Pretty Portland Cakes

I'm kicking myself because I've gone and lost my notes on the above Red Velvet cupcake. I bought it at New Season's on aFriday night. I'm fairly sure it was from Joseph's but their online menu doesn't offer Red Velvet, so I can't be too sure. The presentation was beautiful, clearly, a perfect red, nice piped frosting with a fabulous lavendar flower (that was so well done it even had a green stem), and extra special shiny and sparkly flakes for a little added flare. Unfortunately the presentation was much better than the actual cake. It was incredibly dry, with a good mild chocolate taste, but not at all moist or buttermilky as it should be. The frosting was sweet and pastey and not yummy at all. Oh well, at least it was photogenic! That evening we also sampled a carrot cake from New Seasons that was absolutely to. die. for. Again, I lost my notes so I've got no idea who made it. It was super moist, with a perfectly perfect cream cheese frosting. Oh and they added pineapple just like I do! I couldn't have eaten more of those.



Now for the others, please forgive the crummy camera phones photos. My husband and I were out buying more pickets for our new fence at Home Depot when we realized it was time for lunch. We went to Zupans on Hayden Island for sandwiches and I decided we needed cupcakes as well (it was our anniversary after all!). The Triple Lemon Cake (above and below) was from Joseph's and GOOD GOLLY it was SO good! The cake is a lemon buttermilk cake, and it is dense and moist and absolutely perfectly lemony and perfect all around. BUT the best part is that the cake is topped with a thick layer of lemon curd. Ohmygawd why hadn't I thought of this?!! On top of the curd is a nice thick pile of lightly lemony buttercream. Geeezus, this is by far the best cupcake I've had out and about in Portland. Yum yum yum yum yum! And pretty too (they also used the sparkly shiney flake things)!

The carrot cake was for the husband - it was actually called a Carrot Muffin and was from a place called Ruth's that I've never heard of. It was moist and yummy, with a good cream cheese icing (though a little too sweet for me). The cake wasn't very spicey and didn't contain pineapple, coconut, nuts, or anything else special. But it was perfectly good. I think I'm finding that carrot cake is the hardest to scew up.

Ok, time for lunch, I've gone and made my self starved!!!

xoxo

Garden Party Cakes

1 box white cake mix
1 box vanilla pudding
4 egg whites
butter instead of oil
1/3 c. Ameretto
1 c. milk

bake, cool, serve with whipping cream and berries
and look out for bees!

"A+ #1 Best Ever!"

peanut butter cups

My husband's favorite sweet treat is a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup so for his birthday I decided to try and make a cupcake version. I used Clare Crespo's brilliant book Hey There, Cupcake! and only made a few changes (Iadded chips and changed the frosting/presentation).
My husband proclaimed these cupcakes "A+ #1 Best Ever!" and the other party goes seemed to feel the same way. They were a smashing success, much more than I'd ever expect something peanut butter to be. And so much so that they've made it onto the cupcake menu for an upcoming wedding I'm baking for (more on that later).
Try them yourselves...

35 cakes for 35th birthday
3 1/2 c. all purpose flour 6 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. salt 2/3 c. unsalted butter, softened 2 1/2 c. firmly packed light brown sugar 4 eggs 2/3 c. salted peanut butter 1 c. whole milk 2 tsp. vanilla 1/2 - 3/4 bag Reese's chips
Preheat oven to350
Line cupcake tins with liners Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl In a seperate bowl, cream butter and brown sugar Add eggs one at a time beating each until light fluffy Add peanut butter and mix until smooth and creamy In small bowl combine milk and vanilla To butter mixture, add about 1/4 of the flour mix and mix well
Add about 1/4 milk mixt ure and mix well
Continue, beating after each until smooth Pour batter into tins and bake for about 18-23 min,
until they cakes bounce back when touched Remove and let cool about 10 min before turning out of tins and onto rack to cool completely Chocolate "Dip"
1 bag semi sweet chocolate chips 3 sticks unsalted butter 1-2 c. confectioner sugar 1-2 tbsp godiva liquor (or other liquid as needed)

Melt chocolate in double boiler until melted, remove and let cool but not re-thicken
Beat butter and 1 c. confectioner's sugar until smooth
Add chocolate slowly, beating lightly
Add more sugar if needed, and liquid if needed
Dip cupcakes into chocolate slowly, refrigerate before serving

I decorated with mini beer can picks found at the Decorette Shop
(see post below for more on them)

Delicious Fishes

Another brilliant idea from Martha Stewart (or rather, one of her minions) - how will I find time to try them before this summer is over?

