A Visit to Crumbs Cupcakes

Good Afternoon!

Recently, I visted Crumbs Bake Shop in downtown in NYC. I am a fan of Crumbs because there are cupcakes are generous in size and definitely can be shared between two or three people. I especially love visiting crumbs during the holidays throughout the year, especially on Halloween and Christmas where they offer scrumptious holiday favorite cupcakes, like the ones I purchase below.

These cupcakes are both yellow cupcakes, the one with the orange pumpkin cookie is generously filled with a chocolate ganache filling, and the candy corn cupcake is filled with a cream cheese icing. Don't forget that cupcakes made with cream cheese should be refridgerated, whereas the ganache cupcakes can be stored at room temperature for up to two days (otherwise the cupcake becomes stale).



Chocolate ganache filling


I plan to visit Crumbs again during the Christmas and Chanukah holiday season. I wonder what tasty creations they will think of?

Molly's Cupcakes

Dear Readers,

I frist visited Molly's Cupcakes in NYC's West Village about two weeks ago after my husband had asked if I could stop there when I was in Manhattan. This was after he heard a radio announcement on Sirius XM's the Ron and Fez show that there was a cupcake named after Ron (The Ron Bennington). The store was bright dark yellow with a baby blue awning, very distinct and easy to find in the crowded West Village. It was very spacious inside, with a generous amount of seating and counter space. I noticed that you could add sprinkles to your cupcake for a finishing touch, a very cool idea and especially great for children!

What I liked most about this cupcake eatery is that the staff is courteous, genuinely friendly and helpful. They offer different size cupcakes, ranging from mini molly, molly and center filled. Molly's Cupakes also cakes, vegan options, special orders, catering/special orders, cookies, pie, ice cream and more! There center-filled cupcakes are considered to be the most popular. They also have center-filled seasonal and speciality cupcakes including Carrie's Campfire.

Molly's Cupcakes originated in Chicago. Check out their Chicago menu here. Partial owner and head chef, Eileen Kerbel, won Season 1's Cupcake Wars Classic Cupcake Challenge. She is an Illinois native known for her center-filled cupcakes, similar to a S'mores.



I purchased the Ron Bennington Cupcake, a chocolate cake cupcake, with peanut butter filling, chocolate ganache, and topped with crushed butterscotch and the Cookie Monster, a vanilla cake, raw cookie dough center, buttercream and topped with a mini chocolate chip cookie. My husband loved the Ron Bennington. It was not too sweet, chocolatey and the butterscotch topping definitely hit the spot and gave the cupcake a bit of a crunch. The Cookie Monster cupcake was delicious; although I felt that the buttercream was very sweet, so sweet in fact I had to remove most of the icing and eat the cookie on top separately. However, the raw cookie dough center was outstanding and the cake was moist, even after freezing the cupcakes for two weeks!

Next time I visit I would like to try the center-filled Pumpkin Spice with a sweet cream cheese frosting.

Photo courtesy of Molly's Cupcakes

Molly's Cupcakes in located at 228 Bleecker St. The closest subway station is West 4th Street, Washington Square (B, D, F, M, A, C, E trains), followed by Christopher Street (1 train).


*I was not compensated in any way for this post. This is my own opinion.

Hello, Cupcake Baking Class

I love visiting Sur La Tableau, a cooking supply and gourmet food shop, where they often host cooking classes. Some of the classes include French Bistro, Holiday Baking, Sushi, Seafood, and Grilling. I was really excited that the author of Hello, Cupcake was going to be hosting a cupcake decorating class, focusing on seasonal designs. As soon as I found out about the class, I signed up because spaces tend to fill up rather quickly.
The class was hosted by Karen Tack, and cupcake design creator and food writer. Her books include Hello, Cupcake! and What's New, Cupcake? I highly recommend these books. They include inventive and very creative recipe ideas for cupcakes for ALL ages. The next cupcakes I would like to create are "spaghetti and meatball" cupcakes made with Rocher chocolates, strawberry preserves and shaved white chocolate to mimic the grated cheese. You can even add decorations such as grape juice for wine and a red and white checkered table cloth to create an Italian restaurant feel. These cupcakes are great for holidays, birthdays and any type of celebration. They even have wedding cupcake creation ideas. These are easy, fun DIY projects that are fun for the whole family.

This was supposed to be a cockroach...A date was used for the body and caramel for the wings.

The werewolf for Halloween was the most fun making! The tongue is made out of Fruit Roll-up and the mouth protruding is a marshmallow. The dog design is similar to this one. Create a moon cupcake to accompany him!

He says rarr!

My pumpkin! The mouth is made of Starbursts and Tootsie Rolls

 

The pumpkin cupcake is literally also a pumpkin cupcake with orange-colored vanilla icing!

Above are the cupcakes created by Karen. She does such a beautiful job! I must say I couldn't stop eating the icing when I was creating my cupcakes! She said that she doesn't do it anymore because she does it so often, you could get nauseous. :-/

I love my Turkey!

The Turkey cupcake is made from caramel, corn flakes dipped in food coloring, pound cake, sweet pretzel-like sticks, and mini green edible decorations.

I will be keeping my eye out for future classes with Karen. She was such a pleasure to work with and learn from! I also look forward to creating these cupcakes at home with my family and friends.
I gave the alien to my uncle, the pumpkin to my brother, the werewolf to my mom, the Turkey for myself, and the cockroach I gave to my dad. They all enjoyed them :-)

I gave my alien hair and a smile :)

"Cupcake Save" Tip

Recently, my family and I made RED VELVET CUPCAKES with CREAM CHEESE FROSTING for an event.  Our tuperware was either to small or was being used at the time, so we thought of a way of how to transport and keep the cupcakes at home without sloppimg up the icing.  We wanted them to look AND taste good. :-)  Remember the small umbrellas that would accompany certain beverages such as a Strawberry Daquiri or Mai Tai?  We thought of another use for those umbrellas...

To prevent the icing from sticking to the saran wrap, we used these decorative umbrellas to create a tent-like cover over the cupcakes!  It was much more convenient to store them this way.  The cupcakes stayed fresh for up to three days.  Depending on the size, use one or two umbrellas and stick them in the center of the cupcakes and gently place the saran wrap over the cupcakes and umbrella, cover tightly on the bottom of the plate. 

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

How to make the treat that's always a great surprise at parties

Ingredients

• 12 wafer ice cream cones
• 1 box of Funfetti® Cake Mix
• Frosting of any flavor or color
• Candies: M&M's, Reeses Pieces, Jelly Beans, etc.
• Toppings (sprinkles, colored sugars, candy pearls etc. to taste and choice)
• Muffin pans for 12 desserts

Instructions

1. Make the cake mix according to the mix directions.
2. Bake 12 medium, and 12 small cupcakes
3. Fill the each of the cones with any candy of your choice
4. Spread icing on each of the larger cupcakes, place face down in cone
5. Repeat with small cupcakes, then place them face down on top of the larger cupcake
6. Cover the cupcakes completely with frosting, and create swirl effect (refer to video below)
7. Decorate with sprinkles, colored sugars, candies, or any other edible decoration, be creative!
8. Serve and enjoy!

*Another variation is to pour the batter in the cones, bake according to the directions on the cake box, then remove cones and place on cooling plates. Do NOT leave in muffin pans!

Want Dairy Free?

Substitute vegetable oil for butter and soy, rice, or coconut milk for cow's milk.