Jumping on the Bandwagon

I got a tip from my sister that Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory was selling cupcakes. Rocky Mountain is one of my favorite places for an indulgent dessert (try the Avalanche Bar!). I was not too surprised to hear this, as cupcakes are definitely the hot trend right now. Stores are adding them to the menu without a second thought. That might actually be a bad move. How great are these cupcakes going to be? Well, the other night I was near the store she visited so I stopped to check them out.Well, they definitely were not gourmet nor were they presented very nicely. But I guess that is why the $1.50 price tag accompanied these cupcakes. My sister said when she stopped in the other night she saw the cupcakes sitting on a counter, directly next to a jar of Pillsbury Chocolate frosting. You would think that a chocolate store would use something special for "their" cupcakes, but it looks like they just wanted to fit in with everyone else.

I didn't buy a cupcake because of my triathlon diet (thank goodness it's over!), but I will try one the next time I am there. I am also curious to see if cupcakes are being sold in all of their stores or just this specific one.

I Want S'mores Cupcakes

I decided that I wanted to try a new cupcake recipe. My niece had a birthday coming up so I figured that would be the best excuse to try something out. After researching a couple of recipes I have saved, I decided on S'mores Cupcakes. I found the recipe on one of my favorite cupcake blogs.

Normally the easiest way for me to bake cupcakes is to use a box mix. It has been a while since I have made cupcakes from scratch but I was excited to drag my huge KitchenAid mixer out of the cupboard. The recipe only uses a small amount of flour because it substitutes it with crushed graham crackers. I pulsed chocolate chips to add to the mix, but found that even though the chocolate pieces were small, they still liked to congregate at the bottom of the cupcake. TIP: I recently read that when adding chocolate chips to batter, in order to get them to not sink to the bottom of the batter you should coat them in flour. I am going to give that a try next time.

I made 3/4 of the frosting because I was one egg short. Surprisingly I still had plenty of frosting. I also just used normal sugar, not vanilla sugar. Instead of sprinkling grated chocolate on top of the finished cupcakes I sprinkled more crushed graham crackers and then added a square of Hershey's chocolate.My S'more Cupcakes were a hit! Everyone loved them! The cake had a good graham cracker flavor with just enough chocolate. The "frosting" tasted exactly how a roasted marshmallow would taste (it was actually meringue).

I can't believe that I made these cupcakes on a weekend of a triathlon! I could not fully enjoy one of these lovely cupcakes until I finished my last triathlon of the season, which was the following day (I cut out sugar the week before a race).

Next time: I am going to try baking one or two cupcakes without a wrapper so that they will look prettier for pictures. Presentation is everything!

Does Orange County Know Its Cupcakes?

Each year the Orange County Register puts out a survey to find the Best (blank) of Orange County. On Friday the 2008 edition of Best of Orange County was published. Surprisingly, there was a section called Best Cupcakes. So where do Orange County residents think the best cupcakes are? I was amazed at the answer!

First Place: Sprinkles Cupcakes
I can agree with this one! Sprinkles puts out some amazing cupcakes! I have expressed my love for their Red Velvet many times. Along with their great tasting cupcakes, Sprinkles gives you the experience of a gourmet cupcake. They make their cupcakes feel special and worth the price tag of $3.25. See my latest review of them here.

Second Place: Wonderland Bakery
I was not expecting to see this bakery on the list. My friend brought me a cupcake from here a few months ago and it was just ok. Nothing great and definitely not worth the most expensive price tag of $3.75. Their store feels like you are in a fairytale with toys and glitter everywhere. The cupcakes almost seem like a side note in the store.

Third Place: Beverly's Best Bakery
Funny thing is that I bought my wedding cake from this bakery three years ago, but I never noticed that they had cupcakes. My mom must have known that I hadn't tried a cupcake from here before because when I stopped by her house on Friday night, I found these two treats waiting for me!
I was thrilled to be trying something new! After taking my first bite I realized that these cupcakes were not quite what I expected. The frosting was decent, a light buttercream frosting, and the cake was good, but just average. Then my sister informed me that these cupcakes were only $1.25. Value menu cupcakes!...just like the ones from Poul's Bakery in Orange. Price has a lot to do with the quality of cupcakes. If you want an outstanding cupcake, you will have to pay the price for one. But if a cupcake craving has sprung up on you and you need something to satisfy that urge, a value-priced cupcake will do the trick. Beverly's Best is smart to sell cupcakes, but they aren't ones I will be craving. (My nephew Diego will take any cupcake he can get his hands on!)

SURPRISED! That's how I feel about the Best of Orange County's survey of cupcakes. I can list a handful of cupcakeries and bakeries that have better cupcakes than the second and third place winners. Looks like I need to do my job better and let Orange County know where to find the best cupcakes!

Vegan=Bad?

Overheard: "These cupcakes aren't very good, are they vegan or something?"

Not Just a Vanilla Bake Shop

Second Stop: Vanilla Bake Shop

Location: 512 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, CA

My cupcake-filled day continued with a stroll two blocks away from Yummy Cupcakes to Vanilla Bake Shop. The first thing I noticed was the cake display in the window. If only I had known about this place three years ago...

Over the past few months I have noticed that there are two ways to sell cupcakes--by taste and by looks. I have found cupcakes that look pretty but taste bad and vice versa. Vanilla Bake Shop captures both, as all of their treats looked so yummy and perfect and were followed by deliciousness.

In their main display were their "cupcake babies." These mini cupcakes sell 3 for $5. This is the best way for me to try so many different flavors without feeling sick or broke.

I picked six different flavors and could barley contain myself to take pictures before I consumed them all! Don't they look so pretty?

The first cupcake I devoured was the Black & White. It had a dark chocolate cake with a chocolate/vanilla mousse-like frosting. The cake was moist and dense and made me wish I had a glass of milk.

This next one was a familiar taste to me. It is called Mom's Birthday Cake and is exactly what my mom made for my me on my last birthday. Yellow cake with chocolate frosting is one of my favorite combinations of cake. I liked that the frosting was a milk chocolate frosting, but it was a little thin.

Chocolate Vanilla Bean was next. This cupcake was another dark chocolate cake, but it had vanilla bean frosting. This is one of two cupcakes that had little sugar crystals on top. The sugar crystals add an expensive-looking touch. I really liked the look of it. The frosting was, again, a little thin. I really enjoy thick, creamy, butter-cream frosting, something that all of these cupcakes lacked.

Yummy! I loved the Lemon Raspberry cupcake. This is the other cupcake that had sugar crystals. Along with the pretty crystals, this cupcake was a yellow butter cake with vanilla bean frosting, a raspberry on top, and **surprise** lemon curd center. The lemon filling tasted like it came from a lemon meringue pie. So delicious! I loved this cupcake!

The two other flavors that I tried were Red Velvet and Banana Chocolate Chip. The red velvet was just as good as a Sprinkles red velvet. Everything about it was great. Milk was needed, but only because it was so good! The Banana Chocolate Chip tasted like a banana muffin with cream cheese frosting. It also had mini chocolate chips sprinkled on top. This was also a favorite as it was different and deliciously made!We were able to secure these pictures before the salesman politely told us that we were not allowed to take pictures. What was I supposed to do then?...delete them? Vanilla Bake Shop has nothing to hide! This cupcake shop was good and will do well because of how pretty their cupcakes look along with how tasty they are! Good job! I look forward to returning on a different day so I can try some other flavors!