The Birthday Cupcake Society

To say that my birthday involved cupcakes would be an understatement.

I started the day by having brunch at Flour Bakery's Central Square outpost, which included one of their impossibly rich and chewy chocolate cupcakes with airy vanilla frosting. I'll let this picture do the talking.
I thought my daily cupcake quota - hitherto an unimagined and unnecessary metric - would have been filled after Flour's contribution, but this was not the case. Imagine my excitement when Greg presented me with a box of Sweet cupcakes later that afternoon! I have discussed Sweet here before, but the delights within that birthday box deserve honorable mention. From left to right in this picture:

• Lemon - dense, lightly-flavored lemon vanilla cake was topped with tangy lemon frosting and a lemon candy. I would rather have assertive citrus flavors in baked goods, especially in ones as substantive as Sweet's. The frosting, however, was lemony enough to compensate for the cake's blandness. I could easily eat spoonful after spoonful of lemon frosting!
• Lemon Raspberry - the same lemon vanilla cake was injected with a generous glob of raspberry jam. Their signature vanilla frosting, which may or may not have had a hint of lemon flavor, was the third contributor to a triumvirate of complementary textures (much like their Red, White, and You cupcake). The best bites included cake, frosting, and jam! A raspberry on top was a cute and tasty touch.
• Chocolate Vanilla - cheerfull yellow sprinkles coated the cupcake's first dollop of vanilla frosting, which in turn was topped by an elaborate frosting peak. This frosting was so delicious and creamy that I paid less attention to the chocolate cake beneath. The chocolate cake was as rich as the vanilla cake, though less sugary and somewhat drier.
• Chocolate Chocolate - yes, I loved this cupcake's purple sprinkles. Fortunately, the cupcake's chocolate flavors were equally pleasing. The bakery's dense, sugary frosting is especially delicious with creamy milk chocolate blended in.

So, my birthday's cupcake quota was stretched a bit. I enjoyed the Lemon Raspberry confection that evening, and consumed the others - at a rate of one per day! - later.

Then, I went to New Hampshire for a few days' fun with the family. I knew there would be a birthday dessert waiting for me. I was looking forward to my mom's beloved dark chocolate layer cake with peppermint frosting, so I had a cat's reaction of alarm plus curiosity when I saw a baker's box on our kitchen counter. So much for what I had been told! That's right, I wasn't getting my traditional cake. I was getting cupcakes - the best cupcakes I've ever had.

Windham's Shabby Chic bakery is a recent addition to the New Hampshire dessert scene. Within 6 months of opening, they won all sorts of acclaim, including a feature on New Hampshire Chronicle and a cover mention for Best Cupcakes in New Hampshire magazine's 2009 Best of NH issue. After eating a few of their delightful confections, it is easy to see - and taste! - why. I had four different cupcakes, all variations on the same basic chocolate cake with light, creamy buttercream frosting. For the record, each cupcake measures slightly less than 3 inches in diameter and slightly less than 4 inches (frosting and topper included) in height! Here are the treats in the order they were eaten:

• Chocolate Salted Caramel - this cake had extremely salty, slightly-crystallized caramel swirled within the batter. The saltiness actually shocked me at first until I embraced the union of flavors in each gooey bite - chocolate, caramel, and salt, oh my! - as well as the sweeter caramel frosting. I felt like I was eating a moist, chewy caramel brownie rather than a cake! The light frosting reminded me of dulce de leche, and was only slightly salty; you do have the option of picking flakes of fleur de sel from its exterior. Sweet caramel drizzle ran down the sides of the frosting, and a chewy dark-chocolate-covered caramel marked the top of the frosting peak.

• Chocolate Raspberry - raspberry puree was mixed throughout the chocolate cake to create the most successful dessert of this bunch! The tart, fruity puree complemented the cake's smooth chocolate sweetness, and moistened the batter so that both flavors shone. Each bite was deliciously fudgy, and there was a nugget of puree at the cupcake's center. Of course, the raspberry frosting was equally excellent! The pale pink buttercream had tiny pieces of fruit mixed in, and really tasted like a whisper of raspberries and cream. The topper was a fudgy chocolate with a sour berry coating.

• Chocolate Mint - no mint syrup saturated this base cake. Instead, small pieces of dark mint chocolate and light-green white chocolate studded the batter. The candy bits were dry and hard, so the cupcake had none of the gooey fudginess noted above. The candies' fresh mint flavor lightly permeated the batter. The pale green buttercream frosting featured a stronger, more pungent mint. I prefer sweet peppermint to fresh mint, so I was slightly disappointed in this cupcake. A chocolate-covered malted milk ball with a gorgeous robin's-egg coating topped it all off.

• Chocolate Peanut Butter - when devoid of mix-ins, Shabby Chic's standard chocolate cupcake is moderately chocolatey-sweet and somewhat dry, with a coarse crumb. This basic cupcake was paired with the most decadent of frostings. As you can see from the picture, the peanut butter frosting departed from the usual Shabby Chic buttercream by being thick - so thick that it was more like dense peanut butter ice cream than frosting! The taste echoed the texture, suggesting incredibly sweet and milky peanut butter. Clearly, a lot of actual peanut butter went into it! The frosting became somewhat crusty on the outside after spending a day in my refrigerator, but the inside remained creamy. I was blown away by the frosting's richness and how it paired so well with the chocolate cake. The cupcake was topped with a milk-chocolate-covered peanut.

What excellent cake varieties and frosting flavors! I am so glad that my family saw Shabby Chic's press, realized the cupcakery was only minutes from our home, and decided to give it a try. I look forward to returning to this adorable desserterie to try some more treats - maybe a vanilla cupcake with orange or lemon swirls?

...as if 9 cupcakes in 8 days weren't enough! Happy Birthday to me. :-)