Robicelli's

This weekend we passed 2,500 followers on Twitter, and Thirty THOUSAND followers on Tumblr!!! HOLY CRAP!!!

Thank you to all of you who have come along with Matt and I for the ride so far- it’s an honor to both entertain AND feed you. We look forward to bringing you more nonsense on this blog and in our upcoming cookbook for years to come, and more deliciousness…..well, how about right now? 

Clockwise from front: Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel, Maple Walnut, Sweet Potato Casserole, Liddabit

Maple Walnut:  Maple walnut cake, vanilla buttercream, maple glazed walnuts

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel: Chocolate cake, peanut butter buttercream, crushed pretzels and peanuts

Sweet Potato Casserole: Sweet potato cake, toasted marshmallow buttercream, demerera sugar

Liddabit: Chocolate cake, salted caramel nougat buttercream, roasted peanuts, ganache, caramel

Things I learned from Internet Week:

1. As fascinating as the tech sector is, as much as we talk about the fact that Mark Zuckerburg is 28 years old and make a gazillion dollars today, I could never be truly happy in a job where I had to wear a suit and came come smelling like perfume instead of sweat and meat juices.

However, if one of our new fans happens to be launching some sort of dot com that combines the glories of six figure salaries and health benefits with meat juices, then call me!

2. Apparently without sugar and coffee, the people who run the internet couldn’t function, meaning there would be no LOL Cats or pornography. So you’re welcome, internet.

Clockwise from front: Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel, Butterbeer, Aris, Root Beer Float

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel: Chocolate cake, peanut butter buttercream, crushed peanuts and pretzels

Butterbeer: Butterscotch soaked cake, butterscotch buttercream

Aris: Walnut cake, honey butter, Greek yogurt buttercream with cinnamon and orange, honey glazed walnuts

Root Beer Float: Root beer cake, root beer custard, vanilla buttercream, maraschino cherry

Available at Robicelli’s at DeKalb Market, and all the other usual suspects. Check the locations tab up top. Also whoopie pies are at Madison Square Eats with the RH Lobster Pound, and brownies are at all Oaxaca Tacos locations.  Sorry for not typing it today- running super late for something, and haven’t been sleeping enough. On that note, come visit me at Roller Disco tonight at DeKalb Market, where you can watch me alternately cry, pass out on the counter, and yell like a crazy guy on the subway! Good times!

Well, we had some bad news yesterday (which was up on our Facebook page- with Internet Week I’ve had no time to update this site from 82 Mercer, because I own a Blackberry and can’t do jack squat with my stupid jerk-face phone).

As you may know, we share a kitchen with several other companies, and on Monday night one of those companies accidentally destroyed nearly our entire inventory for our shop at DeKalb Market. Meaning we had absolutely no choice but to close yesterday, meaning we had to cancel “Two for Five Tuesday”.

No one was more upset about this than me- trust me.

But to make it up to all of you, we’re bucking the trend and saying to hell with alliteration! For this week only, Two for Five Dollar Wednesday Is ON!!!! Get any two regularly priced cupcakes (3.50) for only $5!

Because we love you all longs time. Smooches.

Now quick to the photo, because I’ve been waking up every morning at 5am for this Internet Week stuff and feel like I’m going to die. We’ll talk all about that and other good stuff later this week- but as of now, my face is going into the pillow.

Clockwise from front: McFadden, Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp, Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel, Butterbeer

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel: Chocolate cake, peanut butter buttercream, crushed peanuts and pretzels

Butterbeer: Butterscotch soaked cake, butterscotch buttercream, edible gold dust

McFadden: Victorian lemonade cake made with a splash of Pimm’s, lemon ginger buttercream, candied lemon zest

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp: Brown sugar oat cake, vanilla buttercream, strawberry rhubarb compote

As magical as the past five years of motherhood have been, one thing I really, really do miss is having a nice apartment. This place was never exactly the Ritz, but BC (before children) we had a nice dining table with a runner and candleholders, fewer murals made from a mixed medium of Crayola markers and toothpaste, a DVD player that wasn’t destroyed by someone putting pancakes in it, and portions of the wall that had been “fixed” by repeatedly stabbing at it with a toy screwdriver.

Now that the children are older and more mature, and since we have one final weekend of rest before our shop at DeKalb Market opens, we’re doing the only logical thing - moving all of our furniture and painting the apartment. Cavern Moss- the most soothing of the greens! Soon, this place will be as lovely as our Pinterest page. 

