Good Golly, Miss Molly!

I have officially celebrated living three decades on earth.  That's right - I'm thirty.  Thirty sounds so damned old when you're younger.  But when you actually get here - when you actually wake up one morning and you're magically the dreaded "30"... it's not so bad.  Not so different than when you're 29 - well, maybe just a little.  There's definitely something weird about saying "I'm 30."  The connotations of that word (for me) were: responsible, old, settled, successful, figured stuff out, life is over.  Of course those were all BEFORE October 2, the day I entered my 30's.  Now, the number connotes: contentment, achievement, happiness, youth, and...really good cupcakes.  

In celebration of my big birthday, my family and I took a trip to Chicago.  Many people asked us "Hmmm, why Chicago?"  It seems like such a random place to go on a trip - at least to those who have never been.  My husbo and I have been wanting to go to Chicago for a couple of years.  We have heard nothing but positive things about the place, and wanted to see what all the chatter was about!  We had a GREAT time - so much to do, such nice people, and such a walkable city.   

Of course, before we went, in addition to scouting out the sights to visit, I wanted to find a cupcakery.  This cupcakery, my friends, was the find of the century.  When I Googled "Cupcakes in Chicago", Molly's was the first to pop up.  Once I read a bit about them, I was in love, and knew I would be visiting.  Get this:

Miss Molly: Molly was my third-grade teacher. Whenever one of us had a birthday, she would bake us cupcakes. I still remember how good they were. She had her own special recipe for chocolate and vanilla. Just about everyone who tries them thinks they're the best cupcakes ever.
	Our Mission: In honor of Molly and as a way to help our children, a portion of our profits is donated directly to schools in our community. Every time you eat a cupcake or sip a latte, you help our kids. So eat up!

  

Oh my gawd.  How SWEET is this?  What a story.  I loved it.  I didn't, actually, research any more.  I just read that, on their home page, and I knew I had to go there.  I didn't know about the amazing flavors that would await me once I opened that door!

The ambiance of Molly's is kitchy, crazy and funky, which I didn't expect having read that the guy named it after his third grade teacher.  Not to mention how demure and sweet the front entrance is.  However, we enter and they are blasting Pit Bull; the cupcake dealers are tatted out to the nines.  They have swing seats at a bar.  The walls are stacked, floor to ceiling, with take out boxes.  Tucked into a few nooks and crannies are stacks of old school board games.  Think Connect 4.  Marbles.  Clue.  There are framed pieces of childhood memorabilia littering the walls.  It is eclectic and very cool.  

Their sign was on a chalk board - how very third grade.  Loved it.  (this is a crappy picture, but you get the idea!)

Then, I see it.  The amazing collection of cupcakes awaiting my taste buds.  How could I choose just one?  Just two?  Just three?  I had to have five.  That's right.  Five.  Didn't you read my earlier paragraph?  Chicago is a walkable city.  I EARNED those cupcakes.  

I loved their case - each cupcake had a little graphic explaining what was inside.  They were really fun to look at, and had there not been a huge line behind me, I would have cobbed a squat and sat there reading all afternoon.  They had some classics (red velvet) but then some crazy ones I have never heard of, nor will ever hear of, again (Ron Bennington).




I also really liked their funky decorations >>.
I really appreciated the reminder to not frolic with your cupcake.  People are so careless these days.


They had an option where you could choose your base cake, and your frosting.  It was a "make your own" type of deal.  But, I went with what the experts had already put together for me.  Five combinations of sweet amazing loveliness.  Washed down with a bottle of milk.

Starring (from L to R): Ron Bennington, Red Velvet, Spice World, Khalua, Cookie Monster

 Let's start with good ole' Ron.  OMG, Ron.  You are amazing.  With your crunched up Butterfinger top, moist cake and your peanut butter filling.  I love you.  We shall meet again.

Next, the Red Velvet.  Voted the best in Chicago, so I had pretty high expectations.  Expectations = exceeded.  Moist cake - rich creamy frosting.  Pure cream cheese - not too much sugar.  A bit bright, but overall amazing.  Next.

