Cake Byte: Full Sweetness ahead at Trophy Cupcakes in May

Talk about a totally sweet lineup! Seattle's Trophy Cupcakes has plenty of delicious to offer this month:

Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcake (one day only, on Cinco de Mayo!): Just in time for Cinco de Mayo, our Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcake is back for its third year! The perfect blend of cinnamon and cayenne pepper warms up this bittersweet Chocolate on Chocolate Cupcake. Available May 5th. 

Margarita Cupcakes: By popular demand, we will be featuring Margarita Cupcakes every day through the month of May! Our Fresh Lime Cupcake is full of tangy lime zest, fresh lime juice and delicious lime oil topped with Tequila and Lime Buttercream…of course it is finished with candied lime zest and sea salt! Oh my, it is good (if we do say so ourselves!). Available everyday in May.

Lemon Raspberry (one day only, on Mother's Day!): Especially for Mother's day we are featuring Lemon Raspberry…our Fresh Lemon Cupcake is topped with our luscious Raspberry Buttercream and a fresh raspberry. So yummy and so pretty and definitely mom approved! Please order by Friday at 3pm for Sunday pick up.

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

Let's Jam: Jamprint Cookies Recipe from Oddfellows Cafe, Seattle

Anyone who has ever visited Seattle's Oddfellows Cafe knows what a beautiful and special things its bakery case contains. From biscuits to blondies to bundts (and even homemade Ho-hos!), they've got something for every sweet tooth. And now, here's one of their secrets: a recipe for their Jamprint Cookies (a sort of thumbprint-meets-macaroon cookie). They urge you to post pictures on their Facebook page if you try the recipe out!

Here's how to make this magic happen at home:

Jamprint Cookies

 Ingredients

• .75 lbs butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 3.5 cups flour
• .5 teaspoon salt
• flaked coconut, for edges
• jam (of your choosing), about 1 teaspoon per cookie

Procedure 

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Cream butter + sugar in mixer w/ paddle attachment, add vanilla + salt
3. Sift in the flour, mix until dough comes together
4. Wrap in plastic, chill for 1 hr
5. Roll it into 1 ounce balls, dip balls in egg wash + roll in flaked coconut
6. Put ball on a baking sheet + indent the top, fill with jam.
7. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until coconut is toasted and jam thickens.

Pastry Profiles: Homemade Ho-Hos With Cocoa Puffs from Oddfellows Cafe, Seattle

A big, heartfelt thank you to the modern marvel that is Twitter.

Because without it, I never would have been given a heads up about another modern marvel, the cocoa puff-studded homemade Ho-Ho at Oddfellows Cafe in Seattle.

Now, it is no secret that I love the bakery case at Oddfellows (recent obsession: the biscuits). But they also serve very respectable after-dinner desserts too, with a creative rotating menu. And on a recent evening, they served these babies.

A fancied up version of the junk-food classic, these were made with a light but flavorful chocolate cake rolled with a rich, creamy filling and then coated in a rich chocolate; a candy coating adhered an unexpected garnish: cocoa puffs. Strange as it sounds, it worked: they added a nice little crunch, and a little bit of an unexpected sweet and salty cocoa crunch to the rest of the cake. Plus, a nice homage to the treat's lowbrow roots. 

This item isn't on the menu every day, but there's often something creative like it; give them a call before heading over or follow them on Twitter to keep updated.

Oddfellows Cafe, Seattle WA. Online at oddfellowscafe.com.

Cake Byte: Trophy Cupcakes Offers Hi-Hat Cupcakes For a Limited Time

Happy, happy Easter week! In Seattle, here's a very sweet way to celebrate: with a limited run of Hi-Hat Cupcakes from Trophy Cupcakes! Here's the 411:

Trophy's most anticipated cupcake of the year returns especially for Easter weekend! Available just two days per year, the Hi-Hat Cupcake is made by topping Trophy's Valrhona Chocolate Cupcake with a sky-hi swirl of pastel marshmallow frosting…but that's not all… they are then hand dipped in Semi-Sweet Callebaut Chocolate! Pastel marshmallow, Belgian chocolate and Valrhona Cake all rolled into one amazing cupcake…what could be a more perfect Easter treat?!

