Cookies and Creamy Deliciousness!

Things have been super crazy at the Fujii house since Christmas!  Things are always busy around that time, as they are for all of us.  But now that I have finally had a chance to breath and reset, I am back in my baking groove, and with some new tools, I might add!

Check out the awesome mixing bowl Mr. Cupcake got me for Christmas!  (The bowl - we already had the mixer!)

My student, Emma, also treated me to a lifetime supply of cupcake liners!  (Okay, this will last me until summer...)  I love love LOVE all of the different colors and have to make sure I have a rainbow happening before I stick my goodies in the oven.

I don't have Oreo's often, but dang, they are GOOD!!!

I have been diving into the world of Pinterest lately - have you tried it?  It's very addictive.  There are wonderful ideas and recipes on there, and that is where I got the inspiration for this cupcake....the cookies and cream....Originally from Annie's Good Eats!




I have definitely made this before, with my wonderful mandros.....but I didn't document the experience properly, and I wanted to try out this new recipe.  They turned out pretty dang good!  I would definitely make these again.  AND, I think I have found the best recipe for cream cheese frosting yet.  Move over Martha!

If I remember, we actually screwed this batch up...but it's a cute picture!

Ingredients:

Cake
24 Oreo Halves (cream filling attached)
Really, you will use an ENTIRE bag of oreos for this recipe - especially if you eat a few in the baking process.  Like me!
2.25 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
8 tbsp. unsalted butter - room temperature
1 2/3 cup sugar
3 large egg whites - room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup milk

Frosting
20 Oreo Cookies, coarsely chopped
(I used a combination of the top halves left from the cake part, in addition to some whole cookies.  It's great to have the filling in the cupcake bites too!)
8 oz. cream cheese - room temperature
6 tbsp. unsalted butter - room temperature
1 tbsp. vanill extract
4 cups confectioners' sugar (really just do this to taste.  I used way less, but I like to taste the cream cheese)
2 tbsp. heavy cream (I'm pretty sure this is what made the frosting so wonderfully perfect)
Oreo Cookie crumbs
24 Oreo cookie halves (I wasn't kidding about needing the whole damned bag)

This made about 18 good sized cupcakes for me.

Love the rainbow of liners!  Thanks, Emma!!

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.  Get out your favorite colorful cupcake liners and line 'em up!  Put the oreo halves (with the cream filling) filling side up.  One in each liner.





In a medium bowl combine your dry ingredients (flour, powder and salt).  Stir so that it's all mixed evenly.

         

Featuring my new whisk!  Thanks, Santa!

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine your butter and sugar.  Beat until light and fluffy (which takes about 2-3 minutes).  Beat in the egg whites - one at a time!  Don't get hasty!  Then add your vanilla.

Scale back your speed to low and add 1/2 of the dry ingredients.  Mix until just incorporated - don't overdo it!  Add your milk until combined and then the rest of your dry ingredients.  Stir in those yummy chopped Oreos until they are evenly incorporated.  If, in your expert opinion, you need more Oreos - add more Oreos.   Don't over mix 'em.

Nom nom nom!

Divide batter evenly into each liner.  Bake for 20 minutes, rotating 1/2 way through.

For the frosting, combine the cream cheese and butter in an electric mixer (having more than one bowl REALLY comes in handy here -then you don't have to do dishes in between!)  Blend on medium'high until smooth.  Add vanilla and then sugar until smooth.  Then the heavy cream until incorporated.  Then jazz it up to medium high and whip for 4 minutes.  This frosting is perfection.  Put on your favorite piping tip and go to town!

Garnish with Oreo halves and crushed cookies.  Eat and be merry.

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!

"Enjoy" Life - Eat a Cupcake!: SB Cupcake Crawl, Final Stop!

I think in many ways, we saved the best for last.  On our way home, Emily suggested we stop at Enjoy Cupcakes - a place she had looked into 'enjoying' for my bachelorette party last year.  She said it looked really cool, and since we were in no rush to get home, we took a slight detour to Los Olivos.  As soon as we pulled onto the main street, we knew we had struck gold.

Los Olivos is such a quaint little town, sprinkled with historic buildings, kitchy shops with odds and ends, and great eateries.  We immediately started planning our trip for next year, which will certainly involve a stop there - we're sure to find a cute little B&B.  Yes please!  And then - we saw it.

There are no words to describe how amazing, cute, fun and creative this place is.  The Enjoy trailer was parked outside, as the actual cupcakes are sold inside a wine bar.  Two of my favorite things under one roof?  Sure.  I'm getting more ideas for my own bakery.  We went to take a peek at their retro trailer.  I wanted to crawl inside and move in.  How cute is THIS?

The cupcakes are served inside this equally adorable wine shop - love the building, the porch, the outdoor seating, everything.  So welcoming and comfy - yay for Emily's great looking out.  That's why she's one of my top researchers.

