Puppy and Polar Bear Mini Cupcakes from Bakerella

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 Bakerella never stops with the cute cupcake and cake pop ideas. She makes decorating look so easy, even for someone as artistically challenged as me. She did it again with mini cupcakes! Check out her tutorial on decorating puppies and polar bears.

Do You Like Macarons?

As much as I love cupcakes, I love other sweets too. And my most recent obsession is macarons. They are everywhere! There are even macaron-only shops nearby. Crazy!

My friend who visited a few weeks ago, not only brought me lots of cupcakes, but she brought these macarons from Francois Payard Bakery NYC. And let me tell you, they were delicious!

The outside "cookie" was light and crisp, as it should be, and there was plenty of filling in the center. The flavors were outstanding! Definitely some of the best macarons I have ever tasted!

The website says these macarons sell for $2.25 each. Ouch! That's a bit pricey for something that's gone in less than two bites. But then again, it is NYC.

What do you think of macarons? I know they aren't taking the place of cupcakes, but do you like them too?

Review: Little Cupcake Bakeshop

Last week I posted about the delicious cupcakes my friend brought me from Sweet Revenge in New York City. But the fairy tale doesn't end there. She also brought me cupcakes from Little Cupcake Bakeshop, a place I haven't tried before.

The two cupcakes that flew all the way across the United States to me were Chocolate Cloud and Blue Velvet. Chocolate Cloud is a chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting. The only way to describe this cupcake is dreamy. The cake was so moist and the frosting was so creamy, but it was light tasting for a chocolate cupcake. Blue Velvet is a buttermilk and blueberry cupcake with marscarpone cream cheese icing. My first thought was that this was just going to be a blue-colored red velvet cupcake, but I was so wrong. It is a mix of between a red velvet and blueberry cupcake. It was so unexpected, yet so delightful. The flavors blended so well. I loved it!

I LOVED these cupcakes from Little Cupcake Bakeshop! The cupcakes were presented well and they were the perfect size for eating in one sitting (which I did). The cupcakes sell for $3.50-$3.75, a price I would definitely pay for these delicious cupcakes again. I can't wait to visit Little Cupcake Bakeshop the next time I'm in New York City!

Little Cupcake Bakeshop

30 Prince Street

New York, NY 10012

www.littlecupcakebakeshop.com

Facebook: Little Cupcake Bakeshop

Twitter: @LittleCupcakeny

Sweet & Saucy Shop Moves its Long Beach Location

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More Sweet & Saucy Shop news! Melody has announced that the Long Beach location is moving to...Long Beach. Yes, you heard me right. Sweet & Saucy Shop is moving to a permanent location in Bixby Knolls. Bigger shop, more parking spots, and decorating classes! I love seeing success for one of my favorite cupcake shops ever. Good luck to them!

P.S. The Newport Coast location is staying right where it is. Yay!

Return of Sweet Revenge

Recently a friend from New York came to visit California and stayed at my house. She knows of my love of cupcakes and surprised me with my favorite flavors from my favorite cupcake shop in New York, Sweet Revenge. 

I reviewed Sweet Revenge cupcakes 2-1/2 years ago when my husband brought them back for me from New York City. They turned out to be some of the best cupcakes I had ever tasted. Jocelyn was so sweet to research my favorite flavors to bring to me. I couldn't have been happier to see Pure, Sweet Revenge, a the flavor of the day - Almond. They were just as delicious as I remembered. Jocelyn is always welcome to stay at my house...as long as she brings me cupcakes!

Everybody Wins on Valentine's Day!

Yesterday was the 10th Valentine's Day my husband and I celebrated together. Wow we are getting old!

My husband is the best husband and dad to Desmond I could ever ask for. He never fails to make me feel like I'm #1 in his life. Case in point: Sweet and Saucy Shop cupcakes. I might have given him a few subtle hints and it worked. He got home from work on Valentine's Day with a delicious box of cupcakes from Sweet and Saucy Shop. He even researched my favorite flavor and got me two of them (Candy Bar, in case you were wondering). What more could a girl want?!

Valentine's Sweets from Sweet & Saucy Shop

Every year near Valentine's Day I write a post pretty much telling my husband what to buy me for the holiday. He doesn't need to buy me any expensive gifts. All I want are cupcakes and sweets!!

If you live near Orange County, you're in luck! Sweet and Saucy Shop has some delicious options for Valentine's gifts this year. Men: take note. Women: pass this along to your hubbies.

Valentine's cupcakes, macarons, sugar cookies, cake lollipops, brownies, heart-shaped pies, and chocolate-dipped rice krispy treats. Skyler, please get me all of the above!

