Cupcake Review - Cupcake's Bakery and Deli

On my way to visit family in Washington I stopped in at Cupcakes Bakery & Deli in Kennewick, Washington.  I didn't have to go too far out of my way to stop here which was great.   The bakery is easy to spot thanks to the brightly coloured cupcake on the side of the building.

Owner and baker Milli Banks was there to help me pick out some tasty looking cupcakes.  It wasn't easy because they all looked so good.  Milli is a bright spot in your day, especially if you're on a long road trip.  She has hospitality down pat and will have you going home with more cupcakes than you planned. Which is not a bad thing because her cupcakes are really good and it's hard to just pick one flavor to try.

While I was at the bakery chatting with Milli about her cupcakes and my love of baking cupcakes I tried her signature Dr. Pepper cupcake.  Now I happen to like Dr. Pepper so I knew I'd like this cupcake.  As I enjoyed the cupcake, Milli told me her daughter doesn't like Dr. Pepper but she likes these cupcakes.  I can see why. The cake is moist and has the perfect hint of Dr. Pepper.  The frosting melts in your mouth and compliments the cupcakes perfectly.

After having a pleasant conversation about cupcakes and baking I got two to go, a strawberry cheesecake and Milli talked me into a sweet potato.  I continued on my way and stopped at one of my favorite rest stops on the way to my families house.  This rest stop has a great view to enjoy while eating my cupcakes.

The strawberry cheesecake had a lovely strawberry flavor with a cheesecake filling. The beauty of this cheesecake cupcake is that it's not heavy.  The cake is moist and light and the cheesecake filling isn't thick and heavy. It's the perfect consistency.

When I say Milli talked me into the sweet potato cupcake I mean she sold it so good I had to try it.  I don't like sweet potato's.  But, Milli said it was one of her most popular and she doesn't always have it on hand because she only uses the best sweet potato's.  Well call me a liar because I liked these sweet potato cupcakes.  They didn't taste like nasty sweet potato's.  In case you don't know, I'm a really picky eater and can't stand the taste of most veggies.  The cake of these cupcakes was moist and light flavored and the frosting complimented it beautifully. I scarfed this cupcake down.

I'll definitely be stopping at Cupcakes Bakery & Deli   next time I go visit family in Washington. Flavors I want to try next time:
Pear Chardonnay
Chocolate Merlot
Beer & Bacon
Mango Cheesecake
Lavender Pinot Grigio

If you happen to find yourself driving through Kennewick, Washington I highly suggest you make a stop at Cupcakes Bakery & Deli and say Hi to Milli for me.

Red White and Blueberry Cupcakes

Red White and Blueberry Cupcakes 

Baking cupcakes is something I enjoy doing.  I have no formal training, unless you count that Home Ec class I took in high-school, or was it Jr. High?   I can't walk into the kitchen and whip up cupcakes without a recipe.  As much as my man thinks I should be on Cupcake Wars , I couldn't do it.  I can and I do tweak cupcake recipes and when I find a cupcake that sounds delicious at a bakery I can't get to, I can combine recipes to recreate it. But I can't bake from scratch with no recipe. 

This is just what I did with The White Rabbit Bakery July seasonal flavor, Red, White and Blueberry. Their cupcake is a vanilla cake with blueberries baked into the batter. Topped with vanilla buttercream and strawberry compote. 

I tweaked their seasonal flavor a little.  I made vanilla cake mix and loaded it with blueberries.  I like A LOT of berries in my cake batter, I always add more than what the recipes call for.  I like people to get berries in every bite and it makes the cupcakes healthy right ;) 

While the cupcakes cooled I made the strawberry compote.  White Rabbit Bakery 's description sounds like the strawberry compote is mixed into the buttercream frosting. I used the compote as a filling.  So each bite of the cupcake you got blueberries and strawberries.  I then topped the cupcakes with vanilla buttercream.  

Besides enjoying baking and eating the cupcakes, I love the reaction I get from my friends when I tell them about the cupcakes I baked.  They always ask me to bring them into work.  The day I had made these red, white and blueberry cupcakes my friend came by the house for a visit.  I described the cupcakes and asked her if she wanted one and she immediately said, YES please! 

Every time I bring cupcakes to work that I baked my co-workers tell me I need to sell them.  I even had a friend ask me out of the blue one day, "Do you think you would enjoy baking every day?" When I asked her why she wouldn't elaborate but I could tell from the look on her face there was more to her question than she was letting on. 

