked the flavor, but the consistency wasn't for me.  The blackberries made it rather crunchy and I just didn't enjoy that.  3) presentation - cute, tiny, perfect.  I love cupcakes that have just a dollop of icing on top.  4) creativity - they get serious creative points for this one.  This was the first blackberry cupcake I have ever seen and have yet to see one since.  I love fruit flavored cupcakes, but normally they are strawberry, lemon, and sometimes orange - never blackberry.  5) overall happiness - surprisingly very happy.  I had no idea what to expect, but really liked the cake.  The flavor was very light and refreshing, and my only complaint would be the crunchiness of the blackberries.  

I was in Cincinnati for my dad's birthday, so to honor him my second choice was a chocolate truffle cupcake (the man LOVES chocolate).  1) the cake - great flavor, but semi dry.  2) the icing - A-MA-ZING!  It was a milk chocolate truffle icing and it was so delicious I was thinking about it days later.  It was just like the center of a Lindt truffle.  perfection.  3) presentation - same as the blackberry.  Tiny dollop of icing which is simple and perfect.  4) creativity - normally i would say a chocolate/chocolate cupcake isn't very creative, but the truffle icing took it to a new level.  I don't see many truffle cupcakes which is disappointing.  5) overall happiness - so happy.  My only disappointment here is that I had a mini cupcake and not the full size.  Next time I am back home I will be sure to stop in and pick up a chocolate truffle cupcake from Sugar Cupcakery.  

If you have read any of my previous posts, you know that cupcake transportation can be a huge issue for me.  Nothing worse than a cupcake rolling around in a box that is too big to hold it.  I was ecstatic when Sugar provided cupcake carriers for MINI CAKES!  That never happens, ever.  Huge bonus points!  


Sugar is open until 10PM on Friday and Saturday so if you are looking to plan date night, dinner at 20 brix followed by a cupcake at Sugar sounds like a delightful evening.  If you aren't planning a date night but looking for some sweets be sure to stop by Sugar.  It will absolutely be on my list of "go-to's" when I am home!

xo

J

Don't Judge a Book by its Cover

After months and months of not baking, I have finally returned to the kitchen!  It has been a little over a year since I baked my last cupcakes, and I’m not going to lie, I was pretty nervous to jump back into it.  This past weekend was Memorial Day and I had just returned from what seemed like a straight month of traveling.  Unfortunately, I returned to grey skies and thunderstorms.  With the weather being so horrendous this weekend it allowed me to reunite with my beloved mixer!

I went back and forth in my head for a long while on what type of cupcake I would make.  Should I go basic, whip up an old favorite, or try something completely new??  I decided to go with something brand new – Strawberry-Lemonade.  It is the end of May and there has only been one or two warm/sunny days in Chicago, so I was craving summer!  One thing that always reminds me of summertime is lemonade, and more specifically a lemonade stand.  For several years I ran a solid beverage business at my grandmother’s house.  As you can see below I became a local celebrity one year when they put my picture in the Cincinnati Enquirer (killer bangs, I know).  I thought a straight lemon cupcake might be too boring so that is where the strawberry comes in.    

I didn’t have an exact recipe to follow, but I will walk you through what I ended up doing.  The cake is lemon.  To start I used my standard yellow cake recipe (it is not actually mine, but the one I use most from my cookbooks). 

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups cake flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3 large eggs - (I used 5 egg whites)

2 cups sugar

1 cup canola oil

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk

1 pkg dry lemon pudding mix

1 lemon

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  In a separate bowl (mixer bowl), beat eggs and sugar roughly 2 minutes on medium.  Then blend in oil and vanilla.  Start adding in the flour mixture alternating with the milk until batter is smooth.

Now to make it lemon I tried a couple things.  First I added about 2/3 package of lemon pudding mix.  Then I put in some lemon zest.  I don’t know the exact amount, but a decent portion of the lemon.  I made half of the cupcakes with these additions.  Then just in case the above would not be enough I squeezed the juice of half a lemon into the remaining batter.  I think the cakes with the additional lemon juice were much better so for a full batch I would recommend squeezing the juice of a whole lemon.

Spoon the mixture into baking cups and bake at 350 for 18 minutes(large), 14 minutes(mini)

The icing was a strawberry buttercream.  As a forewarning I have always struggled a bit with icing.  Again, I went with a standard buttercream then added strawberries.

2 sticks of butter (room temp)

Roughly 2/3 of a bag of powdered sugar

And small doses of heavy whipping cream

Container of frozen strawberries

First, beat the butter until fluffy.  It is SO SO SO important the butter is room temp.  I have tried to take shortcuts before and heat up the butter or use it when it was still chilled – not okay.  It just does not work nearly as well.  Also, I almost always use unsalted butter.  Then start mixing in the powdered sugar and heavy cream.  I usually just use a little of each at a time until I get the right consistency.  Everything was looking good until I added the strawberries.  After they thawed I chopped them into tiny pieces.  Threw a couple spoonfuls into the icing and started mixing.  I then added a little bit of the strawberry juice.  I could never get the right consistency.  I put the icing in the refrigerator for a bit then let it sit out.  Just couldn’t get it right. 

Full Size

I went back and forth at the store on if I should use fresh or frozen berries.  I settled on frozen because I thought if necessary I could use the juice for extra flavor.  Maybe not the best choice.  The taste of the icing was great, but the consistency just wasn’t right.  That’s where the “don’t judge a book by its cover comes in” – great taste, poor appearance.  I think it had something to do with the frozen berries.  I also bought strawberry jam to add to the mix but didn’t end up using any of it.  Still interested in how that would turn out. 