Cookie Monster.  Like its namesake, this baby is packed with cookie yumminess.  Cookie dough center, and a cookie on the top.  IMH, not as delish as this one, but I still ate every crumb, so overall, pretty legit!










 The Khalua came next - a beautiful little cupcake, dipped in ganache, topped with chocolate shavings. Again, super moist and just enough Khalua to make you want a mud slide.










And finally, Spice World.  Not my favorite - similar to a carrot cake, filled with autumnal spices (nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon).  Perhaps it was because the previous FOUR had been so different and delish, but this one was kind of a let down.

A+ for Chi town, and A+ for Molly's.  I would give this place.  Their flavors were amazing, cupcakes were moist and perfect, ambiance was fun and funky.  Minus a cupcake for the clutter and Spice Cake, but still, a MUST if you are within 3,000 miles of Chicago.  

Mountain [Sugar] High

I am from a sleepy little mountain town called Truckee.  It's one of the best places on earth, if you ask me.  I moved there when I was in the first grade, and lived a full and wonderful life there until I graduated in 2000 - go Wolverines!  I try to make it back often to visit my dad and his wife, who still live there.  The fresh mountain air, cool nights and clear sky filled with stars never gets old.  All of these elements bring me back to the adventures I used to have with friends - late nights at the lake, driving around town, snow days and summers filled with all the goodness Truckee had to offer.  There really is no place like home - that good witch really knew what she was talking about.

So imagine what would make this place even better than it already is.  That's right, folks; a cupcakery.  Freshly opened for business in my hometown, right in the heart of downtown.  

Growing up, I didn't spend a lot of time in downtown Truckee.  It is filled with shops and restaurants that are usually vacated by "the locals" on weekends to make way for those pesky Bay Area folk.  However, on Sundays, after church, my dad and I would go to Coffee &, one of the local restaurants, where I would try my darndest to finish a plate of french toast all by myself.  We would race from the car to the coffee cup that was inset in the sidewalk - I usually "won" - and then we would wander on to the counter and catch up on the funnies and world news, enjoying diner fare and chatting with the waitresses.  It wasn't until I was older, making trips back from college, that I started to hang out down there more, realizing how Truckee's downtown captures the quaintness and small town feeling in a short packed block.  And so, it is the perfect spot for a sweet stop at Cake Tahoe.

Their spot is very cool - a huge open space to let in all that fresh mountain air.  They open onto a patio right along Donner Pass Road - a perfect spot to sit, eat a cupcake and watch the throngs of people passing by which is just what we did, after enjoying a night at Truckee Thursdays.  The inside reads like a typical mountain shop.  It fits in well with the vibe of Truckee and the neighborhood.  Their location and set up easily earn: 

We ordered a few types - we wanted to be thorough in our research.  We tried the red velvet, carrot (well, actually my DAD had the carrot and didn't share!) and chocolate.

The decoration was pretty simple - not anything too memorable, but not the lamest thing ever.

All the cakes were moist, except for the elusive red velvet.  That is a hard one to get just right, and CT didn't quite nail it in my opinion.  The other cakes were yummy, but not necessarily something I would use calories on again!  You have to be selective, you know.  I can't really speak for the carrot, because my dad didn't let us try any.  But there were definitely no crumbs left behind, so I'll let you be the judge!  For the overall taste, I'd say:

Cupcakes from L.A. L.A. Land!

I headed down to L.A. a few weekends ago to hang with a dear friend, Birdy, who is getting hitched in the summer of 2012!!  After a "small" incident at the airport (I forgot my ENTIRE wallet - ID, CC, everything...) it was a great weekend.  Especially since Birdy had scouted a few cupcakery options for us.  We ended up deciding on Vanilla Bake Shop, which is in a cute little outdoor mall where, I believe, a scene was filmed between Ryan Gosling and Steve Carrell for "Crazy Stupid Love."







