Michael's Cucpakes

Last week I hit up Michael's and Hobby Lobby searching for any new cupcake related items. I had already purchased the items in the first three photos. They are in the DOLLAR section! The items available include cupcake ribbon, magnets, plates, napkins, notebooks, shopping lists and candles. If you were lucky enough to get these items a few months ago you know that there are about 6 different patterns of plates, napkins, notebooks, and shopping lists available. If you head out to your store now you may find only certain patterns left of each item, which is why they are a bit mix and matched in the photo. The cupcake candle tins are really cute and there are four different scents available. The last photo includes items that would be great for a cupcake themed birthday party and guess what? These items are also only a DOLLAR!

Tulsa OK Cupcakes

I will be in Tulsa OK for the wedding of one of my best friends (I am the Maid of Honor!). As you know, I can't travel anywhere without trying out the local cupcake offerings. I used the cupcake locator on Cupcake Fetish and found Kupcakz which is the only cupcakery in Tulsa that has a store front (the other two are special order only). A bit more research and the Tulsa Food Blog let me know of two Tulsa bakeries that have cupcakes Ann's Bakery and Merritt's Bakery. My friends wedding will also be serving cupcakes along side the cake so I should be able to have at least four cupcake reviews coming along next week! If you know of any places I should check out in Tulsa, cupcake related or not, please let me know.

College of the Ozarks Cupcakes

Last weekend I went to the Keeter Center at College of the Ozarks to have lunch with my family. Imagine my surprise when I saw these cupcakes in the bakery. After lunch we ordered one of each cupcake. I had the cookies and cream one pictured in the center. The cookie on top is a tuxedo dipped Oreo which was very yummy. The icing covered in Oreo bits was so buttery and smooth with a mild vanilla flavor. The cake portion was moist and had a good chocolate flavor and was also moist but was not spectacular. These cupcakes are only 2.25 each and with the amazing icing, I would highly recommend these cupcakes.

The Keeter Center at College of the Ozarks
1 Opportunity Avenue, Point Lookout, MO 65726
417-239-1900

Cracker Barrel Cupcakes

These were picked up at a Cracker Barrel some where in Indiana. They were 40% off so how could I resist? Combining chocolate and cupcakes these will be a nice addition to my bathroom decor, or any part of your home! I can't remember the exact price of these two items, but my total bill was less than six dollars = )

Let the posting begin (again)!

Well after a month break I am back and ready to continue blogging! Ending the semester and moving across the country took allot out of this girl and I am finally getting things all settled so I will have time to return to blogging. Thanks to all of you who replied to my blog posts while I was away and hello to all of my new readers!

Checking in

Hello all. I am still around but won't be posting for a week and a half or two weeks. The semester is winding down, so I wont have much time to write. See you when the semester is over!

I shouldn't be allowed into Barnes and Noble

I went in for a book on my thesis subject and I left with three cookbooks. I could not help myself I swear! I picked up the book Bakewise that I mentioned in a previous post. I also picked up two cupcake specific books in the bargain book area at the front of the store. Perfect Cupcakes was only six dollars, how can you pass up a deal like that! The peanut butter and bananna cupcakes on p. 12 look amazingly yummy. The third book I purchased is Indulgence Cupcakes and it appears to live up to its name. Some of the recipe highlights include gingerbread, peanut butter mini, and orange and lemon syrup cupckes. I must also add that the photos in this cookbook are awesome and there are photos to match every recipe, at least on the pages that I looked through.

That Takes the Cake

That Takes the Cake is the kind of cupcakery I wouldn't mind owning one day. The inside of the shop feels like a huge extended hallway leading you up to the cupcake display. They also have a limited amount of cupcake jewelry for sale before you reach the cupcakes.


So many flavors so little time! I almost purchased the hella nutella (Vanilla cake filled with Nutella topped with Nutella Buttercream and caramelized hazelnut pieces) but went for the lemon drops (Sweet but tangy moist lemon cake filled with fresh lemon curd and topped with fresh lemon Buttercream with yellow jimmies). Come to think of it I should have just bought both but I just love lemon cupcakes especially ones filled with lemon curd!


