Grrr!

Tiny vanilla cupcake from Whole Foods, courtesy of Susan.

Are you surprised I didn't choose chocolate?

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New Years Resolution

 
(photos by Dan)

More of everything!

Happy New Year, y'all.

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Two for dinner; one for breakfast.

In Pittsburgh, PA?  Need cupcakes?  I have to recommend Graham's Bakery on Mt. Lebanon Blvd..



This shop makes the perfect chocolate frosting, as far as I'm concerned -- and that's hard to achieve.  The box had assorted vanilla and chocolate cupcakes, with both vanilla and chocolate frosting.  Of course, chocolate + chocolate was my favorite, but I liked the vanilla, too. 

To make sure they were as good as I thought they were, I ate three. 

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Ah, to live in Cupcakeland

I'm no fiend for cupcakes. I'm more fond of classic sliced cakes and pies. But I like a good cupcake, and I'll try out the new neighborhood cupcake shop. And this cupcake, in specific, tasted fresh and light. Furthermore, the "Cookie" frosting pleased me. I'll be back.


Cupcakeland
390 Metropolitan Ave
(between Havemeyer St & 5th St)
Brooklyn, NY

I ate in the dark again.

Happy birthday, DMP! It turns out I don't like apple brandy, but I do like you.

Also, thanks for the brownies, Jessica. Their texture was tops -- silky and soft.



I hear the cupcakes, which were good, but entirely too enormous, were from The Blue Stove.

I wasn't just there for the cupcakes. I swear.

Over the past months, Snackreligious cast regular Dan Funderburgh created MAP/Pursuit of Pursuit of Happiness, an amazing installation for Sigerson Morrison's boutique space on the Upper East Side.

Funderburgh combined wall stickers (designed by him and made by wallpaper company Flavor Paper, who sell a number of wallpaper designs by Dan) with framed work for this show. I made it up there Thursday night for the opening party. The art looked fierce, the shoes were even cooler up close than in photos, the tiny cupcakes had cream cheese frosting, and the samosas were a nice touch.






I loved seeing the three small beasts Dan had painted (made by his sister, ceramicist Eva Funderburgh, with whom he collaborated last year) on display with the jewelry at the store.




I choked on an almond, but recovered well with a few sips of white wine. Ah, the rich life.




Dan also designed the patterns imprinted on the straps of these Sigerson Morrison shoes.

If you are in NYC and would like to stop by, Dan's art and prints will be displayed in the shop for viewing and sale throughout the month of March.


Sigerson Morrison
19 E 71st St
New York, NY

Peanut Butter and (barely a) Cupcake

This teeny-tiny (pictured on a 3" square Post-It) peanut butter and jelly bite-sized cupcake is from a place I haven't found yet. That is, I've never been to "Baked By Melissa," the shop that sold the baby cupcake pictured above, which was then shared with me by a kind coworker who happened to be in possession of a sampler box.

So, it tasted a little eggy, but a cupcake with peanut butter on top and jelly filling is a great idea. I liked the flavors together, though there wasn't much cupcake to this bite. In fact, I got so little "cupcake" and so much filling/topping, that I couldn't tell what flavor the cake was supposed to be. Vanilla? It should have been banana.

Baked by Melissa has been in SoHo for some time, but now it's in Union Square, too.


(Thanks, Caitlin!)

I Hate That I Love Going Away Parties.

I feel so conflicted when people serve snacks at sorrowful events. I also feel hungry.




Look at my coworkers start to gather!




We miss you already, Jeremy, but the cupcakes helped ease the transition. I picked Oreo.

Oh, and congratulations on your new gig. I hope you find the time to make more of these:




Tiny cupcakes from Crumbs kindly procured by my employer.

Twin Peaks, Triplet Cupcakes

So, I know this other Jenny. Other Jenny is pretty smart. She's awful crafty and nice and lovely. She knits and sews and cooks and takes photos and lives in my neighborhood. And she brings presents some evenings when she and Melissa and I knit and watch Twin Peaks together.





Last week, the Other Jenny brought pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting from a place named Billy's. I've never been to Billy's, but the cupcake I ate was delicious.

I think Agent Cooper would have enjoyed eating one of these moist, pumpkin-y, cup-shaped cakes. He'd probably like the Other Jenny, too. I know I do.


p.s. There is a Billy's cupcake recipe here.

Cupcakes After Dark

Mike's snazzy birthday cocktail party was catered by a friend of his named Emily Anderson. I enjoyed everything of hers I tried -- "devils on horseback" (dates wrapped in bacon), ceviche on tortilla crisps, vegetarian pizza squares. I heard great things about her mini meatballs, too.

