Cupcake Gourmet, NY

Cupcake Gourmet
46-I Gerard Street
Huntington, NY 11743

Cupcakes tried: german chocolate, funfetti and apple pie

Overall reaction: Gourmet my Butt!















While my husband and I were visiting friends in NY we stumbled upon a this cupcake shop in downtown Huntington. I had 3 other tasters beside myself, so thank you Kris, Kim and Steve for willingly volunteering!


















The German chocolate cupcake was not so good. The cake was super dry and the traditional coconut ooey gooey frosting was dried up too. Everyone knows that that is the best part about german chocolate cakes so this cupcake left us all disappointed.

Funfetti looked really fun but actually wasn't. The cake was dry and the frosting looked and tasted like play-do.

A great idea for a cupcake was the apple pie mini cupcake. The execution of the frosting could have been a little neater but it had a nice cinnamon flavor and tasted like pie. The only bad part was that the cake was dry, which seems to be a reoccurring theme here.

My words of advice: Upon entering store, it seemed like a fun place to host your kid's birthday parties – lots of tables and chairs, bright and eclectic colors, not as neatly designed but perfect for kids. There were all kinds of different flavored cupcakes to choose from but beware because they obviously aren't all good. Mostly I would have to say that they should change the name of the shop to Cupcake Not So Gourmet.

Baking Challenge #9: Pumpkin Cookies

Here's a really simple and fast pumpkin cookie recipe from Better Homes and Gardens: Homemade Cookies Cookbook. The cookies turn out ultra soft and delicious.

Pumpkin Cookies

Ingredients:
2 cups shortening
2 cups sugar
1 16-ounce can pumpkin
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp salt
2 cups raisins
1 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans)

Preheat oven at 350˚ F.
Cream Shortening and sugar. Add pumpkin, eggs, and vanilla and beat well. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, next 5 ingredients, and salt. Add to batter and mix well. Stir in raisins and pecans. Drop rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on a rack.

Makes about 6 dozen or if you make your cookies bigger, it makes about 3 dozen.

Baking Challenge #8: Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

WHOOPIE!!! This recipe comes from the book, Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito. This recipe was OH so yummy! The only snag that I ran into was with the cream cheese filling. It was a bit too runny even after adding some more powdered sugar to thicken it up and being chilled in the fridge. The evidence is in the lovely photo I took. However it still tasted amazing. If you have a cream cheese or vanilla frosting that you like that is thicker, try using that instead.























Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Cream Cheese Filling

Makes about 12 Whoopie Pies

Ingredients for the Pumpkin Whoopie Cookies:
3 cups all- purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tbs cinnamon
1 tbs ginger
1 tbs cloves
2 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil (I used canola oil)
3 cups chilled pumpkin puree
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Ingredients for the cream cheese filling:
3 cups confectioner's sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves together and set aside.

In a separate bowl, mix the brown sugar and oil together until combined. Add the pumpkin puree and mix to combine thoroughly. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.

Sprinkle the four mixture over the pumpkin mixture and mix until completely combined.

Use a small ice cream scoop with a release mechanism to drop heaping tablespoons of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart. See Ex. 1. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the cookies are just cracking on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cookie comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool.














For the cream cheese filling, sift the confectioner's sugar into a medium bowl and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter until it is completely smooth. Add the cream cheese and beat until combined.

Add the confectioner's sugar and vanilla and beat until smooth. Be careful not to over beat the filling or it will lose structure. Cover the bowl tightly and put in the refrigerator.

To assemble the whoopies, turn half of the cooled cookie upside down and drop a dollop of filling onto the cookie. Then place another cookie on top. Place the whoopies in the fridge for about 30 minutes to firm up before serving.

****These are also great as cookies without the filling. Beware, it is mighty hard to eat just one.

Schubert's, San Francisco

Schubert's
521 Clement St.
San Francisco, CA 94118

Cakes tried: Princess and Neopolitan

Overall Reaction: Really hard to pick out a cake because they all look so amazing!

They have been making the Neopolitan cake since 1911! The cake was made up of layers of chocolate cake, white cake, raspberry whipped cream and topped with chocolate ganache. The cake was light, airy and fluffy and the raspberry whipped cream was wonderful. The fancy embellishments on the top made the cake slice extra special.





