The cupcake was what I would expect from a great lemon cupcake. The icing was tart and sweet at the both time and I liked how the yellow jimmies contributed to its visual appeal. The cake was very moist and the lemon curd was nice and tart, mouthwatering I need something to drink right after tart. If you plan on visiting That Takes the Cake, there is no where to sit so plan on getting their cupcakes to go. Adorable storefront and yummy cupcakes, I just wish I could have tried more!

That Takes the Cake
2271 Union Street
San Francisco, CA 94123
415.567.8050
http://www.that-takes-the-cake.com

The Chestnut Bakery

The Chestnut Bakery provides a large selection of cakes, breads, pastries, cookies and cupcakes. As you can see when I visited the bakery they had few cupcakes available. I did not arrive at the bakery until 5:00pm so the selection was about what I was expecting. Even though it was getting late they still had several flavors available. They were chocolate, vanilla, carrot, and red velvet regular sized cupcakes and carrot, vanilla, and chocolate mini cupcakes.


Notice the fun details like M&M's and tiny candy bears on the mini cupcakes.


I decided on the mini carrot and vanilla cupcakes.


The mini carrot cake cupcake was truly a carrot cake with raisins and nut pieces through out the cake. The cake was nice and moist and had a nutty carrot flavor to it. The cream cheese icing was nice and creamy with just the right amount of sweetness and just enough icing to not overwhelm the cupcake.


The mini vanilla cupcake was very moist. The icing left an oily film feeling in my mouth and almost had the light consistency of whipped cream, not as heavy as most icings I have tried. The sugar bears on top were pretty cute and would make for a great children's party cupcake.

The Chestnut Bakery
2359 Chestnut Street
San Francisco, CA 94123
http://www.chestnutbakery.com/
info@chestnutbakery.com

Miette Patisserie and Confiserie Review

Miette Patisserie & Confiserie has a large selection of cakes, candies, and cupcakes.


There were several cupcake flavors available the day I visited and I chose to sample the Old Fashioned cupcake, a bittersweet cake topped with a boiled icing. I would have liked to sample other flavors from Miette, but I was alone in my cupcake journey and there is only so many cupcakes even I can eat in one day.



I had already visited three other shops when I came to Miette, so I took my cupcake to go. I must confess I put it in my backpack. Not the smartest choice I know but I had other places to go afterward. The cupcake traveled well, except for the icing which melted a bit. I would suggest eating the cupcake soon after buying it, or not putting it in a backpack and carting it around San Francisco. The bittersweet taste of the cake was something I had not tasted before and it was pretty tasty. The icing left on the cupcake and the icing I scraped off of the side of the box was so sweet (not to sweet) and had a marshmallow/vanilla flavoring to it. I think the best part of this cupcake is the icing and the candy coated peanut on top makes for a great appearance.

Miette Patisserie & Confiserie
2109 Chestnut Street
San Francisco, CA 94123
415-359-0628
(Marina location one of three)
http://www.miettecakes.com/

Kara's Cupcakes Review

I had the pleasure of visiting the Marina location of Kara's Cupcakes a few weeks ago while in San Francisco. The whole place is adorable. I made sure to take tons of photos so I apologize in advance for any page loading problems. I sat outside and I tried two of the many flavors available that day. The filled cupcake Fleur De Sel (chocolate cupcake with caramel filling, ganache frosting and fleur de sel) and the mini Raspberry Dazzle (chocolate cupcake with sweet raspberry buttercream).


The Fleur De Sel I must say, is the best cupcake I have tasted so far. The ganache frosting was very rich (like they often are). The caramel inside was nice and smooth not overly sweet, just right. The weight of the ganache as well as the caramel center created a cupcake that couldn't support the weight of the ganache after a few bites so the cupcake ended up collapsing. If you want to eat a cupcake on the go or without a fork and table it would be problematic to eat but since I was sitting down and had a fork in hand it was fine. The fleur de sel on top was an excellent touch, I am a big fan of salt and the sweetness from the cupcake was really enhanced by the fleur de sel.


The Raspberry Dazzle had raspberry icing that hardly tasted like raspberry at all. It was also extremely buttery tasting and left an oily feeling within my mouth. The chocolate cake was most likely the same as the cake portion of the Fleur de Sel because it tasted the same, moist and flavorful.

