Sprinkles Ice Cream

The cupcake giant has expanded into the ice cream market. Sprinkles Ice Cream had their grand opening in Beverly Hills, California today. What sets them apart from other ice cream shops? Cupcake influence of course! Here's what they say about themselves:

"Handcrafted using organic California dairy and carefully selected ingredients, Sprinkles is slow churned to incorporate less air resulting in a densely creamy and intensely flavorful ice cream experience. Scooped into crisp red velvet waffle cones, pressed between fluffy cupcake tops or piled high into sundaes loaded with housemade sauces and toppings. Sprinkles Ice Cream is a back to basics creamery with a Sprinkles twist!"

Caramel and Spice and Everything Nice

So, I experimented with Duncan Hines' spice cake and their Frosting Creations caramel flavor mix last weekend. I followed the directions exactly, but added a splash of vanilla flavor to the cake mix. The frosting mix was pretty easy to do. You just hollow out the middle, pour the powdered flavor in it and stir until blended. It took a little bit to get it completely mixed, but otherwise, pretty simple.

 

Well, here's the finished product. I realize my frosting technique needs work. Gigi's won't be hiring me anytime soon.

The spice cake had a cinnamon and nutmeg taste, which was OK. The caramel frosting was tasty. I even added a little sea salt to the top of a few cupcakes. Yeah, I know, I'm a sucker for that salted caramel flavor.

The spice cake wasn't bad, but I think the caramel frosting may have been better on top of another type of cake; yellow, vanilla or chocolate. I will definitely try some of the other Frosting Creations in the future. It's a great alternative to the standard frosting tub flavors.

Triple Play Birthday

Last weekend was my birthday. By signing up for email communication from Gigi's and Sprinkles, they send you a free cupcake coupon for your birthday. Gigi's gives you the entire month to redeem the coupon, but Sprinkles only lets you use it on your birthday. Well, the fiance wanted Gigi's, so we stopped there first and picked up a 4-pack. Later that afternoon, we also stopped by Sprinkles for a 2-pack.

From Gigi's, I got chocolate chip cookie dough (top left) and mimosa (bottom left). Fiance got white midnight magic (top right) and a special Mother's day cupcake (bottom right), which was basically a vanilla cupcake with buttercream frosting and pretty designs.

The first cupcake I had was mimosa. This was a champagne cupcake with orange frosting and sugar crystals. This is not a cupcake I would typically choose. While I like orange juice, I don't usually care for citrusy desserts. But for the sake of the blog, I had to try it! With that being said, this was a pretty good cupcake. The orange flavor wasn't overpowering and the cake part was good.

My second cupcake was the chocolate chip cookie dough. I already posted a pic and review of this one, so I won't repeat. Although, I had a better experience this second time around. In my previous review, I said the cake was a bit dry, but this time was better.

Now onto Sprinkles. Of course, I had the salty caramel. I also reviewed and posted a photo of this one before. Just as good this time around. Nuff said.

And finally, my coworkers took me out for lunch yesterday and bought cupcakes from Crave. I chose another flavor outside of my usual repertoire. In fact, this one is really out of my element...hummingbird. It's hummingbird cake (usually containing cinnamon, pineapple, banana and pecans) with sweet cream cheese frosting. I could have done without the pecans just because I don't care for them. Otherwise, the cake was very moist and the frosting very creamy.

This weekend, I'm thinking of trying out a spice cake mix and caramel frosting concoction and let you know how that goes.

Sucre Cravings

Due to my hectic schedule and recent travels, I've fallen behind on my cupcake updates. 

The weekend before last, the fiance and I hit Crave again. I had strawberry, banana and vanilla on chocolate. 

My first cupcake was strawberry, which is strawberry cake with fresh strawberries baked inside and topped with strawberry frosting. As often as I get their strawberry cupcakes, I don't think I ever posted a pic of it. So, here it is...

I usually get the chocolate on vanilla, but decided to switch it up for vanilla on chocolate since I hadn't reviewed it yet and it's been awhile since I had this one from Crave. It's dark chocolate cake with vanilla bean frosting and chocolate sprinkles on top. The cake was moist as usual and a sweet, yummy frosting. While this one was a tasty treat, I still like the chocolate on vanilla better.

A few months ago, in my search for who makes the best king cakes, I came across a sweet boutique in New Orleans named Sucre. Turns out this place has a lot more than just cakes. They have other desserts including cupcakes, macaroons, gelato, chocolate and more. So, this past weekend, the fiance and I were in Louisiana for a wedding and just HAD to check them out. Sucre is French for sugar. The proper French pronunciation is sue-cra, but I was corrected by a Louisianian with the pronunciation as sue-cray. Anyway, fiance's cupcakes were vanilla/almond (bottom left) and chocolate/chocolate (bottom right). Mine were vanilla/strawberry (top left) and salted caramel (top right).

First cupcake I had was vanilla/strawberry, which was vanilla cake with strawberry jelly-like filling and buttercream frosting. The cake was a tad bit dry, but the frosting was fluffy. I wasn't totally disappointed, but expected better.

My second cupcake was the salted caramel, which was chocolate cake with buttercream filling, buttercream frosting with a bit of caramel flavor and a fleur de lis chocolate on top. This cake was also a little dry. I barely tasted the salt or caramel; what should have been the predominant flavors. Overall, the cupcake was just alright.

Cupcakes aren't Sucre's specialty like the cupcakeries. The cupcakes were a good size and the presentation was high-end with sparkly elements on the frosting, sauce drizzled on the plate, etc., but pretty pricey at $4 each. That's probably the most I've paid for a cupcake. Our cupcakes were good; just not the best we ever had. If I go back, I'd try something else.

May Cupcake Specials

Check out this month's specials...

Sprinkles

May 1-5:

• Cinco de Mayo - Choco Loco: Belgian dark chocolate cake with bittersweet chocolate and Mexican cinnamon frosting.

May 11-27:

• Salty Caramel (my favorite): fleur de sel granules atop sweet, buttery caramel cake and frosting.

May 25-June 24:

• Key Lime: tangy juice and zest of fresh key limes in both the cake and frosting.

Sugarbaby's

New menu flavors:

• Chocolate Peanut Butter Candy Bar: chocolate cake with Reese's candy cup baked inside, topped with chocolate and peanut butter buttercream frosting.
• Peachy Bellini: peach cobbler cake topped with light peach bellini buttercream, sparkling sugar and a splash of edible pearl bubbles.
• Lemon Cream: lemon chiffon cake topped with lemon cream cheese frosting and a lemon cookie wedge.
• CocoAlmond Candy Bar: chocolate cake baked with an Almond Joy inside, topped with coconut cream cheese frosting, shredded coconut, toasted almonds and drizzled with chocolate ganache.