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eating cupcakes since the late 60's

    • Tag: S’mores

      • Happy New Year!

        Posted at 10:32 pm by MLea
        Jan 6th

        One of my resolutions for 2013 is to be more productive.   So far, I’ve attempted to bake and it’s only the 6th.  YAY, me!  A couple of months ago, I picked up a bag of smoked chocolate chips from Hot Cakes Molten Chocolate Cakery in Ballard.  I’ve had it in my mind to redo a S’mores Cupcake using the chips and finally got around to trying it today.

        I realize that a S’more isn’t smoked…The chocolate just reminded me of a campfire.  I also wanted to get the impression of a S’more without reproducing a Trophy Cupcake.  (I also need a new pastry torch…so I can’t toast the tops without holding them under the broiler.) My plan was to make a graham cracker cake, fill it with marshmallow fluff and top it with whipped chocolate ganache that I made from the smoked chocolate.  I thought that this would be the right order…graham cracker on the bottom, chocolate on the top, liquid-y marshmallow to squirt out from the middle to get your fingers all sticky…all with the faint hint of smoke in the back ground.

        I failed in my selection of a graham cracker cake recipe.  When I first looked at the recipe I chose, I thought that it would result in a light cake that would be easy to fill with the marshmallow fluff.  I was torn between this recipe and a recipe for graham cracker pound cake, which I thought would be more like a graham cracker…dense and heavy…

        When I try this again later in the week, I will go for the graham cracker pound cake…The cake ended up overly fluffy…a result of 1 tablespoonful of baking powder AND 3 stiffly beaten egg whites.  I should have known.

        Posted in Mrs Shuck's Creations | Tagged chocolate, graham cracker, graham cracker cake, marshmallow, marshmallow fluff, S'mores

      • Common Ground Cupcakes, Renton

        Posted at 1:02 pm by MLea
        Jun 30th

        So, I haven’t been baking lately for various reasons.  I have been able to eat, though.  Yesterday, we ventured out to Pabla Indian Cuisine to try out their vegetarian buffet and afterward stopped by Common Ground Coffee and Cupcakes, just a few blocks away, for a cupcake (or two).

        We were so stuffed from lunch that we got the cupcakes to go, but the shop seemed like it would be a pleasant place to stay awhile: free wi-fi, coffee, toys for the kiddies.

        Common Ground interior

        Common Ground Cupcakes: click to enlarge

        It was a little warm out, so I was excited that my cupcakes (Strawberry Fondue and S’mores) made it home intact.   I dug into the strawberry cupcake first.  It was cute.  I liked the fact that the strawberry stem was piped on using icing.  I don’t like inedible objects on cupcakes.   The cake was moist and packed with strawberry flavor.   The icing was fine, but I didn’t discern a specific taste to it.  I later learned from the website that it was supposed to be a strawberry butter cream.  It wasn’t pink, so if it had strawberry flavor, it was artificial.  It wasn’t overly sweet and it was nice and fluffy.   My rating:  ♥♥ 1/2.  I’d be willing to pay for this again if I were in the area.  I’d be more likely to try something new though…

        The second cupcake was okay.  The chocolate cake was moist, but the icing again had no distinct flavor.  The website says “marshmallow/graham cracker” for butter cream flavor, but I’m not sure if they meant garnished with a graham cracker.  After having amazing S’mores cupcakes from Trophy and New York Cupcakes, this was a bit of a disappointment.  My rating: ♥♥.  I’d eat this again, but I wouldn’t pay for it.

        The two cupcakes that I had from Common Ground were good, but not spectacular.  I’d be willing to try them again.  I wish that their website contained a little more information.  It didn’t really draw me to their store.  I like a little more description of flavors available.   That gets me intrigued about a specific flavor and ready to go and seek it out.

        Posted in Miscellaneous Bakeries | Tagged Common Ground, S'mores, strawberry

      • No Godiva Cupcakes, so New York Cupcakes

        Posted at 8:03 pm by MLea
        Nov 21st

        Godiva cupcakes, image stolen from their website since I didn't find any.

        Our original goal today was to get a cupcake at the Godiva store, mainly because we have a Godiva gift card.  Free cupcakes are sometimes the best cupcakes.  However, we apparently misunderstood Godiva’s website.  Even though the icon that means “Godiva Stores offering baked goods” was next to the Bellevue Square location, we didn’t see any baked goods at the store.   DARNIT!    Maybe one day I’ll be willing to order Godiva cupcakes from their website but (surprisingly enough) I am not enough of an addict to pay $51.95 for 6 cupcakes ($28 for cupcakes and $21.95 for overnight shipping).    Update 11/23: Cupcakes are only available from the website, so I guess I don’t be trying them any time soon.

