Zebra Cake- A Look Inside

A look inside of the Black, Red, & White Cake

I wanted this 14th Birthday Cake extra special outside...and in!

Each tier of the cake was different!

For the red tier of the cake I used Duff Goldman's Zebra Premium Cake Mix.

The box contains 2 packages of cake mix, chocolate and vanilla.

After mixing the batters, the batter is poured into the pan alternating 1/8 or 1/4 cup of each batter and letting them spread out on their own. Quite simple, a little time consuming, but worth it!

I used a different flavor Duff Cake Mix before for my Wild Thing Cupcakes. In that post, I had mentioned the cake not rising as much as I would have liked, well this time I had the same result. Instead of leveling the zebra cake and losing more height, I used frosting to build up the lower areas. Not ideal, but it worked.

The Zebra Cake was very moist and flavorful, consistent with the quality of the Duff Spice Cake Mix. Everyone loved it! I would definitely buy it again for taste, but if I intended to use it for a large cake again, I would make this tier 3 layer and use 2 mixes and just level the top. For cupcakes? Oh yes!

I also used the Duff Goldman's Red Fondant for the red layer of the cake, it was really easy to work with and didn't taste that bad either. I am still not a fan of eating the fondant though!

 

If you haven't already, check out the whole cake- Black, Red, & White Cake.

Pink Princess Cupcakes #19- Wild Thing

Wild Thing

Last week, I made the Pink Princess- Fairy Princess Hat Cupcakes and on that post, I said this week I would be making the Bubblegum design...well SURPRISE! I didn't!

 

I have made all of the Pink Princess Cupcakes out of order, so #19 here may not be #19 in the book. Anyway, this is my #19 of the 28 Pink Princess Cupcakes that are inspired from The Pink Princess Cupcake Book by Barbara Beery. In the book, the icing was piped on to match Zebra and Leopard cupcake liners. The cupcake liners that I found are by Fox Run and the leopard is in different colors than the liners in the book, plus in the set I have there is also a Giraffe liner. I did my best to copy the liners that I had. Easier thought than done!

 

For these cupcakes, the cake mix that I used is by Duff...this is the first time that I have tried the Duff Premium Cake Mix- Spice with Chocolate Bits. It was half off at Michael's, so why not? It taste good, similar to other spice cake mixes in flavor plus it had little chocolate bits in it. The cake was also super moist, but didn't rise like I had expected it too, this would be great for a cake that needs to be flat on top, but not so great for cupcakes. I would like to try some of the other Duff Premium Cake Mixes. If you have tried any of the Duff Premium Cake Mixes, I would love to hear your thoughts and experiences with it! I am not sure if maybe that was why it was half off, or if it was just a bad baking day on my part...

The icing is white Wilton Decorator Icing from the big 4.5 pound tub, I was all about shortcuts today! I used cocoa powder to get the various colors of brown and the black icing is the Wilton Ready To Use icing in a tube.

If it were not for the animal print liners and my saying so, you may wonder if I have ever seen an animal or been to the zoo in my life. I was wondering that myself while piping these prints. I love going to the zoo, quite often actually! Just a few years back, or maybe a few more than a few years, I even had tons of stuff in animal prints, just never attempted the print in cupcakes! Well, now I have and this is as close as it's gonna get!

That is Pink Princess #19, be sure to check out all of the Pink Princess Designs I have made.

The Next Pink Princess Cupcake I will be making:

Bubblegum (really!)

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These Pink Princess Cupcakes are shared with:

A Well-Seasoned Life: Sweet Indulgences

Tatertots & Jello: Weekend Wrap up Party

Serenity You: Serenity Saturday

Talking Dollars and Cents: Muffin (and Cupcake) Monday

Home Savvy A to Z: Savvy HomeMade Monday

Hoosier Homemade: Cupcake Tuesday



Twisted Sisters Cupcakes- We Promise

Yes, today I took another visit to the Diva!

I have grown quite fond of that pink cupcake van and my daughter hopes one day that it will take over the Ice Cream Truck that rolls through neighborhoods. Today, I have something new (well kinda) to share with you about these Twisted Sisters'!

It is this cupcake and what it stands for!

