Random Acts of Sweetness

I recently discovered a New Hampshire cupcakery that puts Windham's Sophisticakes, formerly known as Shabby Chic, to shame. Said cupcakery is Random Acts of Sweetness, in Portsmouth. Their website suggests a focus on custom orders, but their storefront and bakery also serve dessert-craving passersby.

Portsmouth has had the highs and lows of New Hampshire's dessert scene. The highs are provided by Byrne & Carlson, a chocolatier whose refined confections are exquisitely delicious; the lows were supplied by the now-defunct (with reason) Portsmouth Baking Company. I was so happy to stumble upon another high, across the street from Byrne & Carlson as you meander down State Street toward Prospect Park.

The exuberant, cheerful, and colorful sign grabbed me first. It really stood out against the prim backdrop of Portsmouth's brick townhouses:

Then, I peered in the shop's window. More good cheer and happy colors were found there, as fabric and paper flowers and butterflies decorated its perimeter.  A simple dessert counter could be seen within, full of good-sized and, dare I say it, colorful cupcakes. How could I NOT go in and buy a cupcake from this shop?!

I don't have a picture of the cupcake in question, so my description will have to suffice. All dozen or so flavors were tempting, but I chose In the Pom of My Hand - yes, they all had punny names - because I had never had a chocolate pomegranate cupcake. It was a good choice. The cake itself looked like a hybrid of devil's food and a fudgy brownie. It was rich and moist, with assertive chocolate and fruit flavors. I doubt I would have identified the fruit flavor as pomegranate - in the context of the cake, it could have been any number of sweet, tart red fruits - but even with that ambiguity, I loved the bright freshness it imparted to the cake. The light-as-air frosting was more obviously a pomegranate concoction. Clearly whipped, it tasted equally of sugar and the dark, intense fruit. Appearance-wise, it was a pale pink color, and had been swirled onto the cake in a spiral pattern with a pastry bag. Oh, and because icing on the cake is apparently not enough, the frosting was dotted with neon-pink sprinkles. Too cute!

I left the cupcakery with a full stomach, a smile on my face, and a few stickers of the adorable logo pictured above. I was the first adult to ask the owner for some; she had them on hand for children. :-)

I hope RAoS does well. I also hope they install a few tables and chairs in their store, even if custom orders and treats to go are their priorities. People will pop in for a cupcake and want to eat it there, much as we did. The only furniture at present is an awkwardly curved wooden bench. We had a difficult and messy time, divvying up and sharing a cupcake on that bench. Still, I plan to contribute in my small way toward their success by making each future Portsmouth trip a cupcake trip! They change up their flavors on a regular basis, so I'm guaranteed an adventurous new flavor (or several) when I return.

Cupcakes (and a Berliner Weisse) Take the Cake

This post tells of truly fabulous cupcakes - cupcakes that live up to their name, or have thoroughly earned the hype surrounding them.

I remember when Kickass Cupcakes opened a few years ago. How great for Davis Square to get a cupcakery, I thought - and how fun for a bakery of any sort to project a hip, in-your-face identity in place of the usual saccharine, frilly one! Unfortunately, Kickass' first few weeks of cupcakes did not kick ass. I dismissed them outright after having too many dry, flavorless cakes with stiffened, flavorless frostings. Years passed. I saw no reason to revisit - or retaste? - my opinion.

And then there was Brewberry Fest.

Night Shift Brewing brews an amazing range of Berliner Weisse-style beers. I love that style's refreshing, mouth-puckering tartness, and I love Night Shift's ability to adapt and evolve it in various fruity and spicy directions. Last week's Brewberry Fest commemorated their release of Mainer Weisse, the standard Berliner base brewed with Maine blueberries and cinnamon. Here are two pours of the purple concoction.

Forget about the overdone sweetness one usually finds (and fears) in fruity beers. Mainer Weisse has a subtle, tangy blueberry flavor, and its cinnamon works well with the inherent Berliner flavors. I would go back to this sour over and over again if I could; unfortunately, it was a limited release that sold out in the days following the Fest.

Good beers at good Fests are even better with good food! We enjoyed Mei Mei Street Kitchen's indulgent mac and cheese, made with Vermont Cheddar and Night Shift's Fallen Apple ale, for dinner. Kickass Cupcakes had a table at the other end of the hall, where they were offering four total flavors of miniature and full-sized cupcakes. The mini cupcakes were free. I thought of Kickass' past fails as mentioned above, but I couldn't say no to free dessert. I'm so glad I took that chance, because WOW - they have improved so dramatically that their current cupcakes totally kick ass and then some! The flavors were:

