New York Cupcakes

This past week, my roommate and I had the amazing opportunity to visit New York City. And no vacation is complete without eating some delicious cupcakes!

In this case, we checked out the bakery Crumbs, which is so popular, that they have multiple locations, including the Newark airport, and are even expanding to DC. Joy and I happened to go to the store by the New York Public Library (which was also amazing, but I'm also a book nerd, not just a cupcake nerd!)

It was difficult to decide which cupcake to buy, because they all looked amazing (and huge!!) but we picked Gingerbread because it was festive and not minty (*somebody* doesn't like mint. Weird).

Let me tell you. That gingerbread cupcake was fabulous. It was so rich and decedent with the fluffiest icing, which was sweet but not too sweet. And the cake part? Oh. My. God. So moist. So flavorful. So spicy and gingerbread-y. The only problem was that there was no way I'd be able to eat a whole cupcake all by myself. So it's good that Joy and I split it. They're really messy and crumby too, which is kinda funny, considering the name of the bakery is Crumbs and all! :-)

And Joy's cousin Beth also bought us gingerbread cupcakes from Bella's Bakery in NJ, which were more reasonably sized and had cream cheese icing (Mmm mm!) The cool thing about Bella's, though, is that they  have nut-free cupcakes for kids with allergies and also make gluten free, vegan, and organic treats as well. I love the idea. The bakery was started because the owner's daughter is allergic to nuts and couldn't eat the cupcakes that the other kids would bring to class.

Anyway, if you're in New York or New Jersey, I would gladly recommend both Crumbs and Bella's to you if you're in a cupcake-y mood. As far as any of the other bakeries that are around, I have no doubt that they're delicious, but I just haven't tried them yet. Guess that means I have to go back!

P.S. Please don't forget to vote for me! <3

Disaster!

I think the biggest disaster is that I always spell it "diaster."

Nah, not really. I think a volcano being attacked by a shark, giant octopus, wolf, The Cold, and an encroaching ocean is pretty disastrous. Oh! Don't forget the meteor and wrecked helicopter.

See, this is a cake that I was planning for Hillary's 19th birthday, and now it's 2 months past her 20th birthday, so to say this is belated is quite an understatement. Anyway, we love watching cheesy corny disaster movies together ("The Day After Tomorrow," "Absolute Zero," "Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus," "2012" for example) so this cake takes its inspiration from all of those movies and more.

The cake turned out a little more cartoonish--maybe it was the fondant octopus or the light blue icy lava-- than I was originally picturing in my head, but it turned out really great. The "lava" and ocean are made out of royal icing, which made cutting into the cake a little more difficult than originally planned, and the meteor, octopus, and shark fin are all made of out Wilton fondant (why Wilton? Because it's cheap and no one was going to eat the pieces anyway). The volcano is chocolate buttercream, and the cake is coffee flavored.

Shout out to Sarah! For telling me how to make coffee cake, and to pass it on, I'll tell you now! (Because have you ever tried to google "coffee flavored cake recipe?" It doesn't work, I tell you!) OK, so you take your cake recipe (or box mix) and instead of putting water or whatever liquid, use double-brewed coffee instead. And my dad says there's some secret "thing" about double brewed coffee, like it will break the coffee maker or something...so I just asked him to brew the coffee for me.

So there you have it! The Disaster Cake. While not as epic as the end of the world, this cake was pretty grand, and according to Chris, the best tasting cake I've ever made!

I Feel Famous!

I was Googling "nerdy cupcakes"-- just for ideas, ya know? I'm a nerd, I love cupcakes (oooooh! More about geeky baking later!!!) and I figured other people did too.

The top result I got was on Geekpadshow.com, which has apparently moved to Geek Culture, but whatever their website is called, they have an article about 20 Nerdy Cupcakes.

And out of nowhere, this picture shows up, with a link to this website (which then finally links here), and I jump up and shout "THOSE ARE MY CUPCAKES!"

Seriously. That just made my day. I know it's kind of random and obscure, but I love my Harry Potter cupcakes, and I love that someone else out there (I'm talking to you, Geoffrey Golden!) loves them too.


So this post is to all those nerds out there with a sweet tooth. I promise you more nerdicious baked good soon!