The location wasn't my favorite, though the mall was great.  It just felt a bit too commercial - Brookstone, The Gap and then this cupcakery.  Again, going back to my dream shop, I envision a stand alone Victorian or Craftsman with a porch - and again, somewhere to sit DOWN and enjoy!  Enough with these fast bake cupcakeries!  Bake Shop was a walk up counter, very similar to Sprinkles or Kara's.  I loved the decor, the wall paper, the beautiful cakes lining the walls, and especially, the wide variety of cupcakes we could choose from!  Overall, I would give the decor:

  
Lucky for me (and for you), I had a strong team of samplers that included Birdy, her fiance Sasha, her mom Kim, her sister Courtney, Emily and of course, me!  More samplers = ..... you got it!  More cupcakes!  Here are the flavors we decided on....

1.  Blackberry Passion Fruit
2.  Old Fashioned
3.  Vanilla Bean
4.  Chocolate Vanilla Bean
5.  Gingerbread Spice
6.  Peppermint Chocolate
7.  Black and White
8. Toasted Coconut
9.  Fleur de Sel
10. Mint Cookie
11. Southern Red Velvet
12. Bittersweet Dark Chocolate

This is what we started with!  (All minis!)

I should say that we got what they call "Cupcake Babies" - AKA, mini cupcakes.  Obviously, too many to go through one by one!  I have my top recommendation, and one that you should definitely just avoid ordering at all costs!

Try 'Em -

Blackberry Passion Fruit - OMG, so good!  Maybe it was all of the fresh fruit, or just the combination of flavors, but this was a definite WINNER!!!

Leave 'Em -

Peppermint Chocolate - YIKES!  How many ways can you use Peppermint Extract?  Uh, too freaking many, as was demonstrated by this cupcake.  It was fire-through-your-nose pepperminty and not pleasant!

The decorations were okay, but I wasn't overly impressed.  I could have used some lighter duty frosting - it was a bit heavy for my taste.

Given that I don't live in LA, I probably wouldn't make the effort to go to this place again.  There are so many lovely places to try, and I really only thoroughly enjoyed that one.  Oh well, better to have loved and lost...

We divided each mini into six pieces - so we demolished 'em...

Overall, it was okay.  Not great, not terrible.  I know there are better spots, though if you are at this mall already, maybe seeing a movie (like we were), certainly stop on by and see if you can get the blackberry passion fruit!

You'll be "Crush[ed]cakes" if you don't stop here! SB Cupcake Crawl - Stop 2

I am a big fan of Cupcake Wars on The Food Network.  It's fun to see people make cupcakes out of random ingredients (like barley) and see the frenzy in the kitchen.  I also like to try out the cupcakeries featured, whenever possible.

Crushcakes, in Santa Barbara, is one such place.  They were actually on "Wars" twice.  When I saw they were from Santa Barbara, I knew I wanted to try it out.  We actually went to Crushcakes a few years ago, but I wanted to "officially" try it - in the name of the blog, of course.  It has a fun and kind of funky vibe, and offers lots of other good eats in addition to cupcakes (but, why waste tummy space?)  

 

                             

                                     Love the outside of this - look at the beautiful tile - so SB!

Again, I had my accomplice, Emily, with me to help me decide on flavors.  We ended up deciding on 

I love the displays and the cupcake shaped signs.  I would definitely have that in my bakery.  Maybe with some glitter.  :)

Mini Red Velvet

We knew that we were going to be doing a lot of eating this day, so where there was a mini available, we took it!

I like the whipped and light frosting, and the dainty red sprinkles on the top.  It is also, as you can see, a natural 'red' as red velvets go.  It tasted like a legit red velvet.  Well done.

Gingerbread

Whenever possible, I want to taste seasonal specialties.  Right around now, gingerbread, pumpkin and other fall flavors are available and you'd be a fool not to take advantage.  Crushcakes had a gingerbread cupcake available, and we were all about it.  We held it, and squeezed it - hmmm, feels a bit hard.  We'll still give it a try.  We had complete faith in this cupcake.  That is, until we tried it.  It was pretty much hard as rock.  No gracias.  We got one bite deep and then swam right back to shore.  Let's not waste our calories on cardboard!

