Bad Weather Cupcakes

It’s a snow day. Every snow day my mother in law made a particular sugar laden cake. Why would a woman with 4 kids would want to hype up her children when they were trapped at home? Well, at least here, have devoured the cupcakes, danced a jig, and tore up the house, they settled into a nice nap. Maybe she was onto something.

Snow day Cupcakes
My mother in laws recipe with my changes in parentheses
1.5 cups bisquick (or 1.5 cups flour, 1 1/2tsp Baking Powder, 1/2tsp Salt)
2/3 cup milk (or eggnog)
½ cup sugar, feel free to be heavy handed
2 egg whites
2 T oil (plus 1 T more oil)
1 tsp vanilla

Topping
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 T chopped nuts (optional)
1 T butter
1 T milk

Beat all the cupcake ingredients at low for 30 seconds. Then beat at medium for 1 minute. Spoon into lined cupcake tins. Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes.

Mix all the topping ingredients. Top the warm cupcakes. Broil for 2 minutes with the cake 3 inches from the coil.

Red Foods: An Expose

Red, and its derivatives purple and pink, are the stuff of little girl dreams. And, Belle’s dream is to incarnadine all that with which she comes in contact. Don’t believe me? Let’s ask Belle. (This interview contains elements that have been fictionalized b/c Belle’s mother has a valid poetic license.)

Mom: Dear Belle, what is your favorite color?
Belle: Red and pink and purple and orange.

Mom: But which one is your most favorite?
Belle: Red…and pink and purple and orange.

Mom: Why ?
Belle: What?


Mom: Remember when we ate this red cupcake? Was it good?
Belle: Yeah.

Mom: Why?
Belle: Because it is red.

Mom: Would it have been yummy if it wasn’t red?
Belle: It is red.


Mom: What about this cupcake? What part was yummy?
Belle: Yes. The red part was yummy.

Mom: How did you eat it? 
Belle: I licked my fingers.


Mom: And this cake?
Belle: Ohh, the pink cake.


Mom: What about this bread? Which one was most yummy?
Belle: The pink one.

Mom: Was the green yummy?
Belle: The pink one was yummy.

So for those of you who asked if the red velvet cake needed the red dye, apparently the two-year old votes yes. I was allergic to red dye as a child so I have never been a giant fan. But as red is in the name, it might be a better to pick a different kind of chocolate cake if you are dye abhorent. Since I only use it once in a great while, I figure whatever. Food stuffs can be a dye—vegan beet cake buttercream frosting on Cook & Eat's chocolate beet cake; red currant glaze; beet and tomato bread.

And, also if you asked how we made the red currant glaze, we splatted the berries in a mortar and pestle, strained that through a tea strainer, and then whisked in powdered sugar until the concoction was a thick paste. It was about 5 T of juice and 2-3 T of sugar, I believe. As to the beet and tomato bread, I will post them eventually.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

My husband and I couldn’t have been raised by more different mothers. His stayed home, taught Sunday school and served homemade yogurt and wheat germ for breakfast. Mine worked long hours, let me stay up to watch Johnny Carson while I was still in elementary school, and served me sugar cereal.



I am too new to parenting to say how much of palette-building is nature or nurture. But from my own childhood, I am somewhat ambivalent. After growing up eating 2-3 bowls of sugar-laden cereal a day, I have grown up to be slim and cavity-free. Most importantly I have a sense of moderation for sweets. I am that person who will eat one bite of cake and need no more. My husband has a voracious sweet tooth. And, don’t think that his wheat germ breakfasts were emblematic of a childhood of sweet deprivation—that is certainly not the case. Soon after meeting my mother-in-law for the first time, I mean hours after meeting a woman who at first seemed very pleasant and kind, she informed me she would not, could not share her desserts. (I should tell you in all other things she is very sharing.) So, for my husband to have a sweet tooth, I am not surprised.