Ingredients

Makes 12

• 1 1/2 pints sherbet in assorted flavors, such as pineapple, lime, raspberry, and orange
• 24 jelly fruit-slice candies in assorted colors, for decorating
• 1 tablespoon chocolate chips, melted and cooled
• 24 small round white candies, for decorating
• 1 store-bought pound cake, (10.75 ounces)

Directions

1. Wrap a rimmed baking sheet with plastic, pulling wrap taut over top of sheet. Scoop desired flavors of sherbet using a 2 3/4-inch ice cream scoop, gently dropping them onto the plastic wrap as you work. (Scoops should not touch the metal; this will help them keep their round shape.) Freeze until set, about 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, make decorations: Stand jelly candies upright on a cutting board. Cut candies lengthwise (vertically) into 3 thin slices. Cut outer slices in half for the fins and tails. (You should have 6 halves of the same color for each fish.) Cut long, thin strips from middle slices (12 strips total); pinch ends together to form circles for the mouths. Using the blunt end of a skewer, dot melted chocolate onto the white candies for eyes; let stand until set.
3. Cut cake into 3 layers. Cut out 4 rounds from each using a 1 1/2-inch round cookie cutter. Place each in the bottom of a double layer of paper muffin liners.
4. Working quickly, place 1 scoop of sherbet on top of cake in liner. Gently place 2 jelly pieces on sides of scoop for fins, 3 in the back for a tail, and 1 on top for fin. Add candy eyes. Return fish to freezer. Repeat with remaining scoops,working with 1 at a time. Freeze until set, 1 to 5 hours, before serving.

i want...

I could say that I've just been terribly busy and also distracted and consumed with a very exciting task (wedding cupcakes - promise to report back after Labor Day). But really I'm just a bad blogger. I love reading other peoples blogs and am disappointed when they aren't updated daily. It is true that I can't possibly bake cupcakes daily (if only!) but I'm weeks behind on blogging cakes I've already baked and photographed. So why would I even consider starting another blog? Oh I don't know. I'm just thinking it'd be fun to blog about parties I throw, attend, create crafts for. Good gifts. Lipstick. Madonna. My sister. My cat. Sugar-free popsicles and other things I love. We'll see. Does anyone who doesn't know me personally read this blog? Would you read/look at another? Leave comments, and we'll see what I feel like in a few days.

For now I'm posting a couple cupcake related things that I love and think are fabulous, and one sweet, but not cakey, thing I desperately want but so don't need...

The Cup-a-Cake. You know, for lunches and stuff.

Sili-Cups

Reusable, non-burning, colorful, I think I need them, no? They come in pastels, white, mini and jumbo. Sweek!

Ooooh, and leave it to those wizards over at Crate & Barrel to make them in brown (and cheap!)

Ok, and quite possibly the only thing that could replace my obsession with chocolate fountains is this super fabulous soft serve ice cream maker from Cuisinart!!!!! I want one so much, but it is so silly. And we don't have the kitchen space. And I'm "allergic" to dairy. But damn! I love soft serve, even more than I love regular hard ice cream and almost as much as I love Ralph's Italian Ices. I especially love the sprinkles and cone holder. So cute, so sweet, so soft...

Read more about this wonder contraption here, or better yet, buy one (only $129!!!) and report back to me. Look, it puts the sprinkles right into the ice cream for you. Wouldn't it be the perfect wedding/birthday/anniversary gift?!!!

Amy Sedaris Test Kitchen

I finally made it to the Decorette Shop on SE Foster street and my only disappointment was that I hadn't been there before. Well and that they didn't have a huge variety of cupcake cups. But they made up for it in their enormous selection of cake toppers, picks, and candies! I bout all the goofy things you see in these photos, as well as beer can picks and candy hot dogs (I haven't used those yet). Clearly I was in a silly mood that day, but they have quite the variety of non-silly toppers as well (beautiful candy flowers, fruits, animals, and holiday themes) and picks (ballerinas, boy scouts, babies, kitties) and commercial themes too! They also have all kinds of baking goodies, cake stands, candy making goods, icing dyes and glitters. I could have spent all day there!