This is the "We Promise" cupcake. The We Promise Foundation is a charity from Chartway Federal Credit Union that makes dreams come true for little kids with life-threatening, debilitating, and chronic illnesses. We Promise partners with other foundations, like Make-a-Wish to help even more little kids dreams come true. For 2 weeks, Twisted Sisters Cupcakes is making this limited time cupcake and giving 10% from each cupcake sold to We Promise! I believe this is already the 2nd week...so get yours soon if you are in the area. If not, and you would still like to help, you can visit the We Promise Foundation Website.

Twisted Sisters have done everything in making this cupcake to make any child young or old smile! The cupcake is Vanilla flavored with Vanilla Frosting that reminds me of yummy vanilla bean ice cream!

 It is topped with a butterfly and filled with a rainbow!

Here is another cross section of this colorful cupcake!

This cupcake definitely made my daughter smile and with Twisted Sisters Cupcakes and We Promise, this cupcake will bring smiles to other children as well!

 

This isn't the first time Twisted Sisters Cupcakes have made a special cupcake for charity. Back in April 2011, I blogged about another limited cupcake from Twisted Sisters Cupcakes, the "Baby Cake" cupcake for the March of Dimes. There may be more that I have missed, if not, I am sure there will be more in the future. These sweet sisters do good things with there cupcakes and you have to love that about them!

Of course, I got more cupcakes from Twisted Sisters Cupcakes today!

From left to right:

COCOA Nut- This coconut flavored cupcake has coconut in the cake, not just coconut flavor! The American Chocolate Buttercream (my personal favorite frosting) is topped with coconut as well!

June Cleaver- Is dressed up for Labor Day with a star on top and red, white, and blue sprinkles. It is a vanilla bean cupcake with Madagascar Vanilla American Buttercream. The frosting has a great vanilla flavor! There truly is a difference in the type of vanilla extract you use...I learned that for myself and I love the Madagascar Vanilla!

We Promise- A Vanilla Cupcake with Vanilla Frosting filled with rainbows and topped with a butterfly! This was the star of the day, because of what it stands for!

The Highlander- This is a butterscotch cupcake with chopped Heath bar inside, I am not sure if I have ever eaten a Heath bar, but from what I can tell it would be good. Did I notice some pecan? Nope, I just looked up a Heath bar and it has toffee and almonds in it, so those nuts were almonds!The frosting was also butterscotch flavored and there was no question about that...yum!

 

As usual today we all had different favorites, different people just like different things! Just like cupcakes we are all made different! Today my favorite was the Highlander, maybe because I made a butterscotch cupcake recently myself and that is what my tastebuds are craving at the moment, but I really love the colorfulness of the We Promise Cupcake and what this cupcake stands for! In general, cupcakes make me smile, whether giving or getting :)

To find out more about Twisted Sisters, including where they will be next, visit the Twisted Sisters Cupcakes Website or Twisted Sisters Cupcakes Facebook Page!

     

   

I do have to tell you all, they know about me....

(they don't hate me either if that is what you are wondering...not yet anyways...lol!)

Betty Crocker "FUN da-Middles" Cupcake Mix

There's a new cupcake mix in town!

Recently popping up on store shelves, you may have seen the new Betty Crocker FUN da-Middles Cupcake Mix. It comes in 3 flavors: Chocolate Cupcake with Vanilla Filling, Yellow Cupcake with Vanilla Filling, and Yellow Cupcake with Chocolate Filling. I found 2 of the 3 flavors at our local Kroger grocery store.

The cupcake mix box says that Fun da-middles are easy and fun to make: "The filling surprise is inside", "Less Mess, less steps-no need to let cool to frost", "Perfect to pack in lunch boxes", "Specially designed filling bakes inside the cupcake."

Of course, I had to check them out!

The chocolate cupcake mix is made just like any other box mix, add eggs, water, and oil. Unlike box cake mixes, this only make 12 cupcakes, but also unlike box cake mixes, it comes with a pouch of filling! The filling is ready and all you have to do is squeeze the pouch 20 times before cutting off the corner to open. I did discover that there are about 2 cups of batter, so to make sure you get proportions right, go ahead and fill your liquid measuring cup to 1 cup for the bottom layer, reserving the other 1 cup for the top layer.

