Sweet Harvest: Cupcake Royale Debuts their Fall 2009 Flavors

There's some serious autumn sweetness coming to Seattle for the next few months, as I learned from my sweet friends at Cupcake Royale. Here's what they've got to say:

Fresh from the Northwest fields, Cupcake Royale has connected to its local farming friends to bring bounteous regional flavors, cupcake style. All cupcakes use Shepherd’s Grain flour and local dairy products for a cupcake that’s no less than 66 percent local! Come get some Harvest Cupcake love throughout October and November.

October Harvest featured cupcakes: Pumpkin, Carrot, and Caramel-Apple cupcakes

November Harvest featured cupcakes: Pumpkin, Carrot, and Cranberry-Orange cupcakes

Delicious details:

Pumpkin is pumpkin spice cake featuring organic pumpkin from Stahlbush Farms in Corvalis, Ore., crowned with maple-cream cheese frosting.
Carrot features walnut cake and organic local carrots from Ralph’s Organics, topped with a swirl of cream cheese frosting.
Caramel Apple highlights apple cake containing apple butter made especially for us by Woodburn Farms and features local Honey Crisp apples from Tiny’s Organic Farm, topped with caramel frosting and served with a small stick.
Cranberry Orange is a cranberry-orange cake, topped with cranberry-cream cheese frosting, both featuring Pacific Northwest cranberries.

Of course, if you get thirsty, they will also be offering Hot Apple Cider and Caramel Apple Cider.

Available all autumn long at the four Cupcake Royale locations; for directions and contact info, visit www.cupcakeroyale.com. Of course, you can keep up to date with their goings-on at legalizefrostitution.blogspot.com.

Cake Byte: NY Times Article Makes Sweet Cupcake Commentary

What can I say? After multiple readers sent me this article about cupcakes all over the world, I simply had to share it. As one reader aptly put it, "Maybe all those U.N. and other diplomatic meetings would accomplish more towards world peace if cupcakes were on the table.... Cupcakes conquer the world!"

Read the full article here!

Cookie Monster: The Bacon, Cereal and Orange Juice Breakfast Cookie for Serious Eats

You love breakfast. You love cookies. So why have they been kept separate for so long?

They join forces in one whopper of a cookie for my latest feature on Serious Eats: the Bacon, Cereal, and Orange Juice Breakfast Cookie! Each of these monster cookies contains an AM trifecta of deliciousness, balancing sweet and savory with plenty of butter on top.

Worth waking up for in the morning, or have I made you want to vomit into your coffee? Either way, it's an interesting recipe, based on one that I found in a 1980s cookie cookbook!

Check out the full entry here.

Cake Byte: More CakeSpy Celebrates a Year of Collaboration with Taylored Expressions

Booyea! You know what this month marks? 

CakeSpy is celebrating one year of collaboration with with Taylored Expressions, a rubber stamp company! Cuppie has taken part in many rubber stamp adventures this year from a trip to the beach to the latest Halloween costume party. All of the Cuppie stamp sets and coordinating products are available at Taylored Expressions. And check out the company blog to see how you could win a custom painting by yours truly, Head Spy Jessie!

Now that's the sweetest news I've heard all week!

Sweetness in Chicago: CakeSpy at the Renegade Craft Fair!

Get excited, Chicago. Your city is about to get even sweeter.

A veritable tornado of sweetness is coming your way on September 12th and 13th: I (Head Spy Jessie) will be taking part in the annual Renegade Craft Fair! But I won't be alone: there will be a veritable cupcake posse on board as Rachel from Cupcakes Take the Cake, Sandy from Iron Cupcake and Sheela of Miel y Leche Catering (home of the Elvis Cupcake!) all converge in the fair city of Chicago as well!

I'll be sharing a booth with the lovely and amazing Abbey Christine (check out her awesome work here, or see her work pictured left--why yes, that is a Peewee Herman finger puppet!).

On Sunday, there will even be a Cupcake Meetup at Molly's Cupcakes (coordinated by Cupcakes Take the Cake), followed by a group jaunt over to the craft fair to visit my booth!

I hope that I'll see some of your smiling faces there! I will have all manner of sweet artwork and accessories on sale, including original paintings, stationery and gift items--even some new products which I did in collaboration with Eleven Eleven Industries, including CakeSpy checkbook holders, passport covers and more!

Here are the details (or, for more info, visit their site!):

Oh, and did I mention the most important part? I will actually be driving to the fair from Seattle...making a pastry road trip of the journey! Look out for updates on sweets from Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, the Dakotas, Minnesota and more while I work my way over to Chicago! And of course, feel free to pass on any suggestions along the way.

Cake Byte: Totally Sweet Rolling Lego Cookie Cutter

This is a sweet find from Cake Gumshoe Matt: a Rolling Lego Cookie Cutter! This is not something I want--this is something I need.

Get the full scoop on cnet.com; to purchase, visit the Lego Online Store.

Cake Byte: September Sweetness at Trophy Cupcakes!

What's new at Trophy Cupcakes in September? Here's the scoop on their newest flavor:

Blueberry Pie! Our Vanilla Buttercake with a buttery pie crust on the bottom...then filled with housemade organic blueberry pie filling and topped with Vanilla Bean Buttercream...whoa! Available Wednesdays and Saturdays.

But that's not the only reason to visit Trophy Cupcakes this month: they also have a wonderful new art show by talented photographer Elizabeth Soule (example shown left)! The show will be up through September in their Wallingford location.

What are you waiting for? Get yourself over to one of the Trophy Cupcakes locations! For more information, stay connected with Trophy via their site, their Facebook page, or their Twitter feed.

Sweet September: Cupcake Royale Debuts the Blue Mountain Huckleberry Cupcake!

September is certainly off to a sweet start: just check out the new flavor of the month at Cupcake Royale! Here's the 411:

We teamed up with the good people over at Foraged & Found to bring you a cupcake bursting with wild huckleberry goodness! Our delicious vanilla buttercake is loaded with the little gems, and we top the whole thing off with a perfectly tart huckleberry buttercream. It doesn't get any fresher than this folks. Straight from the forest and into the oven!

To obtain one of these cupcakes, you can visit any of the four Cupcake Royale locations all September long; for more information, visit cupcakeroyale.com; for instant updates, follow them on Twitter!

Cake Byte: Learn How To Make a Cupcake Milkshake on Serious Eats

When cupcakes and ice cream cones collide in the blender, magic occurs: I'm talking about the Cupcake Milkshake here, inspired by Cupcake Shakes (a beautiful new collaboration between Utah-based The Sweet Tooth Fairy and Sammy's Cafe). While I wasn't able to hop a plane to try theirs, I did have success trying out my own version at home. You can find more information about Cupcake MilkShakes here, and you can find the recipe for my variation on Serious Eats!

Cake Byte: Renegade Cupcakes and Music in Cal Anderson Park Tomorrow!

Do you like cupcakes? Do you like music? Do you live in Seattle?

Well, if so, prepare yourself for a healthy batch of awesome: CakeSpy and Exohxo are hitting Seattle's Cal Anderson Park tomorrow for a (shh!) Renegade Cake Party!

So after you've finished your brunch at Linda's or Glo's, head over to Cal Anderson Park, where there will be cupcakes and some music from local band Exohxo (you may recognize the good-looking singer/guitarist as Mr. CakeSpy). The occasion? Well, we could call it a belated birthday party for Head Spy Jessie -- but do you really need a reason to celebrate?

Sunday, August 30. 2 p.m. Cal Anderson Park. Capitol Hill, Seattle.