But the shining moment of the evening was when the cupcakes came out. Apparently, Emily has won cupcake contests with her creations. I believe it. The pineapple milkshake variety was divine, which is what Dan chose. I had Boston Cream -- also amazing, if not equally outstanding. Both were rich, tender, and flavorful -- yet not too sweet -- sexy, sexy little cakes with frosting to shove someone out of the way for.

Seriously, I think these were the best cupcakes I've ever had (homemade or commercial). I've certainly never made better myself. I would pay money for her recipe(s). Someone get Emily on the horn!

Some will eat sand; I prefer cupcakes

This afternoon I sort of crashed A's first birthday party by tagging along as R and H's friend in tow. The host mom, J, was as sweet as her backyard space, as lovely as her birthday girl daughter, as friendly as the other guests in attendance, and as welcoming as the mini cupcakes from Crumbs (I had two -- vanilla M&M and chocolate Oreo). I felt right at home.



Baby guests gathered around the play area to eat a little sand and occasionally drink water from plastic watering cans.



Adults and kids alike enjoyed pasta salad with peas, broccoli, and tomatoes (my favorite dish); carrots and hummus; blue tortilla chips; and a pitch-perfect fruit salad served in a carved watermelon "bowl." I don't know that a one-year-old always knows when it's his or her birthday, but everyone at this party seemed to know it was a celebration. I had a great time.

Did I mention there were Jello shots for the grownups? I had two strawberry-coconut servings. Right on.

I need a cupcake (and blog) do-over.

Thanks for sticking around, folks. I haven't been feeling too blog-worthy lately, but -- much like these chocolate cream cheese cupcakes -- I find my mood is rising with increased heat (of the oven or of spring, depending on which one of us you observe). Earth is our oven, ladies and gentlemen. Bake yourself into something sweet!

Ahem.

Silliness and apologies aside, I have learned some lessons. I now solemnly resolve:

1. I will keep blogging and try not to leave Snackreligious alone for this long again.
2. I will not fill cupcake liners more than half full of batter in the future, no matter what the recipe says (especially if additional topping is called for).
3. I will try to keep enough flour on hand so as to not have to substitute bread flour for any part of the amount of all-purpose flour called for in a cake or cupcake recipe.
4. When using the teflon cupcake pan (which I will only do when making more cupcakes than will fit in my metal pans), I will not convince myself that its nonstick surface means I do not need to use cupcake liners.

I will be making these cupcakes again, keeping all four of the above resolutions in mind. You should make them, too! The flavor was excellent, once I had pried them from the pans. The cream cheese filling is a little salty, which is unexpectedly pleasing.

Let me just note, finally, that the recipe (found here) makes 16 or more cupcakes, not 12.

Houseguests and Cupcakes: still sweet after 4 days.

One of the things that kept me from blogging this week was the fact that our friend Laura was visiting from Chicago and staying with us. There was a lot of eating and talking, but little tip-tap-typing on the computer.

Laura bravely trekked in some of the most delightful cupcakes from Taste of Heaven in Andersonville to share with us. They got a little damaged in the hand-off, but remained delicious and moist. The frosting was superior -- not greasy or heavy as some cupcake icing is. I know little about the ranking of cupcakes in the Chicago area, and haven't had the pleasure of trying Taste of Heaven's competitors' c.cakes, but these were terrific.

Out of the sampler of six (and over the course of a couple of days), I had the whole Whoopie Pie cupcake (my fave), half a Vanilla-Vanilla (my least favorite, but that was after a few days of refrigeration), half a Hazelnut cupcake, a bite of Malted Milk Ball, and a taste of orange-creamsicle-tasting icing that remained in the carton.

Cupcakes and friends are sweet.

I'm at your party, eating the Hostess.

Crumbs, a small bake shop that sells drinks (coffee, milk, sodas) and other baked goods as well as a coddle of cupcakes, has had a location on University between 13th and 14th for a few months, the guy working the counter told me, but I didn't discover it until I got a tip from Ian (regarding free samples of Heath Bar cupcake) yesterday.



The cupcakes are pricy ($3.75 for most) but large and tempting. I resisted the peanut butter cup flavor (don't want to be too predictable) and went for the Hostess.



As I hoped, there was cream inside - and a goodly amount of it, too.



More importantly, the bakery seems to be working from a good recipe. The cupcake itself was moist and had a nice, full chocolate flavor.



To stretch my dollar, someone is getting a Christmas present wrapped in this bag.