succulent cupcakes???

After the first batch of these were completed on Thurs, I immediately thought they looked like little succulents!

When we brainstorm & dream up the weekly flavors, one of the first questions we ask is, "what fruits are fresh & in season?."  The answer this week, "Kiwi!" and the citrus kiwi Chardonnay cupcake was born.  Chardonnay cake, filled with kiwi, meyer lemon and lime curd, topped with citrus frosting, a puddle of fresh kiwi and meyer lemon zest.

working on something fun...

We'll share more details soon, but here's an inspiration board I put together to keep us on track.

fishs eddy cake stand, antropologie light, house of turquoise kitchen, trailer photo by Jose Villa, dresser before & after from design sponge

no, it's not a chicken flavored cupcake...

that's in response to a customer questioning if there was chicken in the drumstick cupcake.  We've tried some wacky flavor combos, but haven't gotten that crazy yet!

Drumstick...ice cream cone crust under a vanilla cake, filled with chocolate fudge, topped with vanilla bean frosting, chocolate and nuts.

And, no that's not pepper in the frosting below...it's espresso!

Caramel Mocha...chocolate cake, filled with house-made caramel, topped with espresso frosting & more caramel.

We also featured a new Cherry Apple Chardonnay cupcake this week (sorry no photo)...chardonnay cake, filled with cherry apple curd, topped with apple frosting & a cherry!

Check back with us tomorrow for a non-cupcake post!

this week we're pure, simple & totally nuts!

pure & simple

Vanilla Velvet...vanilla bean cake, filled with vanilla mascarpone mousse, topped with vanilla sweet cream frosting

Fudgy Chocolate Mousse...chocolate cake, filled with chocolate mousse, topped with chocolate frosting & fudge sauce

Totally Nuts...

Black & White Dipped Peanut Butter...chocolate cake, filled with vanilla pastry cream, topped with whipped peanut butter frosting, then dipped in chocolate and rimmed with peanut butter.  After dipping this cupcake, Kevin feared it looked too much like the dipped cookie dough cupcake so he added a rim of natural, gooey peanut butter = GENIUS!

Salted Honey Nut...vanilla cake, filled with honey caramel and chopped nuts, topped with vanilla frosting, more nuts and a pinch of kosher salt.

a little dippy...

Last week we had so much fun dipping the cookie dough cupcake that we tried 2 more dipped cupcake flavors.

Chocolate cake, filled with vanilla bean pastry cream, topped with maple frosting and then dipped in maple glaze.

Chocolate Dipped Haystack...chocolate cake, filled with coconut pastry cream (quite possibly my new favorite food - it's so creamy and yummy!), topped with chocolate frosting & then dipped in chocolate sauce.

so many options...

It's been about 9 months since we opened, inside the Saarloos & Sons tasting lounge, and over the course of those 9 months we've created over 130 cupcake flavors...so many options!  And in 2010, we won't stop surprising you.

This little goodie has received the most customer reaction out of any other flavor.

I know, it looks like a science experiment, or maybe an interpretation of a wild Besty Johnson dress!  It's not our normal style, but it was a fun way to celebrate New Years with a bang (or pop!). Bubbly Strawberry Champagne...champagne cake, filled with strawberry curd, topped with strawberry frosting and a mound of POP ROCKS!

We concluded '09 and brought in the New Year with my all time favorite cupcake...

I typically just eat one of each new cupcake flavor each week, but this week i can't stop eating the Chocolate Dipped Cookie Dough (ask Kevin, I keep "dropping" them so that I have no choice but to just eat 'em).  Chocolate cake, filled with whipped chocolate chunk cookie dough, topped with vanilla bean frosting and chocolate sauce.

And then, who doesn't like banana & peanut butter (except for you, Tyler E.)?

Vanilla bean cake, with pureed banana, filled with house-made caramel, topped with fluffy peanut butter frosting & more caramel.

love...

I told Meg Fish, "I would love to have a session with you because I love my daughter beyond words and I know from your photos that you can somehow capture that love through your lens."  I was blessed to have a session with her and, in her graceful way, she indeed captured my love for Opal.

To see more of her work, check out megfishcouture.com

new flavors galore...

I typically like to blog about the new flavors we create each week because it helps me to document & keep track of the craziness.  However the last couple weeks have been so busy, I've skipped this step - BUT that doesn't mean we didn't offer new tastes.  Since the beginning of the month our "newbies" have been, chocolate ginger peanut butter (inspired after watching a reality cooking show challenge), eggnog with house-made cinnamon caramel on top, mimosa, german chocolate, vanilla caramel latte and chocolate malt milkshake.  This week come on by and try some other new Enjoy creations.  First up = Opal's new favorite:

Chocolate Pumpkin Pie...Chocolate cake with whipped up home-made pumpkin pie inside (crust & all!), topped with fresh pumpkin frosting and a little accent of dark chocolate.

Raspberry Chardonnay...Chardonnay cake, filled with organic raspberry preserves mixed with pastry cream, topped with fresh raspberry frosting.  We've done different varieties of raspberry chardonnay, but I think this one tops it's predecessors.  There is so much fresh raspberry flavor in this cupcake and the chardonnay cake is a great balance.

Vanilla Almond...Vanilla bean, almond meal cake, filled with almond pastry cream, topped with a vanilla almond frosting and slivered almonds.  I am not a fan of using extracts, but found a very pure organic almond extract so I caved and used it in the filling & frosting.

This week's line-up also includes a caramel creme brulee.  Our 2 most popular vanilla based cupcakes are the creme brulee & sugar daddy so this cupcakes is a marriage of the 2.  Please let us know what you think!