Belle might come to think of King Arthur as a magical fairy who changed her mother from vegetable toting disciplinarian into a cupcake baking sorceress. We received a box of King Arthur Unbleached Flour to test as part of Bloggeraid: Changing the Face of Famine. Belle looks like me--but her sweet tooth is all her father’s. When she says cupcake, she enunciates every syllable and her eyes light up as if she can already taste the sugar on her lips. She loves my experiments with the cake flour.

So, after peach upside down cake and red currant glazed cupcakes, we made red velvet cupcakes using the Canadian Baker recipe. This recipe really made the cake flour sing—they were moist and airy.

So, King Arthur, Belle and her sweet tooth thank you for your cake flour.

Red Currant Glazed White Cupcakes

When once asked what sorts of regional foods abound in Cleveland, I quickly replied Hough Cakes. The bakery was a Cleveland phenomenon that turned out the most luscious, fluffy white cakes with a smooth, silky frosting. With piped pink roses and blue birds, it was the thing kindergarten dreams were made of. (The bakery has since closed but a few places in town have the recipe and make the cake.)


That recipe remains a tight-lipped secret--even the internet offers no clues. When I read the fluffy white cake recipe on the back of the King Arthur Unbleached Cake Flour, I wanted to see if it could fill that void. The photograph on the website is so evocative.  It made me think of a time when homemade layer cakes, and homemade preserves, were the norm; when people made preserves; when men wore hats and women gloves. In short, the cake looks like a thick slice of Americana on a plate.

I don’t own white gloves; I go to work out of the house during the day; I swear. So, I decided to update the plan a little. I made cupcakes; if the interweb is to be believed, they are the layered cake of the naughts. Instead of jam and fluffy white frosting, I made two glazes—one from homemade red currant jam and white sugar.



I didn’t mentally measure the recipe up to the Hough bakery one—it wouldn’t be fair to King Arthur or to my memories. Long ago, I decided to stop chasing food memories. Those sensations are so powerful. I can’t ever make a cake that matches up to the one I ate after an afternoon of playing pin the tail on the donkey while wearing a little lace lined dress. That bite of frosting, that rush of sugar on that sunny afternoon was much more than a recipe. No cake will transform me into a 4 year old again. So, instead, I think the test for this cupcake would be my 2 year old's reaction. Was it the kind of cupcake that would form the same sort of memories in her? Let’s just say I was washing red glaze off of my daughter’s party dress.

So King Arthur Unbleached Cake Flour hats off to you again.

This entry is part of my review of the King Arthur Unbleached Cake Flour. They generously donated to BloggerAid: Changing the Face of Famine. My first entry is here. There are still a couple more entries to come— expect more cupcakes, angel food cake, and chocolate.

Red Currant Mini-Cheesecakes

Children come when they wish beginning a lifelong schooling of a parent in the truth that after procreating your life is not your own. Our little Tigerlily came on the 31st of July--happy, healthy and surprisingly big (considering).

The nausea of pregnancy is gone, let the gluttony begin. And, it started with some mini-cheesecakes from the freezer




Recipe:
Red Currant Mini-Cheesecakes
This is the Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake recipe and I don't repost published recipes on the blog. I did signifantly decrease the proportions to bake a much smaller amount and make then in lined mini-cupcake tins. They baked in a convection oven for 15 minutes

crust:
2/3 cups rusk, pulverized
1/3 stick butter, melted
2 T olive oil
2/3 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

cheesecake:
1 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
1/3 cup sugar & 2 T sugar
1 large egg
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 t lemon juice
1 t vanilla extract
Splash of anise flavoring or anise liqueur
1/3 cup red currants (dropped into the cupcake tins)

Strawberry Thyme Stuffed Cupcakes

Reverberations… The concept has been hovering in my mind. I doodled through high school and college physics but even I remember that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. But in the case of human life, I wonder if actions should be described as having often exponentially larger reactions. One man cheats two friends. Those two friends are without money and they need their children and family to take care of them. Those children and families need to do more work to do so, and the stress affects their life adversely. You get the story.