Mini

So if you are looking to bake something refreshing, the above is perfect.  Next time I will try something different for the icing to obtain a better look.  I will not be rating my cupcakes on the standard scale I use for the professionals because I don’t think I could handle my own critiques.

Enjoy!

J

Cupcakin in the Big Easy

Earlier in the month I took a trip down to New Orleans to enjoy the great music and food of Jazz Fest.  Jazz Fest is an incredible day time festival with music from many different genres and tent after tent of traditional NOLA grub.  The music was great and I had some of the best cajun and seafood money can buy (or at least on my small budget).  Shockingly enough there were no cupcake tents at Jazz Fest so I had to venture out to find a local cupcakery.  This was my 3rd time visiting the Crescent City, but my first time experiencing it on a scooter.  I had rented a Vespa for a few days, and if you have any trips planned in the near future this is the way to do it!  There is so much to see in New Orleans and whipping down the streets on a scooter is by far the best way to see all that this city has to offer.

I ended up at Bee Sweet Cupcakes (no website) on Magazine Street.  Bee Sweet is a great little cupcakery full of bright colors and rows of delicious cupcakes.  I decided to go with the S'Mores variety.  As you can see this is a chocolate cupcake with a milk chocolate icing, topped with marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate chips.  1) the cake - great taste very moist.  I was very happy with the actual cake flavor and consistency.  2) the icing - loved the icing alone.  the milk chocolate flavor was perfect.  In all honesty, I didn't love all the jazz on top.  There was a lot going on at once.  3) Presentation - I like the presentation!  It looks exciting, like you just can't wait to bite in and enjoy all that chocolatey goodness.  Then when you do, per my comment above, there is just too much going on.  4) Creativity - Fairly creative.  I haven't seen many S'mores out in the market place, but when I do see them they are each a little different which I appreciate.  This is the first one I have seen where it is a traditional cupcake topped with S'Mores accessories.  5) Overall Happiness - very happy.  Chocolatey goodness in the big easy - not much room for disappointment.  All of the flavors looked delicious, so I would absolutely go back to Bee Sweet, but I will go with a simpler variety.

As always I made a stop at the famous Cafe Du Monde.  They have the best beignets I have ever tasted. While these are not exactly cupcakes they are 100% worth it.  If you go to New Orleans please make sure to try the beignets and cafe au lait.  Warning - incredibly messy.  You WILL get powdered sugar everywhere!!

Cupcakes on the move

I'm Back!  Sorry for the lack of posts throughout the month of May.  I have been all over the country and did not have a lot of extra time for reviews.  Lucky for you I was able to try a lot of new places so expect a surplus of posts in the coming weeks.


In Chicago we are lucky enough to have cupcake trucks.  These are actual delivery trucks/vans full of cupcakes, and they drive all throughout the city posting up at different locations throughout the day.  Think ice cream truck meets cucpakery.  Genius, right?  Today was my lucky day because Flirty Cupcakes (www.flirtycupcakes.com) parked their van right outside my office during lunch!  Technically it was a couple blocks away, but it was a beautiful, rainy, 37 degree day - perfect for a cupcake adventure.  

"Big Blue"

So, I grabbed my 2 amigos and journeyed to “Big Blue” as they like to call themselves on twitter.  When we arrived there was already a small line, which gave us plenty of time to decide on flavors.  I was impressed with the options they provided being that it was a small sized van.  Pretty sure this was the same van my dad used to drive back in the 70’s, but instead of being bright silver and blaring the music of Led Zepplin, it was painted baby blue and had the sweet aroma of fresh baked goods. 

I was originally going to go with the PB&C (peanut butter and chocolate), but as I got closer and saw the display that cake looked way too rich for lunch so I decided on the “A Raspberry Stole My Heart”.  Katie chose Paradise Island.  David is on a diet so he just tagged along for the fresh air.

A Raspberry Stole My Heart (chocolate cupcake with a raspberry cream filling, and topped with a raspberry/chocolate chip cream cheese frosting.  1) The Cake – Perfect chocolate flavor and good consistency.  I honestly wasn’t a fan of the raspberry cream filling.  I think it would have been better to go with a straight chocolate cake.  It caused the cake to break apart (big pet peeve) and it didn’t really add to the cupcake as a whole.  2) Icing – indifferent.  So I loved the chocolate chips in the icing.  I liked the texture contrast it provided, but the icing itself could have used a little more raspberry flavor.  I’m also thinking a rasp butter cream would have been better than cream cheese. 3) Presentation – Happy with it.  I love the simple swirl icing.  Unfortunately, the picture quality isn’t the best, but the icing was more pink than it appears in the picture.  I’d also like to thank flirty cupcakes for purchasing containers that keep my cupcake intact while I walk back to the office.  So frustrating when the icing gets stuck on the side of the box!  Somehow Katie managed to ruin her icing, but she is just special sometimes. 4)Creativity – Pretty creative.  I love the raspberry/chocolate combination.  I suppose they get creativity points for adding the raspberry cream in the middle (even though I wasn’t a fan of it).  I haven’t seen this flavor anywhere else though so I’ll consider it creative.  5)Overall Happiness – Pretty happy.  I love that they brought the cupcake to me.  While I thought it could have been a little more flavorful I thought the overall cupcake was tasty.  If I pass big blue again I will definitely stop.

Paradise Island – Pineapple Rum Cupcake w/ a Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting – Now Coconut makes me want to vom so this review came second hand from the beautiful Ms. Katie Brooks.  Her comments were as follows, "yum", "delicious", "i want more".  Now, I realize that does not fall in line with my ranking system, but if you like pineapple and coconut it seems like a winner!


xo
J