ALL-AMERICAN CUPCAKES

American Cupcake
1919 Union St, San Francisco

American Cupcake is unlike any other cupcakery I have seen. The décor is eclectic-an old school diner look with colorful lights everywhere. AC holds the be all/end all of cupcake/alcohol pairings.

Flights were $16 each and usually include 3 mini cupcakes and 3 glasses of beer or wine. Luckily for us, they were out of minis so we got 3 full-sized cupcakes for each of us! I had a wine pairing flight called the Walk of Shame and Amanda had a beer pairing flight called “Beer n’ Chocolate” (which of course I had to sample).  

The pairings:

Lemon/Red Velvet(they ran out of Butterscotch)/Coconut
Sauvignon Blanc/Chardonnay/Merlot
The Red Velvet was nothing spectacular and the lemon was yummy.  I’ve never been a huge fan of coconut but the coconut cupcake was definitely the winner of the wine flight.

Chocolate PB/Chococlate Mint/Chocolate Coconut
Bison Chocolate Stout/Hitachino Nest/ Heifeweizen
Again, not a huge fan of chocolate and mint together but surprisingly it worked fabulously in this cupcake.  The chocolate peanut butter and the chocolate coconut  cupcakes were good as well.  Too much chocolate though, wish there was more variety in this flight!

I wouldn’t say the alcohol necessarily accented the cupcakes’ flavors but I am not one to turn down wine or beer with my cupcakes :)

peace, love, and cupcakes
michy

CUPCAKES, THE SAN FRANCISCO TREAT

A few weeks ago I went to visit my friend Amanda in San Fran and she was kind enough to appease my crazy cupcake needs. We went to 4 cupcake shops, trying at least one cupcake from each place. I think the grand total over the course of the weekend was around 12 cupcake tastes! –rubs belly-

Love At First Bite: A cute hidden cupcake shop in the Gourmet Ghetto area of Berkeley. Instead of getting one large cupcake, I decided to try 3 mini cupcakes. At $1.25 each I have the lemon, strawberry, and red velvet. Strawberry was delicious, lemon was surprisingly good(I’m not usually a fan of lemon), and the red velvet was decent.

That Takes the Cake: The owner served us and she was really sweet.  I had the Hella Nutella cupcake for $2.95. Although it was tasty, it didn’t really taste like nutella.

Miette Bakery:  This was a sophisticated bakery located in the ferry building.  All the cupcakes were beautifully decorated.   A chocolate cupcake with raspberry buttercream for $3.25 caught my eye.  The cake was good but the frosting was not very raspberry at all.

Kara’s Cupcake: This is probably the most famous cupcakery in all of SF. We stopped in the Ghirardelli Square location. I wanted to get a caramel cupcake but the person right in front of me got the last one. I decided to get the carrot cake cupcake for $3.25, even though I’m not the biggest fan of carrot cake. Surprisingly, it was my favorite cupcake of the entire weekend! Very moist and had just the right amount of spice.

There is one more amazing cupcakery in SF, but it deserves a whole entry of its own.


Until next week cupcakers…


Peace, love, cupcakes
Michy

TO TU-LU'S WE GO

Tu-lu’s Bakery
338 East 11th Street, East Village

This is one of the newer cupcakeries in the East Village. I think this place went through a name change-from Tully's Bakery to Tu-Lu's Bakery.  I think the latter is much better!  I have to say I was nervous about this one. It’s another gluten-free bakery (I hadn't had good luck with a certain gluten free bakery in the past) but this time I was pleasantly surprised. I walked in and caught a glimpse of the lovely décor. There was a cupcake tree plastered along one wall. And they say cupcakes don't grow on trees!  After much thought, my friend and I made our final cupcake decisions. I tried the strawberry vanilla cupcake and the chocolate peanut butter cupcake for $1.25 a piece. 1 bite of these delicate mini cupcakes and I was hooked.  Smooth, delicious, and perfect cake/frosting proportion. See ya later Babycakes.