• Spicy Chocolate - this flavor was made especially for Night Shift! (All subsequent flavors are from Kickass' usual repertoire.) A dense, flavorful chocolate cake was injected with peppery chocolate ganache; that ganache had been doctored with Night Shift's Viva Habanera ale! Rich chocolate frosting topped the cake, which itself was drizzled with sweet chili sauce and sprinkled with red pepper flakes. A delightful combination of heat and sweet, I kept on coming back for more of these mini confections.
• Berry Crumbly - sturdy vanilla cake was dotted with mixed berries and topped with Kickass' interpretation of crumble. Imagine oats that were lightly tossed with melted butter and brown sugar, and then toasted; the effect was pleasant, but not nearly as satisfying as a chunky, flour-based crumble. The frosting was a light, refreshing blend of creme fraiche and marscapone cheese, and a random berry crowned each cake's frosting dollop.
• Caramel Mochiatto - the same hearty chocolate cake was filled with an oozy nugget of sweet, translucent caramel. Rich mocha frosting was swirled on top, and chocolate-covered espresso nibs garnished that frosting and added explosive coffee bitterness to the dessert.
• Cookie Dough - the standard vanilla cake had a gooey scoop of chocolate chip cookie dough at its center. There was probably more cookie dough than cake! The cake and cookie doughs' formulations must have been similar, since simultaneously eating both demonstrated a surprising continuity of flavor. The frosting was a simple but solid vanilla buttercream that was drizzled with chocolate sauce for an engaging visual effect.

You can see the Cookie Dough cupcake, and yet another pour of Mainer Weisse, here!

I was so impressed with the moistness and heft of both cakes and frostings, as well as their rich, lingering flavors; I surprised myself by snacking on the free mini cupcakes throughout the night. There were more than enough to go around. Even with all that snacking, there were many cupcakes left when the festival started winding down. So, the Kickass folks let us take boxes of cupcakes to go! The offer even included the full-sized cupcakes we would have had to pay for earlier in the night. Behold my enviable to-go box; you will count 4 Spicy Chocolates and one Caramel Mochiatto, with a dramatic backdrop of the remaining Spicy Chocolates.

These treats kept for days following the event, so the dessert wealth was indeed spread! I must thank Kickass Cupcakes for leaning from their past and churning out incredibly delicious new products, and to Night Shift for being a ray of (sour) light in a world of lagers, IPAs, and stouts. 

Now, let's fast-forward a few days post-Fest. The to-go box had been emptied. What was I going to do for dessert?

Georgetown Cupcake - the DC cupcakery that rose to fame on the Food Network - opened a Newbury Street store this past summer! I walked by during its opening weekend, and was mollified by a line that extended down and around the block; I decided to come back another time. The perfect opportunity arose last weekend. The warm, bright store was a beacon on a sleety, gray afternoon, and I decided a cupcake could commemorate just having finished my Christmas shopping.

As my eyes adjusted to the store's blinding pink and white decor, I noticed the wall of cupcakes.

Countless cupcakes are arranged on tiered display stands, with two or three varieties sharing each stand. Since Georgetown's available flavors change daily, each day's display is unique. I could barely take it all in. Each pert cake is coiffed with a perfect swirl of frosting, which in turn is topped with a decorative garnish or fondant form. Crushed peppermint candies and fondant snowflakes were two particularly festive toppers.

(If you, like me, are curious about the Chocolate Squared, it refers to chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream. The Chocolate Cubed [not pictured] is chocolate cake with chocolate ganache.)

The cupcakes weren't the only cute things I ogled at. Look at this adorable reindeer design on my cup of hot chocolate! The same design was also on stickers that decorated each bakery bag or box to go.

Speaking of the hot chocolate - it was good, but not mind-blowing. The cocoa was nice and sweet, with a hint of mint and a slightly oily texture. That last characteristic reminded me of British chocolate. (I wonder which cocoa Georgetown uses...) I think I'd try a mocha next.

I also got a chocolate peppermint cupcake. Here it is in Instagrammed glory...

...while this cleaner, minimalist image shows it one step from being eaten.

The cake had a great texture! It was super chewy for a non-fudgy baked good. It was also rather sturdy, not sinking under the weight of the dense chocolate mint frosting. Georgetown uses Valrhona chocolate in their baked goods, and the cake had Valrhona's signature bold flavor. It wasn't overwhelming, though, thanks to the cake's relative dryness. The frosting's consistency lay somewhere between buttercream and ganache. Its bold Valrhona flavor was spiked with a hint of mint. The peppermint candy dusting on top added crunch and a shiver of chilliness. Georgetown has a lot of tempting flavors to choose from, but this one would be worth choosing again.