So I decided to test out Amy Sedaris' famous vanilla cupcakes the next day, because I'd heard that Ms. Sedaris loves to use silly picks. I was both delighted and disappointed with the recipe. The cakes themselves were better than Magnolia Bakery's vanilla cakes. Really. Perfect texture, flavor, sweetness, truly the perfect vanilla cake. But the frosting was simply powdered sugar and milk (and vanilla) and tasted just like that - a sweet vanilla paste. I willing to accept that I got something wrong in my recreation, but I won't attempt it again. I think the next time I have to make a vanilla cake I'll make Amy's cakes and Magnolia's vanilla buttercream. Or maybe Warren Brown's, or the Cupcake Cafe's, there are so many options.

PDX Cakes!

Cupcakes from Sweet Pea Bakery (served at Extracto), Vita Cafe and New Seasons.
Quick summary:

Extracto/Sweet Pea - Chocolate with Vanilla "Butter"cream was dry but tasty. It was early in the a.m. but I'm thinking these were day old. The vegan buttercream was great, it had a nice thick texture and wasn't greasy or too sweet. My favorite thing was that they looked like little purses!

New Season's (I don't know what bakery they came from)- Carrot cake was dry (why?!!) but the cream cheese frosting was very yummy. Chantilly was ok- I didn't think the chocolate cake was chocolatey enough and I thought the buttercream was ok but too sweet. Pink frosted chocolate cupcake was dry and yucky with a fake raspberry flavored frosting, one was really bland and greasy and the other was too sweet. Why did too matching cakes taste so different?

Vegan and Wheat free cakes from Vita Cafe -
ok, first of all, cupcakes shouldn't be $4.00 each.
Ever. We tried three flavors: Orange with cranberry, chocolate raspberry, and Irish oat. The orange cran was yummy but much more muffin like than cake like. The frosting was tart and tasty.

The chocolate cake was dry, topped with raspberry jam (ok) and an incredibly delicious chocolate ganache (I don't know how they do it without cream). This ganache could challenge any dairy-filled ganache any day. Superb. But the best cake was the Irish Oat - yummy sweet oaty cake (not muffin like, more carrot cake like, with oats instead of carrots) and topped with fake cream cheese frosting that tasted just like the real thing. I wouldn't buy these again because of the price, but they were definitely the tastiest of the three places I've been to in the past few weeks.

Irish Oat

Care Bears are Back!

I loooove a theme! I tend to be "too matchy" and I over-do everything, so when I heard that the theme for Miss Imani's first birthday was Care Bears I went for it completely! Pink cake with pink cream cheese frosting in Care Bear papers with Care Bears on top (and a Care Bear candle too!).



I bought Care Bear papers and candy toppers at Michael's.
All was perfectly pink and matchy, but as it turns out, the birthday girl doesn't like sweets!

Cake Love - Love Cafe

Cake Love is truly lovely. A bakery in Washington, DC, Cake Love is run by Warren Brown, cake-baker extraordinaire and host of Sugar Rush on the Food Network. Across the street from Cake Love is Love Cafe, where I visited in late June (along with my super fabulous mother-in-law and her super fabulous son) and was, what else, super impressed to find a wide variety of cupcake and frosting flavors.

Of all the choices, and there were so many, we picked these to sample (not all in one setting, we took some home): Chocolate cake with lime buttercream, chocolate cake with peanut butter buttercream, vanilla cake with orange buttercream, chocolate cake with raspberry buttercream, chocolate cake topped with ameretto buttercream, chocolate "dipped" chocolate, new German cake, and chocolate topped with chocolate buttercream. There were four of us doing the sampling over an entire day, but even so I was in a pretty serious state of "sugarbitus" by the end of the evening.

Cake Love makes some fabulous frosting. I had NO idea how much there was to learn about buttercream, but now that I know there are so many options out there, I'm eager to try more. This was my first adventure outside of the world of simple, or American buttercream, and I loved it! (Though now I'm thinking Casa Cupcakes uses a French buttercream style, maybe, because theirs was def. not simple or American, so I guess this wasn't my first time out... I digress.) The texture was wonderful, melt in your mouth, yumminess! I couldn't figure out how they made it so smooth and thick and yet not too buttery or too sweet. (See more on this later.) The cakes were good, but not outstanding. Cake Love instructs you to serve cake at room temperature (72 degrees) but because they have to keep them refrigerated at the cafe, so maybe this makes them little dry. The flavor was good, just dry. But who cares, the frosting was outstanding!

