Side Note

I'd like to point out one of my favorite things in Dallas - Central Market.  I am a HUGE fan of Whole Foods, but in Dallas HEB has come up with the Central Market concept which is very similar.  I always like to pop in and try some of their fresh selections.  They also have cool cooking classes every week.

Also they have an amazing gelato bar that I like to hit up on my way out.  

Enjoy!
J

Apple Pie??

On my last trip to Dallas I had to get back to Society Bakery (societybakery.com).  As mentioned before the smell is just intoxicating when walking in the door.  Then when you arrive you are faced with this case of beautiful cupcakes! 

Now, last time I was in Society Bakery I had to try the banana chocolate chip to compare with Sweet Mandy B's here in Chicago, but noticed they had an apple pie flavor.  I was very intrigued by this as I have never seen an apple pie cupcake. 

Apple Pie: 1)the cake - Just a plain yellow cake - good flavor and consistency.  2) the icing - Vanilla buttercream with Apple Pie filling on top.  So good! Just the right amount of icing to go along with the apples.  It was light and fluffy.  3)Presentation - I like the "rough" presentation.  Large cupcake with a blob of icing and then apple filling plopped on top.  Totally my style.  4)Creativity - VERY creative.  Like I said, I have never seen an Apple Pie cupcake 5)overall happiness - extremely happy!  This was so delicious.  The combination of the cake with the vanilla icing and apple topping reminded me of apple pie a la mode.  Very much enjoyed this cupcake and might try to make it myself when apple season roles around!

While on this trip I had to pick up a gift for someone so I stopped in Creme de la Cookie (cremedelacookie.com).  I absolutely fell in love with this place.  It is adorable.  The cookies looked amazing and they had a good variety, but nothing too crazy.  However, my favorite thing about this place was the little gift boxes.  Such a great idea - They were perfect.  I really wish we had one of these shops in Chicago!

Enjoy Texas!

J

Cupcakes & Baseball!

Ah, two of my favorite things!  I am lucky enough to live in very close proximity to Wrigley Field making it quite easy to watch a ball game.  To be clear I am NOT a Cubs fan.  Not even close, but I am a huge fan of the game so I will watch regardless of the teams.  


On the way to Wrigley my friend Katie and I decided to stop for a cupcake at Phoebe's Cupcakes (chicagocupcakes.com).  Not my first choice, but it was convenient.  They had a decent selection to choose from so after a solid five minutes of back and forth I went with salted caramel and Katie chose Peanut Butter Fudgy Brownie.  

Salted Caramel:  Caramel soaked vanilla cake with caramel butter cream icing topped with sea salt.  1) the cake - awesome.  It had an amazing texture and loved the flavor 2) the icing - so delicious.  Just the right amount and it had a perfect hint of sea salt so that the cake overall was not too sweet which can easily happen with caramel 3)presentation - simple, fine.  4)creativity - not the first salted caramel i have seen, but the sea salt topping was a nice touch 5)overall happiness - unfortunately delighted.  For personal reasons I really did not want to like these cupcakes, but of course they were delicious.  

Peanut Butter Fudgy Brownie:  I almost don't need to rate a cake with that title because you know it will be amazing.  peanut butter. fudgy. brownie. duh.  This was a brownie cheesecake topped with peanut butter italian buttercream.  1)the cake - the actual chocolate cake portion was not my favorite, but added with the cheesecake brought it back to amazingness.  2)PB icing - great!  Some bakeries struggle with a peanut butter icing, but this one was alright in my book.  It was very smooth and not overwhelming.  3) presentation - simple like the caramel - i like that.  4)creativity - pb chocolate is not that creative, but I have yet to see a cheesecake version.  I think it was a nice touch 5) Overall happiness - hate to love it.

Well, Phoebe's gets an official thumbs up from me.  If you are ever in boystown it is recommend.  The flavor we are holding above is Spumoni which is a pistachio cake.  This gets serious creative points, but I am not a fan of nuts so passed on this flavor.  

2 additional touches I enjoyed: dog cupcakes (can't forget about our furry friends) and self serve sprinkles.  

Wrigley Night Game

Enjoy, 
J

Happy 4th!

What better way to celebrate the 4th than with a batch of cupcakes?  These past couple weeks have been quite crazy for me as I bounced around the country, but the few days I spent in Chicago allowed me to get back in the kitchen.  I decided to get in the spirit of the holiday and whip up a fan favorite - red velvet with cream cheese icing.  For this recipe I turned to one of my favorite food network stars, Mrs. Paula Deen!

Love her! (photo thanks to google)

The cake:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour (I used unbleached)

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt (I used crushed sea salt)

1 tsp cocoa powder (so i used approx 3 tablespoons because 1 tsp seemed so small)

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

1 cup buttermilk (room temp)

2 large eggs (room temp)

2 tbsp red food coloring

1 tsp white distilled vinegar

1 tsp vanilla extract

First, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa.  In a separate bowl beat oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla.  Once mixed gradually add the dry ingredients until smooth.  Pour evenly into cupcake holders and toss in the oven.  