Also, Georgetown's a great deal. My cupcake was only $2.75! (Compare that to any [smaller and less tasty] cupcake from Sweet, a local chain of 4 stores, which costs $3.25.) The hot cocoa was a steal, too, at $1.85. I think Boston has a new place to go for good, affordable treats.

~~~

I hope you have a chance to try some of these excellent cupcakes in the near future! I, too, want to go back for more. What are some good flavors to try?

Of Baked Goods and Beer

Some of you know that I have a little obsession with craft beer. Fortunately for that, the past 2 weeks have been a whirlwind of beer enjoyment and experimentation, with some baked goods on the side!

First up was my favorite BeerAdvocate event, the Belgian Beer Fest's Night of the Funk ! This event showcases extreme Belgian beers, with plenty of sour, funky, creatively flavored, and higher-ABV brews to try. Two-ounce pours ensure you can try a huge variety, and you walk away with improved knowledge of the various styles as well as a significantly longer cellar wish list! I won't go into my favorites here - let's just say that my in-media-Fest tasting notes are not as coherent as this blog - but I will share a stellar food item that helped us power through the night. Meet the Waffle Cabin's Belgian waffle.

Blurriness aside, you can get a sense of the waffle's heft, as well as a glimmer of the sweet glaze that coated it. The waffle itself is a dense, chewy masterpiece, with a pleasant vanilla taste. It's coated in a sticky, sugary glaze that must be freshly made - there's a graininess to it, as if all the sugar used to make it hasn't fully dissolved. (That occasional sweet crunch is so good!) You can really sink your teeth into this treat, and, strictly speaking, it doesn't need tinkering to be satisfying. But I'm me, and Taza Chocolate was also on hand - so, Chocolate had to meet Waffle. It was a happy coincidence that Taza's Fest samples were cut to fit perfectly in the waffle's grooves. The chocolate softened from the waffle's warmth and melted into each little reservoir. The samples were from Taza's aggressive Mexicano line; imagine high percents cacao, sans sweeteners, with a pronounced grainy texture owing to their stone-ground process. Flavors included cinnamon, chipotle, ginger, orange, and salted almond. I grabbed a square of each flavor for the waffle above. Let's hope I have an opportunity to do a more thorough review of Taza at some point; until then, suffice it to say that these items, combined, made for the best possible Fest food! Oh, along with Corey's pretzel necklaces, gummy worms, and...pepperoni.

The fun did not end that night. You may recall a blurb on post-ACBF fun at the Bocoup Loft; we all met up there again for a bit of post-BBF/NotF fun the next week. Corey and Greg brought the beers, I brought the cookies. I've blogged about my Valrhona triple-chocolate cookies previously, so I won't repeat what I've already said. Just know that this third batch of them was the best yet, in terms of both personal satisfaction with the outcome and their rate of disappearance. (The entire batch lasted maybe an hour, max?) However, let's go over a few of the cookie/beer pairings. First up, we have the Alchemist Brewery's famous Heady Topper! It's been vying with Russian River's Plinys (both Elder and Younger) for the best beer on BeerAdvocate's ratings, and that clout has made it difficult to procure. We got lucky with a Vermonter in our midst. This double IPA has multilayered grassy notes and a long-lingering aftertaste. It's surprisingly light on the tongue for a double.

Next is a collaboration between Sierra Nevada and Russian River, the beloved Santa Rosa (CA) brewery whose groundbreaking IPAs and sours are sadly not distributed on the East Coast. I guess it took Sierra Nevada's partnership to get Brux, a wild ale, out to us. This ale smells rather fresh and is vibrantly carbonated, with only a hint of sourness. I would have expected more from a brewery with an impeccable track record in sours, but that's not to say I wouldn't drink it again. Also, it looks like someone has nibbled a cookie...

Later brews included Jolly Pumpkin's Bam Biere and Hill Farmstead Brewery's Arthur (both saisons), plus nightcaps of New England Brewing's 668 (a Belgian strong pale ale) and Elm City Pilsner. All in all, a great night!

But wait - there's more. Non-cookie foods were obtained outside the Loft. After a series of appetizers at Lucky's (and my first Pumpkinhead of the season - I guess it really is fall!), we stopped by Sportello's bakery counter. Sportello makes incredibly good, unique cupcakes. Here are our strawberry cheesecake cupcakes, readied for travel in upside-down cups. That travel config was fortunate, since I took my cupcake home and ate it the following day.

Sportello "translates" cheesecake to cupcake in an interesting way. We have a graham cracker cake in place of crust, cream cheese frosting in place of actual cheesecake, and strawberry filling plus freeze-dried strawberry garnish in place of fruit topping. Here is the partially-consumed treat; look at that filling and the texture of the cake and frosting!

The graham cracker base was really unique. Store-bought graham crackers are more like sawdust than cake, and their taste is forgettable. This cake, full of brown sugar and cinnamon and butter, was moist and dense and flavorful. The strawberry filling, with fruit pieces and jam, added additional moisture and flavor. The cream cheese frosting was simply perfect! It was sweet and slightly tangy, with a dense, smooth, and even texture. If real cheesecake were anything like this frosting, I would be eating it all the time.

Alas, after the beerdulgence (that's beer indulgence) the night before, I did not wash this cupcake down with yet another brew. Even I have my limits!

So, which beer / baked good combination will be next? I'll take requests.

A Whirlwind of NYC Food

I still owe you the details on London's Afternoon Tea, but let's momentarily divert our attention to a closer metropolis and its plentiful food offerings!