Ok, so my top 3...

#1 favorite flavor (also my MIL's favorite, I think) was chocolate cake with lime buttercream. Call me unimaginative, but I never would have dreamt this up. It was deeee-licious! The buttercream was not too sweet and not too tart, the perfect lime buttercream, even though I didn't know such a thing could be considered perfect. I'm thinking they use lime oil for the flavoring. Or lime essence. But maybe lime juice. I'll def. be trying this one at home! Being a certifiable chocoholic, you'd think I'd pick the chocolate/chocolate combo over all else, but I have to say, that comes in second. Lime is just the most perfect compliment to chocolate.

#2 (father-in-law's #1)
The Chocolate Dipped was just what it says, chocolate, dipped! Chocolate cake, dipped in chocolatey frosting/sauce, refrigerated until it set. Yum. Yum. Yum. (and cute, no?)

#3 (husband's #1, natch)
Peanut Butter Buttercream on Chocolate
Let's just start off by saying my husband would be happy if all he had to eat for the rest of his life was Reese's PB Cups. Me, not so much. But this was good. The peanut buttercream was (like the lime) just the perfect amount of peanut butter in the perfectly strange and lovely buttercream. On top of the chocolate cake that was, by the way, perfectly chocolatey. And very nice to look at. (Note: I made an even better PBC cake on his birthday just this past weekend, that post - and recipe - is coming soon, I prooomise!).

Raspberry buttercream, not quite as delectable as the lime. Same weird-but-good buttercream frosting, but this time the "hint" of flavor wasn't enough. I want to really taste raspberry when it's there. I felt this raspberry was just a tease. A good tease, because I wanted more... but the lovely pink cakes were fun to look at!














The "honorable mention" would have to go to the vanilla orange. Right amount of orange, yummy vanilla cake. Totally tasty. Enough said? I think so.

Oh and there's more... New German, you get it, German Chocolate Cake, I don't know why it is "new." But, YUM! I loooove German Chocolate and this one was very good. Perfect coconutey goopy topping. I'm telling you, this place should be called Frosting Love not Cake Love. The cake was fine, but the frostings, wow! The only real disappointment was the Ameretto. It was just boring. Not any (as far as I could tell) ameretto flavor, just some candied almonds on top of the plain buttercream (which, is actually quite plain when not "umphed" up with something sassy like lime or orange).

And we sampled the chocolate raspberry, because, well why wouldn't we? I loved the swords!

I know, Posy, shut up already, but I'm sorry, as always, I have more to say... When I got home from DC I got right on my computer (I know, I know, if I was on my computer why wasn't I blogging? I don't know)... anyway, I found this wonderful artcle titled "How to Eat a Cupcake" by Warren Brown! And yes, he not only tells us how to chew the paper, but tells us how to make his perfectly odd but perfectly perfect buttercream. You make a meringue, and a sugar syrup. Now I get why it doesn't taste like butter and powdered sugar! His recipe for lemon-white-chocolate cakes looks yummy enough to try, and you KNOW I'll be trying out that buttercream, and yes I'll be blogging it. So, there you have it. A month and a half later, I've concluded my East Coast Cupcake reviews. Now, I have to blog about the three Portland places I've since sampled, the cute (themed!) 1st birthday cakes I made, the Amy Sedaris recipe test, my visit to the Decorette shop, and my "a+ #1 best ever" peanut butter cups. Ugh, I need a cupcake...

Ketchup Cupcakes

I have A LOT of bloggy catch up to do! I sampled cupcakes across New York City and Washington, DC and am way over due with my reviews. I've since returned from the East Coast and provided party cakes for another 1st birthday (this time with a theme to follow) so I've got lots of blogging to do. So much catch up that I think I'd better quit writing about how behind I am and just get on with it! Soooo.....

New York City is the epicenter of the current cupcake trend. From birthday BBQs in Queens (left), to fabulous pastery shops in the city (that a few years ago only displayed elegant tarts and fluffy-puffy sweets in the window)(below), cupcakes in bread bakeries, cupcakes were everywhere!