Bake for 18 minutes at 350 degrees.  Let cool for about 2 minutes then remove cupcakes from tray and place on cooling rack.  Let cool completely before icing!

The icing:

8oz cream cheese - softened

1 stick butter - softened

1 tsp vanilla

roughly 3 cups powdered sugar

Mix all ingredients together until smooth.

Comments:  I still think it could have used a little more cocoa.  The original recipe says to bake 20-22 minutes.  I left mine in slightly over 20 as I wasn't watching them closely and I personally think they were a little dry.  I would start checking at 16 minutes.  On the icing - you will want to mix the first three ingredients and slowly add the powdered sugar.  I kept tasting after each cup to get the sweetness level I preferred.  I probably ended up using close to 4 cups on this batch. 

How great is this Red Velvet Cupcake wine from Whole Foods!?!  A perfect pairing for the holiday.  

Enjoy!

J

Another Truck

The other day I was headed out for a run but when I got to the bottom of my building a cupcake truck was parked on my corner.  I went through a long moral debate on if I should just go run OR skip the run, go upstairs, get my wallet, and try the cupcake.  Well, I decided to run and I am so happy I made that choice.  The very same truck was parked outside of my office this week.  I grabbed some friends and went to see what they had to offer.  They had minimal flavors of large cupcakes, a box of 3 mini cupcakes, whoopie pies, cake pops, and their special of the day was banana pudding.  My friend Justin and I decided to split the 3 minis and a banana pudding.  David went with the pudding and Nicole went with the box of minis. 

The 3 minis were vanilla bean, red velvet, and sweet potato. 

Vanilla Bean – 1)the cake – so so so dry, blah terrible.  It was heavy and like cornbread.  The worst!  2) the icing was vanilla bean butter cream - it was watery - not the texture but the taste.  Vanilla is so amazing and this was so blan. 

Red Velvet - 1)the cake - so dry.  not as dry as the vanilla, but not good at all!  Also way too much cocoa in the mix.  Red Velvet is supposed to be chocolatey, but not an overwhelming chocolate taste. 2)the icing was mediocre.  It wasn't thick enough to hold the true consistency of a cream cheese frosting. 

Sweet Potato - 1)the cake was semi dry, but not nearly as bad as the other 2.  I did like the flavor.  2)the icing was the same as the red velvet - just okay.  The cake was topped with sprinkles, which looked nice, but there were too many.  They were so crunchy and distracting.

3)presentation - I liked the box of three and the cute little saying "two for me, one for you".  4)creativity - the first 2 were standard, but the sweet potato was creative.  I haven't seen that before.  David had a great idea to use a marshmallow icing on top and possibly some brown sugar so it would be like a sweet potato casserole!  Very clever - that might be one of my next attempts.  5) overall happiness.  terribly unhappy!  so so bad.  I know I can be a tough judge but these were just all around not good.  Justin and I split 3 minis and we did not fully finish a single one that's how bad they were.  Nicole saved them to take home, I can only imagine how dry they were by the time she ate them. 

A little redemption for the truck:

So David had a banana pudding and Justin and I also split one.  The chick at the truck said it would change our lives.  I don't know about life changing, but I thought it was pretty good.  Justin said it was "excellent" and David agreed with the lady in the truck that it was life changing.  It had actual bananas in it which I appreciated.  The boys think it could have had another layer of vanilla wafers and possibly a dallop of whipped cream on top.  Then it would have been perfect.

All in all this was a HUGE disappointment.  I will not stop at this truck again - even if they have the banana pudding.  I am mad at them for producing such crappy cupcakes that I don't want to give them any business. 

A true friend....

...will travel with a cupcake for you.  As you know I travel quite often, and I generally grab a cupcake on the way to the airport and eat it once I get to the gate.  This can be terribly annoying when going through security.  I never want to put the cupcake in one of my carry-ons (especially if they have poor containers), so I am always juggling my luggage, trying to get my laptop out of my bag, get out my bag of liquids, and slide off my shoes - all while trying to keep my cupcake in tact.  


Recently, my dear friend Katie took a trip to our nation's capital.  I may have mentioned to her a couple times that Georgetown Cupcake (georgetowncupcake.com) is located in DC and I have wanted to try one of their cupcakes since first seeing them on TV (DC Cupcakes).  Lucky for me she had some down time and is an amazing friend.  She stood in line at GC for 25 minutes and picked up 2 of their monthly specials, white chocolate raspberry and orange blossom.  Katie had the white chocolate raspberry and then being a great friend she brought the orange blossom all the way back to Chicago for me!! (picture me singing the Golden Girls theme song to her).

Quite the line!

They make you stare at them while you wait!