Several of my college friends converged upon New York City this past weekend! Carr and I came from Boston; Linda traveled up from Philadelphia, and Mary and Steph already lived as close as you can get in Hoboken. This happy mini-reunion involved catching up, urban exploration, and - surprise, surprise - delicious food. Let's go through the many and varied eats of Saturday, July 14!

Stop 1: Sugar Sweet Sunshine

We had 30 minutes to kill before our lunch table would be ready. We were near a renowned cupcakery. We all like cupcakes. What did we do? Stop by Sugar Sweet Sunshine, of course, and get cupcakes to go! Ok, those reasons may not qualify for SSS' top ten, but we felt they were more than valid.

I really enjoyed my last visit to SSS, so I was glad to return and introduce others to their delights. I left with the Goodie Goodie (dark chocolate cake with whipped peanut butter buttercream) and carried it back to lunch, then to the High Line, down the length of said park, and around Chelsea Market, until (a) it was a warm mess of a dessert with frosting smeared and melted all over the wax paper bag, and (b) I thought I might have room for it. Talk about a well-traveled dessert! Fortunately, it tasted much better than it looked at that point. The frosting was extremely light, like a whisper of what frosting usually is, with a very subtle and sweet peanut flavor. The chocolate cake had a stronger cocoa flavor, though it was a bit dry. I blame the heat!

Stop 2: The Meatball Shop

Lunch at The Meatball Shop was one of the best meals I've had year-to-date. The shop's premise is simple enough: take meatballs, drench them in sauce, and serve them with or over a side. What's astounding is how impressively good each component is, and how much you get! Take it all in with your eyes, and then imagine me taking it all in with my eyes and stomach..

I ordered the classic beef meatballs with parmesan cream sauce over freshly-milled polenta. The meatballs were hearty and flavorful, consisting of all-natural beef mixed with prosciutto, ricotta cheese, and oregano. The sauce was thick and fragrant with tangy Parmesan cheese, much better than the average alfredo or cheese sauce. The polenta, a true food of the gods with its mashed-potato-meets-cornbread quality, was an ideal consistency - smooth and creamy, with occasional distinct cornmeal grains that gave it texture. As if that weren't enough, shaved cheese was sprinkled over the top of it all. Each bite was the very height of savory decadence.

The deliciousness didn't end there! The presence of the aforementioned cupcakes-to-go did not prevent us from ordering the Shop's signature dessert. They offered customizable ice cream sandwiches, made from store-made ice cream and cookies. They even let you choose two different cookies for the "bread" of the sandwich! So, here is my espresso ice cream with chocolate chip and brownie walnut cookies.

The ice cream was light, more like frozen milk than cream. I appreciated that after the heavy lunch, and it also let the bright espresso flavor assert itself rather than be overwhelmed by the cream. The brownie walnut cookie was moist, chewy, and chocolatey, with (fortunately) fewer nuts than expected; the chocolate chip cookie, though, was dry and forgettable. Now that I've tried the ice cream sandwich, I don't feel the need to repeat it; however, I would gladly re-indulge in a meatball lunch/dinner at the earliest opportunity!

Stop 3: Blue Bottle Coffee

We were quite thirsty after walking the length of The High Line, so we found refreshment at Blue Bottle Coffee. Their cold-brew single origin iced coffee was positively bursting with flavor! I detected the usual cocoa and caramel notes, as well as something fruitier and tangier that I couldn't quite place. Could it have something to do with bean terroir and roasting protocol? (Why didn't I ask the former barista among us?!)

Stop 4: Chelsea Market

Chelsea Market is in a vast building under The High Line, right across the street from Blue Bottle. We naturally moved toward it. It's an indoor labyrinth filled with miniature shops (in store form, not stalls or carts) selling everything from pastries to lobster. Look at the pretty main hall, with its colorful lanterns!

We were still full from the Lower East Side's ballstravaganza; otherwise, I'm sure we would have indulged in a Market treat while there. Instead, I got a brownie to go from the Fat Witch Bakery!

Yes, I bought a brownie advertising an overrated musical. But it was the mint chocolate brownie! And it proved its worth when I snacked on it two days later. As you can see, it's sprinkled with green sugar crystals. They added a nice, sweet crunch. Less visible are the equally green mint chips mixed throughout the brownie, but clustered more toward its bottom.They were soft and creamy, and their mint flavor thoroughly imbued the surrounding batter. The brownie reminded me of a cake bite, having the same fudgy texture as those little treats, but its chocolate wasn't as strong or mouth-coating as fudge. Even though my preferred chocolate threshold was unmet, I'd recommend this Witch for its texture and assertive, sweet mintiness.

At this point, we washed our cupcakes down with whatever coffee was left, and headed back to the East Village.

Stop 5: Maharlika

Believe it or not, it was nearly dinnertime! We chilled at Yuca, sipping on sangria for an hour or so...

...before moving on to Maharlika, a modern Filipino restaurant. I was SO excited to try Flilipino cuisine after learning about the culture in college. We split appetizers of chicharron and lechon kawali, flavorful pork rinds and belly, respectively. (To quote one thread of conversation: "You gotta love a culture that knows what to do with pork!") We also sipped on calamansi juice, a refreshing beverage made from a citrus fruit native to the Philippines. Imagine a delicate juice subtly tasting of lime, lemon, and orange, with just a hint of tartness and sweetness, and none of the usual citrus bitterness. It was the perfect summer drink! Then, I had the tender and flavorful chicken adobo for dinner.