My work has confoundingly stressful. Work environments are network of people. In general, the actions of small inconsequential people have small reverberations onto their fellow man. And some people have enormous wakes of reverberation; Madoff anyone? So this week at work, we are all standing in the wake of one man’s choice making a guess on how large the waves of change will get.

The pull and push of the ocean on your bare feet can be so comforting and enticing, but the ebb and flows of stress that will be upon me at work are frightening. So, how are we going to make it through? In part, the plan is to find those moments where all the stress exists squarely outside your consciousness—touchy feely as it is. My Belle is a whole cloud of such moments.

She is starting to love to bake. Baking with her takes some amount of concentration. I measure everything out and then bring it to the table for her to dump and stir. Inevitably overzealous actions occur; messes are created. I don’t know how to meditate but baking with Belle seems to me very close. My mind empties of work and life and instead I am focused on the actions at hand.



For these cupcakes we had too many ohio grown strawberries (great problem to have) and I needed to use them up quickly. But, I did want a cake that was dense and a little more complex than straight strawberries. Belle has been growing some herbs and vegetables with her dad (garden might be overstating it.) So, she and her dad grabbed some lemon thyme from the garden. I have been consciously adding various herbs to Belle's dishes recently so that she acquires a taste for lovely fresh food but also so that she can enjoy the tastes of her labor. Thyme might be good in savory dishes, but I think it really works well with the chocolate and strawberries in these cupcakes. Very little is used so it is subtle but I think it adds a wonderful element to the cupcakes.

I am also sending these cupcakes to Weekend Herb Blogging hosted by Laurie from Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska run by Haalo of Cook (anything) Almost Once and started by Kalyn of Kalyns kitchen.

Plan
Strawberry Thyme Stuffed Cupcakes
The grape cupcakes at Cupcake Bakeshop gave me the idea for these.

For the cake, I used the recipe at a Dash of Sass but added ½ tsp fresh thyme and a dash of balsamic

For the filling, strawberries macerated with sugar, thyme and balsamic

For the frosting, chocolate/cream cheese/ buttercream (basically my coconut frosting but without coconut or lime and with chocolate) with a bit of balsamic and brown sugar

To stuff them, think jack o lantern. Take off a top, cut a bit of cake from the core. Fill and replace the top.

Caramelized Coconut Lime and Ginger Cupcakes (Egg-free)

Did you ever think that you were so different than your family that you must be adopted? I look so much like my father that perfect strangers have introduced themselves to me because they know him. So, I never thought that I was adopted, but there was one thing that set me apart from my whole family. As a child, I despised coconut. My distaste of coconut was frankly contrary to generations of taste buds.

My family is from the West Coast of India, a tropical paradise of beaches and coconut palms. Coconut is pervasive—used in hair products, religious practice and, of course, in food. Raw coconut is added to sautéed vegetables, ground coconut to curries, coconut oil for frying. As a child, while I didn’t mind coconut when browned and spiced until almost imperceptible, I would not eat it in the raw form. As an adult, I don’t throw a hissy-fit when I see it at the dinner table, but I definitely don’t go out of my way either. For the rest of my family, coconut is what makes dinner tasty.

Are palettes are genetic? Despite my weird coconut hating nature, my daughter loves it. Coconut water, coconut curry, coconut, coconut, coconut. So, the other day, when I promised Belle that she could make cupcakes, I decided to come up with coconut cupcake recipe. The upcoming change in the family has been stressful for Belle and I am trying to make these last few weeks as an only child really enjoyable. I had just read Tartelette mava cake recipe from the Parsi’s of Bombay. It made me remember muggy monsoon summers and fresh bhelpuri with my family. I thought this would be a perfect start to our cupcakes. We made them egg-free just so that in case she got a little curious about the batter, I wouldn’t worry.

I didn’t taste the results, but Belle and her dad loved them. At least we know they are related.

