<p>Harriet, thanks. H works in Center City, so I should get him to bring some home…</p>
<p>You’re making me hungry.</p>
<p>I saw a cooking show about cupcakes the other night while I was using the treadmill at the gym. For some reason, the televisions always have cooking shows on. This one was a contest with impossible tasks. Make,bake,frost,decorate 3 different kinds of cupcakes in 70 minutes? One woman made cupcakes with chopped bacon in the frosting! The final competition was making 1,000 cupcakes in 2 hours - elaborately decorated at that!</p>
<p>Bagel stores all over the place here, but I don’t think we have a cupcake shop yet.</p>
<p>I have to say that I don’t get it. I like cupcakes well enough, but the $3.50 cupcake I bought in a fancy cupcake shop didn’t seem appreciably better to me than a cupcake from the supermarket. Are some of them really to die for, or is it just the idea?</p>
<p>abasket - ha ha, and all the employees call her “mommy” too! It bothers me when they try to build things out of cupcakes b/c that seems too much like Cake Boss, etc. They made a dog out of cupcakes in one episode, and I swear to you it looked like a polar bear! LOL.</p>
<p>Come to think of it, I have also seen Cupcake Wars…</p>
<p>I could never bring myself to pay $3 or $4 for a cupcake because I love to bake and can easily make my own… But I like seeing the especially pretty store ones!</p>
<p>OK. I hate you people . with your fancy cupcake stores and yummy cupcakes. I really want a cupcake now and the only way Im getting one is to pull out my KitchenAid and start whipping up a batch or heading down to the Safeway bakery and buying one of their cardboard tasting things. Neither option is very appealing. :(</p>
<p>Do you have a Whole Foods near you tutu? I never bought or tried one, but I did see some amazing works of art there. I don’t even recall how much they cost, but I just remember the decorative toppings (really artwork).</p>
<p>Oh my! I took one of my sons to Houston to see Rice University. One of the parents who frequents the Rice thread suggested that while I was wandering around killing time, to find Celebrity Cupcakes near Rice Village. $3.25 for a cupcake. I gulped and then swallowed. It was really fabulous. The cake just tasted so good and the icing, too. I don’t think there are any of these kinds of stores in the suburbs where I live. Thank goodness!</p>
<p>northeastmom, No Whole Foods unfortunately but going to Spokane (1.75 hrs away) next week, will see if they have a cupcake store. I have already called 3 friends complaining about our lack of a cupcake store. One friend actually watched 10 minutes of the cupcake TV show got hungry and then got depressed and changed the channel to HGTV.</p>
<p>NYMof2, that show with the crazy challenges - that’s Cupcake Wars! About to watch a DVR’d episode in a few minutes! But no cupcakes in the house to eat with it. :(</p>
<p>Recently our secretary at work had a birthday. Someone else in the department brought her a box of 12 cupcakes from a local cupcake shop - 12!!! I think there were 4 different kinds. The person who gave them to her challenged her to try one of each. (I wish!) I took one, ate 1/2 of it and brought the other half home to eat later - don’t think my body would accept 4!!!</p>
<p>"I have to say that I don’t get it. I like cupcakes well enough, but the $3.50 cupcake I bought in a fancy cupcake shop didn’t seem appreciably better to me than a cupcake from the supermarket. Are some of them really to die for, or is it just the idea? "</p>
<p>The ones at my cupcake shop are absolutely worth the price, they are substantially different from anything else I’ve had, homemade or store bought.</p>
<p>NYmomof2, aren’t you close enough for [Flour</a> & Sun Bakery](<a href=“http://www.flourandsunbakery.com/?]Flour”>http://www.flourandsunbakery.com/?)? It’s well worth the trip. Keep an eye on the schedule of what’s showing at the Jacob Burns - something will pop up that you want to see, and you can justify the whole thing as a cultural excursion. </p>
<p>You too, momof3sons. </p>
<p>Maybe what we need is a Cupcake Meetup?</p>
<p>That bakery looks wonderful, Harriet, but it is over 20 miles from me! </p>
<p>But I’d love a cupcake meetup…</p>
<p>In my small city, there was no cupcake store till recently. Now there are several. One of the joys of the past few months was trying out cupcakes for a wedding. The choices at the upscale bakeries were, yes, to die for. We had great fun arranging them on a tier at the wedding, in all their varied glory. People loved them. </p>
<p>My Ds had the dream of starting a cupcake store a few years ago, as the craze was on the upswing. Maybe would have been better payback than college as an investment? Never will know.</p>
<p>Here in my neck of the woods we’ve got Trophy Cupcakes. One of their stores is located in Wallingford, and the other sells sweet treats to trophy wives who shop at Bravern. Can’t say I their cupcakes are any good since I’m not a fan of baked goods with a blob of frosting on the top.</p>
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<p>I think you might be going to the wrong cupcake shop. Compare the icing on a supermarket cupcake to the icing on a good cupcake. The supermarket stuff is sweetened hydrogenated shortening-- basically whipped Crisco with shortening in it, absolutely revolting. No one should eat that disgusting crap.</p>
<p>Good icing, such as will be found on a good cake or cupcake, has good ingredients, notably butter and more butter. If the icing is chocolate, there will be plenty of high-quality chocolate (unlike the supermarket, which might put a tiny amount of chocolate into the Crisco mix) mixed with heavy cream. </p>
<p>Now to the cake part. A supermarket cupcake will be dry, flavorless and cottony. A good cupcake will be (again) buttery, with a substantial crumb. You’ll be able to tell whether it’s chocolate with a blindfold on. Any other flavorings (vanilla, coconut, rum) will be distinct, without a fake, chemical note. </p>
<p>Yum. Sounds like I need to make a batch of cupcakes. (The Cooks Illustrated recipe for easy chocolate cupcakes is delectable and quick, btw.)</p>
<p>Harriet,
Of course I googled “cupcake bakery” in our area as soon as I posted, ;), and I found plenty, including the one you mentioned. Wish I hadn’t…I feel a road trip coming on. Should I do that before or after the gym? ;)</p>
<p>Supermarket cupcakes are disgusting. No comparison.</p>
<p>Tee & Cakes in Boulder!</p>
<p>I wonder what it takes to make a go with a cupcake store. No way one would make it in my town of almost 100k, but there IS one in Napa, which is nearby, and a little smaller. I wonder if Davis, CA has one.</p>
<p>Maybe this</p>
<p>Let Them Eat Cake
<a href=“http://www.letthemeatcake-davis.com/[/url]”>http://www.letthemeatcake-davis.com/</a></p>