Sweet Scenes from the Ybor Saturday Market Annual Cupcake Festival

CakeSpy Note: this is a delicious dispatch from Cake Gumshoe Aditi, who blogs at Follow the Red Velvet Road. Do follow her sweet adventures, starting with this one:

Ybor Saturday Market Annual Cupcake Festival 

Saturday, October 18th, 10:00am – 3:00pm

Since I moved to Tampa, I have been looking forward to this day. As a cupcake enthusiast, I have been searching for a festival that honors the glory that is the cupcake. After returning to the U.S. from Uganda, I did a great deal of research, looking for festivals or special days for cupcakes. Unfortunately, I wasn’t very successful…until I looked in Tampa.

Every Saturday, the city of Ybor hosts a Saturday market. Most Saturdays it a market where individuals promote their small businesses by selling items. There is also a fresh produce market and various food stalls. Once a year, in the fall, there is a special themed Saturday Market especially devoted to cupcakes. On this day, cupcake bakeries from all over the Tampa Bay area are welcome to show off their best and most delicious treats.

This year amateur bakeries were also encouraged to join in the festivities, including a cupcake competition. Bakers were judged on presentation as well as taste.

At the event this year, there were 17 local bakers competing. The bakers ranged from professional pastry chefs to at home bakers. Most had store-fronts or online order shops, but there were a few who did bake for fun, not necessarily for money.

The competition was solid this year. The local bakers as well as the home-based first timers were really bringing their A game. Traditional cupcake flavors like red velvet and chocolate peanut butter were present along with some really unique tastes, like chocolate Reese’s cupcakes and a Guinness stout cupcake. I believe the judges had a hard time this year, but one baker came out on top. “A Piece of Cake” bakery, located on West Hillsborough Avenue, took the first prize for taste. They concocted a Guinness stout chocolate cupcake with buttercream frosting garnished with pretzels, caramel, and chocolate drizzle.

Compared to the other cupcakes, this one was moist, light, and the flavor combinations were delicious. Some of the other hit cupcakes were the Reese’s cupcake from the “Cupcake Mama” bakery located on West Euclid Avenue...

as well as the Tres Leches cupcake made by “Chocolate Therapy by Jack” which is an online based bakery.

Overall the experience was great. I got more than my fill of cupcakes and got a taste for the cupcake bakery scene here in Tampa. I look forward to re-visiting the places I enjoyed or missed. There were only a couple that weren’t to my taste, but where there are cupcakes there will be customers!

Now I anxiously await the 2015 Ybor City cupcake festival.

All photos credits go to Siva Beharry

Read more of Aditi's adventures at The Red Velvet Road, as well as on her tasty instagram feed!

Street Eats: Chocolate Pudding and Cookies Recipe from Food Trucks by Heather Shouse

Image credit: sugarcave.com

Street food is one of the most exciting emerging sectors of the foodie landscape, creating impromptu dining experiences made possible by following trucks on Twitter or Facebook to find out where they are, and then lining up on the street to get some of the (often unique) food being served up.

It was only a matter of time before a book came out dedicated to the subject, and Food Trucks: Dispatches and Recipes from the Best Kitchens on Wheels is a fun and timely ode to The New Street Food. It is full of stories and recipes, mostly savory, but a small handful of sweet ones.

The one that I zeroed in on, though? Yellow Submarine in Miami, Florida--because they had the most compelling dessert recipe, for Chocolate Pudding and Cookies. It's sort of like my favorite Banana Nilla Wafer pudding, but with chocolate pudding and no bananas.

Angela's Chocolate Pudding and Cookies

8-12 servings

• 2 boxes (3.5 oz) chocolate pudding (cook and serve)
• 4 cups cold milk
• 1 can Nestle table cream
• 1 can condensed milk
• 2 (3.15 oz) packages Goya Maria cookies (mexican butter cookies) 

1. Make the pudding according the package instructions. Let the pudding rest for 2-3 minutes, then add the table cream and condensed milk, mixing very well.
2. Into a large, round glass bowl, pour enough of the chocolate mixture to cover the bottom of the container. Add a layer of the Maria cookies, then top with a layer of the pudding; repeat until the cookies and chocolate mixture are used up. Let the treat rest in the fridge for 2 hours, then spoon out on to plates and serve.

Sweet Love: A Bakery Crush on BunnieCakes

It's time to share the latest CakeSpy bakery crush: BunnieCakes!

This Miami-based custom order vegan bake shop was started by owner Mariana Cortez, borne out of frustration for not being able to find high-quality sweets which she could enjoy with her two young children. Rather than despair (or worse, make them only eat trail mix or something) she started specializes in delicious vegan baked goods, most notably cakes and cupcakes; further experimentation resulted in a line of allergy free vegan goods (no eggs, dairy, gluten/wheat, nuts...and with natural sweeteners) in addition to the vegan offerings.