        After wandering around Bel Square for a bit, we headed out to Trader Joes.  On the way, we were sidetracked by New York Cupcakes. We chose the following 4 cupcakes.  (I really didn’t want 4, but there was a discount with 4 which netted us 4 cupcakes for $10.)   The descriptions in italics are from the NY Cupcake website. My reviews follow.

        Boston Cream Pie from NY Cupcakes- click to enlarge

        Boston Cream Cutie Pie
        Classic white cake filled with creamy vanilla custard, topped with decadent dark chocolate frosting and finished with a dollop of whipped buttercream on top.

        The vanilla cake was very moist and had distinct vanilla flavor.  The custard was indeed creamy, but I didn’t find the chocolate frosting to be all that decadent: it was a little grainy and too sweet for me.  The cupcake was cute .  Rating: ♥♥ ½

        Grand Central S'mores from NY Cupcakes- click to enlarge

        Grand Central Smores
        Get on board with our classic chocolate cake topped with sweet marshmallow buttercream frosting and finished off with golden graham cracker crumbs and a mini Hershey Bar .

        This cupcake is incredibly cute.  I love the mini Hershey® bar on top.  It makes it seem more home-made and less “snooty”.  Review to come.  I’m full right now. The cake was really nice…might have been the same cake batter as the Milky Way, but my palate isn’t that advanced: moist with deep chocolate flavor.  It had a sticky marshmallow fluff sort of filling that I really liked and a graham cracker crust at the bottom…or the crumbs might have sunk before baking.  I couldn’t finish the frosting:  way too sweet.  I guess if the bakery is calling it “sweet…frosting” rather than just “frosting”, it’s got to be overloaded with sugar.    Rating: ♥♥.  It would have been ♥♥½ or ♥♥ if it had the marshmallow fluff on top instead of the frosting.

        Midtown Milky Way by NY Cupcakes: Click to enlarge

        Midtown Milky Way
        Our best flavors have come together! Classic chocolate cake filled with white fluffy buttercream and topped with a swirl of creamy caramel and fudge frosting.

        The caramel frosting was the best caramel frosting I’ve had lately.  Maybe it wasn’t “authentic” caramel: it didn’t taste like burnt sugar to me, so I liked it.  The chocolate part of the swirl seemed to be the same chocolate frosting that was on the Boston Cream, but it seemed better when diluted a bit by the caramel frosting.  The cake was moist and chocolate-y, but I didn’t think the butter cream filling added anything to the mix.  Rating: ♥♥ ½

        I Love PB&J by NY Cupcakes- click to enlarge

        I Love PB&J
        Not your ordinary lunch treat! Classic white cake filled with raspberry jelly buttercream and topped with a swirl of creamy peanut butter frosting.

        Disclaimer:  I don’t like raspberries, so that may taint my rating somewhat.   Mr Shuck thought it didn’t have a distinct enough jelly flavor compared to the peanut butter and mused that it might be better with jelly in the center rather than flavored frosting inside.  The peanut butter taste was very strong in the icing, but the icing was creamy instead of grainy so that was a plus.  The cake was moist and I have no complaints about it.   (Mr Shuck said the cake was delightful.)  My rating: ♥ ½.  Mr Shuck’s rating: ♥♥♥.

        New York Cupcakes overall is worth a trip back, despite it being 17.63 miles from my house according to Mapquest.  I’d probably not make a special trip out to Bellevue, but would go out of my way if in the Bellevue area.


        Posted in Miscellaneous Bakeries | Tagged boston cream, Godiva cupcakes, Milky Way, New York Cupcakes, peanut butter and jelly, S'mores

      • S’mores Cupcake from Whole Foods

        Posted at 5:48 pm by MLea
        Nov 14th

        So today whilst we were out looking for healthy snacks for my lunch, we came across this lovely cupcake at the Interbay Whole Foods (also known to West Seattle residents as Hole Foods)

        4103588315_0c432fd3c6_o(2)

        S'mores Cupcake from Whole Foods-Click to enlarge

        This was a lovely cupcake.  I was expecting it to be more than a grocery store cupcake, but it didn’t live up to my expectations.  The homemade looking marshmallows weren’t as tasty as generic marshmallows from the bag.  The cake was chocolatey, but dry and crumbly.  There was enough icing to hold on the graham cracker crumbs, but no excess.  A cupcake deserves excess.

        Mr Shuck also thought the frosting to cake ratio was a bit low.  He liked the taste, though.

        Rating: ♥♥

        Posted in Miscellaneous Bakeries | Tagged S'mores, Whole Foods

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