I'm an official Retro Bakery cupcake fan, especially the butterscotch hi hat

This weekend I was given a wonderful gift of a delivery of cupcakes from Retro Bakery in Las Vegas! I had a fabulous time in Vegas (shoutout to the Flamingo Hotel) and hope to return, and these cupcakes were a highlight of my trip. I was very excited to try their butterscotch hi hat cupcake and wouldn't you know, of the dozen I tried, that was my absolute favorite, followed by a tie between Peanut Butter Cup and Mint Chocolate chip. Their September cupcake of the month, spicy pumpkin, which features cinnamon spice cake with pumpkin pie buttercream, cake was a bit spicy, which I found a bit too spicy, but I'm not a carrot cake afficionado. All of them were delicious, moist and interesting. The coffee frosting on the coffee and donuts cupcake was amazing; think coffee ice cream, which I liked even before I started drinking coffee, in frosting form. It was a strong flavor, complemented the donut well, and was sweet and wonderful.

So a big THANK YOU to Retro Bakery, especially Kari Haskell - these were even better than all the years I've spent lusting after them from afar.

I highly recommend them; their delivery fee is $20 to the Las Vegas Strip.

Some of my photos:







butterscotch hi hat cupcake (my favorite) - so buttery and rich and the shell wasn't hard but soft, and melted in my mouth. I could eat this cupcake if not every day, very close to it.








mint chocolate chip cupcake



spicy pumpkin cupcake



milk and cookies cupcake



coffee and donuts cupcake - there was much debate amongst my friends over which cupcake this was!



Peanut Butter Cup cupcake





Chocolate Fountain: chocolate cake plus chocolate buttercream plus chocolate ganache!



Red, white and blueberry


Click here to see all their flavors.

Retro Bakery
7785 N. Durango Dr. #130
Las Vegas, NV 89131
95 N Freeway/Durango Dr.
702-586-3740
retrobakery at hotmail.com
www.retrobakerylv.com
Facebook
Flickr
@retrobakery on Twitter

The best part of my 700-calorie airport coconut cupcake was...the coconut

Quick review of this cupcake I bought last night at JFK (don't have the receipt in front of me and I don't remember the price). The coconut on top was the best part. I ate that all off. The frosting was okay, but as you can see, there was SO much of it. Too much. Too much of all of it. The cake was eh, not really worth eating but not totally disgusting. For an airport cupcake it was okay, but I look forward to the day when proper cupcake bakeries open shop in airports!


the cupcake display











calorie count!

Cupcake Activist Review: Lovely Confections

A few weeks ago my husband flew to Denver to race the Leadville Trail 100. Of course I gave him an assignment to bring home some cupcakes. He succeeded. Lovely Confections Bakery seemed like the place to go.

Of course my husband couldn't just pick up cupcakes for me. He tried them out himself. He wouldn't tell me if he liked his or not until after I tasted mine. Thanks for making my review completely unbiased.

I contacted Lovely Confections by Twitter beforehand to let them know my husband was stopping by. They did a great job of making sure my cupcakes were airplane-proof. These babies made it all the way home in one piece.

Delivery to my kitchen. I wish I had a cupcake courier for every cupcake shop.

The three cupcakes from Lovely Confections that I tried were Red Velvet, Bees Knees, and Chocolate Salted Caramel.

Red Velvet: I always use red velvet as a standard for a new cupcake place. Lovely Confections passes the red velvet test. The cake had a decent moistness and wasn't bright red, so I knew it was a true red velvet cake. The cream cheese frosting was tangy, as it should be. Proportion of frosting to cake was 1:3, which meant there was a lot of frosting. I didn't mind.

Bees Knees: This lavender cake also had decent moistness. At first I was a little put-off by the flavor because I normally associate lavender with soap. After a few more bites, I began to enjoy the cupcake how it was meant to be. The honey lemon frosting was "buttery good." I think I wrote this because of the strong butter taste, which is a good thing. The frosting had a good, thick consistency.

Chocolate Salted Caramel: My favorite of the three! The chocolate cake was very moist, although I could have enjoyed a heavier chocolate flavor. The salted caramel frosting was excellent! It tasted just how I imagine a Werther's would taste as a frosting. The frosting really made this cupcake great.

