The Cupcake Shoppe

the cupcake shoppe

I visited Raleigh’s premier cupcake bakery, The Cupcake Shoppe, today following a birthday lunch with friends. While that extra “pe” really bugs me, their baking should be taken seriously. It’s seriously good.

Cupcakes have become so trendy in the past few years with cutesy bakeries cropping up everywhere. The trend has made its way into the wedding industry with cupcake wedding cakes becoming a standard option alongside traditional cakes or the trendy Krispy Kreme doughnut cake. I attribute the cupcake hype at least partially to Carrie and Miranda famously dining on New York City Magnolia cupcakes (in the episode “No Ifs, Ands, or Butts” from season 3). In between bites, Carrie reveals to Miranda that she has met Aidan. (Voice over: “He was warm, masculine, and classic American. Just like his furniture.”)

Besides this, the cupcake is just adorable: a smallish, single serving to be savored all on your own. The cupcake is appealing because it’s messy, but manageable. It’s an adventure mapping your way around the paper wrapper to get a bit of icing in every bite and not on your nose. And the little cakes come in so many flavor varieties, decorated either simplistically or elaborately.

the lemon zinger

On this visit I ordered the Lemon Zinger. That’s lemon cake with with lemon buttercream icing, and surprise!—lemon curd in the center. The heaping icing is beautifully simple and subtle in citrus flavor, though there is a kind of brightness, a lemony “zing.” I think Ina Garten adds a bit of lemon juice to her plain buttercream icing because it truly brightens the flavor, without adding that identifiabley lemon tartness. Likewise the cake was subtly lemon-flavored, until reaching the bright yellow curd on the inside. And then it was a matter of trying to plan each bite to include a taste of lemon curd.

The menu at The Cupcake Shoppe includes a variety of regular flavors, and a rotating flavor of the week. Here’s the bakery case. Top left is the “What’s Up Doc?” carrot cake with cream cheese icing. Below that is the “Mint Condition” chocolate cake with mint buttercream. Check out the menu here for a complete list of their regular flavors. I’m a big fan of the “Big Red.”

pretty cupcakes

And here’s the flavor of the week: Banana Caramel.

flavor of the week

I also did a little spying into the kitchen where a cupcake decorator was busy preparing a small custom order for a Harry Potter-themed party. What a fun job! She’s got a box of six cupcakes with brooms on the first two, then a pair with stars, and a pair with Harry Potter spectacles. I love the whimsy!

to-be Harry Potter cupcakes

If you’re in the Glenwood South area, I recommend making a quick stop. There are tables and chairs inside if you want to eat-in. Plus I’m pretty sure they serve milk, coffee and so forth. The bakery also completes smaller custom orders and orders of a larger size for events and weddings. Prices are reasonable for the quality at $2.75 each, or $30 for a mixed dozen.

Oatmeal Caramel Bars

best. dessert. ever.

My mom has been making this dessert ever since, well, I can’t remember exactly. But it quickly became my favorite homemade sweet. My brother always favored her chocolate cake (which is amazing), but the Oatmeal Caramel Bars were always my thing. I recall peeling each caramel from its wrapper just so Mom would bake them. A couple of Christmases ago, I had just completed a post-graduate internship down in Birmingham, Alabama, with Southern Progress Corporation (the publisher of Southern Living, Cooking Light, Coastal Living, Health, Southern Accents and Sunset)—and more importantly where I met LG, so my mom surprised me with the 1985 Southern Living Annual Recipes cookbook. Oxmoor House is the book publishing division for all SPC titles, and each year, they publish an annual for each of their magazine titles that contains every recipe from the year. No need to hang on to pesky paper magazine clippings.

the annual recipes of 1985

Here’s my mom’s inscription on the inside cover:

pretty handwriting

So I turn to page 247, and find this…the Oatmeal Caramel Bars recipe!

page 247

If that’s not destiny, I don’t know what is. The Oatmeal Caramel Bars were meant to be my favorite dessert since birth. I’ll share the recipe.

OATMEAL-CARAMEL BARS

1 (14-oz) package caramels
1/3 c. milk
2 c. all-purpose flour
2 c. regular oats, uncooked
1 1/2 c. firmly packed brown sugar
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 c. butter, softened
1 (12-oz) package semisweet chocolate chips
1 c. chopped walnuts

Combine caramels and milk in a saucepan; cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until caramels melt. Set mixture aside.

Combine flour, oats, sugar, baking soda and salt. Add egg and butter, stirring until mixture is crumbly. Press half of mixture into a greased 13- x 9- x 2-inch baking pan. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with chocolate chips and walnuts; pour caramel mixture evenly on top. Sprinkle on remaining crumbs. Bake at 350° for 20 to 25 minutes. Cool and cut into bars. Chill 8 hours. Yield: about 3 dozen.

It’s not uncommon that a batch is waiting on the kitchen counter when I come home to visit. And if I’m lucky, half of the batch is reserved for me to carry home. So for Easter, my mom had done a good bit of cooking and baked these treats. They were as delightful as ever. Just one thing has changed about the Oatmeal Caramel Bars over the years. They have been sliced smaller. Seriously, a few bites of this treat is enough because it’s so rich. I suggest pouring a glass of milk to get the full effect.  The oatmeal crust is both crunchy and chewy, the chocolate and caramel are sweet, but there’s a distinct saltiness that works with the walnuts.

And now I’m thinking back to other delicious family desserts. There’s strawberry cake, pound cake, berry or peach cobbler, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate bread pudding…I’ll have to stop there.