As we know, Sarah Jessica Parker is the epitome of New York Fashion and everything she touches turns to gold, so not surprisingly, many speculate that the national cupcake trend was kicked off with the ladies of Sex and the City's visits to Magnolia Bakery. It is true that there are now Sex and the City tours in NYC that will take you to Magnolia. I hear the lines there are atrocious and the cupcake goers just obnoxious trend whores, so I avoided it entirely (I'm a little disappointed in myself for not at least getting you a photo of the lines). I have the Magnolia cook books and adore their Vanilla Vanilla cupcake, but I felt confident enough in my re-baking of their famous cakes that I didn't really feel the need to trek over there, stand in line, get annoyed, feel like a tourist... well you get it, I didn't go to Magnolia. And I'm sure that the Cupcake Wars of New York City will go down in the history books (or at least the cupcakes blogs) and I am a bit sorry to not have sampled each and been able to report back. Instead I avoided both Magnolia and Buttercup Cafe and ventured on to the much hyped cupcakeries I'd read about on other cupcake blogs, magazine articles, and flickr galleries. I only had 2 1/2 days in the City so I read all the reviews, visited websites, and mapped out a few hot cake spots. I had a few disappoints and some nice surprises along the way. So here we go...

SUGAR SWEET SUNSHINE

Goddammit! this place is CUTE! Located on the Lower East Side/Bowery on Rivington Street (which I'd never even heard of and had a bit of a long walk -in the sweltering NYC heat- trying to find) Sugar Sweet Sunshine is a cutey cutey cute cute cupcakerie tucked away among used clothing stores, boutiques that sell $100 t-shirts, and scummy old bodegas that remind you of what this neighborhood used to be like.


SSS has a mixed reputation, some say they make the best cakes in the City and some say their cakes are just overly sweet and bland. I would disagree with each of those statements. The cakes were definitely not the best in the city, and were quite possibly the worst of the three bakeries I sampled. However, they weren't bad at all. The ladies who started SSS hail from Magnolia Bakery, and I would agree (having not visited Magnolia but baked their cakes at home, strictly following the recipes) that these cakes are just as sweet as Magnolia's and maybe not quite as tasty. But these were the first cupcakes we had in the City and I thought they were good. Not great, but good. I would bring these cakes to a party and not be ashamed. Of course, I only sampled two flavors, maybe the most boring choices, but I feel that cupcakeries should be judged on their ability to make a great chocolate and vanilla cupcake.

SSS offers a variety of yummy sounding flavors, which is one of the reasons I chose to visit. However, based on my statement above, and probably just my mood that day, as well as the fact that it was fucking hot out and we were to be walking around the city all day, it wasn't feasible get flavors to go, and I didn't feel like eating more than one cupcake. From the choices below, I went with the Black & White, because I was in NY and I love a b&w cookie. I had high hopes. My husband tried the Ooey Gooey.

Sunshine: Yellow cake with vanilla buttercream

Bob: Yellow cake with chocolate almond buttercream
Ooey Gooey: Chocolate cake with chocolate almond buttercream
Sexy Red Velvet: Red velvet cake with "“The Moose"
Black & White...Just Right: Chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream
Pistachio: Pistachio cake with "“The Moose"
Pumpkin: Pumpkin cake with cream cheese icing
Lemon Yummy: Lemon cake with lemon buttercream
Coconut: Coconut cake with meringue

The b&w was pretty yummy; the chocolate cake was not chocolatey enough for my taste but the vanilla buttercream was sweet and vanilly with a perfect texture. If I were to make a "black and white" in New York City, I would make an almondy white cake with their chocolate almond buttercream. But that's just me.

The Ooey Gooey was the same blah chocolate cake (good texture, density and moistness, just sweet without enough chocolate). The chocolate almond buttercream was good, but also wasn't very chocolatey. I liked the addition of almond and will try that at home, but I would have liked a chocolate chocolate cake to taste like, well, chocolate. My husband said "it taste just like yours" before he realized that was the wrong thing to say and correct to "I mean... it's disgusting?" He was a good sport and let me drag him all over the city in search of the perfect cupcake, so I didn't put up much of a fight. But I think mine are better.
One last thing. The women in the photo above came in after us and ordered 2-3 cupcakes. She sat in a chair near us and spoke into a cell phone (with a British accent) making appoints at her next cupcake stop (I didn't catch which one). She said (into cell phone) that she was a calling from some magazine I'd never heard of, it sounded to me like she was doing an international story on NYC cupcakes. I found this exciting but was too shy to approach her and find out more. Interesting...