Available April 23rd at all three Trophy locations and on Easter Sunday at The University Village, for $4.00. Trophy will also be dressing up all of their cupcakes for spring with flowers, bunnies, candy eggs and baskets, perfect for your weekend festivities.

Trophy Cupcakes will take advance orders for Hi-Hats, as well as for Easter themed cupcakes. Hi-Hats and Easter Cupcakes will also be available in each of the three retail locations on Saturday and at the Univerty Village shop on Sunday (The Bravern and Wallingford shops will be closed on Sunday). Quantities of Hi-Hats for walk-in orders are limited, so Trophy recommends placing an advance order at least 48 hours prior to your pick up. The Wallingford Center and The Bravern are Closed on Easter Sunday, April 24th. University Village is open from 10am to 6pm.

Available at all three Trophy Cupcakes locations; for availability, directions and hours, visit their website. Also, follow them on Twitter!

Batter Chatter: Interview with Stacy Heller of OneSmartCookie

Fact: it's always fun to discover a new baking business. OneSmartCookie is a newcomer to the Seattle scene, a small home-based cookie business specializing in one of a kind sweet petite treats. Who is the baker, and what does the future hold for this business? Let's learn more with this interview with proprietress Stacy Heller:

So. OneSmartCookie. TellMeMore. I'm a stay-at-home mom of four who sort of fell into baking cookies for others. Peer pressure got me addicted to Diet Coke and baking. I started "playing" Julia Child as a kid, it was way more fun than house or school - all those small bowls lined up called to me! I like cookies best because each one is like a small canvas. The "realist" in me knows what a banana looks like, the "artist" in me likes to interpret what a decorated banana cookie looks like. Far sweeter!

Cake or Pie? Cake - they're pretty and tasty and festive and don't wear a "mask" of healthy (fruit pies - ha!).

Pants or Skirts? Pants - in my fantasies, "smart slacks" in reality, jeans.

Yes or No? First no, then yes. (doubt is a bad habit).

Vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry? Vanilla. Surprising depth to be found  in the more humble "package".

Cookies: drop, molded, rolled, cutout, or refrigerator? Rolled/cutout to make your eyes and stomach happy. Drop to make your mood and stomach happy. Any to make others just all-around happy! 

What is the last delicious thing you ate? Movie popcorn - I'm a savory girl! Sweets-wise - a New York style coffee cake my daughter made that is reminiscent of an Entenmann's (I find them only back east, where I'm from).

Where can we buy your cookies? Special order only through me at the moment. Contact details are on my blog.

What is next for you and your business? To bake or not to bake, that is always the question. I love baking, but doing it is truly a LABOR of love. I need to decide if I really want to turn it into a J O B versus a hobby....if it's a calling, can you choose though?

Find out more on Stacy's blog.

Top of the Pops: Doughnut Pops by Frost Doughnuts, Mill Creek WA

Topping the list of things I'd like to pop in my mouth? Doughnut pops by Frost Doughnuts!

That's right: they've got a totally sweet new product over in Mill Creek:

We are excited to reveal our newest creation: FROST Pops! All of the flavor you love in FROST doughnuts, in a pop!

Launching for Spring, FROST Pops aren't doughnut holes on-a-stick, but an entirely new doughnut-based cake that has the moistest brownie-like texture you can imagine - dipped in chocolate! Best of all, they have the unmistakeable flavor of FROST.

The flavors will range from your favorite Evolved line doughnuts to new and exciting creations. Shown here are Red Velvet and Peanut Butter Perfection, both dipped in luscious chocolates. These, plus our newest variety Island Escape will be available at launch next week at a price of 1.49ea.

For more info, visit frostology.com; stay updated via their Facebook page, too.

