Sweet April: Trophy Cupcakes Debuts Three Flavors This Month

April is officially going to be the awesomest month ever: Trophy Cupcakes has not one but three special flavors!

Want to know more? OK. Per their newsletter:

Three new flavors start this month! Tiger Tails, our coconut cupcake topped with raspberry buttercream, rolled in coconut and drizzled with raspberry sauce! Peanut Butter and Jelly (one of our most requested flavors) is back from a little vacation. PB&J is our Vanilla Butter Cake filled with Peanut Butter and Strawberry Jam then topped with swirled Peanut Butter and Strawberry Buttercreams. Last but not least, Salted Caramel is our Valrhona Chocolate Cake topped with Caramel Buttercream drizzled with house-made caramel and a sprinkling of fleur de sel.

Total yum, right?

Here's the schedule of availability for the three flavors:

Tiger Tails: Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays 
PB&J: Tuesdays and Thursdays 
Salted Caramel: Fridays and Saturdays

For locations and more information, visit trophycupcakes.com.

Sweet April: Cupcake Royale Debuts Lemon Mascarpone Cupcakes this month!

Is April the cruelest month?

Not at all if you are in Seattle, where you can escape the April showers at Cupcake Royale (which recently got some very high praise from foodie superheroes Jane and Michael Stern) and pick up a couple or seven of their new flavor: Lemon Mascarpone! Here's the 411 from their newsletter:

With deliciously creamy Italian mascarpone, this fluffy, velvety lemon cake has tangy lemon zest in the batter. We top it off with a light and creamy cloud of lemony Italian mascarpone buttercream, made with the finest, fresh, natural mascarpone from Mozzarella Fresca. This sunny spring treat is true lemon BLISS.

Totally sweet!

Available all month 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.

Hot (Cross) Buns at Essential Baking Company, Seattle

Want some hot buns?

Well, if you're in Seattle, you're in luck, because Essential Baking Co. has got hot buns--hot cross buns, that is--aplenty. Per an update from EBC:

Easter is this weekend and Hot Cross Buns are a traditional English Easter food historically enjoyed on Good Friday. The Essential Baking Company's  legendary, slightly sweet version features a rich, velvety crumb, currants and the trademark glaze topping. Hot Cross Buns are perfect warmed and served with breakfast, brunch or afternoon tea.

EBC's legendary Hot Cross Buns will be available at select grocery stores in the greater Seattle area and The Essential Bakery Cafés in Wallingford (1604 North 34th Street - 206-545-0444) and Madison (2719 East Madison -206-328-0078) now through June 15. 

For more information on how you can get your hot (cross!) buns for Easter, visit essentialbaking.com.

Warm Feelings for Frost Doughnuts, Mill Creek WA

They say (and by they, I mean me) that bad things happen when you leave the city.

However, I was proven wrong--so wrong--when I was recently rewarded by venturing out of Seattle to visit Frost Doughnuts. It was beyond due--I mean, after hearing about their fancy doughnuts in flavors like Red Velvet from such trusted sources as Savory Sweet Life and Cookbook Chronicles, not to mention my go-to sources for all things sweet, Denise and Nick, I knew I had to visit.

Though there were a few grumblings as we made our way outside of the city into a suspiciously Anytown-looking sort of main street, all of this ceased the moment we entered the doors.

The first thing that hits you at Frost? That unmatched, beautiful, grease-meets-yeast-meets-sugar smell of doughnuts. You are breathing doughnut air from the moment you enter. But not in a gross way. In an "I wish I could live here" sort of way.

Next, you're probably going to notice the case. Like, OMG, what a case. Not only is it filled with row after row of delicious and creative flavors--but it's topped by rows of little parfait cups filled with doughnut holes and frosting for those on the run:

and flanked on the side by the most beautiful piece of decor I've ever seen: the doughnut floral arrangement.

But what about those doughnuts? They look fancy, but how do they taste?

Doughnut purists may argue that doughnuts aren't meant to be gourmet, but they have probably never tasted a fancy Wedding Cake or Red Velvet Cake doughnut from Frost. They both equal very delicious eating experiences, with moist, flavorful cake topped with a mountain of frosting. You may be inclined to say the frosting is overkill, but I assure you, it's not. It's kind of like a fancier, inverted Vanilla Kreme doughnut from Dunkin' Donuts (my favorite flavor!) but on a cake doughnut.

And the German chocolate cake and vanilla-vanilla varieties both got rave reviews too.

The verdict? Bad things may happen when you leave the city, but good things happen when you end up at Frost Doughnuts in Mill Creek.

Frost Doughnuts, 15421 Main Street, Mill Creek; online at frostology.com. Oh, and per the website, more locations are coming soon. Take over the world, Frost! Please!

Cake Byte: Street Treats, a Mobile Dessert Truck, Coming Soon to Seattle

Photo via street treatsFire up your twitter accounts, Seattle: you've got someone new to follow, both on Twitter and in real life: the newest member of the Seattle mobile food mafia, Street Treats--a mobile dessert truck!

Yup: coming this spring, Street Treats will be Seattle's mobile source for sweet stuff, occupying different locations on a daily basis, according to their site:

We’re looking at spots in lower Queen Anne, First Hill, South Lake Union, SODO, Beacon Hill, Belltown and Rainier Valley. Check back for exact locations in April 2010.

And what will they be serving, you ask? Well, owner Diane Skwiercz will be baking up a delectable array of cookies, brownies and bars (including an especially fascinating specimen called the "Butterscotch cloud", comprised ofchocolate, butterscotch and tiny marshmallows); but the truck will also stock pies from local legend (and beloved by CakeSpy) High 5 Pies and a rotating array of ice cream flavors from Half Pint. 

