Kit Kat Cupcakes from Me and My Pink Mixer

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In honor of the end of my favorite show "The Office," here's a line from an episode:

Give me a break

Give me a break

Break me off a piece of that

Fancy feast!

Coincidentally, Me and My Pink Mixer posted a recipe for Kit Kat Cupcakes. These cupcakes are made with a devil's food chocolate cake mix (yay for easy!). They are topped with vanilla buttercream and garnished with crumbled Kit Kats. Yum! 

I love topping my frozen yogurt with Kit Kats, so I'm sure cupcakes would be even better!

Review: Deanna's Gluten Free

Last weekend my husband and I drove to Escondido to spectate Stage 1 of the Amgen Tour of California. I know cycling isn't a big deal in the United States, but my husband and I are BIG fans.

It was an especially hot day (way over 100 degrees) and these guys rode 100 miles with 20,000 feet of climbing. That's a tough athlete!

Leave it to me to find cupcakes at a professional bike race. My husband got us passes to the VIP booth, which was catered by several food companies, including Deanna's GNI Bakery. (I later found out GNI=Gluten Not Included.) I couldn't help but grab a few mini cupcakes "to test for the blog." I tried a red velvet and chocolate one. There's no way I would have known they were gluten-free. The cake was dense and moist, and the frosting was smooth and surprisingly not melted in the extreme heat. So delicious!

Deanna's Gluten Free Store is located in Escondido, CA, but you can also find select items at Ralph's grocery stores and other locations listed here.

Deanna's Gluten Free Store

2250 S. Escondido Blvd., #110

Escondido, CA 92025

Return to Kara's Cupcakes

Earlier this month I traveled north for the Divas 1/2 Marathon in San Francisco, CA. I was there for work, but decided to run the race too. I'm not trained for 1/2 marathons right now, so this turned out to be a fun race....which means I wasn't so strict about what I ate before the race.

I was planning on stopping by Kara's Cupcakes in the city when we went in, but instead I stumbled across a new location in Burlingame, CA. It was meant to be!

I picked up a few minis so that I could try several flavors. The flavor I wanted the most, my favorite from last time, was Banana Caramel. Sadly, they were out. Instead I got Kara's Karrot, Raspberry Dazzle, Vanilla Chocolate, and Chocolate Velvet.

I remember how delicious the cream cheese frosting was, and it didn't disappoint me again. The Karrot cupcake was delicious, as well as the Vanilla Chocolate. The raspberry one was the biggest disappointment, as the frosting had no flavor and had the consistency of Crisco. My favorite of the night was one of my favorites from before: Chocolate Velvet. The chocolaty frosting was silky, making it perfect for not being too intense. 

I was a little surprised that the minis were $2 each. That seems a bit high for a mini. The regular-size cupcakes are $3.25, which is more reasonable. 

The only thing better than eating cupcakes is eating cupcakes with friends.

Kara's Cupcakes

1309 Burlingame Ave.

Burlingame, CA 94010

All-Frosting Cupcakes from Cupcake Project

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Cupcakes made entirely of frosting?! This is one jump beyond the frosting shot!

Cupcake Project posted instructions for creating your own frosting-only cupcakes too! Even the cup is made of frosting! 

They started with an edible chocolate cup, filled with mocha cream cheese frosting, and topped with Bailey's Irish Cream buttercream frosting. Sounds dreamy! And of course you can use any kind of frosting your heart desires, but Cupcake Project posted recipes for their frostings here.

New Book: The Secret Lives of Baked Goods

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Jessie, aka "Cakespy," has released her second book -- The Secret Lives of Bakes Goods: Sweet Stories & Recipes for America's Favorite Desserts. What is this book about? Jessie has "put her sweet-sleuthing skills to work uncovering the fascinating histories and tastiest recipes for America's favorite sweets, including whoopee pies, chocolate chip cookies, Baked Alaska, and New York cheesecake. From romantic musings on how desserts got their names to sugar-fuelled scandals, these classic recipes and photographs are guaranteed to offer food for thought and leave you with plenty of room for dessert."   

The book is available from Amazon for $16.86.