Orange Blossom: 

1) the cake - very good!  Now, Katie brought this back on a Friday - I had plans that night so I did not get around to eating the cupcake until Saturday.  It was SLIGHTLY dry, but that was my own fault so I will just assume it would have been just right had I eaten it in DC.  It was a vanilla cupcake with orange zest in the mix.  The consistency was a little thick.  I personally would have liked a little more orange flavor.  2) the icing - orange infused vanilla cream cheese - awesome.  It was soft and airy and reminded me of a Flintstones pushup.  HUGE fan of this icing.  3) presentation - after making the trip from DC to Chi this cupcake was still in good shape (nice work brooks!).  It had a large swirl of icing and then topped with a candied orange peel.  From the looks of it I think there was too much icing, but it was delicious so I wasn't too upset about it.  4) creativity - This was definitely creative.  I don't see orange cupcakes very often, and it is one of their seasonal ones so I was pretty excited about trying it. 5) overall happiness - very happy!  As mentioned above it was a little dry, but I am sure it would have been much better fresh off the rack.  I don't have any trips planned to DC in the near future, but whenever I get up there I would hit up Georgetown Cupcake.

White chocolate Raspberry:  Since Katie had this one, I will officially introduce her as my first guest blogger!

Thanks Jenny!  First, I would obviously do anything for you since you are an amazing friend!  1.) the cake was good.  I personally am not a fan of any chunks in my cupcake but seeing as how this was rasberry this cake had a slightly chunky texture that although good, was not my favorite.  However, the overall flavor of the cake was great.  2.) White chocolate buttercream icing.  I LOVE buttercream icing and the combo of the white chocolate with rasberry cake was DELICIOUS.  While Jenny may have thought there was too much icing I couldn't get enough! 3.) Presentation was clean and lovely.  It almost aired on the side of boring but it looked good and tasted good so I'll give good marks here.  4.) Creativity - I'm pretty sure I've seen this type of cupcake before but it was certainly a little more creative than your standard Red Velvet, etc. and it was the perfect flavor to start off the summer season! 5.) Overall happiness was definitely up there.  After my long meeting in DC ;), I was starved and definitely craving something sweet.  It was a delicious cupcake and worth the 25 minute wait.  I would definitely recommend going to Georgetown Cupcake if you're in the area followed by a light lunch and some shopping along the main strip!

Double reco for Georgetown Cupcake!


xo,
j 

Back to basics

I don't really know when or how it started, but awhile back one of my good friends and I started picking up souvenirs for each other whenever we would travel.  I was a big fan of giving magnets from the various cities I would visit (I later realized they do not stick to his refrigerator) A favorite of mine was when I gave him statue of liberty sunglasses - still have yet to see them used.  Now, as much as I hate to admit defeat he generally came back with much better souvenirs.  Most recently he truly hit a grand slam.  He was in Mexico and came back with a little bottle of tequila (big fan) and a bottle of Mexican Vanilla!  My mom always used Mexican vanilla when baking and it truly is the best.  It has a very strong fragrance and flavor.  I decided to crack open this amazing gift and make some cupcakes.  The tequila remains unopened.  It has an actual worm in the bottle - yuck!  So below is the recipe used for Mexican vanilla cupcakes with a mexican vanilla icing.  My friend Jay would find humor in this post.  He is half Mexican and would love the irony that I made a plain white mexican cupcake.

Cupcake:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (unbleached)

1 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt (i used sea salt)

1 stick unsalted butter - room temp

1 large egg - room temp

2 large egg yolks - room temp

2 teaspoons mexican vanilla

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Briefly whisk together top 4 ingredients until combined.  Add the remaining ingredients and beat at a medium speed until smooth - roughly 1 minute.  I use the paddle attachment for this step.  (quick tip - slice the butter into smaller pieces before adding for easier mixing).  Then divide batter into the cupcake pan and place in the oven for 21ish minutes.  I recently read a tip that I think makes perfect sense.  When scooping the batter into the cups use an ice cream scoop to get even portions.  This will eliminate some of them being over cooked or mushy.  A few minutes after the cakes are out of the oven, remove them from the pan and place them on a wire rack to finish cooling.  

Icing:

1 16oz pkg powdered sugar

1 stick of butter - room temp

3ish tablespoons of milk

2 teaspoons Mexican vanilla

Beat all ingredients at a low speed until smooth.  If the frosting is a little thick you can add more milk.  Be super careful when doing this because if you add too much it will be runny and it can be tough to come back from that.  

Full Size

Mini

Once the cupcakes are cool, ice away.  I think these cupcakes turned out alright.  You could definitely taste the vanilla flavor.  I think I loved the icing more than the actual cake so I may try that on a different flavor in the future.  They received rave reviews at the office and my co-workers tend to be brutally honest.  If desired, you can add a little food coloring to the icing to jazz em up a bit.  I would have liked some small sprinkles, but didn't have any on hand.  

enjoy!

j