The official launch is still TBA, but hopefully in the next month or two.

For more information, check out streettreatswa.com or follow them on Twitter!

March For Sweetness: Trophy Cupcakes Debuts Chocolate Guinness Stout Cupcakes with Bailey's Irish Cream Buttercream for March

Everybody's Irish when there's a cupcake like this around!

That's right: it's March, and that means it's time for some serious sweetness at Trophy Cupcakes, where they've brought back their beloved St. Patrick's Day flavor for the entire month: Chocolate Guiness Stout Cupcakes with Bailey's Irish Cream Buttercream frosting on top!

If you suspect that these cupcakes are comprised completely of awesome, you are right. The stout adds a wonderful density to the cake, leaning more toward chocolatey than toward a beer-y flavor; the Irish Cream in the buttercream gives it a little zing--just enough so that you know it's there, but not so much that it drives you to distraction.

Available at all three Trophy Cupcakes locations; for directions and hours, visit their website.

Seeing Green: Irish Whiskey Maple Cupcakes all March Long at Cupcake Royale

March is in like a Lion at Cupcake Royale, where their flavor of the month is bound to make the masses roar with good cheer: Irish Whiskey Maple Cupcakes!

Here's the 411, direct from Cupcake Royale: 

It’s March 1...and you know what that means: Jameson Irish Whiskey Maple cupcakes are back at Cupcake Royale! In keeping with our mission to make Seattle’s most local cupcake, the March cupcake of the month is made from local ingredients like milk, eggs, and butter from Medowsweet Dairy and specially milled Shepherd’s Grain cake flour from Shepard’s Grain farmers in Eastern Washington.

But don't hesitate--in this spy's experience, the flavor of the month is usually first to disappear from the bakery case on most days! To ensure availability, call ahead.

Available all March 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 and via Twitter.

Cake Byte: CupcakeCamp Seattle is Coming!

Summer camp? Not so much. Bad crafts and bad food = big bummer.

CupcakeCamp, however, is a different story. Because at this camp, everyone's a winner, because they all get cupcakes. It's a franchise which has enjoyed great success in New York and San Francisco, and now, thanks to coordinator Carrie of Bella Cupcake Couture (a CakeSpy sponsor and awesome company in general), it's coming to Seattle! 

So what exactly is CupcakeCamp? Per the website, it is

An event for cupcake lovers: Bake or buy cupcakes to bring -or- just come to eat and help a good cause. Activities include cupcake eating contests, cupcake wrapper decorating, bakers competitions, Hope Heart Institute fundraiser and more.  Best of all … it’s FREE.

Once again, just in case you didn't catch that last part: it's free!

Here are the details:

When: Saturday April 10, 2010 11am-2pm
Where: 415 Westlake, Seattle WA
Why: Because who doesn’t love cupcakes?

Oh, and of course, you've got to love the CakeSpy-designed promotional postcard! (pictured top)

For more details and to see how you can become involved, visit the “About” section on the Cupcake Camp Seattle website!

Sweet and Petite: Mini Empire Bakery, Seattle

The revolution is coming, and it is tiny.

Yes, indeed: Mini Empire Bakery is slowly but surely making Seattle sweeter, one mini pie, cupcake, and "scookie" (scone-cookie) at a time.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still a fan of cakes and pie slices the size of saucers, but there is something nice about pint-sized treats: you can eat four at once and totally feel good about it.

Mr. Spy and I recently attended their debut at Porchlight Coffee in Seattle's Capitol Hill, where they were serving up mini (cupcake-sized) pies in cranberry pear, bourbon pecan, and apple chai flavors (some of which were even vegan). And they're adorable. I mean, just look at this:

Adorable! And though small, the taste was mighty: deliciously flaky crust and thoughtfully, well-spiced fillings that left you wanting more--in a good way. The perfect sort of small bites for an after lunch or dinner treat.

Currently this is a custom-order and wholesale business (oh, and have I mentioned that the bakers are as cute as the goods? Pictured above), but there are undoubtedly big things in store for this small-scale baking operation, with some whisperings about a possible retail bakery. If this is the mini revolution, consider CakeSpy part of the tiny entourage!

For more information, including how to place a special order and retail locations, visit miniempirebakery.com.

Sweetie Pie: PiePops and More for Valentine's Day from High 5 Pie

Don't get me wrong, if someone shows up with a big ol' box of chocolates, I'd never refuse them.

But I might just do happy backflips if someone brought me a Valentine's Day parcel full of flipsides, PieJars, Slab Pie (you may know it from the TV) and -- like, OMG--PiePops (yes, those are pie lollipops, in the Luxirare and Bakerella tradition) from Seattle's High 5 Pie.

Per proprietress and her royal Pie-Ness Dani Cone, there's some sweet stuff going on for Valentine's Day--on the menu will be some romantic

heart-shaped flipsides and Piepops! Yep, those are pie-lollipops! And, we're now going to offer our "as seen on tv" Slab Pie by special order, too! Folks can place a special order this week for Valentine's Day (or whenever they want).

Don't know about you, but I'm certainly giving the pie pictures above the look of love.

High 5 Pies are available at all Fuel Coffee locations; for more information, visithigh5pie.com. Also, keep updated with them via Twitter and their blog, and you can also buy proprietress Dani Cone's awesome book on Northwest coffee culture, Tall Skinny Bitter: Notes from the Center of Coffee Culture.