Cupcake and the Cookies

Before I get into my dessert reviews, the title of this blog entry is a play on a band I recently heard about from the 1950's named Cookie and the Cupcakes. Switching the name around for my blog entry actually fits my most recent dessert experiences.

Now back to the desserts. We had another birthday for my coworker Nicole this week and went with Crave Cupcakes as usual. My cupcake pick was Pistachio. I only tried Gigi's version of pistachio, so I wanted to try Crave's. The cake is made up of pureed pistachios with citrus and spice, topped with white chocolate cream cheese frosting and a few pieces of pistachio nuts on top. The cupcake didn't taste like pistachio. It was more like a lemon spice cake. I loved the frosting. Even though it didn't quite taste like pistachio, it was good for a fruity-type cupcake. It was VERY different in comparison to Gigi's pistachio.

Earlier in the week, I bought some dessert mixes from Williams-Sonoma and tried the toffee chocolate chunk cookie this weekend. The kit came with a pouch of brown sugar and a cookie mix. All I needed was some butter and an egg. Since we like a softer, slightly under-cooked cookie, I reduced the bake time about two to three minutes less than the directions stated. 

And a dozen big cookies later, here is how they turned out...

Overall, they were tasty. I think the edges were a bit too crunchy, but my husband disagreed. I think I may have overmixed the batter a tad bit. The toffee wasn't the predominant flavor; it was more of a hint of toffee here and there. We enjoyed them nonetheless. I would buy this kit again, but they are a bit pricey at $18.95, so I wouldn't buy it very often. I got a buy two deal and used a coupon to bring the price down to about $14 each.

Gigi's Fall/Winter Menu Announced

Gigi's Cupcakes announced 11 new cupcakes for the fall/winter season. The new cupcakes will debut Monday, September 24.

Blackberry Cobbler: Blackberry cake with white chocolate chips baked in, blackberry frosting, topped with sugar crystals and rimmed in streusel crumbs. Available on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Chocolate Hazelnut: Chocolate cake with hazelnuts baked in, filled with Nutella, chocolate hazelnut buttercream frosting and rimmed in hazelnuts. Available on Thursdays and Saturdays.

Coconut Macaroon: Devil's food cake with dark chocolate chips, coconut cream filling, topped with coconut cream cheese frosting and a coconut macaroon. Available on Fridays.

Mochachino: Coffee and Kahlua flavored cake with mocha filling and white chocolate cream cheese frosting, sprinkled with cocoa and chocolate sprinkles. Available Wednesdays and Fridays.

Orange Cranberry Walnut: Orange cake with cranberries and walnuts baked in, orange cream cheese frosting, rimmed in crystal sugar. Available on Fridays.

Peanut Butter Cup: Milk chocolate cake with peanut butter cups baked in, peanut butter buttercream, drizzled with ganache and topped with a mini peanut butter cup. Available Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Peppermint Patty: Dark chocolate cake filled with peppermint cream filling, topped with peppermint buttercream, ganache and a peppermint patty. Available Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Pumpkin White Chocolate: Pumpkin cake with white chocolate chips, white chocolate cream cheese frosting, dusted with pumpkin pie spice. Available Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Snickerdoodle: Cinnamon swirl cake with cookie dough frosting, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and topped with a snickerdoodle cookie. Available Mondays and Wednesdays.

Sticky Bun: French toast cake topped with a caramel praline frosting, sprinkled with pecans, drizzled with caramel and sweet glaze. Available on Fridays.

Sweet Potato Pie: Sweet potato pie cake with bourbon cream cheese frosting, sprinkled with crystal sugar. Available on Wednesdays.

Cheesy Gigi

Without further adieu, we ventured out to try Gigi's new cheesecakes. We added a few cupcakes into the mix as well.

Starting with the cupcakes, I had Strawberry Margarita (top left) and hubby had Key Lime Pie (top right) and Italian Cream (bottom left).

Gigi's seems to have different variations of a margarita cupcake. I couldn't find a description of what's in the Strawberry Margarita, but by logical deduction, it was a lime cake with strawberry frosting and topped with sugar crystals and a candied lime slice. Typical Gigi's cupcake with a nice fluffy cake, piled high with sweet frosting. There was a good blend of lime and strawberry mixed together; a nice summer flavor.