Plump pieces of chicken marinate in soy-based abodo sauce before being simmered in the same sauce and browned afterward. The chicken is served in more sauce, with steamed rice on the side. I enjoyed the soft, moist meat; the peppery, garlicky adobo flavor; and the fragrant white rice's soaking up the sauce. I got busog rather quickly, to use the restaurant's Tagalog word of the day. If only I could have taken leftovers home for the following night!

Stop 6: Momofuku Milk Bar

Our walk toward nighttime birthday festivities took us past the East Village outpost of Momofuku Milk Bar. I've been kind of obsessed with this bakery since I browsed their cookbook in a bookstore a while back, and wanted to bake or try most things from it. How did I satisfy a dessert dream while being too full for dessert? By getting something for later, of course. I enjoyed their birthday cake truffles the following day during the trip back to Boston. The truffles got smushed in transit, losing all photographic potential - so, here's a bakery shot from their press kit.

The truffles were really cute. Imagine small, round cake bites, made from yellowy-brown cake and crushed rainbow sprinkles. Their exterior was coated in drier crumbs of the same cake, plus some intact sprinkles. Adorable! All other characteristics matched their cheerful appearance, bringing any number of childhood treats and moods to mind. The cake was moist and chewy, much denser than, say, a Funfetti cake. The sprinkles added another kind of chewy texture to the mix. Then, they were flavored to the max with vanilla - and sugar. They were almost too sweet, which I could not have handled in a larger amount of truffles or an actual cake slice. Still, I loved that Milk Bar was able to pack so much dessert into a tiny package. It gave me enough of a taste of their wares that I wanted more! Maybe a Cereal Milk latte and candy bar pie from their Brooklyn flagship bakery...or, something I make when I finally buy that cookbook?

*cue unprecedented food coma here*

I hope you enjoyed that New York day in the life of a Boston foodie. Here's to my next trip - and whatever I sample next at any of the above establishments!

Custom "Treats"

This city dweller rarely gets to enjoy suburban bakery delights. So, I was excited to try custom cupcakes from Needham's Treat Cupcake Bar, which a colleague brought into work for my boss' baby shower!

I was instantly blown away by the cupcakes' appearance. They were all quite massive, and were topped in equally massive buttercream frosting bears! Here's a picture of a chocolate cupcake, followed by a close-up of its cheerful frosting friend.

I couldn't wait to see whether their taste would live up to their decoration!

We had four cake flavors to choose from: chocolate, vanilla, carrot, and red velvet. The cupcakes were so large that we cut them in pieces; as a result, I was able to sample the first three flavors. (I've never been a fan of red velvet.) The chocolate and vanilla cakes were definitely better than average! The chocolate cake was a rich dessert made possible with lots of bittersweet cocoa powder. The vanilla cake reminded me of pound cake, with its creamy, dense texture and strong buttery flavor. Both cakes were moist throughout, though their edges were a bit dry. The carrot cake, on the other hand, was not so noteworthy. I would have called it a bland spice cake with the occasional token piece of shredded carrot - nothing like the robust and hearty mash-up I look for in a proper carrot cake.

The frosting, while beyond cute, tasted a bit...off. It was buttery to a fault, and I'm positive I could taste salt - maybe its base was salted butter? I think Treat took the concept of "buttercream" to an extreme that wasn't necessary. Its texture was light and airy, which was a relief considering the sheer amount of the stuff topping each cake! I couldn't imagine eating a denser version of this frosting, which probably would have been like chewing on a stick of butter. One big plus to the frosting's quantity is that no bite of cake had to go without; the optimal cake-frosting ratio, so often achieved by removing a cupcake's bottom half, required no custom engineering. Of course, I would have appreciated that more if I really enjoyed the frosting.

I wouldn't refuse an opportunity to have more Treats. After all, one look at their menu will get anyone salivating, and seriously, they call their venture a cupcake bar! However, I'll know that not all cakes are created equal, and that less is more when it comes to their basic buttercream frosting.

A Weekend of Celebratory Desserts

I had a really fun birthday party the other weekend! Not surprisingly, I enjoyed a few desserts in the hours preceding it.

A cliff-diving event at the ICA – where, yes, people voluntarily plunged nearly 100 feet off the museum into Boston Harbor!?! – brought Greg, Rob, and me to Boston's Fort Point neighborhood. We had to eat lunch at my favorite outpost of Flour Bakery prior! I departed from usual Flour protocol this time, eschewing my tried-and-true favorites and ordering two untested items. Their BLT sandwich was truly exemplary, and will become part of my regular sandwich rotation. The purest joy, however, came with a new dessert offering! I hereby introduce you to Flour's Congo bar. Here is its richly textured surface…

…and here is the glory that lies beneath.

The bar’s rather thick base is a brown sugar cookie thoroughly marbled with pastry chocolate. A thinner layer of the same chocolate, mixed with caramel and coconut flakes, covers the cookie base. Then, the treat is covered in more coconut flakes and topped off with a few caramel drizzles. This was a very sturdy, dense, rich dessert. However, each bite melted into creamy, sweet goodness soon after I took it.  Just think – a warm, buttery cookie; fudgy, fragrant chocolate; fluffy, sweet coconut; and milky, silky caramel, all mixed and layered together to create one ultimate dessert. Wow! I’ll surely be scanning Flour’s displays for this whopper of a treat in the future.

