No sleep 'til Brooklyn's Little Cupcake Bakeshop

Last week, I visited my NYC bestie.  We had both really wanted to go to Coney Island, which is in Brooklyn.  So what did I do?  Look up cupcakeries!  Because Brooklyn is home to several.  And when am I gonna be back out there?  I am so lucky to have friends & family & acquaintances that go along with my crazy love of cupcakes, tagging along in 100 degree weather even when they don't really care for sweets.  Thank you everyone!!! 

So we found ourselves at brooklyn's Little Cupcake Bakehop.  I love this place.  They had everything I loved-cupcakes, regular cakes, cookies, whoopie pies, homemade ice cream, little pies, and coffee.  It is my heaven. We looked at the all the cupcakes, and NYC bestie advised me to get the princess cupcake (because I happen to love Cinderella).  (And all things princess.)  I also chose a strawberry cupcake, because I like to choose something different and interetsing, and then a cupcake that I will definitely like.

The cupcakes were served on a real plate-love!  The princess cupcake (above right) was an almond and raspberry cake.  I didn't care for it, to be honest.  It seemed super sweet, with a glob of raspberry jam, and I tasted no almond.  Thank God I got the strawberry, because it was the BEST strawberry cupcake I have ever tasted. Ever.  Biting into that cupcake transported me back in time.  I was a little girl, picking strawberries from my aunt & uncle's patch.  That is how fresh & delicious this cupcake was.
I just bought 2 pounds of organic strawberries, and I think I am going to have to make some cupcakes that will be as good as the one I had last week.

A Cupcake tribute to Billy Ocean

Caribbean queen
Now we're sharing the same dream
And our hearts they beat as one
No more love on the run

I stalk cupcakery web sites, and once in awhile, something very exciting happens-a cupcake I've been waiting to try for months and months is put on the weekly menu at Cupcakes Actually!!!!!!!  This cupcakery is closest to me, and I have been waiting to try their summery, alcohol-infused creations since I first began checking their weekly flavor lineup.  So when I woke up today and saw that the Caribbean Queen was available today, after shrieking with joy, I naturally starting singing that Billy Ocean classic for which the cupcake is named.

The Caribbean Queen is described as a pina colada cupcake, blended with coconut, pineapple, and rum, topped with a coconut rum frosting.  i will say my head felt a slight tropical buzz after eating my cupcake.  This cupcake was like a trip to the Copa, Copa Cabana!  It was tropical and light and rumdidlyumptious.  And I want another one.  Right now.

As an aside, I acknowledge that I have now written odes to two great '80s songs.  Google tells me that "Caribbean Queen" was a hit in November of 1984, when I was just a baby.  My mother is chiefly responsible for my intense love of '80s and '90s tunes. 

It is because of my mother that I love Bryan Adams, Donna Summer, Cyndi Lauper, and Madonna.   She was a musical badass, though in recent years she has been stuck in a classic rock rut (and I was nearly disowned one Christmas when I confused Porky Pig and Bob Dylan).

My second retro music influence?  Who better than Uncle Brian!  Anyone that had to go anywhere with UB usually went in his silver Porsche.  And in nice weather, with the open top, people from far and away heard my uncle belting songs like "Unchained Melody" at the top of his lungs.  But this time gave me an appreciation for groups like the Temptations, the Supremes, the Rolling Stones, and of course, the Beatles.

And finally, we have my brother.  Being that Steve is my older brother, he has been giving me rides since I was 12.  And his preferred music in the car?  Very loud, very gangsta rap, the more profanity, the better.  The rap songs I do know are likely ones that he played in his car.  Thank goodness he went to college in the country, because now he is alllll about the country music.  And most of the country I know, I heard in his car.  A little of each genre is fine, but too much & I go crazy.

So thanks to my family for enriching my musical tastes!!  Maybe I'll even create a  cupcake inspired by one of these genres-like C.R.E.A.M.(Wu-Tang).

Campfire Cupcake

I have a confession to make.
Despite he fact that I was a girl scout for 5 years, and went to Camp Potomac Woods during 3 of my summers, I hate s'mores.  And I especially hate marshmallows.  But when one of my friends goes out of their way to brin me a cupcake, I don't care if its made of crocodile teeth-I'm eating it!
One of Little Miss Cupcake's bestest friends was out and about in Fair Oaks Mall when she passed by Cakelove and picked me out a S'mores cupcake.

I had wanted to try one of their cupcakes for YEARS, but everyone I knew had nary a nice thing to say about them.  I heard their cupcakes were dry, stale, and overall, not very good.  So my expecttaion bar was set pretty low.  But this cake tasted as good as it looks!  The chocolate cake was rich and divine, and the frosting perfectly complimented that richness.  That frosting was a refreshing glass of milk.  The reason I liked it is this is not a s'more masquerading as a cupcake-this is a cupcake INSPIRED BY a s'more.  That is beautiful.  That is what I love to bake myself, as noted in my pecan pie blog.  Maybe I'm a purist, but a cupcake is a beautiful thing. It doesn't need to go around pretending to be another type of dessert. 