#1- Fill Cupcake liner about 1/3 full.

#2- Open filling pouch and divide filling equally among the 12 cups, making sure filling stays in the middle.

#3- Evenly distribute the reserved batter covering the filling.

The filling was the part I was very interested in...go figure right? First, if you do have a little oops, it is VERY thick, almost marshmallow-y before baking and easy to move back into the center. These bake at 350 for 24 to 29 minutes or  "until surface of cupcake appears dry." They were done perfect at 24 minutes, still moist, but they did crack on the top. Next time I may check them a minute or two earlier.*

 Allow to cool 20 minutes.

At this point, they are ready. This is when they could be packed in school lunches with no mess.

However, I like frosting on top of my cupcakes, not just inside. I do think it needed frosting on the top too. To keep it quick and easy with very little mess, the Whipped variety fluffy white canned frosting does the job very well, it complements the filling and they do taste similar and have similar texture and consistency. 

After baking, the consistency of the filling had changed. It no longer was a thick marshmallow-y glob and it was more the same consistency as the whipped frosting that I used. There was a nice amount vanilla flavored filling inside the cupcake too. The filling didn't try and absorb into the cupcake after sitting either. The filling was sweet, but not too sweet. 

The cake part of the cupcake tasted like regular box chocolate cake mix and I would imagine is the same mix as the Betty Crocker Chocolate Cake mix. The cake part baked up moist, fully containing the dollop of filling. For a box mix, this really tastes good, but could use a slight bit more chocolate flavor. 

However the yummy vanilla filling is really the star of this cupcake!

This is not the best picture, I did cut the cupcake a little unevenly, but you get the idea!

This cupcake IS QUICK and EASY to make! No special talent or tools required! Kids young and old love the surprise filling inside! If you are looking for an easy to make box mix cupcake, this will definitely do the job! Add a little whipped frosting to the top, finish it off with a few chocolate jimmies and you have a cute, quick and easy cupcake!

*Note: After baking these a second time, the chocolaty flavor was better. Overbaking will change the flavor. The directions say 24-29 minutes and the first time I took them out at 24 minutes. The second time I kept a watchful eye over them and they were ready at 20 minutes.

Twisted Sisters Cupcakes

Part 3

my pre-baking snack

It has been almost 4 months since I have last hunted down the DIVA! That's the Twisted Sisters Cupcake Van! When I checked there schedule on the Twisted Sisters Facebook Page, I found that they were going to be right in my area at 10am this morning. I had so many baking projects planned for today and what better way to start my day than with a cupcake? Just because I bake cupcakes a few times a week, doesn't mean that I don't want to support fabulous local bakers! This is actually my 3rd time reviewing Twisted Sisters Cupcakes and not really even a review anymore, just sharing these great cupcakes with the world...and they keep getting better!

So what flavors did I choose today?

On the left is Chocolate Oreo- It started with a chocolate cupcake, with little bits of Oreo inside! The frosting was a Creamy Vanilla Swiss Frosting and topped with crushed Oreos. The cupcake was great and the frosting even resembled in flavor that white stuff inside of an Oreo to me!

On the right is...drum roll please...dumdadadum...ChocolateX4- Seriously...Chocolate times 4. The chocolate cupcake had mini chocolate chips all in the cake AND THEN...it has chocolate mousse inside...AND THEN...it was topped with Chocolate American Buttercream and some chocolate sprinkles! This cupcake nearly put me over the edge, OH YES! It was THE BEST CUPCAKE I HAVE EVERY HAD!

I was at the first stop of the day and the cupcakes were chilled, they have to start that way if you are going to be traveling around with them in a van all day. They recommended that they sit out about 10 minutes before eating...but I couldn't wait, I cut right into it! YUM! Pure Perfection!

These girls are amazing! They just started delivering cupcakes in October 2010, and where some places start out great and quality goes down, every time I have been to Twisted Sisters Cupcakes...they just keep getting BETTER! Oh, and these cupcakes are BIGGER than the standard cupcake available at most places, not quite a jumbo, but bigger than a standard, so you get more than 2 or 3 bites of heaven! If you are ever in the Hampton Roads Area in Virginia, look them up on the Twisted Sisters Facebook Page or the Twisted Sisters Website, find there location and hunt them down so you can try one of these delicious cupcakes!

