During her spring break in October, 2010, my dear friend Tawny from high school came and visited me at Agnes Scott. Although she was only in town for a short time, I took the liberty of treating Tawny to Atlanta's finest-- that is, the Atlanta Cupcake Factory, of course!
After a long day hiking Stone Mountain and shopping, we hit the Cupcake Factory to indulge in a flavor of our choice and show Tawny what the hype is all about. She agreed, hands down. This was a good cupcake!
Unfortunately, I am writing this blog in serious hindsight, and have since forgotten which cupcake flavors we chose. However, from the looks of it, we enjoyed a cookies and cream and smores cupcake. Don't quote me on that!
Regardless of flavor, the Atlanta Cupcake Factory is indeed a great place to go for a quality cupcake...especially when there is company in town!
I love the spontaneity of college...especially when that includes late-night cupcake calls from good friends!
Lizzie and I were super-eager to meet our friend Megan downstairs when she called just a few moments ago with the promise of cupcakes!
We scampered down the flights of stairs out of our dorm, across the quad to Main where we met Megan, who was holding three lovely cookies and cream cupcakes, one for me, Lizzie and our friend Anastasia. We waited until we were upstairs to feast on the utter yumminess, graciously provided by our fun friend.
The cupcakes were beyond anything we have tried so far. Simply delicious. The cake was moist and flavorful, with a surprise cookies-and-cream center baked in. The top was garnished with a delectable cookies-and-cream frosting plus a oreo sliver for show. (Lizzie here, resident frosting expert: seriously, one of the best icings I have ever had! Megan beat out all of the professional shops we've been to.) Needless to say, these cupcakes lasted just long enough for us to take a few shots of them before eating them up!
Thank you Megan for the spontaneity of cupcakes! You're the best!
This was the question I was asking myself as we mixed, spooned, baked and cooled our first-ever batch of tye-dye cupcakes!
Last year, Lizzie turned 20 and made a list of 20 things to do while 20. In order to help her achieve this mountainous goal, I agreed to assist in the production of tye-dye cupcakes, which was number 8 on the list. We gathered all of our ingredients (most importantly, the neon food coloring) and trekked down College Ave to our friend's apartment to bake.
Sarah and Lizzie being mad baking scientists!
My friend Tawny was in town (visiting from Florida) and was happy to join us on our cupcake-making adventure.
Sarah and Tawny
We agreed to use the Funfetti cake mix (compliments of Pilsbury....love that little dough boy!) as the core of the cupcake and add the food coloring for the tye-dye effect.
We had to separate the batter into four dishes in order to make this magnificent creation.
Although we dirtied up a few more dishes than norm, we were surprised by the colorful creations that came out of the oven twenty minutes later!
At first, we did not know what to call these mini masterpeices, but our friend found precisely the right words: "Unicorn Poop".
Tye-dye cupcakes are one of the easiest ways to break out of your normal cupcake routine. Simply divide your cupcake batter into 4 parts, mix in the food coloring, and scoop different amounts into each cupcake wrapper. Then follow the box decorations to bake.
The wait is over! After a much needed hiatus from blogging to deal with finals, we have returned! And now we must catch you up on all our recent (and some not so recent :/) cupcake adventures!
As promised, I was a cupcake for Halloween:
This is the glorious cupcake costume! I made it with paper, blanket stuffing, and pom poms.
There were 100 pom pom sprinkles on my costume! (Many thanks to LG and ML!)
I used a cupcake decorated gift-bag as my purse and it would have been my candy bag had we gone trick or treating.
It was so much fun to dress up as a cupcake! Most people recognized what I was right off the bat which is generally a sign of good costuming. :) I think next year I'll dress up as a zombie cupcake!
My recent foray into the world of Red Velvet Cupcakes prompted some debate between Sarah and I about how they are made. I argued that it was simply the red food coloring and an extra dose of vanilla that gave the red velvets their distinctive taste and color. Sarah argued that it was beets.We decided to go to the best source for our information: Wikipedia.
We discovered that it is actually the addition of coco that gives Red Velvet cake its unique flavor.
