Cupcake

During our July 4th trip to Columbus, Ohio, we visited this amazing bookstore - The Book Loft - in the German Village. The 32-room, one city block store contains literally thousands of books. I could have spent days winding up, down and around the local treasure. One of my selections to purchase was Martha Stewart's new "Cupcake" cookbook, and I have since been making my way through the scrumptious recipes.

These are the Honey Bee Cupcakes & Sunflower Cupcakes I created for the first of my mom's birthday celebrations. The icing isn't my favorite (too runny for specialty decor in my opinion) and the cupcakes were no Cake Shop, but they make for an impressive display.

These are the Mint-Filled Brownie Cupcakes, which have a tasty York Peppermint Patty surprise in the center. I made these for mom's 2nd birthday dinner (so much celebrating!) and created the little cupcake picks out of stickers and cardstock.

Mmmmm....a la mode!

For the sprinkle for Baby Braxton, we did Streusel Cupcakes and Blueberries-and-Cream Cupcakes. Delicious!

The recipes are getting better and better. This morning, I made Applesauce Spice Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting. Yummy, yummy! Logan keeps saying "cake" over and over again! If you look at this photo, you will see the "Logan" wine that I mentioned in an earlier post.

Here's the way the cupcakes are supposed to look....I added the pecan garnish.

Despite the fact that I do enjoy the time in the kitchen, you can't really beat the taste of fresh cupcakes from The Cake Shop. Earlier this week, I went into Kanvas to pick up a few beauty supplies, and due to the close proximity, couldn't help but go into Lucy & Leo's Cupcakery to size up the competition. The place is cute...I will definitely give them that....and the variety is smart, but the taste comes NO WHERE NEAR Cake Shop. They are good, but not great, and the pricing is a little nuts. A small cupcake is $2.25....the equivalent size at The Cake Shop is $1.00 and their large cupcakes are $2.00!