Now onto the cheesecakes that hubby and I split...Chocolate Chocolate Chip (top left), Cookies and Cream (top right) and Raspberry Swirl (bottom left).

We started with Chocolate Chocolate Chip, which was a chocolate cheesecake topped with chocolate buttercream, sprinkled with dark and semi-sweet chocolate chips and a drizzle of ganache. This was a chocolate lovers dessert for sure. I thought it was good, but sometimes I don't want that much chocolate.

The next cheesecake we had was the Cookies and Cream made with cookies and cream cheesecake, chocolate buttercream frosting, lightly sprinkles with crushed Oreos and a mini Oreo on top, and a glaze. This was better than the Chocolate Chocolate Chip cheesecake. Out of all three, this was my favorite.

After too many desserts, we had the Raspberry Swirl after dinner the next night. It was a regular cheesecake with buttercream florets, drizzled with raspberry sauce and sprinkled with white chocolate chips. I liked the standard cheesecake with the light raspberry flavor; a subtle balance of different tastes.

Gigi's does a pretty good job on the cheesecakes; they're dense, yet moist. They are a little more than the cupcakes at $3.95 each, but filling enough to satisfy.

September Cupcake Specials

Check out this month's cupcake specials...

Sprinkles

August 24-September 9:

• Vanilla Hazelnut Chocolate: Madagascar Bourbon vanilla cake topped with rich, creamy hazelnut chocolate frosting.

September 14-30:

• Almond Dark Chocolate: Almond cake studded with sliced California almonds and topped with bittersweet chocolate frosting.
• German Chocolate: Light chocolate cake topped with rich, golden caramel laced with fresh coconut and crunchy pecans.

Crave

September 1-15:

• National childhood cancer awareness month: $1 for every cupcake sold with a fondant topper designed by pediatric cancer patients will be donated to the Arts in Medicine program at MD Anderson Children's Cancer Hospital.

Double Dose of Deliciousness

We doubled up on cupcaking this weekend. I wanted to make sure I got Crave's special Stracciatella cupcake before it was gone, so I went there on Friday and nabbed a five-pack. And I wanted to get my S'More cupcake from Sprinkles before it was gone, so we went there on Labor Day.

Starting with Crave, I had the Stracciatella first. It's a vanilla bean cupcake streaked with Italian Perugina chocolate. Perugina is a confectionery company based in Perugia, Italy. OK, now back to the cupcake. Oh, it was pure heaven! Such a nice blend of vanilla with chocolate bits inside. So moist, creamy and sweet.

The next cupcake was split was the hubby (yes, we are married now). It was vanilla, which has been pictured on the blog, but not reviewed. It's a vanilla bean cupcake with vanilla bean frosting. Simple and basic, but always a favorite.

The last cupcake I had was dark chocolate, which was dark chocolate cake with dark chocolate frosting. I expected this to be too chocolatey, but it wasn't. It was a little rich, but not overpowering.

Now onto Sprinkles...hubby and I split every cupcake. We had a four-pack of Red Velvet (top left), S'More (top right), Vanilla Hazelnut Chocolate (bottom left) and Mocha (bottom right).

We started with S'More, a specialty cupcake ending today, but returning again in October. It's graham cracker lined Belgian dark chocolate cake filled with bittersweet chocolate ganache and topped with toasted marshmallow frosting. While I liked this cupcake, the graham cracker crust was a nice touch, but made it a tad dry. Something that surprised me about this cupcake was that it almost had a peanut butter taste in there.

Second cupcake was Mocha, which was Belgian dark chocolate cake topped with rich mocha frosting and sprinkles. This is the first mocha cupcake I've had and it was delightful. Coffee lovers would enjoy this one as you could taste that subtle coffee flavor.

Third cupcake was Vanilla Hazelnut Chocolate. This is another specialty cupcake available until September 9. It's Madagascar Bourbon vanilla cake topped with hazelnut chocolate frosting. This is Sprinkles version of the Nutella cupcake. You could taste all the yummy combined flavors from vanilla, chocolate and that slight nutty taste.

Wow, that was a lot of cupcakes and a lot of pics!