Cake Byte: April Means Coconut Lime Cupcakes at Cupcake Royale, Seattle

It has been said that April is the cruelest month, but this is not the case at Seattle's Cupcake Royale, where a delicious flavor reigns supreme all month long: Toasted Coconut Lime!

As they put it:

Yeah, we did it. We put the lime in the coconut and baked it all up. Moist coconut cake gets a tart and tangy swirl of real lime buttercream. We finish it off with toasted coconut for a truly tasty tropical treat!

But be sure to go early in the day, because in this spy's experience, the flavor of the month is the first to sell out daily!

Available all month long at all Cupcake Royale locations; for directions and hours, visit cupcakeroyale.com. You can also stay on top of their sweet news via their blog and their twitter feed.

Biscuit Time: Butter and Jam Biscuits from Oddfellows, Seattle

It's a documented fact that if you talk to me for more than, say, 10 minutes, I will start talking about my deep love for biscuits. Buttery, flaky, fluffy, did I say buttery, biscuits.

Happily, in Seattle, there are some gorgeous specimens. But my current obsession? The jam-and-butter-filled version from Oddfellows Cafe in Capitol Hill (beloved by The New York Times, and, happily, just up the street from my store!).

These biscuits have a perfect texture, with a dense, flaky, buttery consistency, and a nice crunchy crust on top.

But what takes them from great to awesome overload is the fact that they serve them sliced in half, with about a fourth of a stick of butter and a thick spoonful of jam waiting like a sweet and rich secret inside of those carbohydratey halves.

Bonus: these freeze quite well, so if you pick up several, you can freeze them and then reheat at 350 degrees in your oven until warm.

Also excellent: a rotating selection of savory biscuits, including bacon-cheddar. 

Biscuits from Oddfellows Cafe, 1525 10th Ave., Seattle; online here.

Cake Byte: American Pie Opens in Georgetown, Seattle

This week, when Mr. Spy and I made our usual visit to Calamity Jane's for breakfast, we saw a most beautiful sight: American Pie, which has been "about to open" for a very, very long time, has now officially opened its doors in Georgetown, Seattle.

Sadly, they are not open on Sundays, though, so we didn't get to try the pies.

However, trusted CakeSpy comrade Terri, who works at Calamity Jane's, gave us the 411. Terri can most certainly be trusted, for many reasons, including but not limited to A) the fact that she was the first customer on the first day that American Pie opened; and B) She is the type of person who hosts butter parties.

Terri reports that she has tried several types of their pie, and has officially developed a deep love for their Chicken Pot Pie; on the sweet front, a blueberry pie with lattice-top crust and mini pecan pies have also struck her fancy. The crust is an exceptionally flaky, buttery specimen, adding a nice, savory contrast to sweet fillings, and a buttery complement to savory fillings.

They also sell a variety of empanadas and Spanish cookies, says Terri. While on the one hand it may seem funny that an establishment called American Pie sells a variety of ethnic sweets, it really is kind of all-American in that our nation truly is a melting pot.

Wary of yet more pie in Seattle? Well, as Terri so aptly put it, "I love pie. I mean, putting delicious things in buttery crust--what could be better than that?". Amen to that--bring on the butter, bring on the pie, bring on the sweet revolution!

Of course, if you're in Georgetown on a sunday, when American Pie is not open, Calamity Jane's does have dessert:

American Pie, 5631 Airport Way South, Georgetown, Seattle.

Seeing Green: Trophy Cupcakes Offers Guinness Cupcakes with Irish Cream Buttercream for St. Patrick's Day

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: Chocolate Guiness Stout Cupcakes with 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. This sweet treat will be available Monday, the 14th through the 19th, daily.

Trophy will also be debuting "Green Velvet" cupcakes this year on St. Patrick's Day, March 17th. "Green Velvet" is Trophy's award winning Red Velvet Cupcake gone green for one day…our traditional buttermilk and cocoa cupcake will be topped with Trophy's classic Cream Cheese Frosting made extra lucky with a hint of green. 

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