(You shouldn’t be surprised that I loved the Congo bar, since my weakness for robust layered cookie bars has already been documented. Speaking of which, I was in Belfast the other week…and had two Caramelitas. That’s right. Two.)

Party time was upon us before we knew it, so we hastily traveled back to Cambridge and considered Inman Square “dinner” options. I put the word dinner in quotes because Christina’s Ice Cream shouldn’t have fit the bill, but I guess one is allowed to get away with extraordinary indulgences on one’s birthday. Look at this most delicious of sundaes!

Coffee oreo ice cream, with an honest, unsweetened coffee flavor and large oreo chunks? Check. Peanut butter chip ice cream, with a similarly natural, nutty base flavor and tasty chocolate pieces? Check. Crushed peanut butter cup topping, made of candies that put Reese’s to shame? Check. Homemade hot fudge and whipped cream, both of which make you rethink all notions of what these toppings should be, in the best way? Check. The resulting amalgamation gave me all the energy I needed to dance the night away. And boy, did I dance :-)

But wait – there’s more!

Linda and I spent the following day putzing around Harvard Square. We dropped by Sweet for a cupcake later that afternoon. I enjoyed the Red, White, and You cupcake, which I first tried two years ago! It’s a vanilla bean cupcake injected with mixed berry jam, topped with a towering dollop of vanilla buttercream frosting, and garnished with an avalanche of crunchy red sugar. It’s still rather delicious, though the frosting was significantly lighter than I remember; they must be whipping it nowadays?

Lastly, here’s a huge shout-out to my wonderful friends, who made my birthday so special! Y’all are amazing. :-)

Another Foray Into Portsmouth Desserts

The uncomfortable New England heatwave broke this past Sunday, and coastal New Hampshire experienced a beautiful day of temperatures in the mid-80s with a cool breeze off the ocean. I celebrated this pleasant change in weather by walking around Portsmouth, a favorite seaside town that I have raved about previously. I tried two new - or, in the first place's case, non-blogged - eateries this time around.

Bostonians may have heard of The Friendly Toast, a diner-style establishment originally in Portsmouth that recently opened an outpost in Cambridge's Kendall Square. I tried the Cambridge restaurant prior to the Portsmouth one, and loved its food enough that I just had to go to the original. I should make a note that delicious breakfasts are not the only things that make the restaurants memorable. The tacky decor is overwhelming, to say the least. Consider the fact that this ominous fellow may be overseeing your Cantabrigian meal of granola cranberry chocolate-chip pancakes drenched in Grand Marnier sauce:

The kitsch is more extreme in Portsmouth. It's densely packed and somewhat abrasive, with animatronic feet advertizing socks alongside eerily spinning farm animal caricatures. Still, all that clutter and noise should not distract you from appreciating the excellent food.

The Friendly Toast serves The. Best. Pancakes. I have ever had. They taste pleasingly of buttermilk, and have a texture that is difficult to categorize - soft yet sturdy, they soak up any nearby syrup and only flake slightly when cut. Their mixins are also the most creative pancake fillers I have ever seen. The above Grand Marnier example is a perfect illustration of their uniqueness, but their willingness to make veritable desserts out of their pancakes is what keeps me coming back. That's right, I indulged in toffee chocolate pancakes! Huge milk and semisweet chocolate chips melted alongside jagged toffee pieces to create a meal that was more candy bar than pancake. Unlike many purveyors of innocuous chocolate chip pancakes, the FT does not skimp on the good stuff. Copious drizzles of maple syrup pushed the meal ever closer to heaven. Another huge plus is these pancakes' size. One pancake is enough for one (large) meal, so I ordered two and got to enjoy the Toast's bounty all over again as leftovers.

I was too full after my pancake to eat another baked good, but there was a new bakery next to the FT that was just begging for me to take something home. The Portsmouth Baking Company had a simple sign outside their store - "NOW OPEN for LUNCH and CUPCAKES." I saw that last word and couldn't walk away. Enter an adorable modern bakery - as if Boston's beloved Flour chain were to get 25% more cutesy - where massive, picture-perfect cupcakes are displayed with geometric precision. Ah! I wish my phone had not died so I could share pictures with you. Fortunately, though, I have a picture of the cupcake I ate at home later that evening.

This chocolate tangerine cupcake held so much promise. (I love chocolate and orange together almost as much as I love chocolate and mint.) I breathed in the cupcake's rich aroma and hoped for a dark, bitter chocolate cake with intense orange peel flavor, and a sweeter orange buttercream frosting neutralizing the strength beneath it. The reality, however, was nothing like that. Instead, the cake itself was a particularly heavy and dry devil's food, and the odd-tasting frosting had no trace of orange within it. The only citrus I detected came in the form of two small pieces of candied orange peel atop the frosting. I am not kidding when I say I tasted more toothpaste than buttercream in the frosting. I don't know how I muddled through the entire dessert. I don't think I have ever known a cupcake to be so disappointing.

I wish the Portsmouth Baking Company luck, if only because (1) their store is the epitome of modern baker chic, and (2) their cakes are pretty to look at. Maybe I'll try their artisan breads at some point - but, I can safely say I will never willfully eat their "buttercream" again. Let's hope my next Portsmouth dessert experimentation is more successful!

The Dessert Dump - Or, What I Should Have Written