You can read about my other visits to Twisted Sisters Cupcakes HERE!

I wonder if they have ever googled themselves and found me blogging about them? They probably think I am a stalker!



Jell-o No-Bake Mini Cherry Cheesecakes

Another half-birthday has rolled around, and one of my son's favorite desserts...
Cheesecake!

Last year I made him the Martha Stewart: Cookies and Cream Cheese Cupcakes and they did take a lot of time. This year, to save a lot of time, I am going to try the JELL-O No Bake Cherry Cheesecake, mini style in cupcake liners. I chose mini cheesecakes over a regular sized cheesecake because they are easier to serve and...I love cupcakes!

These mini cherry cheese cakes were very quick to make. I used the foil liners without the papers inside for easy peeling. It did take a little bit longer to press the crust into 12 cupcake liners than the 15 minute box time for a regular sized pie, but it was still less than a half hour prep time. The mini cheesecakes take 1 hour to set up in the refrigerator or can be frozen for 4 hours. I put them in the refrigerator. The cheese cake did very slightly adhere to the foil. To avoid wasting any of this deliciousness, right before serving it does help to put them in the freezer for about 10 minutes.
I would have to say with the time it takes to prepare, bake, and set a regular cheese cake, I prefer this no-bake cheesecake!
These mini cherry cheesecakes tasted great!

Just Cupcakes- Harry Potter Cupcakes

A second look...

Yes, the hope for these 4 Harry Potter Cupcake designs are what brought me to Just Cupcakes this time. These Harry Potter Cupcakes were advertised on the Just Cupcakes Facebook page: "We will have our Harry Potter cupcakes in the shop on Thursday, Friday and Saturday - while they last :-) If you'd like to place an order, please call either shop or order online."

It didn't not say that the cupcakes were by order only....am I just not getting this part?

You may remember this place as a runner up on Cupcake Wars

After a long drive, we arrived at the destination early and at opening to make sure they weren't sold out, to find that the Harry Potter Cupcakes are by order only and would be available Saturday only without an order. After expressing my disappointment and making a different cupcake selection, as we were leaving, the manager did come out with the 4 cupcakes that I had originally came for and apologised for the misunderstanding and the cupcakes were swapped out. I still left somewhat disappointed in the whole experience. When something is advertised it needs to be clear if something is for order only.

 This time the cupcakes did have ample icing compared to my last review of Just Cupcakes. Since my last review, I have also heard from another little elf that visited this cupcakery saying... "they're just not that great." You can read more similar reviews at Yelp.com...so it isn't just my elves and I!

While the cupcakes taste fine and are decorated nicely, they are nothing that makes you want to "Wow!" and I knew that already. At $3 a cupcake, people want that "wow factor." The wow factor I wanted...was the Harry Potter designs and they are cute and that is why I still decided to share them with you!

*Update- since this post Just Cupcakes has continued to respond to people on Facebook saying the Harry Potter Cupcakes are available in store with no mention to an order needed*

Busch Gardens Cupcakes

At Busch Gardens, Williamsburg

from the M. Sweets Confectionary in Banbury Cross (across from the large clock)

As always when I am out and about, I am looking for cupcakes! There is one place that usually always has cupcake at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Virginia, it is the M. Sweets Confectionary in Banbury Cross. At the price of just $2.99 for a jumbo cupcake you get a lot of bang for your buck!

"Candy makers to the king and queen in everyone"

is the slogan describing this confectionary on the Busch Gardens Website.

I chose this one to make mine! Chocolate and Chocolate with Reese's Pieces on top!

Maybe it was the near hundred degree temperatures talking, but this cupcake tasted wonderful! The cupcake was moist, the chocolate rich, and who doesn't like Reese's Pieces? YUM!

If you aren't feeling up to a jumbo sized cupcakes, there are many other sweets to temp your taste buds from dipped pretzels to dipped cookies and strawberries!