Foodstalkin’ with my feet ten feet off of Beale

Last weekend, I headed to Memphis with my college friends to celebrate Taylor’s last hurrah as a single lady. While the main focus of this trip was not eating (although what trip of mine isn’t focused on food?), I managed to sneak in several really good meals. Here are some of my favorites:

Thursday night we celebrated Caroline and Kate’s birthdays with a yummy homemade meal of grilled chicken thighs served over sauteed spinach and cheese grits. It was so delicious- in fact, I’m thinking about attempting to recreate it this weekend. We finished the meal with the cutest cake ever. I’m so mad I didn’t get a picture of the whole cake, because it was freakin’ adorable. It was the Cindy Lou Who cake from Muddy’s Bake Shop. I googled the bakery name last night to find the website, and ended up spending way too much time reading through the owner’s blog. It reminded me how much I would love to do something like open a bakery! Maybe one day…

Cindy Lou Who

Friday night we capped off KB’s art show with drinks and bar food at Bardog Tavern. Most of the table had some form of the grilled cheese. I got mine with tomato bisque. There really is nothing better than a grilled cheese, in my opinion. It was especially good on this super chilly night. The tomato bisque was thicker than most, which I liked. It was served in a mug with big croutons to sop up that sweet nectar.

Mmm mmm good

Saturday night was the main event. With hot pink wigs on our heads, we headed over to Spindini’s. We got some pretty hilarious looks as we walked into the restaurant. We started off with the Tuscan Butter- which tasted just like an appetizer served at the now defunct River Market and Deli- and also the fried calamari. The Tuscan Butter consisted of marscapone, goat cheese, and marinara, and is served with toast rounds. I remember that the River Market and Deli appetizer was a spread of marinara and montrachet cheese. They taste so similar to each other.

Doesn't look too appetizing, but looks are deceiving

For the main course, the group split four different pizzas (and it was totally overkill- we had way too much food due to my eyes being much bigger than my stomach). Our pizzas, in order of my preference:

1. Lobster Pizza

2. Margherita Pizza (didn’t get a picture of this one, but I’m sure you get the idea)

3. White Pizza

4. Pesto Pizza

The lobster was so good. I loved the bacon and aioli on top. It was definitely unique, but not nearly as heavy as it sounds.

The margherita was pretty standard- how can you go wrong with the classic?

Loved the arugula on the white pizza.

The pesto was a little much. There were too many red onions hanging out.

There were a couple of meals that I didn’t get to take a picture of, but that were good nonetheless. When we all arrived on Thursday, we grabbed lunch at Huey’s. They have good burgers and a fun atmosphere.

This was the first time I’ve been to Memphis without getting BBQ. Nuts! For the record, I prefer Rendezvous (I think I have only had Corky’s and Rendezvous though). Let the debate begin…

Raindrops keep fallin’ on my head

I’ve had a major sweet tooth lately. I started to feel like I wasn’t taking advantage of all of the wonderful bakeries/sweet shops in my area. All that has now changed. I am averaging about one major chocolate/sweets excursion per week. Here are my discoveries: 

Today I stopped by Raindrop Chocolate while I was running errands. This shop, located in a strip mall just down the street from me, has always intrigued me. I have heard that they make amazing gelato, but it’s very rare that I’m in the mood for ice cream-y concoctions. I decided to stop in this afternoon and see what else they had to offer besides the gelato. They had a very small selection of baked goods (2 things: some type of cake and amaretto cupcakes), around 8 gelato flavors (including unusual picks such as Blood Orange Chocolate and Wine with Raisins), a wide selection of truffle flavors, and several other chocolate treats. I went with 2 varieties of truffles: Sweet Curry and Dark Chocolate Caramel with Grey Sea Salt. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of the Sweet Curry truffle, as I ate it before I was out of the parking lot. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I really enjoyed it. It’s exactly as it sounds- Dark chocolate shell with a creamy chocolate interior that is spiced with curry powder. A sprinkle of the bright yellow stuff over the top made for a nice presentation. The Dark Chocolate Caramel one was my favorite, though. I love salted sweet things. The salt heightened the flavors of the sweet caramel- this particular version was standout because they used the large crystals of sea salt. It looked great and tasted the same. 

Another place I’ve been visiting recently is The Chocolate Bar, a cutesy place in Montrose. They are rumored to have awesome gelato as well, but my eyes were on the baked goods the first time I went. I sampled several gelato flavors, and was really impressed with all of them. I particularly liked the Coffee Toffee Time. I decided to go with a slice of Uncle Darryl’s cake, and it was an excellent decision. I am usually wary of any kind of cake that’s not made by my mom. I find that most store bought cakes (even from bakeries) are too dry and the icing is usually tooth-achingly sweet, so it was pretty hard for me to plunk down $10 for a slice of the stuff. This specimen was perfect- the cake was suitably moist, and the icing was actually a dark chocolate ganache, and the whole thing was sprinkled with toffee bits. This thing was HUGE. I ate it for 3-4 days, which is pretty impressive for me. That should give some sort of indication of how big these slices are (well that, and the price). I’ve been back since then for a couple of scoops of gelato. It’s a cool little place. The best part is that it’s open late (even on Sundays), so it’s there whenever I need it.

I have a thing for cupcakes. I don’t even know that I like them that much, but I tend to crave them frequently. I think it’s partially the look of them, and partially the fact that they are a cheap, portioned way to satisfy my baked good cravings. The closest cupcake shop, Crave Cupcakes, is a boutique bakery that specializes solely in cupcakes. I believe it’s based on the famous LA cupcake outlet, Sprinkles (and it looks like we’re getting one of those soon!). In my opinion, the cupcakes from Crave aren’t really anything to write home about. The times that I have gotten them, the cake has been semi-dry and the frosting is a hard shell of the sickeningly sweet variety. However, it serves the purpose to satisfy my cravings (it could also be due to the fact that I usually go right before they close in a mad rush to cure my sweet tooth).