Wow, my last post was in May. I've had many desserts since then, but I have not been so coordinated in my enjoyment of them to commit them to the blog within a reasonable timeframe. So, consider this "Dessert Dump" a woefully brief overview of what I should have documented in the past two months.

Something from Athan's...which probably happened after something from Publick House! Brookline's Washington Square is a favorite place to overeat. Chocolate and vanilla genoise cakes and mousses, layered and drenched in ganache, plus fig (?) gelato. Eaten at my favorite corner table.

Iced mocha and turtle hot chocolate from Davis Square's Diesel Cafe! Smooth, deep, chocolatey win. WIN in caps, even.

Some sort of flourless chocolate torte from Posto, also in Davis Square. Good, but not as awe-inspiring as their pastas and pizzas. The non-raisiny port wine glaze was a plus.

Shabby Chic's chocolate blackberry cupcake. Similar to their chocolate raspberry cupcake, but with blackberry! Who could say no to that purple frosting? Of course, both frosting and cake were out-of-this-world delicious, and SC remains the best cupcakery I have had the pleasure of sampling.

An array of finger desserts from Dante's Al Fresco Fiasco. I consider it a miracle that I made it to this early-afternoon event, since I was up through the sunrise the "night" before. My efforts were completely worth it, though - these macaroons, mousses, and fritters were exemplary, as were the savory non-desserts. I can't wait to have a real meal at Dante sometime!

An unbelievably rich triple chocolate cupcake - that's right, chocolate cake + chocolate frosting + chocolate bar - from a mystery bakery in Stoneham. An unexpected treat courtesy of my colleague Shannon! The frosting defies categorization, it was so dense and fudgy; the cake could barely stand under its weight! Taste buds were similarly overwhelmed by its robust chocolate-ness, though in the best possible way.

Next up: a real post, with more words on fewer desserts...

From Hoboken, With Cupcake

I just spent a fun weekend visiting good friends in the New York City area. Much of this time was spent in Hoboken, where two friends (and their comfortable couches) reside. We enjoyed several leisurely mornings there, with slow walks to and from our chosen brunch locations. (Yes, there were choices to be made - I did not know that Hoboken has the highest density of bars and restaurants per square mile in the US!) These walks took us by several tempting bakeries. I was always too full from brunch to enjoy these treats in passing, but I did take one cupcake from Crumbs Bake Shop back to Boston at the end of the weekend!

The Crumbs cupcakery chain actually has locations in California, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey, with plans to open additional locations in other states. I'm sure they'll be welcome wherever they go, because seriously, look at the contents of this display case:

So many tempting flavors, in such decadent portions! I ended up purchasing a Grasshopper cupcake due to my love of chocolate and mint.

This cupcake was different from most gourmet cupcakes. To start, it was massive - at roughly 3 inches in diameter and height, it put all Boston cupcakes to shame. Then, instead of being dense and finely crumbed, the cake was rather airy, with large crumbs that belied its smooth texture. I would liken the Crumbs cake to an unusually successful box cake - it had the appearance and mouthfeel of a cake mix product, but much more flavor than Duncan or Betty usually provide. It tasted of rich, buttery cocoa, and was almost ganache-like in its intensity.

The cupcake had a fudgy frosting injection at its center. I would guess that this was chocolate buttercream frosting blended with cake crumbs or batter, as the injection was not smooth throughout but somehow integrated perfectly with the surrounding cake. Then, the entire massive cupcake was covered in mild, sweet mint buttercream frosting. The frosting, like the cake, reminded me of the storebought product, only with a drop or two of peppermint extract - but, it could be that Crumbs just mixes an exceptionally oily and creamy buttercream frosting. It was cool and refreshing, and maybe a tad slippery. The mint flavor could have been more assertive, but generally speaking the frosting complemented the intensity and smoothness of the base cake. The frosting layer was then garnished with a small dollop of whipped cream and a sprinkling of soft, creamy semisweet chocolate chips.

Crumbs' best-possible-box-mix taste is unusual in today's baking world, and as such it was unexpectedly satisfying. I'm positively stuffed after eating the Grasshopper, but I do wish that I had more cupcakes for the days to come. My purchase survived a 4.5-hour non-refrigerated bus ride plus nearly 3 days in my fridge, so others - like the Espresso and the Half Baked, mmm - could have made the trip as well. The next time I'm in Hoboken, or someplace with a Crumbs franchise, I will have to take more cupcakes on the road, and possibly eat one on location too!

Cupcake Conveyance

As you may have read earlier, my Cupcakes & Cocktails class provided me with plenty of little baked goods to enjoy over the following days. They posed a question to me from the confines of their pastry box: what if you want to eat some of us at lunch? How can you bring us to work without messing up our frosting? Fortunately, I had the answer waiting in my kitchen cabinet.

The Cup-a-Cake container is perfectly shaped to hold one cupcake. Its interior plastic prongs dig gently into the side of the cake portion and hold it securely in place. It snaps shut nice and tightly. You can toss the container around as much as you'd like, and the cupcake won't budge! The frosting remains intact!

I would highly recommend investing $3 in one of these contraptions if you ever think you may want to move about with a cupcake...and yes, I enjoyed this happily-conveyed sangria cupcake at work. Yum!

Cupcakes & Cocktails