These cupcakes are also my entry for the Coconut and Lime 5 year anniversary. I thought I would enter because I loved her Rhubarb Cupcake recipe when I veganized it last year. I paired my cupcakes with Coconut spice coffee (add a couple tablespoons extra coconut mava, half and half, and cardamom powder to coffee)

Caramelized Coconut Lime and Ginger Cupcakes (Egg-free)
Makes about 16 mini-cupcakes
This recipe was adapted from the mava cakes recipe from Tartelette which Helen received from her friend Bina.

First prepare, the caramelized coconut that is the basis of the flavor for the cupcakes. In the traditional recipe Helen created, she used milk. I used coconut and condensed milk instead.

In a large sauce pan, cook on simmer the following for 45-50 minutes stirring every 5-10 minutes:
1 cans (14oz each) coconut milk
1/3 cup condensed milk
2 T whole milk

It will splatter. Accept that. Put a lid on it halfway to keep the mess to a minimum. When it is a deep brown thick consistency, remove from heat and cool. (I did this in the morning and let it cool until the afternoon.)

In the bowl of a stand mixer beat until smooth:
1/4 cup (100gr) mava, at room temperature
3 tablespoons (85gr) unsalted butter, at room temperature

Add and then mix again:
Ener-G for 1 egg
3 tablespoons whole milk

Add and mix:
1/2 cup sugar
3 T jaggery, pulverized
1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated (use any juice too)
1 tsp dried coconut

In a large bowl, sift together:
1/ 2 cup plus 1 T flour
1/4 teaspoon (2gr) baking powder
¼ tsp lime zest (grated finely)
Sprinkle of dried galangal
pinch of salt

Put the dry ingredients into the wet in two batches. Mix thoroughly. The batter will be very thick. Spoon into buttered cupcake tins.

Coconut and Lime Buttercream IcingAdapted from a recipe from Hostess Blog

Combine in a stand mixer until fluffy
8 Tbsp butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
2 T coconut milk (super chilled)
2 T lime juice
1 tsp lime zest, sliced into super thin strips

Add 5. 5 cups powdered sugar in ½ cup intervals beating in between

After the frosting comes together:
2 T grated coconut

Top with more lemon zest

Daring Bakers: Caramel Cake

Many years ago now, I was tucking into a large slice of caramel cake that had been sent up from Mississippi by family. My mother in law explained that this cake had gained high esteem over years of family events however I should not even consider trying to make one from scratch because it was too difficult. Having unknowingly thrown down the gauntlet, I began to perfect the caramel cake. It would soon begin the cake of choice for holiday fetes.

This year I thought I would stray from a frosting and syrup laden cake and go with the one that Claudia of cook, eat, FRET makes with glaze only. And then, the Daring Bakers decided this was the month to turn to caramel making with a recipe from Shauna Fish Lydon that called for the syrup to be included in the cake batter and then frosted (sorry Claudia) with a browned butter frosting of a sort.

The recipes for everything were fairly easy if you are used to working with sugar. Caramel is can be a persnickety proposition; it requires the faith to keep from stirring, the patience to watch it while keeping from stirring, and the quickness to stop the cooking at the exact moment it is done.

We went with the original recipe exactly and then topped the cupcakes with candied bacon. Of this addition to the frosting, my husband said with these and a beer, a man could be contented for the rest of his life.

Holidays however require a strong element of continuity, and while this cake was good, it was not the Mississippi-esque caramel cake that my family knows and loves. So next year, back to our Ole Missy.

And for those of you keeping score (rest assured there are people keeping score):

Name of the Cookbook - Shuna Fish Lyndon's recipe -(http://blogs.kqed.org/bayareabites/2006 … he-recipe/)

Name of the Author - Shuna Fish Lyndon

Hosts for the month - Dolores the host (http://culinarycuriosity.blogspot.com/) with Co-hosts Alex (Brownie of the Blondie and Brownie duo: http://blondieandbrownie.blogspot.com/), Jenny of Foray into Food (http://forayintofood.blogspot.com/). And since none of us know jack about alternative baking, we’ve once again turned to Natalie of Gluten-a-Go-Go (http://glutenagogo.blogspot.com/) to assist us.

