I Heart Cupcakes Too

There's a new cupcakery in town...iheartcupcakes recently opened up in Houston's energy corridor. Even though it wasn't very close, we had to try them. Especially since the pics on their website were eerily similar to Crave's cupcakes. The girl who helped me said they had no affiliation with Crave, but I'm wondering if the baker and/or owner used to work there? Who knows.

Our six-pack consisted of Caramel Macchiato (top left), Cookies n' Cream (top right), Vanilla Vanilla (middle left), Snickerdoodle (middle right), Red Velvet (bottom left) and Chocolate with Strawberry (bottom right).

Starting with Chocolate with Strawberry, it's chocolate cake with strawberry buttercream frosting. It was moist, chocolatey and the frosting was creamy strawberry.

Next, hubby and I shared the Cookies 'n Cream, which was vanilla bean/cookie infused cake with vanilla bean buttercream topped with cookie crumbs. Definitely tasted like cookies and cream; also moist and delish.

Then, we split the Caramel Macchiato. It was coffee infused cake with caramel buttercream. The coffee flavor was pretty strong for me and I'm not a coffee drinker, so I didn't really care for it. The frosting was the best part.

Last, I had Snickerdoodle, which was cinnamon cake topped with vanilla bean frosting and sanding sugar. This cupcake was similar to other cinnamon-type cupcakes I've had and very good.

Overall, they tasted a lot like Crave with the exception of certain flavors that Crave does not offer. I would get iheartcupcakes again if I were passing by or needed a special flavor fix.

Holiday Cupcake Crusades

Happy New Year!

Over the past month, the crusade continued with an at-home experiment, a local fave and a new out-of-town taste test.

I purchased another one of those Williams-Sonoma cupcake kits. The pumpkin ones were on sale after Thanksgiving, so I figured I would give it a shot even though I'm not really a pumpkin fan. It was pumpkin spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla.

Using typical ingredients like butter and eggs, it was fairly simple to make. I didn't bother making a frosting from scratch since I usually have trouble with that. So, I used a jar frosting that said the flavor was "fall vanilla." It also had some fall sprinkles, which I used, but otherwise, fall vanilla wasn't any different than regular vanilla. It turned out surprisingly good!

Next, after we had a birthday lunch for a coworker, we stopped by Sprinkles. I ventured out of my comfort zone to try another flavor I wouldn't normally pick, Eggnog Spice. It was spice cake topped with eggnog cream cheese frosting. While not my favorite flavor, I would definitely get it again. I enjoyed it and thought it was better than the eggnog cupcake I tried a year ago from Crave.

Last, while traveling for the holidays, we decided to try Frosted Cupcakes in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Hubby and I got a four-pack. His flavors were top left, Cookie Deaux and bottom right, Rouge Royale. My selections were top right, Dalmatian and bottom left, Gingerbread. Unfortunately, their website does not give a description of the cupcakes.

My first cupcake was the Gingerbread. It tasted like a gingerbread cookie; moist and flavorful frosting. I was pleased with my choice.

My second cupcake was Dalmatian, which was essentially an Oreo or cookies and cream cupcake. This one was very good. Also moist and delicious frosting. I'll take a 101 Dalmatian cupcakes please...woof!

I tried a bite of hubby's cookie deaux and rouge royale, which were also quite yummy. I would definitely recommend Frosted and go back again.

Until next time...the crusade continues...

Life Just Keeps Getting Busier

As the title of this entry says, such is my life with an infant these days! So, to cut to the chase, here are the latest cupcake encounters over the past few months...

Starting with Crave, I decided to try their apple cupcake recently. It's a Granny Smith apple cake with cinnamon frosting. Simple ingredients; simple, sweet flavor. This was better than I anticipated.

Next cupcake test came courtesy of Dessert Gallery. Without a detailed description of ingredients, the triple chocolate cupcake is just that...triple the chocolate. It was a chocolate cake with white chocolate frosting, topped with a chocolate cookie and drizzled with chocolate sauce. The chocolate combination was a good balance and was a tasty cupcake, although not the best I've had.

Onto our next adventure by way of Sprinkles...There was a limited edition cupcake recently featured in connection with the television show, "2 Broke Girls." It sounded delicious, so I had to try it since it was only being offered for a few weeks. It was a graham cracker-lined vanilla chocolate chip cake with dark chocolate frosting and fleur de sel. I really loved the flavors in this cupcake. I wish it was a little more moist though. I think a little bit of salt on almost any cupcake really brings out the flavor.

And the last victims of my devouring were from Ooh La La Sweets. First, I had Pretty in Pink, which was strawberry cake with cream cheese icing, topped with pink sprinkles. As always, Ooh La La's cupcakes are massive! This cupcake had a light strawberry taste and was balanced well with the frosting. And, it was moist!

The second cupcake was their November special, French toast. It was a maple cupcake with a swirl of cinnamon streusel, topped with cinnamon sugar cream cheese icing. The maple flavor of the cupcake was very prominent. I'm not sure what the little bread pieces were on top. They kind of tasted sweet and sort of like bread; I don't know. Anyway, this was a fairly decent cupcake.