And for those that are brave enough to try it/ have access to a oven, here are a couple of red velvet cupcake recipes: regular and vegan. (The link to the vegan cupcake recipe also explains how to use natural food coloring to get the red that gives these cupcakes their name.)
Good luck with crafting a beautiful Red Velvet Cupcake! If you make some, please e-mail us a picture at atlantacupcakeguide@gmail.com!
So I was driving somewhere the other day and tuning into the radio. The people on the show were talking about a subject dear to my heart...you guessed it, cupcakes!
Sample Man Cupcake
Specifically, they were talking about a man that one of the people on the show had seen on the side of the road dressed as a cupcake! They were talking about how they felt so sorry for this poor guy and anyone else who has to dress in those ridiculous costumes in order to draw business. They were talking about how silly it was that he had to dress up as a cupcake, and I agree...he probably did look a bit ridiculous!
Hearing all this hype made me think, would I want to dress as a cupcake? Lizzie is planning on being a cupcake for Halloween and I think there is a cute way to do it. But I'm not so sure I'd like to be in the shoes of the guy above!
Check out some of these cute ways to pull off a cupcake....see, it can be a good look!
So I have a story to share about some cupcakes that Sarah and I were given recently. One of our hallmate's had a birthday and her mom made her some red velvet cupcakes. She knows our love of all things cupcake, so she decided to share a couple with Sarah and I. My response to this act of generosity was skepticism because I do not like red velvet cupcakes even though they are one of the most popular cupcake flavors. But to do my duty as a cupcake connoisseur, I tried the red velvet cupcake.
The heavenly chorus burst into song, the earth stopped moving, and I can officially say, "I'm a believer!"
This was seriously one of the BEST CUPCAKES EVER. The icing was perfect, the cake was delicious. There are no words.
So a big thank you to Kathryn and her mom (who graduated from Agnes Scott the same year as Sarah's mom and is also a teacher)!!! I am forever grateful to being shown the light of a good red velvet cupcake. (Sarah liked her's too, but her cupcake revelation wasn't quite as earth shattering as mine.)
Stay tuned for part 2 when I explain what red velvet cupcakes are made of (sugar and spice and everything nice, of course!)
We have an exciting cupcake shop to share with you: Carolyn's Cupcakes! This place was AMAZING! We loved every thing about it, but specifically:
They had parking!
They have a super cute store with awesome decorations!
They make colossal cupcakes!
Organic coffee!
Their cupcakes were goooooooooooood!
They make vegan cupcakes! (This one's for you, Dani!)
Did I mention their cupcakes were good? :)
Don't believe us? Check out this photo evidence:
Pretty Vegan Cupcake!
Colossal Cupcake!
The Grand Entry
Lizzie making an appearance
Um, we need this shelf...AMAZING!
Carolyn's Cupcakes, Decatur, GA
Our delicate cupcakes, pre-consumption :)
Sarah and her fierce Tiger Tail
Sarah had the Tiger Tail Cupcake. This treat was composed of a soft citrus-flavored cake frosted with a rich, dark chocolate icing. We had not seen this type of cupcake before, but were eager to indulge in this new flavor. It was quite an experience! The cake was moist and had just the right citrus kick to it. Combined with the delicious dark chocolate icing on top, the whole thing was quite a treat!
Lizzie + Fluffer Nutter!
Lizzie tried the Fluffer Nutter Cupcakeand a Chocolate Vegan Cupcake.The Fluffer Nutter was a vanilla cupcake with peanut butter frosting and, as a surprise, there was a marshmallow in the middle! It was a really good cupcake: the cake was moist and it had plenty of icing! The chocolate vegan cupcake was really good too. I almost liked the vegan icing better than the regular icing. It had cute sea turtle sprinkles on top which only added to the greatness of the cupcake. Carolyn's regular and vegan cupcakes come highly recommend from both of us!
Want to check this cupcake oasis out for yourself? Here are the where, when, and how's:
Choose the following word that most closely means "sugar high":
A.) Tooth Fairy
B.) Giraffe
C.) Colossal Cupcakes
Did you answer C., Colossal Cupcakes....you're right!