When we walked in, there was a teenytiny little counter, almost like a jewelry counter or something, lined with beautiful little mini cupcakes in an array of flavors.  It was fitting that they were displayed in a jewelry case because they looked like little jewels.  Wait until you see these babies.

The cool thing about Enjoy is that they have a lot of wine inspired flavors, and a lot of just really outrageously creative flavors overall.  Em and I chose 6, and they were delivered promptly to us in an egg carton!  What a great idea!  The mini cupcakes were a perfect fit, and I really liked the repurposing of the egg carton.  Brilliant!  I snapped this photo while Em was inside, adding to her copper pot collection at one of the local shops.

And this....is what was inside, ladies and gentlemen.

These were the flavors we ended up with:

OMG Out of This World Flavors

Chocolate Blackberry Syrah

There is something so inviting and decadent about fruit on a cupcake.  Drizzle booze over the fruit?  I'm sold.





Sweet Potato Marshmallow


Do I really need to write anything about this one?  It was very yummy.





Chocolate Cheesecake Swirl


Black and white - just to dress it up a bit, super yummy, nonetheless.






Toffee Vanilla Cake


Crunchy and creamy together - so sweet!






Oreo Chocolate Mousse



Moist chocolate cake with an oreo baked at the bottom!

Lemon Cake with Honey Filled Rasberry                                         This one wasn't my favorite, but I love how pretty it is!

They were all beautiful to look at, naturally decorated, and had a taste to match.  I will definitely be back!!  Much thanks to my loyal research assistant!  

Decorations: Simple, clean, elegant.  Just my style.  

Ambiance - It would have been so cool to walk inside that trailer!  But, since it wasn't really the cupcakery itself, but the wine bar, I would give it a: 

Overall - An amazing little stop.  Cute, kitchy and original.  Loved it.

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!

Crawlin' Through Santa Barbara - Cupcakin' Style!

For the past three years we embark on a Santa Barbara adventure with our wonderful friends, The Roses. The first year was for our engagement pictures, the next for a marathon, and this past year, for a half marathon (Emily and I left our crazy marathon pants behind us!)  Emily wrote about our wonderful tradition here - it's so true.  Traditions are such a great thing, especially ones that you create with your friends.

When the trip was still in its planning stage, I had the idea to embark on a Cupcake Crawl - something Em and I have been thinking about doing in San Francisco.  Sure, SB is a much smaller canvas, but there are still great eats to be eaten!  We plotted out 2 spots and planned much of our day around when we would stop in and enjoy our sweet treats!

On our first night, imagine our delight, when we stumbled upon the uber fun and super whimsical Whodidily Cupcakes!  We were shopping around in the beautiful Paseo Nuevo, an outdoor mall, when we turned the corner, and it appeared before us!




The website describes their cakes as "'Willy Wonkaish' with a dollop of Dr. Seuss."  Never has a more accurate description existed.  You walk in to a brightly colored space, with candy-laden tables, lollipops hanging from the ceiling, a "frost your own cupcake" station replete with a topping bar, and of course - a funky array of crazy flavors and eclectic decorations.  Em and I put our heads together to make the most important decision of the day: which flavors to try...


Dough Dough Bird

I like how the frosting looks like a cocked hat :)

OMG YUM.  Chocolate cake.  Cookie dough center.  Enough said.  I could have done without the bright blue frosting - I am kind of partial to more natural coloring, but whatever.  This was a yummy cupcake.  The cake itself was super moist, and when you got a bite of that cookie dough?  Heavenly....so good.  I would definitely get this one again.  I might even try to bake it myself!  I also appreciate the fun naming of all of the flavors.  It definitely fits in with the vibe of the place!

Rum a Dum Dum

Bright yellow frosting hints at the overly sweet taste...

Ok, not a huge fan of this one.  But it looked pretty and sounded cute!  Don't be fooled!  It was way too sweet for my taste, and kind of artificial tasting (obviously they aren't against it - please reference blue frosting in previous photo).  It was supposed to be like a pinapple upsidedown cake.  But, to me, it was a flop.  And of all of the flavors, this was the one that had the most left over at the end!

 Pumpkin


I am a huge fan of pumpkin anything.  Huge.  Big.  The cake is usually really moist, and it just tastes like fall to me.  Love it.  This cupcake was no exception.  Very moist, and the frosting was light as air, drizzled with caramel.  More please!

Overall, I really liked this place.  Certainly not what I would have for my own shop, but super fun and funky all the same.  They even had a space in the back for parties - if I was a kid, I would be all over that.  

Tastes: 

The Rum a Dum Dum is what kept this from being a five cupcaker for me.  

Decor 

So fun and crazy - you can't help 

Decorations: 

The bright colors kind of don't sit right with me (though it didn't stop me from eating them...)

Definitely worth a stop if you are in Santa Barbara, if for no other reason than to feel like you visited the castle of Wonka  Seuss for a day :)

Stay tuned for our second stop...at Crushcakes!