Vegan Chocolate Chocolate Beet Cupcakes

Displays of gratitude have the chance of being hallow, perfunctory gestures. Form thank you notes turn kindness and emotion into empty formality. On the other hand, edible thank yous, those carefully chosen sweet somethings, can be the polar opposite.
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Recently, I stood the metal shop at my place of employment hunched over some medieval torture device that smooths out the rough edges of metal. A strange picture it must have been. The men in the shop were using their break to affix sequins and notions to funny cards for a coworker’s good-bye party. And, I, in my 3.5 inch pink stiletto heels, black mini-skirt, and tailored black silk shirt, was cutting, drilling and polishing metal tubes. Why you ask? I work in the sort of non-profit world where you do whatever you need to get the job done (hence giving up my evenings to work rather than blog.)

In an effort to thank the guys at work for their kind, kind instruction and openness, I wanted to create some spectacular cupcakes. Vegan Chocolate, chocolate beet cupcakes with vanilla buttercream and then tiny gum paste tools seemed tasty decadent. I veganized the recipe from Cook & Eat.

Recipe:
Vegan Chocolate Chocolate Beet Cupcakes
Adapted from Cook and Eat

2 cups beet puree (about 3 large beets)2 sticks unsalted margarine, melted2 cups sugar½ cup brown sugar
2 Ener-G replacer
¼ cup apple sauce
1/2 cup soy milk
1 1/2 cup flour
3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa
2 t baking powder (plus 1 tiny pinch)
1/2 t salt
1/3 cup vegan dark chocolate chips (or a little less)

Combine the margarine, sugars, apple sauce, and beet puree. Dump in dry ingredients and mix. Add the chips at the end.

Chipotle Peaches and Mint Jalapeno Cream Cupcakes

I have always wanted to participate in Cupcake Hero (because they have the coolest logo in town) but somehow keep missing the deadline. So I decided to get in on the game with the jalapeno challenge. Apparently because I love lost causes?

These were actually quite tasty though I would say the candied jalapeno is not baby friendly. (Still had a kick.) A moment after this picture I grabbed the jalapeno out of that adorable hand.

Chipotle Peach Sponge Cupcake
based on the plain cupcake recipe at Cookie Madness
Mix:
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 T brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons melted butter (slightly cooled)
1/2 t ginger powder
1/4 t chipotle powder

Mix:
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
Yolk of 1 egg, room temperature
½ teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/4 cup peach puree

Mix the wet into the dry. Set aside.

In a blender, beat 2 egg whites until soft peaks

Fold the egg whites into the batter. Be careful not to deflate the batter.

Fill greased mini-cupcake tins until almost full. (Makes 14 mini-cupcakes)

Bake at 375 for 7 minutes. (in a convection oven)

Jalapeno Mint Cream Frosting
In a blender, puree
4-6 leaves mint
1/4 inch piece jalapeno diced

Add:
6 T cream cheese
2 T sour cream
3 T sugar
1 pinch salt

Top with Candied Jalapeno

Candied Jalapeno
Cut 1 jalapeno into cross-sections
Create a simple syrup from 1/2 cup sugar and 1 cup water. Add the jalapenos and boil for a 3 minutes. Remove and cool and repeat with same sugar. It might take 3 dips in the sugar syrup to be candied.

Vegan Currant Cupcakes and White Chocolate and Currant Frosting

Well, there were the eggy zebra currant cupcakes, and then their leaner cousins, the vegan cupcakes. There were very different in texture than the Zebra cupcakes (which are dense like pound cake). Instead, these were fluffy.

Currants played their hand in two ways. A few whole currants were folded into the batter. The frosting on the otherhand was studded with loads of red jewels and vegan white chocolate. While fruit-filled (therefore healthy), these were decadent.