***

AMY'S CUPCAKES

My main goal in New York City cupcake hunting was to track down Amy Sedaris's famous cupcakes. I loooooooooooooove Amy Sedaris and I've read so much about her cupcakes that I was more intent on trying them than any others. I read that she sells them at Joe's in Greenwich Village, where she lives. I had fantasies about strolling into Joe's, ordering a couple of Amy's cupcakes and turning around to see her strolling in with a fresh batch. A girl can dream. Instead, I walked all over New York in the sweltering heat of an East Coast summer day, and landed at Joe at 5:00 pm. I walked in, spotted the baked goods and noticed immediately that there weren't any cupcakes in it. Sadface. No Amy Sedaris cupcakes for me. I didn't end up in the Village again so I never had the chance to sample these famous cakes. The only consolation is that upon my return I discovered that while Amy was out promoting Strangers with Candy the movie (yay!!!) she did an interview on NPR and they posted her much coveted recipe for vanilla cupcakes. I haven't yet tried them, but will do as soon as it stops being so hot in Portland. Here's the recipe for now, I'll report back once I've made them.

Oh, and here is another article where she reveals her much coveted recipe, I think there are a few differences, hmmm. Take note that the write says she sells her cakes at Gourmet Garage. Actually, Amy sells her cakes at Joe (except when I'm there!) and her famous Little Smokey Cheese Balls at Gourmet Garage. See, I did my research!


Oh oh, one more thing before I move on, this article both confirms that Joe sells her cakes, but that they are rarely there, and that my fantasy was a realistic one. I guess I'll have to allow more time on my next trip, so I can stalk her properly.

I did end up having an Amy's cupcake, but it didn't come from the comic queen, it came from Amy's Bread located in Hell's Kitchen. We were on our way to "Restaurant Row" for dinner when I spotted some beautiful cupcakes in the window of this bread shop (I do have an eye for cupcakes). I darted inside and ordered up each available flavor (there were only 3 flavors left): Definitely Devil's Food Cupcake with Chocolate Silk Frosting, Simply Yellow Cupcakes with Mellow Milk Chocolate Frosting and Yellow Cupcakes with Pink Frosting! Their menu of cakes looks so intriguing, I wish wish wish I'd been able to try the Monkey Cake! Oh well, next time.

Anyway, the lovely ladies working behind the bread counter gave me my cupcakes in a cute little box and sent me on my way. Unfortunately (for the cupcakes, good for us) we at a huge delicious meal at Becco that left us way way way too full for dessert. The cupcakes sat in my dad's fridge for 2 days untouched while we ran around the city stuffing our faces with everything we could find. Yum, I love NY.








Anyway, on ourlast morning in NY, before we picked up our car and drove to DC, I decided we should try out these Amy cakes with our coffee. And I'm so glad I did. Even after a few days of refridgeration these cakes were delicious. The cake itself was very dense and very flavorfull. The yellow cake was quite possibly the best I've ever had. The chocolate devil's food was also dense and delish, perfectly chocolatey, not too sweet, perfection. The Chocolate Silk frosting was so divine that I'll be attempting to replicate it soon. Divine. Delish. Dense. YUM. The pink frosting was beautifully and delicately pink, but wasn't the best buttercream I've had. It was nice, but the milk chocolate on the yellow was way better than the pink on yellow. And the silk chocolate was better than the milk. This was certainly the best surprise of my cupcake hunting. I can't believe I haven't heard more about these cakes. And I wonder if their expertise in breads, which they are famous for, has any influence on how the cakes are made. Maybe there's a special bread technique that carries over into cupcake baking. Hmm... She does have a cookbook that I've put on hold at the library, I'm hoping for some cake recipes! As always, I'll report back.

pretty wrapping in lieu of cake cups, i like.

*foto of Amy Sedaris not by Posy, obviously.