peace, love, and cupcakes
michy

“GIVE YOU SOME-SOME-SOME OF THIS CINNABON”-MISSY ELLIOT

Cinnabon
Penn Station

The thought of picking up a cupcake in Penn Station was almost appalling. I never expected any of the lousy fast food joints to ever carry something as magnificent as a cupcake. One day while walking to work, I passed the Cinnabon shop, where a sign hung that said “taking over the cupcake world” with 4 humungous cupcake photos dangling from the sign. I almost died of shock. Still, I passed by it almost every day without even stepping inside. It was so convenient yet I couldn’t bear to have a cupcake from Penn Station, ick! One fateful evening, I had a long wait until my train departed and was a little hungry for a nosh. I decided to give in and try a cupcake. I figured my best shot was getting the original Cinnabon Cupcake. It cost me $2.70 for a medium-sized cupcake. Not a great price, but not horrible either. It also came in a very handy to-go box. To my surprise, it was a VERY delicious cupcake. Granted, it tasted just like the regular Cinnabon roll but delectable none the less. I don’t know if there’s a need to try all the other cupcake options there but good job, Cinnabon, good job.

peace, love, and cupcakes
michy

Big Booty Bread Co.
261 W 23rd St, Chelsea

 

I have to admit-the name of this bakery is pretty catchy. It definitely intrigued me. I wasn’t expecting this place to have cupcakes but after some research, I discovered that they do have a select amount of cupcakes. I stopped at this Chelsea shop on the way back to Penn Station one day. I ordered a dulche de leche cupcake for $2.50. So yummy. The caramel was the icing on the cupcake (literally). It was different which made it stand out even more. I had to go back and try something more basic so I had the red velvet cupcake the second time for the same price. The cake was good but the cream cheese frosting didn’t have enough sugar or butter in it…it tasted like it came right out of the package. Confectioners’ sugar is your friend. There were a few seats in the back but I wouldn’t say the place is cozy. It’s more of a “grab and go” bakery. Fortunately, Big Booty Bread Co. is so close to Penn Station that I’m sure I will be stopping by in the near future.
peace, love, and cupcakes
michy

STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE, CREAM ON TOP...

Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes

Vanilla Cupcakes from Martha Stewart

 Ingredients:


Makes about 3 dozen


• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (2 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 6 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups milk

Directions:


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.

2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Mix in the eggs, one at a time, scraping down sides of bowl as needed, until well blended. Mix in vanilla.

3. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with milk in two batches, beating until combined after each. Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin tins. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until tops spring back when lightly touched, about 20 minutes. Let cool in tins on wire racks.

Strawberry Meringue Buttercream from Martha Stewart


Makes 5 cups

Ingredients:

• 4 large egg whites
• 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into tablespoons

• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

• 1 teaspoon strawberry extract

• 1 1/2 cups (12 ounces) strawberry jam, pureed in a food processor


Directions:


1. In the heatproof bowl of an electric mixer set over a saucepan of simmering water, combine egg whites and sugar. Cook, whisking constantly, until sugar has dissolved and mixture is warm to the touch (about 160 degrees).

2. Attach the bowl to the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat the egg-white mixture on high speed until it holds stiff (but not dry) peaks. Continue beating until the mixture is fluffy and cooled, about 6 minutes.

3. Switch to the paddle attachment. With mixer on medium-low speed, add butter several tablespoons at a time, beating well after each addition. (If frosting appears to separate after all the butter has been added, beat on medium-high speed until smooth again, 3 to 5 minutes more.) Beat in vanilla. Beat on lowest speed to eliminate any air bubbles, about 2 minutes. Stir in strawberry jam with a rubber spatula until frosting is smooth.

White Chocolate Covered Strawberries


Ingredients:


• 8 ounces white chocolate (or any chocolate you prefer)


• 16 ounces fresh strawberries


Directions:


1. Wash strawberries and pat dry. Remove the hulls.

2. Melt white chocolate in a double boiler (or in a microwave-heat in 30 second intervals, mixing chocolate in between intervals).

3. Insert a skewer into the top of the strawberry. Dip strawberry into white chocolate. Allow excess chocolate to drip off.


4. Place on parchment paper and allow to cool under chocolate is hard.

After frosting the cupcakes, top each with a chococlate covered strawberry-voila!

....TELL ME THE NAME OF YOUR SWEETHEART