Recipe
Currant Cupcakes
(makes 16 mini-cupcakes)

Blend:
7 T shortening
2/3 cup sugar

Add:
1/3 cup soy milk
2 t olive oil
2 T vanilla soy yoghurt
½ t vanilla extract

Sift in:
1 cup + 2 t flour
1 ¼ t baking powder
pinch salt

Either add 1/2 cup chopped fresh currants or place them in each cupcake

Bake at 375 for 8 minutes.

Top with vegan buttercream to which chopped currants and grated vegan white chocolate is added.

Isfahan Style Cupcake: Red Currant, Rose Water and Pistachio Zebra Cupcakes

How much of one’s person is innate? I am fairly confident I was born garrulous and quarrelsome. And, my dear cousin, M—, was born sweet and kind.

I was four when he was born, but I don’t really remember his birth. Frankly, I can’t remember a time without him. He was sweet from the very beginning. Now that Belle is a toddler, I often think about how sweetly he would stand by the fridge asking for ice. He didn’t really demand it; he didn’t really cry; he just requested it.

So, for his birthday, I decided to make fancy, fancy cupcakes, even if he isn't in town. I took the lead from Farida and made zebra cupcakes, but instead of chocolate, I made red currant/rose water layered with pistachio. My inspirations were two-fold. As a child, M always loved strawberry quick. (Yes, if you ever saw it in the grocery store and thought, you the heck drinks that fake pink drink, it was him.) And, then there was the isphahan macaron with its rose petals and raspberries. The latter is so fancy, and since M is now a big-shot success he needed a fancy birthday dessert.

The zebra effect was very subtle because I didn't want to use food coloring. They were then topped whipped cream frosting, almonds and currants. (I could have used pistachio but realized at the last minute I was out.) Basically, follow Farida's recipe, but substitute two tablespoons of warmed currant jelly and 1 T sifted powdered sugar for the chocolate powder and in the plain add pistachio extract.

Happy Birthday, M.

Cleveland Cupcake Project

I decided to do the Cleveland Cupcake Project for selfish reasons--I wanted to eat lots of cupcakes. But, as with all selfish plans, there are side-effects. I hadn't realized that it would make me feel a little bad to announce winners. Why? Because, I enjoyed all the cupcakes I ate.
But, my opinion didn't matter--it was the voters.

The prizes were two-fold. First for that delish local bakery...

And, so, imagine a drumroll,
anticipate heavily,
and the winner for best cupcake in Cleveland....

Main Street Cupcakes in Hudson

This great bakery specializes in cupcakes. And, all that singleminded-ness clearly paid off. To quote one brilliant voter, "MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM"

Other votes came in for White Flour Bakery, Wild Flower Bakery, Appetite, Casa Dolce, Hough Bakery (RIP), Nature's Bin, Cleveland Cupcake Company, Grandma Freda’s Fresh Bake, Great Scotts Bakery

Most of my votes came by email from non-bloggers.

But, those bloggers that participated are clearly amazing. They include:
i heart cleveland (first to submit, yeah!)
Fun Playing with Food
Heights Eats
Cleveland Bachelor

I promised an award for the best blog entry, but really they were all interesting in their own way. So expect an email from me to get an address for your handmade prize. (If somehow, I missed your entry, email me at clevelandcupcakeproject@gmail.com)

Finally, I want to thank Cleveland Epicure, Eating Cleveland, Cupcakes Take the Cake for their plugs of the event. Next year, it will be bigger (smaller?) and sweeter. Promise. Thanks to all!

Cleveland Cupcake Project--Lest you forget

It’s a sunny Sunday in Cleveland. All of the bakeries near my house have the day off. But bright and early tomorrow morning, there will be bakers all across Cleveland making fluffy, yummy cupcakes. When you have gotten fed up with the politics of work, where will you turn for your cupcake needs? Well, the Cleveland Cupcake Project can help. We already have two early entries—one at i heart cleveland and one at Heights Eats. And, while both bloggers are clearly trustworthy, why take their word for it? Go out and search for your own favorites, write about it and then tell me. (Feel free to use the logo in your entry.) The directions and rules for the Cleveland Cupcake project are here. And those without blogs, please remember to email your fav (with a picture) rather than leaving it in a comment.

