We’ve just released our Holiday Menu! Please visit the Bakeshop to download it (in PDF format).

Although we offer other products at the Bakeshop, cupcakes count for about 90% of all our orders. Which is why I’m so excited about the Food Network’s Challenge Cupcake:

The smallest cakes get the big-time treatment. Six top cake teams fight to create the tastiest cupcakes in America, and then decorate and stack the little treats into showpieces you have to see to believe. Chef Scott Liebfried hosts this unprecedented winner-take-all competition.

Tune in on November 8th, at 8:00 PM (ET/PT) to catch the challenge. You can learn more about the Challenge Cupcake, and get two lovely-looking recipes (for Devil’s Food Cupcakes and Milk Chocolate Cupcakes), at the Food Network site.

Over on Serious Eats, one of my favorite sites, Ed Levine lists attributes of the perfect cupcake for him. Do our cupcakes qualify? Let’s see…

The cake has to be moist, light, and tasty in its own right, a difficult combination to pull off

Moistness was always one of the top deciding factors when we were recipe testing for our cakes. I’ve also found that “lightness” usually follows, as the moister the crumb is, the less dense it is. As to whether our cakes our “tasty”- oh, yes. Very tasty

The frosting has to be smooth, also light, not too sweet, and deeply flavored

We’re especially proud of our frosting. It’s too easy to mix up some powdered sugar and butter and call it “frosting”, and we never do that. Also, our customers’ first reactions are usually, “Ooh, not too sweet!”

A cupcake doesn’t have to be huge. Cupcakes have become like bagels in this town, and like bagels, bigger is most assuredly not better. Size matters in cupcakes, but not in the way that you think

Our cupcakes are standard American size, which means they aren’t too big, and aren’t too small.

Listen up. This last quality is really important. A great cupcake has to have the proper ratio of icing to cake. Other people may have different ideas, but I think there should be a 1 to 3 ratio of icing to filling. This hasn’t been scientifically proven, but my guess is that Harold McGee and/or Jeffrey Steingarten will weigh in on this topic very soon.

While I respect this frosting-cake ratio preference- indeed, I personally agree with it!- the fact is that many, many people want a lot more frosting on their cupcakes than that. For example, I’ve gotten more and more orders for “frosting shots” (they want to do away with the cake completely!)

So do I bake perfect cupcakes? I don’t know- but I do know that not a single cupcake leaves my kitchen without passing my own “perfection” test.

My birthday cupcake, presented to me at exactly midnight, was Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Frosting. Yes, I ate the cupcake after blowing it out (and making a wish!)- and I loved it.

Happy Birthday to me… I’m 34 now!

I’m one of those people that LOVES birthdays, especially my own. I’ve been known to throw three or four parties to celebrate- and this past week, the week before my birthday (on Friday, October 3rd), has definitely been a celebratory one here at home.

We’re having some friends over on Saturday, and I’ve decided to serve, in lieu of a birthday cake with 34 candles, 34 cupcakes with a candle each. Lovely.

I’ve decided on Red Velvet and Lavender cupcakes, two flavors I’ve been developing and will hopefully introduce at The Bakeshop soon. The Lavender Cupcakes, which were tweaked a lot from the basic recipe over at Cream Puffs In Venice, are quite possibly my very favorite cupcakes ever. If you enjoy exotic floral flavors, you’ll love them too.

I’ll post photos of my birthday cupcakes this weekend, after all the festivities are over.

I am thrilled to death that I’ve been featured on one of my favorite blogs ever – Cupcakes Take The Cake!

Another New Custom Cupcake Baker

This time it’s Manila, Philippines-based Flickr user Sweet Lorraine Bakeshop, whose has a website of the same name. She even has a blog through her website, which you can find here. (And I just noticed, instead of a “blogroll”, Lorraine has a “bakeroll” that includes us. Thanks, Lorraine!)…

Read more…

The cupcake photo in the post is from an order for party cupcakes I did last weekend. I (obviously) had a lot of fun making them in all those lovely colors.

Thank you so much to Allison at Cupcakes Take The Cake!

Here’s a peek into a box I prepared a few weeks ago for a client who wanted a dozen Vanilla Bean and a dozen Banana Montana cupcakes. I love how you can see the specks of real vanilla bean in the vanilla frosting- and the peanut buttery brownness of the other!

Can you tell how much I love doing this? Because I do. You’d think that after all the recipe testing and baking, I’d be tired of cake- but I’m beginning to realize that I’ll never be tired of cake. Just looking at the photo above, which I took myself, makes me want some cake now.

Those of you who’ve discovered the joy (or evil addiction) that is Facebook might want to check out our very own Facebook page: Sweet Lorraine Bakeshop at Facebook.

Sign up as a “fan” and get updates and news, or contribute to our discussions on flavor ideas and more.

Anyone who eats organic fruit and veg on a regular basis will agree: they may not be as pretty as their non-organic counterparts, but they taste so much better. Carrots actually taste like carrots, tomatoes burst with flavor, and so on. It should be no surprise, then, that when it comes to eggs- organic makes a huge difference.

To be considered “organic”, the egg must come from a chicken that:
- is cage-free.
- has access to the outdoors.
- is antibiotic-free.

These, of course, are all good things. Free range equals happier chicken equals better eggs.

We decided early on to use only organic eggs at the Bakeshop- because, wow: bright orange yolks that stay round and firm, thick but clear egg whites that whip up beautifully… they make such a difference in baked goods.

Welcome! After some consideration, I’ve decided to create a Bakeshop Blog, where I can post regularly about product updates, new flavors, recipes I’m testing out, and anything else that strikes my fancy.

I hope you check back often, and subscribe to my RSS feed!