Vanilla Bean & Chai Cupcake

I swung by City Provisions Deli on Friday for their grand opening, and was pleased to see they sold cupcakes. According to the staff, they’re made by their in-house baker and a different flavor will be featured each day. Wisely, they placed the cupcakes near the check-out counter.

$2.30/each

City Provisions Deli
1820 West Wilson Avenue
Chicago, IL 60640
(773) 293-2489

Groupon has $5 for $10 worth of Cupcake Gallery cupcakes available today. At this price, it’s definitely worth a trip to Uptown. Limit of one per person.

Apple Spice Cupcake from Sensational Bites

Time to dust off your aprons for this month’s Iron Cupcake Chicago challenge. Bring your best apple-flavored, back-to-school themed cupcakes to Mrs. Murphy & Son’s Irish Bistro on September 13, 2010 to win head-of-class honors. To register, send an email to
ironcupcakechicago@sbcglobal.net.

Where:
Mrs. Murphy & Son’s Irish Bistro
3905 North Lincoln Avenue
Chicago, IL 60613-2417
(773) 248-3905

When:
Monday September 13, 2010 @ 6pm

$5 entrance fee

Cupcake Crawl Guide Cover

I’ve been down for the count this week with the flu, so writing on the next version of the Guide is a bit behind. I’ll try to make up for it this week and get it out the door some time mid-September. Of course, writing would go a lot faster if I could turn on my inner editor and squelch ideas like Cupcake Crawl 2: Revenge of the Calories. I just need to get it done!

Before I crack down to tweak and edit, I wanted to send out a few teasers about the new guide so people know it’s coming and that it’s going to be awesome. I’ve taken everything I learned from putting out the first guide, improved it, and made it ever-so visually appealing. I can’t wait to get it out to Chicago’s cupcake enthusiasts!

Snapshot of Sensational Bites bakery profile.

So what’s inside? There are 40+ bakery profiles in this version of the guide including new ones from Sprinkles, Sweet Escapes, Bake and Sweet Sensations + even more, 8 cupcake crawl suggestions, and pages of tips and tricks about how to throw and survive the sugar rush. Plus, there are countless new cupcake photos from all your favorite cupcake spots: Swirlz, Dinkel’s, Sugar Bliss, Luscious Layers, More, Beautiful Cakes, etc. I’ve also made notations about which bakeries have dietary considerations for vegans and which cater to the gluten-intolerant.

There’s a lot of sugar in this eBook! Remember, if you purchased the older (less sweet) version of the guide, I’ll send you the shiny new version at least a week before anyone else gets their hands on it. I like to take care of my customers.

More updates to come!

Bleeding Heart Bakery

For $50, you can hear Rachel Kramer Bussel from the popular Cupcakes Take the Cake blog moderate a discussion with Bleeding Heart Bakery’s Michelle Garcia and Cake Eater Bakery’s Sheela Namakkal about the ins and outs of running a successful cupcake business. If you want to follow your sugary dream, this may be a good way to explore it with people who’ve succeeded. Spots for the September 12th workshop at Bleeding Heart are filling up fast. Details here.

Hat tip Roscoe View Journal.

I got into a debate with my fellow cupcake researchers about whether or not frosting was a requirement for cupcakes. The bakery we were at had a gluten-free option, but the cupcake didn’t have frosting on top. In fact, it had nothing. My first thought was to include it in the guide, but then I wondered if it really met the definition.

Admittedly, some places have alternate toppings on their cupcakes. More has a lemon cupcake that’s topped with meringue, and Sprinkles has a cinnamon sugar cupcake that’s sans frosting. Are these technically cupcakes? Or are they just tasty dessert impostors?

My feeling is frosting is a must, but I agreed to settle it here. What do you think? Is frosting a requirement for your cupcake?

Flourish Lemon Cupcake

Alliance Bakery Strawberry Cupcake

Sensational Bites Vanilla Malt Cupcake

I’ve been busy working on the next version of the Cupcake Crawl Guide, ya’ll! I had grand plans to put out quarterly updates when I first started this project, but honestly there are only so many I can eat before I burn out and can’t make myself go into bakeries. I’m trying to space things out a bit so that doesn’t happen again, but I got super busy on Friday and went to four different spots — Flourish, Alliance Bakery, Sensational Bites, & Luscious Layers. Fortunately, I remembered one of the biggest rules in cupcake research: bring a friend to help eat the cupcakes! (Thanks, Karen!)

Luscious Layers Baileys Cupcake

By the way, the current draft is 60 pages long with 46 planned cupcake profiles. That number will vary as I start to edit and ponder the merits of a place’s cupcake offerings, but my hope is that it gets bigger and not smaller. If you have a cupcake bakery in mind, please let me know. There’s still time to get it in the next version.

Yours in cupcakes,
Tammy

Peachy Cupcake from Swim Cafe.

Ever since my neighbor went vegan, I’ve been on the look out for cupcakes to share with her. I’ve found three so far, and would like to know what you think of the choices. Is there a spot I missed? Let me know. Thanks!

Chocolate Passionfruit Cupcake

If you think you have the chops to win Iron Cupcake, then you’ll want to sign up for the August challenge, “Under the Sun… Summer Fruits”. Bakers will bring out their best summer design and fruit-flavored cupcake to win.

The competition goes down on Monday August 9, 2010 at 6pm at Mrs. Murphy & Son’s Irish Bistro (3905 North Lincoln Avenue). Registration information at Beautiful Cakes.

Anniversary cupcakes for party guests.

The Phoenix Lounge was packed!

Foiled Cupcakes held their first anniversary party at the Phoenix Lounge in the Wit Hotel last night. Invitations were almost entirely by word of mouth, which is how Mari & company have built their business over the past year. Guests were treated to silver top hats for the guys & tiaras for the ladies, and, of course, everyone went away with tasty cupcakes.

If you were unable to attend the party, you can call for a delivery at (630) 848-9141 or order via their web site.

A foiled guest.