Mark Your Calendar: Whodidily Cupcakes is Having a Birthday!

August 22, 2009 is Whodidily Cupcakes birthday and you're invited! The cupcakery's doors will open at 12:01 PM sharp with free frosting shots, giveaways and lots of other free goodies! The first 50 customers receive a free loot bag of Whodidily stuff and a free cupcake too.

Whodidily makes fun and yummy cupcakes. We had the pleasure of eating their cupcakes at Johnny Cupcakes One Year Melrose Store Anniversary earlier this month. Whodidily makes great cupcakes. Can't wait to see the new flavor cupcakes they're unveiling.

Whodidily Cupcakes is located at 1150 Coast Village Road, Suite E in Montecito, California. For more information check out the website Whodidily.com

Sprinkles Raspberry Cupcake with Peanut Butter Frosting

@Sprinkles
Be the first to whisper the name of the cupcake
at a local Sprinkles and you get a free cupcake!

Free Cupcake to Go!
Courtesy of Sprinkles Cupcakes



Peanut Butter Frosting
with the Sprinkles Trademark


Raspberry Cupcake

Unwrapping of the Cupcake

The Middle

All photos by Zen Cupcake via iPhone

Follow@Sprinkles on Twitter and you could get a free Sprinkles Cupcake. This afternoon the secret cupcake whisper was "PB & J." My local Sprinkles at the Corona Del Mar Shopping Plaza in Newport Beach was busier than usual. Apparently, I was the last freebie of the day because a trio of Tweeters in line behind me walked away empty-handed bemoaning a pitstop at Starbucks enroute to Sprinkles. By the way, when I looked over the cupcake menu as I left the store I didn't see this cupcake combo listed on the board. The unlucky Tweeters behind me noticed that as well. Perhaps Sprinkles is trying out new flavor combinations?

This freebie made me happy. My day was very stressful since my 4 AM wake-up. Peanut Butter is one of my favorite flavors. The Sprinkles Raspberry Cupcake is a limited release I was anxious to try. How did my taste buds react?

The cake was moist and soft without being crumbly. The raspberry cake was sweet, a bit tangy and overall berrylicious when tasted without frosting. I tried a bite of the cupcake with the frosting. At first impression, the peanut butter frosting competed with the raspberry flavor of the cupcake. A second forkful had a more positive reaction. The cupcake reminded me of a PB & J sandwich. I liked the cupcake, but personally would have preferred a lighter flavored frosting.

Available through August 16, 2009
Sprinkles Raspberry Cupcakes with Raspberry Frosting.
What a gorgeous shade of PINK!

Recipe: Grown-Up Chocolate Cupcakes

"A Late-Adopter to the Cupcake Phenomenon"
by Suzanne Lenzer

The writer has a cupcake epiphany after baking her own batch of cupcake heaven.

"I still don’t totally get the cupcake craze,
but I’ve clearly been missing something
all these years. Cupcakes are fun, and
when they taste good, so much the better."

Amen to that!<---sez Zen Cupcake

Chocolate Cupcakes
Recipe from Maida Heatter's Book of Great Desserts

Yield: 24 cupcakes

Time: About 1 hour

Ingredients

• For the cakes:
• 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch process)
• 5 1/3 ounces (10 2/3 tablespoons) sweet butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• For the ganache (cupcake icing):
• 6 ounces of semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sweet butter

Method for Cupcakes

• 1. Heat the over to 350 degrees and line 4 6-cup muffin tins with cupcake liners. Sift together the flour, soda, salt, and cocoa powder and set aside. Use a standing mixer or hand-mixer to cream the butter. Add the sugar and vanilla and mix to combine. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each one until smooth.
• 2. On the lowest speed, alternately add the dry ingredients in three additions and the milk in two. Beat only until smooth and fully combined, you don’t want to overwork the batter.
• 3. Scoop the batter into the prepared pans filling each about two-thirds full (don’t bother to smooth the tops--the batter will level itself as it cooks). Bake the cupcakes for about 25 minutes, or until the tops are puffed and spring back when lightly pressed. Be careful not to overbake the cakes, but know that if you take them out too early they may sink a bit. Cool the cakes in the muffin tins for about 5 minutes and then remove them to a rack and let cool completely.

Method for Cupcake Ganache

• 4. To make the ganache, put all the ingredients in a small, deep saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook, whisking occasionally to combine, until the chocolate and butter are nearly melted. Take the pan off the heat and whisk continuously until all the chocolate is melted; the ganache should be shiny and without any lumps.
• 5. When the ganache is about room temperature, use a butter knife to spread it evenly on top of the cakes; sprinkle with nonpareil if you like. The cakes can be made a day in advance and refrigerated or frozen in an airtight container.

Source of Chocolate Cupcake recipe:

Adapted from “Maida Heatter's Book of Great Desserts" by Maida Heatter