On the outside, though, it's nice to look at.  :)

Strawberry Lemonade

What a refreshing summery treat - in November!  I'll take it any time.  This was a sweet and tart combination that I would get over and over.  I loved the 1/2 and 1/2 frosting giving you a hint at what's inside.  I am going to have to figure out a recipe for this one!

Overall, I will be going back to Crushcakes just as sure as I will be going back to Santa Barbara.  It's fun, kind of funky and welcoming just like SB!

China Town Cupcakes!

So, I've been off the blog for a while, sadly, but it's for a good reason!  The Mr. and I are upgrading our digs, and we have been living at my in-laws for a few weeks.  Things have been crazy and I haven't been able to sample, or bake!  I'm going through withdrawals...However, my wonderful friend, Nick, often mentioned in one of my besties blogs that I frequently plug, was recently in China!  And wouldn't you know it, they have cupcakes.  And even better?  He's going to guest blog about his China Town cupcake experience.  Thanks, Nick!!

I recently have found myself in a new job at my company with the awesome perk of traveling! Even though I'v3e only been in this position for a few months, my travels have taken me to many new places all over the world, including China. I was in China for three weeks and upon my way home I had an 11 hour layover in Hong Kong (which is in China, but not really…it’s a long story). Being this my first time in Hong Kong I had to get out of the airport and explore this city that is so well known to the world, but new and exciting to me. After a delicious lunch I took some time to walk around and with perfect timing (call it fate) I stumbled upon SMOOCH.

This place had all sorts of desserts including homemade cupcakes. Being a friend of and self proclaimed researcher for Steph I felt it was my duty to partake in some of these delicious baked goods. Out of the collection of flavors they had I knew I had to try the Oreo and the Red Velvet!

Oreo

This cupcake pulled me in immediately. The dark color of the cake, the speckled creamy frosting, all topped with a bite size Oreo. The frosting was light and fluffy. It was sweet with a hint of tanginess. The cake was moist and firm. There was a rich cocoa flavor with a bit of nuttiness. Not so much straight chocolate, but that more natural flavor of the bean. I savored every delectable bite!

Flavor:  4/5

Decoration: 3/5

Red Velvet

I was so excited to try the Red Velvet. I’m a big fan of this flavor in general and had high hopes for what this cupcake would bring. This cupcake looked pleasing from the start. Not very red, but still a nicely colored cake. The frosting looked like an elegant ivory. I peeled back the paper and went in for what I hoped would be a flavor explosion. Now, gather around children for some words of advice:

                  “In life, we reach and hope to achieve great heights. It is inevitable though that we will stumble and fall. It may only be slight trip. Or, it can be a complete and utter disaster, tumbling down a large flight of stairs in a knotted ball of body parts, only to reach the bottom in terrible pain. It’s at that point that you realize everyone in the world saw it and the pain of the embarrassment feels worse than the fall.”

The only explosion there was the image of a tasty cupcake going bye-bye! The flavor was very plain (almost non-existent) with only the faintest wisp of cocoa. After the first bite the cake completely fell apart into a crumbly mess. I was fighting just to keep enough together for a good second bite (not that I would have missed much). The frosting, although creamy, lacked any sweetness and really just had more of a sour flavor (as in sour cream). I don’t know, maybe this is what red velvet translates to in Cantonese. IF so, I can do without that translation.

Flavor:  1/5

Decoration: 2/5

In the end, I can’t complain. Sitting on the water’s edge, staring over the harbor to the Kowloon Peninsula, eating baked treats, it’s a place most will never get to enjoy. I savored every bite, the good and the bad, and took in that serene moment of Hong Kong. Based on my limited view, I give Hong Kong’s cupcake scene a solid 3/5. Now, where was that sign for Peaking Duck?

Holy "Hotcakes!"