My experience at Kara's Cupcakes was amazing. The staff was very helpful with their flavor selection of the Fleur de Sel, even though I knew I would be trying it after reading great reviews online. The store has limited seating and I would suggest the outside seating if they are available. As you can see there are many flavor options, I would highly recommend the Fleur de Sel!

3249 Scott Street (at Chestnut)
San Francisco, California 94123
(one of five locations)
P 415 563-CAKE (2253)
F 415 563-2252
http://www.karascupcakes.com

info@karascupcakes.com

Cupcake Retro on the WWW

Today I signed up for a Twitter account. The blogs Flickr page has many of the photos from the blog. At the moment it does not have photos of cupcake items, just photos from my projects and reviews. Apparently they don't allow that much free space and with just one upload session I passed my monthly allowance = ( An update on the San Francisco cupcakes will hopefully come soon. I have yet to locate my digital camera which mot likely means I lost it some where along the way, cross your fingers that I can find it soon!

San Francisco Cupcake Walking Tour

I was inspired by Sunday Night Dinner and their San Francisco Cupcake Tasting Tour to create one of my own during my trip to CA. Over the weekend I will visit Miette Patisserie, Citizen Cake, That Takes the Cake, Kara's Cupcakes, The Chestnut Bakery, and Bittersweet Cafe. If you are ever interested in taking this tour yourself here is the Map

Airport Cupcakes

While passing time at an airport I wandered into a Brighton store. I found and purchased this cupcake charm. The website only shows the enamel side but it is a reversible charm with a silver cupcake charm on the other side. I think it will make a great necklace or new addition to my charm bracelet. They also had a cupcake bookmark of the same design.

The Cupcakery Review

Last fall I had the opportunity to try The Cupcakery in St. Louis Missouri. I learned about The Cupcakery by using the Cupcake Fetish cupcake locator. It is seriously awesome. All you do is enter where you are and it gives you information on the nearest stores which feature cupcakes. It is great for those who do not know where the closest cupcakes are to home, and for those who like to taste local cupcakes when we travel. If you decide to visit The Cupcakery make sure you have solid directions to their location because they are a bit tricky to find and the major highway is currently shut down. After finding our way there a friend and I bought three cupcakes strawberry, vanilla, and peanut butter cup. We started out with the vanilla cupcake. We didn't finish it. The icing was extremely grainy, something must have gone wrong with the frosting preparation. The vanilla cake portion was ok but nothing amazing. The strawberry cupcake was really yummy and the frosting was not grainy like the vanilla. Strawberry cake is one of my favorite flavors so I was glad this tasted like real strawberries. The last cupcake we tried was the peanut butter cup. Like the strawberry it did not disappoint. I love peanut butter frosting and the frosting was nice and creamy.

The Cupcakery
28 Maryland Plaza
St. Louis, MO 63108
(314)367-6111

This post is dedicated to a good friend.
Her transmission blew on the way to take me to The Cupcakery.

Gourmet Cupcake Shoppe Review

I love the Gourmet Cupcake Shoppe. I was super excited to learn last fall that there was a cupcake shop near me in the middle of Michigan. I have had the opportunity to get cupcakes from the shoppe three times so far and I am sure to be back again. My favorite flavors are anything with the cream cheese icing on top, it is simply yummy. During the Christmas season they also had an eggnog cupcake that not only smelled like eggnog but it actually tasted like it. The mini lemon cupcakes are filled with what I would guess is lemon curd and it is probably my favorite of their cupcakes with red velvet coming in a very close second. They also have cupcake truffles which are mini cupcakes dipped in chocolate. The last time I went to the shoppe I decided to try the truffles and they are delicious but personally I would rather have the frosting over the chocolate layer truffles. The only cupcake I am not a fan of is the cherry cupcake. For me the cherry flavoring is just a bit to strong. I have put the photos together in movie form since it would take up to much space to show them all here. The cupcakes in the photos are all mini's the flavors are sundae, lemon, red velvet, chocolate, vanilla, peanut butter cup, and eggnog. There are also two of the mini cupcake truffles chocolate and carrot cake.