I recently attended an exceptionally fun Cupcakes & Cocktails class at the Boston Center for Adult Education! 14 or so students came together in a large, well-equipped kitchen to be guided through the creation of three cocktails and three alcohol-infused cupcakes. I had expected the class to be more of an intensive learning experience than it was, but I came away with a few good tips and more than a few good memories. While each student got their hands in the pot - or rather, the mixing bowls and the ovens - at least once throughout the course, I was unusually lucky by getting to craft all three cocktails in addition to performing the expected baking tasks. I guess that's what happens when you (unintentionally) take a seat by the drink station!

So, what did we make?

• Birthday Cake shots - pineapple juice, amaretto, and vodka shaken to the point of frothiness and then decanted into glasses, topped with whipped cream and sprinkles. This most cake-like of libations was simply adorable, and tasty too.
• Jello Shot cupcakes - strawberry box mix plus strawberries and coconut rum, baked and then drizzled with un-set (liquid) strawberry jello. The frosting was simply pulped strawberries mixed with butter and more than one bag of powdered sugar. The cupcakes were topped with small squares of "mosaic" jello, which was an aggregate of small cubes of different-flavored jellos mixed together with plain gelatin. The cake itself was slightly too moist for the comparatively-thin consistency of a box cake. I couldn't detect any coconut or rum flavors, but the strawberry flavor was out in full force thanks to the incorporated berries and colorful jello drizzle. The frosting was faintly berry-flavored, assertively sweet, and surprisingly stiff. The jello was, well, jello.
• Sangria - macerated apples, peaches, orange slices, and lemon wedges steeped in a mixture of shiraz spiced with cinnamon and cloves, Grand Marnier, and apple juice. The result was a good, dark, winey sangria with plenty of sweet and juicy fruit.
• Sangria cupcakes - melted chocolate chips, cocoa powder, and red wine mixed in to a standard cake recipe, baked, and then topped with wine frosting and wine-soaked fruit compote. The very dense, finely-crumbed cake was robustly chocolatey, and there was a hint of berry jam flavor thanks to the wine. I think this treat had the best cake of the three. The frosting was like eating a concentrated dessert wine (sugar-wise, not alcohol-wise!), and while several fruits were used in the boiled wine compote, only the pineapples retained their shape and distinctive flavor. The strawberries and blueberries were lost to the wine.
• Apple Cider hot toddies - hot mulled cider and a shot of whiskey poured over a pat of spiced butter, garnished with whipped topping, a cinnamon stick, and spiced graham cracker crumbs. The resultant drink was warm and comforting, with just the right balance achieved between a kick (generous spicing, alcohol) and smoothness (whipped topping and melting butter). The highlight of this drink was the butter, which had been softened in its plain state and then blended with brown sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon. I'd love to make my own spiced butter, and use it for more than just drinks!
• Tiramisu cupcakes - vanilla buttermilk cupcakes cut in half, with espresso-Kahlua syrup poured over the cut edges. The cupcakes were then reassembled with a dollop of marscapone-Kahlua frosting holding the halves together. The tops of the cupcakes were decorated with another dollop of frosting, plus some chocolate shavings. This was an excellent cupcake! I love the dense yet creamy-smooth texture achieved when baking with buttermilk and cake flour. The coffee flavor additions really shone against the plain cake canvas, and the marscapone frosting was unexpectedly airy and creamily smooth. It had none of the crystalline, faintly-crunchy texture of the stawberry frosting, though similar quantities of powdered sugar were used. I thought it complemented the cake very well, and I enjoyed the fact that it used so much dairy - it was almost as if I were eating a latte instead of straight-up espresso.

Here are some pictures from the class!

I really appreciated getting to work on several involved baking recipes and trying my hand at mixology. I even got to helm a KitchenAid standalone mixer - the appliance of my dreams! - as it whipped up some delicious frosting for our little treats. While a to-go box of 12 leftover cupcakes and all remaining strawberry frosting were delicious takeaways from the class, I hope the more practical skill- and knowledge-oriented takeaways will have more staying power. What are some good tips that I learned in this class?

• Macerate your fruit. Toss the fruit you plan on using in baking, or a drink, with sugar, and let it sit for 20 minutes or so before use. The sugar, by creating a solvent imbalance with the fruit, draws the juices forth from the fruit and releases the fruit's flavor. I really noticed the beneficial difference made by this process in the sangria and the strawberry frosting.
• Spices are welcome anywhere. I feel like a whole new world has been opened to me now that I am acquainted with spiced butter.
• Use an ice cream scoop when filling cupcake liners. The amount of batter held by the 2oz. half-sphere scoop is usually just right, and if it isn't, it's a lot less messy to correct the amount with a clean-edged scoop than a runny spoon.
• Don't fill your cupcake liners more than 3/4 full. That may be common knowledge, but as a traditionally overenthusiastic filler it was good for me to hear.
• Frosting shouldn't flow. When whipping up frosting with a mixer or beater, you can tell it's ready when you lift the whisk attachment from the frosting. It should stay static, in a column of sugary goodness, between the elevated mixing apparatus and the bowl.

I do wish I had learned more about baking with alcohol, since it's not as simple as arbitrarily replacing a "dry" recipe's wet ingredients with spirits and such. Fortunately, I have a new cookbook that should educate me on that topic.
 
Here's to baking, drinking, and any combination of the two!

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. :-)