Sweet "Buttery" Goodness

There are many, many things to love about summer vacation.  I could have an entire post dedicated to things I love about the months of summer when I don't have to grade endless amounts of papers.  However, one of the highlights of my summer (aside from my fabulous European adventure) has been spending time with my fabulous friends.  I love the luxury of being able to visit them during the week, lunch, shop, take walks, etc.  It is very fulfilling and wonderful, and reminds me of how blessed I am!

Last week, my dear friend, Monica, and I went to Santa Cruz.  Monica studied and lived in Santa Cruz and so is very familiar with the area.  We did many fun things, including a hike, a lunch, shopping, ice cream and lots of chatting.  But of course, this blog is devoted to the one, the only, the best dessert in the world for any season, any time of day: the cupcake.

Monica suggested we go to The Buttery for lunch.  It was the place where she and her husband, Daniel, had their wedding cake made and she said it was great for lunch.  When I opened the door, I knew I was in love.  Yummy pasteries and homemade bread lined the entrance.  Turn the corner to find chalkboards filled with mouth watering descriptions of fresh, organic sandwiches.  We chose our lunch and then headed back to the dessert counter.  We selected the "Favorite Chocolate" and "Carrot" cupcakes.  We were ready to dig in.

Photo Credit: Crazy biking lady outside "The Buttery"

Photo Credit: Monica Schuet

Favorite Chocolate Cake

Photo Credit: Monica Schuet

This cake was beautiful to look at.  It was chocolate cake, topped with a thin layer of ganache, whipped cream frosting, and a strawberry.  I am usually not a fan of ganache (it's a bit too rich for me), but it looked like a pretty thin layer.  This was a great chocolate cupcake!  Very moist, flavorful, and the whipped cream frosting was just right.  Because the frosting and the cake were pretty light and fluffy, the ganache wasn't overwhelming, and was actually a nice textural element to the cupcake because it was a bit crunchy.

For presentation, I would probably give this cupcake a:

Both of us agreed that for taste, this cupcake got a:

Carrot Cake

Photo Credit: Monica Schuet

This was the type of cake that Monica and Daniel had for their beautiful wedding.  I enjoy a good carrot cake.  This one had shreds of coconut in there that made it a bit crumbly (that is Monica's educated guess as to why it was falling apart!)  It was very delicious, but pretty hard to manage.  As you can see, the cupcake was HUGE!!!  I liked the nuts on the outer rim, and the cream cheese frosting was very light and not too cream cheesy (you can OD on that stuff, you know).


For presentation, I would give this cupcake a:


For taste, this cupcake would get a 4, but because it was so out of control and kind of irritating, it gets a 3.5 ( don't have 1/2 cupcake images!)


Definitely worth a repeat visit, especailly with such wonderful company!  My next cupake adventure will be taking me to L.A. with one of my fabulous and newly engaged besties, Brittney.  Check back next week!