Here are some cupcakes from 2010 at Busch Gardens. The ones on the left are from the M. Sweets Confectionary at Banbury Cross and the Cookie Monster on the right is from Das Festhaus in Germany.

They always have a Chocolate Cookie Monster and Vanilla Elmo at Das Festhaus, and while they are kinda cute they seemed rather dry when we had one. Cookie Monsters and Elmos are standard sized cupcakes and the same price as the jumbos at the confectionary.

While at Busch Gardens, I would recommend getting your cupcake fix at the M. Sweets Confectionary!

Chocolate Mousse Parfait

In an instant!

When I saw this Betty Crocker Chocolate Mousse Parfait Mix, I had to try it!

 (Assembly pictured above at each stage)

All you need to add is 1-1/2 cups of milk! I put one Wilton Dark Chocolate Candy Melt disk at the bottom of each up to prevent the mousse from running down the stem of the disposable Martini cups that I had leftover from my New Years Cupcakes made in Martini Cups. Assembly is easy, first add 1/4 cup mousse, then 2 tablespoons of the cookie crumbs, followed by 1/4 cup more mousse, followed by 1 teaspoon cookie crumbs.

These were ready in less than 10 minutes and can be eaten right away!

We did put them in the refrigerator to chill them a little before serving.

My review on this dessert:

YUM!

Quick and easy!

2011 Club Candiquik Contest Finalist Recipes

I was one of the lucky Club Candiquik members to receive a Candiquik sample kit in the mail with enough candy to create each of the 3 recipes to assist in my decision to choose a winner in the CANDIQUIK "Make Our Ad" Recipe Contest!

For more information go to: Club Candiquik Contest Webpage.

First, I wanted to share with you how easy Candiquik candy melts up. I always melt any brand of melting candy in my Wilton Chocolate Pro, absolutely love it! However, for these recipes (since they each called for an entire package), I decided to follow directions on the Candiquik packaging and melt the candy in the microwaveable tray. Let me tell you, it's so easy! This candy melts up smooth and easy in the tray in the microwave and there is NO CLEAN UP! Just throw the tray away when you are done! So, I thought that was pretty cool!

Please Note: There have been updates to this post since originally posted on 6/5/2011.  I have since then added all of the contestants recipes including a recipe correction that was noticed after the recipes were sent out.


The desserts below are listed are in no particular order.

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Bites
*WINNER*

Creator Comments: This is one of my all time favorite recipes! I have adapted it over the years and made it my own. It is easy, quick, no bake, and almost everyone has these 5 ingredients already in their pantry! You can even be trendy and make them into a "Pop" by putting them on a lollipop stick! I love making these in the fall because of their colors and homey feel! I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

INGREDIENTS:

2-1/4 cup Crunchy Peanut Butter

1 cup Margarine

7 cups Powder Sugar

2 tsp. Vanilla Extract

1 package Chocolate CANDIQUIK® Candy Coating

DIRECTIONS:

Mix the first four ingredients in a large bowl. Roll the mixture into tablespoon size balls and set onto wax paper. There should be about 40 balls. Melt the CANDIQUIK®. Dip each ball and set back onto wax paper to dry. Decorate as desired. Recipe is easily halved.

My experience making this recipe:

These are the naked Peanut Butter Bites! I know...I didn't get them perfectly rounded! I actually had a hard time getting these to maintain a round shape, especially upon dipping. The margarine to peanut butter ratio was 1 cup margarine to 1/4 cup crunchy peanut butter. I will leave it at that.

(Note: There was a typo in the recipe that I was following...so my experiences will differ from actual "Chocolate Peanut Butter Bite" recipe.)

The hardest part was trying to get them out of the chocolate. I found in the end rolling them from spoon to spoon worked best. I still had a hard time getting each ball to maintain there shape.

As soon as I placed them on wax paper, my little elf placed a peanut half on while the chocolate was still wet.

The recipe concluded with "decorate as desired."

With that noted, we drizzled a little peanut butter on top to help along the peanut butter flavor!

This recipe was made with "Extra Crunchy" Peanut Butter.