Lizzie and I discovered this new cupcake phenomenon this weekend on our latest cupcake adventure to Carolyn's Cupcakes (to be blogged soon!). We were blown away by the size of this beastly cake, and curious how anyone would be able to consume such a monstrosity!
Lizzie and Lauren modeling the Colossal Cupcake Kit in Kroger!
Well, yesterday we went to Kroger for a few items and came across a Colossal Cupcake making kit! As you can guess, we had to take a picture with it! Lizzie and Lauren hopped in with the kit to take the picture. Although we didn't buy the kit, we got a good laugh out of the whole moment.
We also went by the bakery to view their cupcake selection and saw that Kroger bakes Colossal Cupcakes themselves!
So next time you're in for a colossal treat, head to Carolyn's Cupcakes or Kroger to satisfy your sugar need!
Our next cupcake destination was Chocolate Pink, a shop located in Midtown on Juniper Street. We chose this as our next cupcake gig, as we had coupons for free cupcakes (thanks again LG!). And the temptation to resist free cupcakes was simply too strong. So on Saturday, we hit the road and headed downtown to check out Chocolate Pink.
This was truly an adventure, as neither of us had visited the shop before. We found the shop relatively easily, however, in finding a parking spot, we were not so fortunate! After several laps around the store's surrounding streets, we settled in a parking spot about three blocks away...five miles uphill both ways in the snow for cupcakes, anyone?
We decided to wear our matching lime green cupcake shirts which got us quite a few stares and double takes!
Once inside this cupcake haven, our upset about parking subsided. We were taken aback by the cuteness of this shop. Everything about it was amazing, from the pink-padded booth seating to the silver beads garnishing the columns, and not to mention the cupcakes!
(A view from the entrance of the shop (Left) and a view of the entrance from our table (Right)).
We were astonished by their selection and variety of cupcakes; they also had other dessert choices, like cakes or miniature cheesecakes. There was something for everyone. This shop had the most unique flavors of the three we have visited so far, which made it tough for each of us to decide which ones we should try!
(So many cute cupcakes!!!)
After a few minutes of debate, Lizzie settled on the flavor of the month, Watermelon, and Sarah opted for the classy Raspberry Champagne cupcake. We placed our order and spoke with the nicest employee about our blog. We were surprised when she looked us up on the spot and began checking out the blog!
Lizzie ordered a coffee as well, and we settled into a nearby booth to wait for our scrumptious cupcakes to be delivered. The cupcakes were brought out to us on china plates, perfectly garnished with a raspberry drizzle. We were also given a fork and knife to eat them with, how sophisticated!
SO ready to dig into the cupcakes!
We both tried each others cupcakes first (sharing is caring!) and then we dug into our own.
(The watermelon cupcake (above))
Even though it was good, the watermelon cupcake was not Lizzie's favorite. It had a butter-cream frosting that felt a little too much like butter and the watermelon flavor was really artificial. The cupcake tasted like Bubblicious Bubble Gum, which isn't a bad thing if you're regressing, but I wish I had tasted something different. I definitely enjoyed visiting the shop though! It is a really cute place and I can see why it is so popular! The coffee I ordered was really good.
(The Raspberry Champagne Cupcake (Below))
Using the fork (how proper), Sarah took the first bite into hers and a smile crept onto her face. It was so tasty! My love for both champagne and raspberries was combined into this tiny delicacy and was absolutely amazing. The cake was moist, the icing was creamy, and the presentation was gorgeous. I was impressed, to say the least! As I continued to consume the cupcake, I discovered a pleasant surprise in the middle; underneath all the icing, there was a fresh raspberry filling! This was my favorite part of the cupcake.
Raspberry Surprise!
Yet again, another amazing cupcake experience! A new place, exotic flavors, and a great vibe made this cupcake escapade a success! We totally recommend Chocolate Pink for all your cupcake needs, whether you are looking for a girl's night out or catering a birthday party, they are your cupcake professionals!