And, this doesn’t have to be a solitary event at all. Join your fellow man in this endeavor. Mr. Epicure at Cleveland Epicure will be eating his way through the West Side Market for the event; he is a man who clearly embraces a challenge. My co-workers and I will be planning a lunch date at work where we will bring in cupcakes from around town to taste (and photograph.) Go forth, I say, and eat your way across Cleveland’s bakeries.

The First Annual Cleveland Cupcake Project

When I was pregnant, I knew how long it took from work to my favorite bakery. All the way there, I was focused on the thick chocolate frosting. I would purchase just one chocolate-frosted yellow cupcake. When I would get back to the car, I would open up the bag, flatten in out to create a makeshift plate, and place my lovely cupcake down. I never had the patience to admire my cupcake. I would take a bite and start the engine. Sitting here now, I remember the sheer pleasure of the creamy chocolate frosting and the crumbly-moist cake. The best part, in my memory, was licking the little sugary bits that would get stuck in the corner of my mouth.

Many of us are cupcake lovers. Magnolia and Sprinkles are well-known phenonmena. Cupcake wedding cakes are becoming fairly common. There seems to be an infinite number of cupcake blogs. But, what is the best cupcake in Cleveland?

Today I announce and begin the Great Cleveland Cupcake Project.

The task I offer to all is to tell me about your favorite store-bought cupcake in Cleveland. While I have heard, there are wonderful cupcakes to be purchased outside Cleveland (unlikely as it is), this challenge is about Cleveland. In addition, I know that many of you make a mean cupcake. But, homemade cupcakes are another challenge all together. This challenge is about plugging your favorite cupcake and your favorite local bakery.

This contest will be two-fold:
First, on or around June 15, I will post a round-up of all of the images and blurbs about the bakeries. If one bakery gets many votes, I will post all of them. The bakery with the most votes will win. What do they win? Well, bragging rites assumably, because I am afraid I am not an award-granting organization.

Second, for the bloggers, this is also about writing. Tell us in vivid detail about why that is the best cupcake, what the bakery is like, and what the neighborhood is like. Make the non-Clevelander dream about coming here on a cupcake pilgrimmage. This doesn't have to be long, just evocative. For the best writing, there will be an award--as yet unnamed, but wonderful.

Procedures:
1. Choose your all-time, ultimate, most favorite cupcake in town. Multiple votes are not allowed. If you feel very strongly about a bakery, get your friends to vote.

2. Write about your favorite cupcake on your blog. You do not have to write a food blog, but it can't be an adult content blog. Link back to this announcement.

3. If you are not a blogger, you can enter too—send the same details listed in item 4, plus your writing entry, in an email.

4. Email to clevelandcupcakeproject@gmail.com
your name
the name of the bakery and its street address
a photograph of your favorite cupcake (250 by 250 pixels wide) take by you
1 sentence about why this is the best cupcake in Cleveland.

Rules and Regulations:

1. The Cleveland I speak of is in North-East Ohio. If you are from a Cleveland in another state, I suggest you start a similar challenge about your community.


2. All cupcakes must be purchased from a Cleveland-owned and run establishment (i.e. Heinen’s would qualify but Giant Eagle would not. I have heard good things about some of those big box store cupcakes, but this challenge is about the local baker.)


3. For the sake of this challenge, I will be calling Cleveland: Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, and Summit Counties. If you feel like you live in Cleveland, but you are not in those counties, email me, and we will try to work it out. Frankly, Cleveland has such a bad rep, I would hate to turn away anyone who lives in Northeast Ohio and who feels like a Clevelander.


4. If you are the owner or employee of a bakery, please sit this one out. This is a great chance to hear from your customers.
   

Project ends June 1. Round-up and results will be posted by June 15.