I don't think I'd enjoy baking every thing, but I would enjoy baking cupcakes.  Maybe when I'm done with my day job I'll open Fizzy Party's Cupcakes.  I'd be a home baker. I wouldn't want a brick and mortar shop. I'd offer weekly or maybe monthly flavors.  Probably weekly because there's so many flavors I want to bake.  I'd only offer cupcakes, no cakes. 

Yep, I've kind of put some thought into it.  The idea is in the back of my brain, just in case I ever decide to pursue it. 

If these cupcakes sounded good to you, check out last month's seasonal flavor from White Rabbit Bakery that I recreated.  Raspberry Lemonade. 

Raspberry Lemon Cupcakes

Raspberry Lemon Cupcakes 

A few months ago we visited the White Rabbit Bakery in Aurora, Oregon.  I had tried their seasonal flavor which at that time was the Apple Irish Cream.   It was so good and I'm not an apple fan, that I had to look up what the seasonal flavors were for the other months.  For June the seasonal flavor was The Marion County- vanilla cake, with marionberries baked in the batter, filled with lemon curd and frosted with vanilla buttercream.  It sounded delicious and I wanted to go try it.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to get down to the bakery to try it. Sooo, I decided to try and make my own. 

I cheated a little and picked up a vanilla cake mix instead of making it from scratch.  I didn't have any marionberries so I substituted raspberries.  I mixed up the box cake mix, sifting it so it would be smooth when I mixed in the water, eggs and oil.  Once the cake mix was all mixed up I added the raspberries. I was very generous with the raspberries. 

Once the cupcakes cooled after baking I made the vanilla buttercream.  I used a few tips I found from a professional baker and it made a big difference in how the buttercream came out. I used the whisk attachment in my mixer, sifted all the confectioners sugar and added the confectioners sugar in a spoonful at a time instead of dumping it in. 

Before frosting the cupcakes I scooped out the middle, filled the cupcakes with lemon curd and than frosted them.  I used the Wilton 2D tip to frost the cupcakes, grated some lemon rind over the cupcakes and topped with a fresh raspberry. 

These cupcakes turned out pretty darn good.  I thought I had put a little too much lemon curd in the middle, I tend to be generous when I fill my cupcakes, but my husband said they were really good.  He didn't think I put too much lemon curd in.  In fact, he had two! Woo hoo! I love when I have a cupcake success. 

If you make these cupcakes leave a comment and let me know. 

My picks to help you re-create these cupcakes and get your bake on.
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Cupcakes and Tulips

Cupcakes and Tulips 

It's Spring!!! I'm loving all the bulbs and tree's blooming.  I took a break from party planning over the weekend and took a day trip with my man to see the tulips in bloom.  Of course I had to take the opportunity to check out a bakery I hadn't been to before. 

On the way to the tulips we stopped at White Rabbit Bakery in Aurora, Oregon.  This bakery seems very fitting for spring. Rabbits make me think spring.   

Inside the bakery you'll find more white rabbits and a case full of cinnamon rolls, scones, cookies and cupcakes. My man got a chocolate chip cookie which he ate before I could get a photo.  It smelled good and was pretty tasty he said. 

I of course got a cupcake.  I tried the Apple Irish Cream.  Vanilla cake, filled with apples and frosted with Irish buttercream. And yes, it tastes as good as it sounds. The frosting is creamy, the cake is moist and the apples that fill the inside were cooked perfectly. The apple chunks inside were good sized too. The filling was not skimpy that's for sure. 

This cupcake is one of their seasonal flavors and I'll be heading back for some of their other seasonal flavors too. So many of them sound delicious and I can't resist a tasty cupcake or a road trip. 

After enjoying the cookie and cupcake we went to visit the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm  It was opening weekend so not a whole lot of tulips were blooming and it was drizzling all day but that didn't stop us from having a good time. 

Leave me a comment of your favorite cupcake shops. 

Kyra's Bake Shop Cupcake Review

Kyra's Bake Shop Cupcake Review 

Can you spot the little visitor interested in my cupcakes.  

All the baked goods at Kyra's Bake Shop are gluten free.  Now normally this would turn me away. I love my gluten and any store bought or homemade gluten free items I have tried have not tasted good at all.  But every cupcake I have had from Kyra's has been delicious.  I never would have known they were gluten free if I hadn't read that on her shops website.  