These were definately the hardest of the 3 recipes to make once I got beyond mixing the center filling. I had hoped to be able to get the bites into that perfect round shape.

I am definately going to play around with this recipe some in the future!

*** 6/6/2011- I was just contacted by Jen from Jen's Speciality Cupcakes and informed that there was a typo in her recipe that was posted on the Candiquik Webpage for the recipe contest...it should have been 2-1/4 cups of Crunchy Peanut Butter...NOT 1/4 cup. Miss Candiquik worked quick and has already fixed that typo on the website. I hope this doesn't effect Jen's chances in the contest. And here I thought it was me that just had a problem making a round ball!

I will remake these Chocolate Peanut Butter Bites in the future to the proper directions...so look for them on my blog again someday! Not sure when yet, I have made so many sweets over the past weekend, I need to de-sweet a few days! ***

***Be sure to view my remake of these Chocolate Peanut Butter Bites!***

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Mini Apple Pies with Edible Pie "Plate"
*Runner Up*

INGREDIENTS:

1 package Vanilla CANDIQUIK® Candy Coating

1 can of Apple Pie Filling

Crushed Sugar Cookies or Graham Crackers

Decorations for Top (optional)

Mini Cupcake Liners (not pretty ones as they will be discarded)

DIRECTIONS:

After melting CANDIQUIK®, take about a teaspoon full and pour into mini cupcake liner. With the back of a small spoon, push melted CANDIQUIK® up the sides of the cupcake liner as far as it will go. Let dry. Then spoon crumbled cookies or graham crackers on the bottom. Gently spoon about a teaspoon or so of pie filling onto of the cookies. Then spoon more CANDIQUIK® over the top of the apple/cookie combo. Let dry. When dry, you can decorate with candy writers (apple as shown in picture) or edible markers (as shown in picture with "stripes"). When completely dry, gently rip off cupcake liner.Enjoy!

My experience making this recipe:

Making these went really quick. The first step was to paint the inside of a mini cupcake liner with the Candiquik Vanilla Candy, let dry.  Then cover the bottom with graham cracker or cookie crumbs, followed by apple pie filling...or any filling you wish as the author of this recipe stated on the Candiquik Facebook page.

The top of the pie is covered with more of the melted candy.

This is the finished Mini Apple Pie before decorating.

The original pies were decorating with edible candy writers and pens. She decorated some with an apple and some with a lattice pattern.

I just used what I already had on hand...Royal Icing, with a little green flower sprinkle.

This is a picture of the inside...the picture doesn't do it justice!

I could really see myself using this recipe with cut up fresh berries from my garden.

These could really fill these with anything, it's a pretty neat idea!

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Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries

Creator Comments: These are delicious for any event and any time of year. My guests always love them and are impressed, if only they knew how easy they are! Fun, easy, delicious, and I used the CANDIQUIK® no-bake cheesecake recipe to fill them with!

INGREDIENTS:

1 package Chocolate CANDIQUIK® Candy Coating

1 package Vanilla CANDIQUIK® Candy Coating

24 strawberries

2 packages cream cheese - room temperature

1 box Jell-O® cheesecake flavored pudding

1 container Cool Whip® - thawed

DIRECTIONS:

Using a knife, cut out the center of each strawberry, as deep as you can without going out the bottom. Melt Chocolate CANDIQUIK®. Dip each strawberry in CANDIQUIK®. Set on wax paper. Melt Vanilla CANDIQUIK®. In a medium bowl, mix the room temperature cream cheese, pudding mix, and Vanilla CANDIQUIK®. Slowly mix in the cool whip. Spoon the cheesecake mixture into a piping bag (or a plastic sandwich bag - cut one corner off) and pipe the cheesecake into each strawberry! Yum!

My experience making this recipe:

These were very easy and quick to make!

I started with fresh strawberries, all different sizes and shapes!

Cutting the centers out just took a few minutes.

I dipped the strawberries in the chocolate and let that set up a few minutes.

I piped in the cheesecake filling with the Wilton 1M tip.

To finish, I drizzled the Vanilla flavored candy over the chocolate!

The flavors complimented each other very well!

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 Now, I have until June 11th to submit my vote!

