Union(s)...

Yesterday we had the honor of being involved (with cakes & cupcakes) with 2 weddings and an anniversary celebration.  The best part was that I got to share the work load with my own husband!  

The 2 new brides (the 2 newlywed couples had a joint reception!) selected quite an array of flavors.  They spoiled their guests with 5 cupcakes flavors (berries & cream, mexican cocoa, un-red velvet, peanut butter & chocolate blackberry syrah) and 3 cake flavors (grapefruit chardonny, creme brulee & strawberries and cream).  

Congratulations and God's many blessings on your marriages, Katie & Shane, Alison & Justin and Donna & Patrick!!!!

kyle's pick & doodle time

My nephews are in town this week and when I asked them what their favorite dessert is Kyle said, "spumoni ice-cream." So we have spumoni cupcakes at Enjoy this week! Here's a snapshot...

Chocolate cake, filled with a fluffy vanilla mascarpone mousse and cherry puree, topped with chocolate & fresh cherry frostings and chopped pistachios

& here's Kyle reading "Walter the Farting Dog" to Opal

"Doodle Time"...Earlier in the week I asked on  if anyone had any flavor suggestions & I received some awesome ideas…snickerdoodle being one of them! So I put a little twist on it (since I am obsessed with chocolate) & made chocolate snickerdoodle one of this week’s flavors…keep the requests coming!

Chocolate cake, filled with cinnamon chocolate pudding, topped with cinnamon sugar butter-cream, house-made snickerdoodle cookies and chocolate!

I found a great snickerdoodle recipe online (and now can't find the source, but loved that it was posted by a girl who's grandmother cut the recipe out of a newspaper decades ago). The cookies came out soft in the middle and crisp outside - perfect!

Soft Snickerdoodle Cookies

*Ingredients*

1 cup butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 large eggs

2 3/4 cups flour

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons sugar

3 teaspoons cinnamon

*Directions*

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Mix butter, 1 1/2 cups sugar and eggs thoroughly in a large bowl.

Combine flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl.

Blend dry ingredients into butter mixture.

Chill dough, and chill an ungreased cookie sheet for about 10-15 minutes in the fridge.

Meanwhile, mix 3 tablespoons sugar, and 3 teaspoons cinnamon in a small bowl.

Scoop 1 inch globs of dough into the sugar/ cinnamon mixture.

Coat by gently rolling balls of dough in the sugar mixture.

Place on chilled ungreased cookie sheet, and bake 10 minutes.

Remove from pan immediately.

it's a tie...

The 2 most popular flavors this week (with the exception of our big mac of cupcakes, the chocolate blackberry syrah) were the chocolate salted caramel

(decadent chocolate cake, filled with house-made lightly salted vanilla bean caramel, dark chocolate glaze, more gooey caramel and a sprinkling of sea salt)

AND the strawberry peach chardonnay

(chardonnay cake, soaked with fresh strawberry puree, with a peaches & cream filling, topped with peach frosting and agave nectar soaked strawberries)

Both flavors will be back!  

turn the radio on ...

Keith Saarloos & Cupcake man, Kevin Vander Vliet, were interviewed on "Grape Encounters (of the wine kind). It's a fun listen!

Click Here to Listen!

coming soon to a cupcakery near you....

Strawberry, Peach Chardonnay Cupcake

Today my daughter and I traveled a whole 2 miles to get these amazing peaches (Buttonwood Farms) and berries (Ruby Farms) for this weeks' cupcakes!  Last week the raspberry, nectarine chardonnay was a huge hit - I think because it was a refreshing choice in this sweltering hot weather!  So this week come by and try the strawberry, peach chardonnay (the luscious blackberries are for the signature chocolate blackberry syrah!)

my new favorite...

Most of our customers ask, "what's your favorite?" and the question always stumps me because each week we strive to have such a variety of flavors, so it's a challenge to decide which one I like best.  However, this week it took me half a bite to claim the rocky road as my "fav"! The Rocky Road has a chocolate cake, filled with gooey fudge, topped with dark chocolate marshmallow frosting, big chunks of walnuts, oozing marshmallow and chocolate sauce.

But every person has such a different palate that you never know what will be your favorite.  The other new flavors of the week are ~

Coconut Key Lime ~ vanilla cake, filled with a tart key lime pudding, topped with coconut milk frosting, shaved coconut and sugared lime zest

Chocolate Cream ~ Chocolate cake, filled with a fluffy sweet cream concoction, topped with chocolate glaze and vanilla frosting (our version of a gourmet Hostess)

"Alan's Pick", Orange Blossom Honey Cheesecake ~  We participated in the Gainey Farmer's Market again on Friday and in addition to using locally grown organic produce for the fruit flavored cupcakes, I also wanted to incorporate a local honey purveyor, San Marcos Farms.  This cupcake has a vanilla bean cake, baked with orange blossom honey chessecake in the middle, topped with cream cheese frosting and a honey, caramel glaze (inspired from a gourmet doughnut recipe)...the best part is that Alan approves.

Our 5th new flavor is a Nectarine, Raspberry, Chardonnay (sorry no pic).   A Chardonnay cake, drenched with fresh raspberry puree, filled with pastry cream and chopped nectarines, topped with a sweet nectarine frosting and a raspberry.

"we live in a beautiful world"

This morning, my sweet husband roused me out of bed to start an adventure (he gets antsy on our days off, while I just want to savor my time sleeping)!  We started our day with coffee from a local coffee shop, where I heard the Coldplay song blasting, "We Live in a Beautiful World"...I couldn't help but hum along as I savored my morning addiction (triple latte).  Then, as we drove onward we had to stop the car to record this...

and I couldn't help but think, "we live in a beautiful world".  

 Then I got to lounge and play in the water at the aquatic center with my little girl...I don't think it gets any better!

strawberry lemonade & more

We recently took a very short trip to Maui to visit my family and while browsing in one of my favorite boutiques, Nuage Bleu, in Paia, I enhaled the most heavenly, pure scents ever! 100% Pure  shower gels & lotions smell so delicous, you'll want to eat them!  The beautiful color and intoxicating scent of the stawberry lemonade shower gel instantly made me want to make a stawberry lemonade cupcake - so we did! 

A vanilla bean cake, filled with fresh, tart lemon curd, topped with strawberry frosting and strawberry puree. 

We also featured 2 other new flavors!

Best of Both Worlds *Chocolate & Vanilla*.  This has been on our menu for a while, but we've never had it in the shop before.  I love the frosting application - it takes me back to my "fro-yo" obsession as a teenager in the 90's (I am so excited the craze is back and trendy)!  It's a chocolate cake, filled with vanilla bean pastry cream, topped with vanilla bean and dark chocolate frosting.

Maple Cinnamon French Toast!  Funny story - this cupcake evolved and made it's apperance in the shop on Friday becuase we rejected the Blueberry Maple Pancake (the frosting color looked like death - those who know me well, know my obsession with color - and it overall was too sweet.  Thanks to our C.E.T. Kevin for saving the day with the idea for the flavor revision)!  Vanilla cake, filled with maple pastry cream, topped with cinnamon sweet cream frosting & cinnamon sugar dusting.