Lovely Confections has my recommendation for anyone living in or visiting the Denver area. Their organic, local, natural cupcakes are high quality and taste delicious. Their regular-size cupcakes are $3 and their minis are $1.50.

Lovely Confections
1489 Steele St., Unit C
Denver, CO 80206
720-524-7770
Facebook: Lovely Confections
Twitter: @Cupcakes_Denver

Very cute milk and cookies mini cupcakes from Baked by Melissa, this month only

I checked out the new flavor of the month at mini cupcake bakery Baked by Melissa in New York, at their Union Square location. This cute cookie-studded cupcake is very sweet, and tastes indeed like milk, but like milk after your sugar cereal has been sitting in it for a long time. And the cake is the whitest cake I've ever seen. This works in mini form, but I think would be too much in a bigger cupcake. I've found that their special limited edition month-long flavors are usually my favorites. And they're only $1 each (cheaper if you buy more). See bakedbymelissa.com for more information; they also ship nationwide.



Milk and cookies mini cupcakes:

















with a red velvet in the middle











Other cupcakes:

Peach cobbler and lemon meringue filled cupcakes at Molly's Cupcakes = yum yum yum!

I visited the new New York version of Molly's Cupcakes (see Nichelle's post about their opening, which is one of the most spacious cupcake bakeries in New York City and has what looks like the same flavors and much of the same design (sprinkle bar, swings) as the Chicago branch. Full writeup coming soon, but I loved the peach cobbler cupcake best (on top) and also the lemon meringue! $3.75 a cupcake is high for New York, and definitely adds up, plus these are sweet and big generally, so I recommend sharing with a friend or two!













peach cobbler cupcake, with an extra closeup of all the peach cobbler goodness - this had the best elements of everything, with fresh peach on top and it was chilled and the crumbly part was my favorite!









lemon meringue cupcake, outside and inside

Molly's Cupcakes Now Open In New York City

Good Golly, Miss Molly is here! Molly's Cupcakes is a very popular Chicago bakery that has expanded to New York. Molly's Cupcakes has opened on 228 Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village. Instead of a big grand opening Wolfie the owner opted for a soft opening. I stopped by Friday afternoon and sampled a few of their centerfilled cupcakes.





Boston Creme Pie Cupcake





Check out the creamy filling inside. These are cupcakes that could be eaten with a knife and a fork especially if you are sharing.





The bakery case is full of fun flavors and they rotate.





While there, you can play some board games. Molly stays open until 10PM on weekdays and midnight on weekends. Follow their Molly's New York twitter for updates.

Thank you Texas!

Texas cupcakers and cupcakeries (plus one in Edmond, Oklahoma!), thank you so much for your warm hospitality. Despite the 110 degree heat, y'all managed to show me warmth (coolth?) and plenty of sugar. Special thanks to Allison, Anthony and Annie (plus Ashley, Chris, Caroline and Cooper). And to Christina Jett of Red Jett Sweets. I'll be posting my interviews, reviews, and photos of the cupcakeries individually, and they include:

Patty Cakes Bakery in Grapevine.

Haute Mama Dessert Company in Allen.

Red Jett Sweets (now launching a cupcake truck!) in and around the Fort Worth metroplex.

Cupcakes To Go Go in Edmond, Oklahoma (with a genius drive-through window!).

Sweeties Cupcakes in the Grapevine Mills Mall.

I also owe a debt of gratitude to Sonic. Thank you Sonic for keeping me quenched with unending troughs of cherry limeade (easy ice).

Cupcakes at You Don't Bring Me Flowers flower shop/cafe in London

I wasn't expecting to try cupcakes last Sunday, but my friends and I went to You Don't Bring Me Flowers, a flower shop/cafe in Hither Green, where we had sandwiches and dessert, including cupcakes, on their outdoor patio on a beautiful day. They had an assortment of sandwiches, snacks and sweets, including these pretty and tasty vanilla cupcakes!





You Don't Bring Me Flowers
15 Staplehurst Road, Hither Green
London
SE13 5ND
020 8297 2333
youdontbringmeflowers at hotmail.co.uk