I was immediately drawn to the Princess cake with its lime green pistachio marzipan icing. Perfect for a tea party, the cake was layers of white cake, whipped cream and raspberry and kirsch custard filling. All the flavors worked harmoniously together and the textures were lovely throughout. Every bite was delicious!





























My words of advice: If you are looking for a great place to get a cake (besides from me of course), look no further. All the cakes are decorated wonderfully. Also, most of the cakes you can buy just a slice, which is what I did, perfect for the afternoon sweet tooth or take home for later to share with that special someone.

Fall Weddings

I had two weddings back to back this fall. One was for my dear friend Pearlin. Her and John were married September 26th at a winery in Temecula. Their wedding was Indian themed inspired and very beautiful.
































































The second wedding was for Annie and Sean who were married in Napa on October 2nd at Harvest Inn. Four different types of cupcakes were on the menu for their wedding along with a small cake for them to cut during their reception.

Baking Challenge #7: Pumpkin Pecan Cupcakes

I thought that last week after I got back from Holland I would be able to start baking but then I came down with the flu. Blah! This puts me even more behind on my challenges, I better get crack'n!

This recipe is for all you pumpkin lovers! It's a simple recipe from the book Cupcakes by Shelly Kaldunsky.

Pumpkin Pecan Cupcakes

Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground allspice
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg (can use ground nutmeg too)
1 cup canned pumpkin purée
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used canola oil)
2 large eggs at room temperature
1 cup toasted pecans coarsely chopped

Set oven to 350˚F.placing the chopped pecans on a cookie pan/sheet and baking them in the oven for about 7-10 min. At five minutes, stir the nuts around so that they can evenly toast. Check on your nuts after 7 min because they can easily burn if toasted for too long. Take them out of the oven to cool.

Line a standard cupcake/muffin pan with 12 liners.

Toast the pecans first. I do this by
In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and nutmeg. In another bowl, whisk together the pumpkin purée, sugar, oil and eggs. Add the flour mixture and whisk to combine completely. Stir in the chopped pecans.

Divide the batter into the prepared muffin cups and fill each about 3/4 full. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean, 22-24 minutes (my cupcakes only took 20 minutes to bake so I would check them around 18 minutes to see how they are doing). Allow them to cool after you take them out of the oven.

For the Glaze:

Maple Glaze

Ingredients:
1 cup confectioners' sugar, plus more as needed
1 tbsp whole milk (I used 1% milk and that worked just fine)
2 teaspoons maple extract (I used 2 tablespoons of maple syrup instead)

In a bowl, whisk together the sugar, milk and extract or syrup until smooth. The glaze should be spreadable. If it seems to thick, whisk in additional milk or syrup a few drops at a time. You don't won't your glaze to be too runny and run all down your cupcakes so if it seems too thin , whisk in additional sugar one teaspoon at a time.




















The cupcakes baked perfectly, incredibly moist and delicious!

That Takes The Cake, San Francisco

That Takes the Cake
2271 Union St.
San Francisco, CA 94123

Cupcakes tried: orange zinger, Elvis, strawberry, chocolate espresso

Overall reaction: It almost took the cake, but we ain't playing horseshoes here

I had been meaning to try this bakeshop since its not too far from where I live. I have to say that the design of the shop is really cute and well done. However the cupcakes left much to be desired. I bought the cupcakes and headed home, enlisting my sister, Diana to help along in the taste test and here's what we have to say about what we tried.



















First up was the Elvis cupcake. This cupcake tasted the way it was supposed to – peanut butter, honey and banana, exactly like the sandwich. The bad part, was that the cake was dry. Poor Elvis.

The chocolate espresso cupcake was not much better. The frosting was heavy and the cake was dense and dry. The espresso flavor was good but overall this cupcake was intense and what I mean by this, is that it just lumped in your throat and stomach.

The strawberry cupcake was ok. The cake was yummy, moist and tasted like strawberries. The frosting ruined it. Too sweet in a sickening sort of way.

The worst cupcake of all was the orange zinger. It takes the cake for the most horrible tasting cupcake! The frosting overpowered the cake which tasted like an orange rind and was incredibly dry. We couldn't even finish it!

My words of advice: In the shop you have the option of buying day old cupcakes for less money. The cupcakes we tried tasted like a few days old so I can't imagine what the actual day old ones would taste like! Maybe we just hit a bad day but I just don't think there is an excuse when each cupcake we tried was dry. My advice is to steer clear of this shop as the cupcakes did not take the cake!