But with flavors like Red Velvet, Blueberry Orange, Key Lime, Banana Chocolate Chip, all topped with decadent frostings, it's pretty clear that while these cakes lack dairy, they do not lack in deliciousness! A sweet find indeed for Florida

You can check out Bunniecakes online, and find a list of Miami-area retailers here.

Dessert Oasis: Fantastical Desserts and Recipes from Michael's Kitchen

Photo credit Michael’s Kitchen Newport Beachside Hotel & Resort

Ever felt like dessert menus are becoming a bit...predictable? A chocolate cake of some sort, a fruit-based pastry, cheesecake or tiramisu, a pudding or flan, and an ice cream or sorbet. Yawn.

Fortunately, we recently came across a restauranteur who has not forgotten the childlike joy and simple pleasure that dessert can bring: chef Michael Blum, who recently opened Michael's Kitchen in Miami. He's bringing a bit of pomp and circumstance--as well as a needed dose of fun--back to the institution of dessert, serving up fanciful sweets like desserts like N'awlins style Bananas Foster, Twinkie Tiramisu, Over-the-Top Baked Alaska and the Milky Way Chocolate Malt, and our favorite, the Deep Dish Rice Krispie Dessert Pizza (what can we say, we're in a cereal state of mind lately!).

And while you're probably intrigued by these dessert offerings, perhaps you are wondering: why would Cakespy be so cruel as to spotlight a place so far away? Well, for those of you whose travel plans don't include a Florida getaway anytime soon, we're happy to report that after having written a gushing love note to the management, they were kind enough to donate not one but two recipes for their coveted desserts--Deep Dish Rice Krispie Pizza and Twinkie Tiramisu, which are both listed below. Sweet!

Finally, dessert's fun again; this is a trend we hope will catch on!

If you live in or have plans to visit the Miami Area, Michael's Kitchen is obviously a must-visit; they're located at 16701 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach. 

RECIPE 1: White Chocolate Raspberry or Strawberry Rice Krispie Deep Dish Pizza

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons margarine or butter
• 1 (10 oz.) package regular marshmallows

- Or -

• 4 cups mini marshmallows
• 6 cups Rice Krispies®
• White Chocolate Shavings to taste for garnish
• Your choice of jam or preserves, to taste (we like a thicker layer, but this recipe calls for a thinner one)

Directions

1. Melt margarine in large saucepan over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat.

2. Add RICE KRISPIES cereal. Stir until well coated.

3. Using buttered spatula or waxed paper, press mixture evenly into 9 x 2-inch deep dish round pan coated with cooking spray.

4. When cool remove from pan by using a hot water bath. Put pan into water for about 30 seconds.

5. To decorate: Spread a thin layer of raspberry or strawberry jam into the center of the circle of the pizza, leaving the “crust” of the pizza bare. Then add white chocolate shavings for the cheese look and sliced strawberries as pepperoni and raspberries as other toppings. NOTE: feel free to use any kind of toppings that your heart desires, there a no limits to this dessert…. Be creative!!!! Best if served the same day.

Serving Size one 9 inch round

RECIPE 2: Twinkie Tiramisu

At Michael’s Kitchen we serve these as individual desserts in 2 inch by 2 inch square glass containers.

Ingredients

• 1 cup heavy cream (40% milk fat)
• 5 oz granulated Sugar
• 3 Tablespoons Espresso (plus a little bit more for dipping the lady fingers)
• 1.5 pounds of Mascarpone cheese
• 8 yolks
• Lady Fingers (at least 36 cookies)
• 1 box Twinkies

Directions:

1. Use an electric mixer with Wisk attachment and a cold bowl. Place heavy cream and 2 ozs of sugar in bowl and beat until stiff peaks, making whipped cream. This process takes about 3-4 minutes depending on strength of mixer.

2. Remove whipped cream from mixer and place it into the freezer while mixing the other ingredients.

3. Separate the yolks from the whites and place the yolks into a new cold bowl. Beat yolks and the remaining 3 ozs of sugar together. This process takes about 4 minutes. The mixture should look a pale yellow and about 4 times what the mixture started out as.

4. Add the mascarpone cheese until well incorporated and than add 3 Tablespoons of the espresso. Mix for about 20 seconds longer.

5. Remove this mixture from mixer and fold the cream into it. These two mixtures should be combined into one mixture leaving few streaks.

To Assemble:

1. Prepare espresso into a cup of coffee. Taking two ladyfingers break them in half and dip them into the warm espresso.

2. Place ladyfingers into the bottom of the ramekins.

3. Add the tiramisu cream to the top of the ramekin and take a knife across the top of it to clean off the edge.

4. Repeat this process until all cream is gone.

5. Cut the Twinkies in half on a bias and place one half on each tiramisu.

Note: best if refrigerated for a couple of hours but also can be served right after made.