Sweet and Saucy Shop has locations in Long Beach and Newport Beach. I hope your Valentine's Day is as sweet as I wish mine will be <3 p="">

Valentine's Day Lineup at The Cake Mamas

The Cake Mamas has some special flavors for the special holiday that's coming up next week. But don't worry, if you can't get there before Valentine's Day, these flavors will be available until 3/2/13.

White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake - White chocolate cupcakes, filled with fresh raspberry preserves, topped with raspberry cream cheese frosting, edged in white chocolate curls

Dark Chocolate Raspberry - Chocolate cupcake filled with fresh raspberry preservces, topped with chocolate ganache frosting and a fresh raspberry

X-Rated - X-rated passion fruit vodka cupcake, filled with mango guava filling, topped with X-rated buttercream

Chocolate Port Wine - Chocolate cupcake filled with port wine ganache, topped with port wine swiss meringue frosting

Chocolate Turtle - Milk chocoalte cupcake filled with gooey nutty caramel, topped with caramel buttercream, drizzled with caramel, chocolate, and pecans.

Chocolate Dipped Strawberry - Strawberry cupcake, topped with strawberry buttercream, topped with a chocolate dipped strawberry

Pink Champagne - Pink champagne cupcake, frosted with pink champagne buttercream

Spumoni Cupcakes from Cupcake Project

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One of my favorite childhood activities was when my parents would take us to dinner at The Spaghetti Factory. Dinner always ended with a scoop of spumoni ice cream in a cold metal dish. I had no idea what spumoni was at the time, but I remember thinking it was such a unique flavor.

Cupcake Project recently posted a recipe for Spumoni Cupcakes and the memories instantly came flooding back. Here's what she does to imitate this well-known Italian dessert.

"My spumoni cupcakes begin with pistachio cake made with pistachio oil and loaded with finely chopped nuts, filled with cherry jam, frosted with chocolate cream cheese frosting, and topped with chopped pistachios and a maraschino cherry."

You can find the recipe here.

Review: Big Man Bakes

I wasn't planning on a visit to Big Man Bakes, but when you're walking down the street and it's suddenly in front of you, you HAVE to make a detour.

Even though this was my first visit to Big Man Bakes in LA, this wasn't my first time tasting their cupcakes. I met Chip, the owner, at the LA Cupcake Challenge three years ago. (Click here to see a photo of the "big man" holding a mini cupcake.) I vividly remember the moistness of the red velvet cupcake, which won for Best Traditional.

On this day we were with some friends and their two adorable boys. I couldn't help posting this photo of them. 

Like I mentioned before, we hadn't planned on stopping by so my stomach was already full, but I did happen to find room for two XL ($3.25 each) and three mini ($1 each) cupcakes.

I tried getting a variety of flavors: Oreo, Red Velvet, Pumpkin Spice, Double Chocolate, and Carrot Cake. Big Man Bakes cupcakes certainly live up to their motto: fresh, moist, fantastic cupcakes. The surprising favorite was Carrot Cake. I correctly remembered how wonderful their cream cheese frosting is. The Double Chocolate was also so delicious, as the frosting was made with Ghirardelli chocolate. I enjoyed them all and would definitely eat them again. The cake was just so moist!

The boys loved their cupcakes too. It always makes me happy to introduce people to quality cupcakes. It feels like I'm doing my job right.

After a day of French-dipped sandwiches, mochi, and macarons, these cupcakes certainly topped it off perfectly. And it the cherry on top was seeing Chip at the store too. Big Man Bakes is on my list of favorite LA cupcakes.

Big Man Bakes

413 S. Main St.

Los Angeles, CA 90013

www.bigmanbakes.com

Facebook: Big Man Bakes

Twitter: @bigmanbakes

Nothing Say Valentine's Like a Red Velvet Cupcake

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There's no questioning that Red Velvet is the perfect cupcake for Valentine's Day. Two reasons make it that day: the chocolate flavor and the deep red color. (P.S. If a red velvet cupcake is a light or bright red color, it's not a real red velvet.)

You never need an excuse to make or eat cupcakes, but Valentine's Day works as my excuse. Your Cup of Cake posted two red velvet cupcake recipes. One is from scratch and one is for time-crunched people (from a box). 

So get out your mixer and red cupcake wrappers because it's time to love some cupcakes.

Are You Artistically Talented in the Baking World?

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I love to bake. I especially love to bake new things. And most of the time the end results are amazing! And when I say amazing, I mean they taste amazing. Looks, on the other hand?...not so much.

For some reason I just can't create that professional look. Probably because I'm nowhere near a professional. But why is it so hard for me to just frost a cupcake nicely?

I picked this photo because in theory these cupcakes would be a great presentation at any party. But I know without a doubt that mine would not look anything like this. Three colors of perfectly piped frosting? Forget about it!

Do your baking creations look as good as they taste?