Before you start reading the review of the 3 cupcakes I tried please keep in mind that everyone's taste buds are different and I happen to have super picky ones.  While I enjoyed all the cupcakes I wished all 3 of them had MORE flavor to them. I love sweets and I want to really taste the sweetness. 

Chocolate Caramel Ecstasy: Chocolate cake, filled with their housemade salted caramel Sauce, topped with chocolate buttercream, dipped in chocolate ganache and sprinkled with salt. 

With caramel in the name you know I had to try it.  For those of you who don't know, my man says he could pour caramel on anything and I'd eat it.  He's not wrong. That's how much I love caramel. The cake was so moist and I even bought the day old one. The chocolate ganache was rich but I'm not much of a chocolate girl so if you like chocolate you might not think it's rich. The chocolate buttercream was so creamy and the hint of salt on top was just right. The caramel in the middle was salted perfectly.  I would have liked more of a sweet caramel taste from the filling. 

German chocolate: Chocolate cake, coconut pecan caramel filling, caramel buttercream, dipped in chocolate and topped with a pecan.

German chocolate cake is my FAV so I was excited to try this cupcake.  This cupcake was a day old as well and you'd never know it. The cake was moist and the caramel buttercream frosting was almost like eating a soft fluffy marshmallow.  The chocolate ganache topping has a smooth chocolatey taste.  The coconut pecan caramel filling could have been more coconutty for my taste buds.  It didn't have that classic German chocolate cake taste to me. I think more coconut would have made it taste more German chocolate cake like.  You can't have too much coconut in a German chocolate cake/cupcake.  

Lemon Lavender: Lemon cake, lavender buttercream, sprinkled with lavender.

Ok, you have to like the taste of lavender to enjoy this cupcake.  You can definitely taste the lavender but it's not over powering.  The lemon cake is very light.  I would have liked more lemon flavor coming through in this cupcake.  The lavender is the predominate flavor in this cupcake. I liked the little detail of lavender sprinkled on top the beautifully piped smooth frosting. 

All of these cupcakes are perfect for any party you're hosting or a just because get together.  The lemon lavender would be perfect for a tea party. The two chocolate cupcakes would be great for a death by chocolate or chocolate lovers party. 

Blackberry Crumb donut.  I couldn't resist this donut. I love blackberries and will eat them by the handful so I had to try this donut.  Plus it's just such a pretty colour.  I was surprised by how dense this donut was and then I remembered that all the baked goods at Kyra's Bake Shop are gluten free.  I've found that gluten free baked goods tend to be denser. The blackberry flavor was subtle and there was a hint of another flavor but I couldn't place it. This donut would be wonderful to enjoy on a lazy weekend morning with tea. 

I have never been disappointed by any cupcake I have tried at Kyra's Bake Shop.  She keeps me coming back for more with her rotating flavors.   I can't wait to try her Cherry Balsamic Black Pepper, Raspberry Hibiscus Rose, Kyra's Unicorn, Mimosa and more. 

Red Velvet Taste Test Drive

Taking a page from Cupcake Crusaders  I'm bringing you a cupcake taste test.  I, like the Cupcake Crusaders have wondered how cupcakes in a grocery store would compare to cupcake shops. 

I've seen  Kimberley's Cupcakes  in Fred Meyer every time we shop there and have been tempted.  Would they taste good? Fresh? Stale? I just couldn't make up my mind. My husband made up my mind for me.  "Just get them, they're only $5" he said, as he put them in the basket.  

The package says, Cupcake lovers can't get enough of Kimberley's Bakeshoppe creations. Intensely moist red velvet is generously filled and topped with fluffy whipped cream cheese.  

The cupcakes are certainly topped with fluffy whipped cream cheese and pretty red velvet cake sprinkles. But how do they taste?

I was expecting the cake to be dry but it was actually pretty moist. I found the cake to have a very mild red velvet taste and the whipped cream topping didn't burst with that fabulous whipped cream richness. In fact, the topping was rather bland. 

The package said it was generously filled and this picture may be a little out of scale but mine was not generously filled. In fact I had to cut mine in half to find the filling. I cut the cupcake exactly in half but the small amount of filling was all on one side. 

Over all I was disappointed with this cupcake. The Cupcake Crusaders have tried Kimberley's Bakeshoppe's other flavors and found them to be tastier.  Read their post here for reviews on the lemon ice, triple chocolate and vanilla bean.