I went to visit my fabulous and newly engaged buddy, Brittney, in her LA pad.  Of course the activities for the weekend included girl time, good food, movies and CUPCAKES!  L.A is one of the hotspots of cupcakes - they are ubiquitous and that's something I love about the place!  Granted, some of them are more inviting looking than others...but isn't that always the case?

Brittney had sampled some cupcakes from Hotcakes Bakes at her work, and had great things to say.  Twist my arm...I'm on board. They were also the winner of Cupcake Wars on the Food Network (Similar to Sift - which I blogged about earlier).  I had higher hopes for Hotcakes, since my Sift experience was forgettable.  Hotcakes is a little tiny shop, packed with lots of flavor variety and two stools at a bar by the window.  There were two of us, so it worked perfectly.  Let it be said, though, that I am still in search of my dream cupcakery.  I will find it, or I will open it.

Birdy - ready to sample with me!

There are no words...

As you can see, there were so many flavors to choose from, and well, I just couldn't.  Choose that is.  So, we walked over to the counter with a baker's dozen.  That's right, folks.  Thirteen cupcakes.  Don't judge - it was for research.  ;)

The flavors we chose were:

1. Red Velvet
2. Lemon
3. English Toffee
4. Tres Leches (their award winning flavor)
5. Sprinkleicious 
6. Strawberry
7. Coconut
8. Cookies and Cream
9. Carrot Cake
10. Chocolate Mint
11. Snickerdoodle
12. Key Lime
13. Chocolate

Oh, and I should probably add (for my own sake) that these were MINI cupcakes, people.  (Not that I wouldn't have ordered 13 normal size cupcakes.)

I don't have the energy to write on all thirteen, and truth be told, we could only get through ten.  I had to leave Brittney the last three to sample with her fiance, Sasha.  The pictures didn't turn out too great once we left the sunny store front, and so I will choose my top two, and then one of Brittney's reviews. I will also briefly let you know which ones were relatively anti-climactic, and that you should avoid...

Lemon

Photo Credit: Brittney Smith

This is one of the ones that Britt and Sasha tried.  According to her:
"So good! I must admit that I'm partial to lemon cake, but I really enjoyed this one. There was a subtle, but completely present lemon flavor in both the cake and frosting. But the surprise that Sasha and I both loved was that inside the cake was a little dollop of lemon curd. So so yummy. The yellow frosting just looks cute to me too." - Brittney Smith of Britt by Britt

I personally liked the off center frosting.  It made it look like a little party hat - and I was so down to party with this cupcake.  Too bad I didn't get to sample it!  Next time.  Thanks, Birdy, for doing the hard work for me!










Chocolate Mint


I love mint chocolate ice cream from Baskin Robbins.  I mean, who doesn't? (if you don't, don't tell me).  So the idea that that yummy summertime flavor could possibly be captured in a cupcake?  Yes please!

I was a bit put off by the alien green of the frosting - I prefer things to look a little more pale than that, but I wasn't letting that stop me.  I also wasn't a fan of the whole chocolate chips on the top - a bit clunky for my taste.  Perhaps consider some chocolate shavings next time? A little more elegant.

We bit in, and were both a bit overwhelmed with the mint flavor!  It was pretty powerful - like lingering minty burn in the back of your throat and clear your sinuses while your in there, powerful.  But, if you're into that kind of thing, then by all means...

I don't think I would revisit this one, though.

Flavor:


Decoration:

Strawberry


I've said this before, but nothing really says summer like a strawberry cupcake.  This cupcake did not let me down.  It was moist, fluffy, a beautifully pale shade of pink, topped with light and airy whipped cream frosting.  A dream in a wrapper.  Seriously good.

And, similar to the lemon - don't you love the off kilter frosting topper?  This one's totally rocking it.  Love it.

Flavor:

Decoration:

Anti Climactic:

English Toffee.  The only thing toffee about this cupcake was the toffee crumbles on the top.  I would have been better off eating a Heath bar.

Sprinkleicious.  Basically Funfetti.  Tasted like the box.  Kind of a let down.

Overall, I would give Hotcakes a definitely worth a stop if you are in the area!