Spring is Here!

For whatever reason, my mind was hooked on raspberry buttercream for almost a week.  My mom suggested I make cupcakes for Easter, and I knew it was the perfect opportunity to make raspberry cupcakes.  I was inspired by the Razzmatazz cupcake sold at Cupcakes Actually in Fairfax, VA.
First I set out to find a raspberry buttercream recipe.  While browsing Baked Perfection, an excellent resource, I came upon a recipe for lemon cupcakes.  Why have one flavor when you can have two?  So, I made lemon and raspberry cupcakes with raspberry buttercream. The results were delicious, but the raspberry cupcake recipe needs to be improved before posting.  The recipes below are DELICIOUS!
Lemon Cupcakes (adapted from Baked Perfection)
-to make 12 regular-sized cupcakes:
-1 stick butter at room temp
-2 1/4 cups sugar (less if you don't have a sweet tooth)
-2 eggs
-2 teaspoons lemon zest
-2 tablespoons freshly-squeezed lemon juice
-1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
-1 3/4 cups flour
-1/2 teaspoon baking soda
-1/4 teaspoonbaking powder
-1/4 teaspoon salt
-1 cup sour cream
Preheat oven to 350, line cupcake pans with liners..   Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in bowl, set aside.  Cream together butter and sugar using mixer. Add 3 lemon ingredients.  Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well.  incorporate flour mixture to creamed ingredients, a little at a  time, alternating with sour cream, until well combined. Scoop abut 1/4 cup batter into each cup.  Bake for up to 25 minutes, check oven at about 21 minutes.  Cupcakes are done when they spring back after being gently pressed.
**I have not tried this, but when cupcakes come out of the oven, sprinkle yellow-colored sugar on tops of warmed cupcakes.  I thought of this when I was eating them.

Raspberry Buttercream:
-2 sticks butter at room temp
-dash of salt
-1/2 cup raspberry jam
-1 teaspoon raspberry extract
-1 tablespoon milk
-4 1/2-5 cups powdered sugar

Cream butter and extract until smooth, add jam and salt.  Add sugar, a cup at a time, mixing well and scraping down bowl.  Add milk when batter gets thick (after about 3 cups of sugar).  More or less sugar can be used depending on your preferences, just use less liquid when you begin (or omit milk). 

A Cupcake-tastical Birthday, Part 2 of 2

It was such a busy week making cupcakes that I had to split the post in two.  My family likes to celebrate my birthday and my mom's together, as they are separated by just eleven days, and my aunt hosted a brunch.  I came up with a delicious cupcake idea--mimosa cupcakes!  I made an orange chiffon cake (recipe found in The Cake Bible, with a champagne buttercream and candied orange peel for garnish.  Next time, I would skip the ridiculous hassle of sifting that fancy cake flour and use an orange cake mix.  Why? Way faster for probably similar taste.  Or maybe I'm just not a chiffon fan.  I also mistakenly boiled the candied orange peel to death, nearly ruining another pot, simply because I mistakenly forgot to turn the burner down.  I know huge surprise there, right?  I once tried to make cocnut pecan frosting with a hand mixer, and it was only AFTER the counter was covered with goo that I read the recipe directions-cook on stovetop.  Oops.

 When my mom and I started opening our presents, I got the BEST SURPRISE EVER!  My family from Baltimore actually read this blog!  (Hi Uncle Mike!) AND, they went to a cupcakery called Flavor in Bel Air, Maryland.  Which means that this cupcake taster has hit another state!!

I opened the pretty box and inside were a chocolate peanut butter cupcake and a flavor 9--the latter being the most unique cupcake I've tried to date.  Somehow these bakers have figured out how to keep the frosting thick and fluffy without the extra sugar, and the cakes were well-balanced.  The flavor 9 is a coconut cake with butterscotch chips, pecans, and my favorite-graham cracker crust!! 

After checking out the menu at Flavor, I am way impressed and inspired.  Everything from a creamsicle to  lucky charms cupcakes, they have succeeded in making me want to try more.  Thanks again to my family for a wonderful birthday!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

I had the most fun decorating these cupcakes today!  The recipe is from the Cake Mix Doctor:Cupcakes! book.  I vowed to bake every cupcake in this book when I got it in '07; as of today, I have made 67.  This recipe calls for Bailey's Whipped Cream icing, but for obvious reasons, I omitted this and bought some regular whipped cream icing and it totally did the trick.  To garnish, we had green edible glitter (Wilton calls them Cake Sparkles), and green candy shamrocks made with Wilton's Candy Melts in a shamrock candy mold.  Luckily for me I have a friend who happens to own such a mold, but specialty stores like Fran's sell every type of mold you could imagine.
These cupcakes were fun, easy, and yummy, which are the trifecta of awesomeness when baking with kids.  Hope you had a great St. Patty's Day!