These are mini cupcakes I picked up right before Christmas. Notice the cute seasonal decorations. If i remember correctly the flavors are cherry, red velvet, chocolate, lemon, eggnog, gingerbread.

The Gourmet Cupcake Shoppe
6829 Eastman Avenue, Ste. 12
Midland, MI 48642
989-631-4103
Hours: Tuesday - Saturday, 10am - 6pm

Target Cupcakes

These Hello Kitty cupcake themed party items may be making an appearance near my birthday. I don't care if I am to old, they are to cute!

Dollar Tree Cupcakes

Look at these nice cupcake bags, only a dollar each!

Meijer Cupcake stuff

I found these items at Meijer the week before Valentines Day. A cute little gift bag and cupcake napkins and plates, adorable!







I went shopping at Meijer the weekend before Valentines day and spotted these cupcake items.

Wal-Mart Loves Cupcakes

I almost forgot to share the other cupcake items I have been able to find at Wal-Mart recently. My local Wal-Mart started to carry three cupcake sock designs and when I went back into the store today they only had three pairs left out of what was a whole side display. Luckily I was able to purchase one of each design ($3.00 a piece) before they disappeared from the shelves. Wal-Mart also has cupcake themed pj's. I bought the pink set for myself and a purple set for my Mom for Christmas. They are not available online anymore and are on clearance in stores for between $8.00 and $10.00.

Adorable Bedroom Cupcakes

If I were younger or had a child of my own this assortment of cupcake items from Wal-Mart would be all over the place. This comforter set is adorable and the matching sleep mask just makes it better. Throw in the pillow and that would make for one cute bed. I don't think the full size is big enough for my bed. Or is it....?

Starbucks Cupcakes Review

I purchased a Red Velvet cupcake at my local Barnes & Noble store shortly before Christmas and uploaded the photographs today. Unfortunately, this cupcake was really gross. I hate to say it but I can't really think of a better word to describe my experience. The cupcake was a mini Red Velvet with vanilla frosting. The frosting tasted like marshmallow and had a similar but unappealing consistency. The cake itself was hard as a rock on top and hardly any better underneath the frosting. The best, and possibly only good thing about the cupcake was the truffle center which you can see in the photograph. After my experience with the cupcake I looked up other reviews online and thankfully found that many individuals had great cupcake experiences with Starbucks cupcakes. Hopefully when I try Starbucks cupcakes again they will be better and allot fresher!

Martha Stewart Cupcakes

This months Martha Stewart Magazine has an awesome cupcake cover and a bunch of great recipes inside. Last week Wednesday Jan 21, 2009 was Martha's "The Cupcake Show." The vanilla cupcakes from Sweet Revenge made with Blue Cattle vanilla are something I plan on making for my Valentines Day cupcake extravaganza! Right after the show was on I searched the Blue Cattle website and found the product in Midland MI. The paragraph below is from the Martha Stewart website giving the details of the show, you can also watch the show on the Martha Stewart site.


"Today, we are celebrating the release of the February 2009 issue of Martha Stewart Living. Jennifer Aaronson, Living's food and entertaining editorial director, joins Martha to make the Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes featured in the issue. Our Cupcake Show continues with Pam Nelson and Linda Lea of Butter Lane in New York's East Village. Watch as they show you how to make their delightful Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla French Buttercream. Marlo Scott of Sweet Revenge in Manhattan's West Village closes our show with her addictive "Pure" Cupcakes. You can purchase the Mexican vanilla from the recipe at bluecattle.com and a 3/4-inch St.-Honore pastry tip can be found at jbprince.com. For more information on Macy's cupcake liners and cupcake/cookie gift boxes, visit macys.com"

Great idea for cookbooks.

So I was looking around on Ebay, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble for cookbooks and all the high prices got me down. Most cookbooks are fairly affordable, it just so happens that one I reallllllllly want to read at the moment is BakeWise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Baking with over 200 Magnificent Recipes by Shirley O. Corriher and it costs $28.00. That is a bit much for this students budget so I started to wonder if my university library carried cookbooks. Turns out they do carry some cookbooks and I was able to request BakeWise and another cupcake cookbook through interlibrary loan! I got a call yesterday saying the first book was in but they are still waiting on BakeWise. Look for two book reviews sometime soon!