***

cupcake cafe ~ casa cupcake

CUPCAKE CAFE AKA CASA CUPCAKES IS #1 IN MY BOOK!
AS MATT AND I WALKED TO OUR HELL'S KITCHEN, 9TH AVENUE, CUPCAKE DESITNATION, I WAS SURE WE WERE IN THE WRONG PLACE. SOMEHOW I'D WRITTEN IT DOWN WRONG. SURELY THIS RENOWNED AND COOKBOOK'D CUPCAKERIE WAS NOT STATIONED NEXT TO A FOOD BANK AND HOMELESS SHELTER. EVEN AS I APPROACHED, AND THE STENCH OF 100 DEGREE URINE FILLED MY NOSTRILS, I THOUGHT "THIS ISN'T GOING TO BE AS GOOD AS I'D EXPECTED." HA HA! HOW I WAS WRONG! ONCE YOU ENTER THIS LOVELY LITTLE CAFE, THE SOUNDS OF A CAPUCCINO MACHINE SCREECHES OVER CHIT-CHATTING PATRONS. AS WE LINED UP IN FRONT OF THE COFFEE STATION WE WERE INFORMED THAT CUPCAKES WERE IN THE BACK (HOW DID HE KNOW THAT'S WHY WE WERE THERE?).

THE CASE OF BEAUTIFULLY FLOWERED CUPCAKES WAS A BIT OVERWHELMING. I WANTED TO ORDER ONE OF EACH JUST SO I COULD PHOTOGRAPH THEM. LUCKILY THEIR WEBSITE HAS A
GALLERY OF THEIR CUPCAKE ART.
THE MENU OFFERED A VARIETY OF FLAVORED CAKES AND FROSTINGS: VANILLA, CHOCOLATE, LEMON, ORANGE, CARROT AND WALNUT CAKES, ACCOMPANIED BY CHOCOLATE, VANILLA, MOCHA, VANILLA CREAM CHEESE, MAPLE, AND LEMON FROSTINGS.

THOUGH I READ COMPLAINTS ABOUT THESE CAKES BEING PRICEY, I THOUGHT THEY WERE WORTH EVERY PENNY. NOT ONLY ARE THEY EXPERTLY DECORATED, BUT THEY WERE COMPLETELY DELICIOUS!




MATT ORDERED A CHOCOLATE CAKE WITH MOCHA FROSTING. IT WAS ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC! WHILE I OFTEN ADD COFFEE TO MY CHOCOLATE CAKES, I HAVEN'T YET MADE A MOCHA FROSTING. YUM! THEIR BUTTERCREAM IS PERFECT, DELICATELY FLAVORED AND THICK. THE PERFECT AMOUNT OF SWEETNESS TO COMPLIMENT THE CAKE, BUT WITH A FLAVOR OF ITS OWN. DOUBLE YUM TOPPED WITH A PRETTY PINK TULIP!
I ORDERED A WALNUT CAKE WITH MAPLE FROSTING.
OH...MY...CUPCAKE GOD! THE WALNUT CAKE WAS DENSE, KIND OF LIKE CARROT CAKE OR BANANA BREAD, BUT STILL CAKEY. IT HAD JUST THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF WALNUTS IN IT WITH A PERFECTLY PERFECT TASTE OF WALNUT AND THE SWEETNESS OF CAKE. I'M HUNGRY FOR ONE JUST THINKING ABOUT IT. THE MAPLE FROSTING WAS TO DIE FOR. SERIOUSLY. AGAIN, A PERFECTLY THICK BUTTERCREAM WITH JUST OVER A HINT OF MAPLE, WITHOUT TASTING SWEET AND MAPLEY LIKE A MAPLE BAR. YUMMY YUMMY YUM YUM YUM. CAN I SAY "YUM" OR "PERFECT" ENOUGH TIMES? NO. WHAT'S BETTER? THE BEAUTIFUL ROSE ON TOP! OH, IT JUST COULDN'T HAVE BEEN BETTER.

ANNNND! THEY HAVE A COOKBOOK! I'VE GOT IT ON HOLD AT THE LIBRARY AND PROMISE TO MAKE AN ATTEMPT AT THEIR CAKES. I WILL, OF COURSE, REPORT BACK ON THAT. I MAKE NO PROMISES, HOWEVER, THAT MY CAKES WILL LOOK ANYWHERE NEAR AS PRETTY AS THE PROFESSIONALS. AND DESPITE MY CONFIDENCE IN MY ABILITY TO BAKE, I'M A LITTLE NERVOUS ABOUT THIS ONE. HOW CAN I LIVE UP TO IT? I'LL FOLLOW THE RECIPE STRICTLY AND LET YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS.

Oh so there you have it! After 2 1/2 hours of blogging in my hot attic-office, I'm far too sweaty to tell you about the fabulous cupcakes I discovered in Washington, DC, or the 1st birthday cakes I whipped up last weekend. Please stay tuned for that report (I promise not to take such a long break this time!). xoxo