That's all for now folks! Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

Cupcake Bonanza

It's been a bit busy lately between work and the baby, but we haven't neglected to eat cupcakes! Here's what has been consumed over the last several weeks...

Hubby came home from work one day with a few cupcakes from Smallcakes that were graciously given to him by a coworker who knows that we are big time cupcake eaters. We both split each cupcake.

 Starting with Lemon Drop, which is lemon cake filled with tangy lemon topped with lemon buttercream and a dollop of tangy lemon. They weren't lying when they emphasized "tangy." This cupcake had huge lemon flavor. I'm not really a lemon fan, so I can't rave about this one too much.

The second cupcake was Choco-holic, which is chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream topped with vairhona chocolate sprinkles. Yes, this was A LOT of chocolate. Pretty good cupcake if you are a chocoholic!

Next adventure was with Gigi's Cupcakes.

I started with Chocolate Cola Cake, which is rich chocolate cola cake made with Coca-Cola, chocolate cola buttercream frosting and a dollop of vanilla buttercream. It really didn't taste like cola, but it was very good. Definitely a lot of chocolate, but not too strong, which I like.

Second, was Strawberry Shortcake, which is white cake baked with fresh strawberries, topped with a strawberry buttercream frosting and red sugar crystals. I had this one a long time ago before the blog. While it's nice to have real strawberries baked in, this cupcake is REALLY strawberry flavored. Not bad, but maybe a little overkill for me. I couldn't finish it.

And finally, we had the limited time S'mores, which is milk chocolate cake with chocolate chips baked in, topped with vanilla fluff, toasted marshmallows, graham cracker crumbs and a milk chocolate square. By the time we got home, this cupcake got a little sloppy with the marshmallow cream sliding off a bit. The cake part was slightly dry, but overall, not too bad. It was your pretty typical S'mores cupcake.

And now for last weekend...hubby and I had Gigi's again. Hubby's selections were on the top row left to right; German Chocolate; Apple Pie; and Pumpkin White Chocolate. My selections were on the bottom row left to right; Pumpkin White Chocolate; Bananas Foster; and Double Stuff.

My first cupcake was Bananas Foster, which is rich banana cake with spiced rum, spiced rum cream cheese frosting and topped with brown sugar sauce. One word...YUM. This was wonderful! The cake was moist and there was a sweet, cinnamon-y flavor mixed in. Even my hubby who hates banana flavor liked this one.

Next, I had Double Stuff, which is dark chocolate cake filled with marshmallow cream, Oreo buttercream frosting also filled with marshmallow cream and topped with a mini Oreo. This was a pretty standard Oreo cupcake. The cake was a tad dry, but the frosting was tasty.

And last, I had Pumpkin White Chocolate, which is pumpkin cake with white chocolate chips, cream cheese frosting, dusted with pumpkin pie spice. This was a delightfully delicious fall cupcake! I enjoyed it.

Keep on cupcaking!

September Cupcake Specials

Here are this month's specials...

Sprinkles

August 30-September 15:

• Maple Bacon: Thick, smoky bacon is cooked to a crisp and woven into Madagascar Bourbon vanilla cake. Topped with rich, buttery maple cream cheese frosting, crispy bacon crumbles and fleur de sel.

September 13-29:

• Almond Dark Chocolate: Moist almond cake studded with sliced California almonds and topped with bittersweet chocolate frosting.
• German Chocolate: The topping on this Southern classic is a rich, golden caramel laced with fresh coconut and crunchy pecans; piled high atop a light chocolate cake.

Gigi's

September 9-22:

• S'more: Rich milk chocolate cake with chocolate chips, topped with sticky vanilla fluff, toasted marshmallows, graham cracker crumbs and a milk chocolate square.

Ooh La La Dessert Boutique

• The Old Fashioned: Traditional yellow butter cake, topped with chocolate fudge icing.

Another Box Mix Experiment

I recently bought this Betty Crocker Hot Chocolate cupcake mix that looked interesting. It had a chocolate cake mix with marshmallows and a frosting mix.

It called for the typical box mix ingredients like eggs, oil and water. The marshmallows looked a bit sparse, so I added some small ones of my own as well.

And then there was the frosting mix. As you've read in some of my older posts, I seem to always have a problem with making frosting. This time was no different. The packet of frosting was powdery like powdered sugar and all it called for was 1/4 cup of boiling water. Sounds easy enough, right? WRONG! I followed the instructions, but it turned into a watery mess! So, once again, another failed attempt at making frosting.

So, here was the final result; unfortunately, using jar frosting. It turned out OK for the most part, but I probably won't buy this again.

A Small Anniversary Treat

We recently celebrated our first anniversary with some cupcakes the hubby brought home from Smallcakes.

My selections on the top row were cookies-n-cream and fruity pebbles. Hubby's choices on the bottom row were birthday and decadent fudge.

I started with fruity pebbles, which is orange and fruity pebbles cake with orange buttercream frosting and topped with fruity pebbles. This cupcake tasted like the orange creamsicle. Not something I would normally choose, but I liked it.

Then, I had the cookies-n-cream, which is chocolate cake with oreo vanilla buttercream topped with oreo cookies. Pretty typical oreo cupcake; overall, it was moist and tasty.