I am still sampling and trying to decide which of these is my personal favorite! I can't wait to see who the winner is!

Each contestant has put a lot of time and effort into there recipe and each recipe brings something different to the table. They should all be applauded just for making it to the top 3!

Congratulations to all 3 of you!

(If any of the contestants happen to be reading my blog and would like me to include your picture of your creation in this post...please contact me via Mrs. Fox's Sweets Facebook Page, I would love to do so!)

I also want to thank my teenage daughter for her helping me on each of these recipes! I couldn't have done them so quick without her! She is amazing in the kitchen! I encourage each and everyone of my readers to get your kids in the kitchen with you, no matter what age! Not only are you teaching your children life skills, but it is wonderful together time!

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*UPDATE 6/16/2011*

Jennifer's "Chocolate Peanut Butter Bites" was the winner in the 2011 Candiquik Recipe Contest!

CONGRATULATIONS! JENNIFER!

Debbie's "Mini Apple Pie's with Edible Pie Plate" was runner-up!

CONGRATULATIONS DEBBIE!

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL 3 OF YOU!

Just Cupcakes- An Upscale Cupcakery

Today's adventure took me to a little place in Virginia Beach called "Just Cupcakes!"

Just Cupcakes is a cute little shopping center cupcakery. It is bright and inviting! They have a few little tables to allow you to "dine in" and they also have cute tshirts for sale. If having cupcakes delivered is your thing, they do have a van and deliver larger orders for a small fee. "Just Cupcakes" has 2 locations, both in Virginia Beach. Each day they have a different selection of cupcakes available. Their menu is is viewable on the Just Cupcake Website. You can also find them on Facebook at the Just Cupcakes Facebook Page. Working at a cute little place like this or any cupcakery for that matter must be heaven! I can't imagine not wanting to wake up and look at cupcakes all day! Looking at the display at Just Cupcakes makes you just want to get lost staring at the cupcakes! I should have taken a picture of that! Next time I will!...YES, there will be a next time!

The flavors that I picked today were:

"Happy Birthday"- a yellow cake with there signature vanilla bean buttercream. There are sprinkles and edible glitter on this cupcake! Super Cute! The frosting was super yummy too!
"Seriously Strawberry"- a strawberry cake with strawberry buttercream with a little pink flower on top. Self explanatory, it tasted like strawberry...what can I say?

 "Chocolate Peanut Butter"- which is a Guittard milk chocolate cupcake with peanut butter frosting topped with a Hershey Kiss! The frosting reminded me of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups!

"M's"- a Callebaut Chocolate cake with buttercream icing and tons of M&M minis! This cake was very chocolaty and perfect with the M&M's minis!

I have had a couple of my elves scope this place out before and they didn't care much for the cupcakes. My elves noted that the cupcake seemed smaller than other cupcakeries and there was not enough icing. After all it is better to have too much icing than too little, you can take it off, but you can't put more on!

After my visit, I do have to say that "Just Cupcakes" has there icing down to an art...we loved the icing on every single cupcake! Nice consistency on the icing and decent amount of icing on most of the cupcakes, but the icing didn't reach the edges on a couple of the cupcakes leaving bites of cake and no icing. I would have to agree with my elves about the amount. The cupcakes themselves, although they tasted good and had good flavor, were very crumbly with the texture, light in weight resembling that of a box mix. Not that there is anything wrong with that, just an observation! With all the cupcakes devoured, it did leave me wanting more! Visually, the cupcakes are appealing in their bright pink liners, nice decorations, and a touch of color. Each cupcake has its own personality, piping style, decoration. 

If a cupcake looks good, it makes people want it!

I have contemplated coming up with a grading system or star rating for my reviews, but I have decided that I don't want to put a "grade" on my cupcake reviews. I love all cupcakes! Each cupcake is different, as each person may have a different perspective on what makes a "good" cupcake and what makes a "great" cupcake. I just wish to share with you my experience and give you an idea what to expect when you visit the cupcakery. Instead of a grade, I will select my favorite cupcake from the cupcakes that I selected to review during this visit and deem it "Fox's Favorite."

Fox's Favorite at Just Cupcakes- "M's"
A very close second- "Happy Birthday"