We also took away their toy screwdrivers. They had like six of those freaking things. I don’t know where they hell they’re getting them from.

Clockwise from front: Dom DeLuise, Horchata, Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel, Banana Nutella

Dom DeLuise: Pistachio cake, ricotta buttercream, roasted pistachios, mini chocolate chips, citron

Horchata: Horchata cake, pudding and buttercream, cinnamon sugar rice krispies

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel: Chocolate cake, peanut butter buttercream, crushed peanuts and pretzels

Banana Nutella: Banana cake, Nutella buttercream, banana hazelnut praline

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Cupcakes Available at:

Aloha Grinds: 77th & 3rd Ave, Bay Ridge

Bagel Schmagel: 76th & 3rd Ave, Bay Ridge

Hom: 88th & 3rd, Bay Ridge

Crespella: 7th Avenue off 9th Street, Park Slope

Blue Apron Foods: Union Street off 7th Ave, Park Slope

Tazza: Clark St off Henry AND Henry St off Atlantic, Brooklyn Heights

Eastern District: Manhattan Ave off Eagle, Greenpoint

Brooklyn Standard: Nassau Street off Jewel, Greenpoint

Cake Shop: Ludlow btwn Stanton & Rivington, LES

Battery Place Market: 240 Murray Street, Goldman Sachs Building, Financial District

Bar 5F at Bergdorf Goodman: 5th Avenue & 58th Street, 5th Floor, Manhattan

Queen City Cupcakes: 62 West Main Street, Patchogue, Long Island

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Whoopie Pies Available At:

Red Hook Lobster Pound: 284 Van Brunt Street, Red Hook

Tazza: Clark St off Henry AND Henry St off Atlantic, Brooklyn Heights

Queen City Cupcakes: 62 West Main Street, Patchogue, Long Island

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Brownies Available At:

Queen City Cupcakes: 62 West Main Street, Patchogue, Long Island

Oaxaca Tacos: 250 4th Avenue- Park Slope Brooklyn; 251 Smith Street Cobble Hill Brooklyn; 16 Extra Place, LES Manhattan

As of 1:28pm today, Matt and I will have been parents for precisely five years. Not only have I not lost or broken Atticus, but he’s actually shaping up to be a pretty amazing little man. Seriously! No one is as surprised by this as I am!

A few weeks ago, Matt and I brought home a gigantic bag of cookbooks- perhaps 9  different titles. Our kids, of course, automatically thought the big bag we were gifts for them and started tearing through it. I thought Atticus would grab the most colorful book, or maybe the one with all the cakes and candies in it. But no, he picks THIS one:

Now, this is an outstanding book, but a very very serious one. The first half speaks about the current state of the commercial meat industry, slaughterhouses, the case for sustainable farming methods and humane slaughter, etc. Atticus isn’t just looking at the pictures - he’s been reading since he was four.  He spends the entire night sitting next to me glued to this book, saying things like “Oooh, Mommy! Look! This is a shank! This is a tenderloin! What’s silverskin?”. 

Most of you might think this is cute, but as someone who’s spent the past ten years as a professional chef, and who is married to another chef, I am terror-stricken. My boy is going to be a doctor or a football player or maybe even a pyrotechnician for Disneyland, but absolutely, positively not a chef. Even more pressing than this issue (I mean, he’s five- I still have PLENTY of time to talk him out of this), is the issue that I’m going to have to explain to him that he’s reading about the slaughter of real animals, like the one we see at the petting zoo, and I might end up with a vegan preschooler. It’s pretty much the chef version of the “birds and the bees” talk. 

I sit him down on my knee and open the book to the diagram of the cow.

“Atticus, you know this a real cow, right? It’s not just a drawing. Like when we go to the farm museum, or to the zoo, and see the animals there? Well, we….um….we (gulp) kill the animals and cut them up just like in this drawing. And then we cook the cut up pigs and cows and chickens and eat them. So that’s why it’s important for us to respect animals, and important for us not to waste meat, because an animal gave it’s life for us. Do you understand?”

He looks up at me, and says 

“Yes Mommy, I know. We kill them and they make delicious hamburgers. Which part of the cow do those come from?”.

That was 4 weeks ago. He still reads the Fleisher’s book every night before he falls asleep. And for his fifth birthday today? He’s asked for subscriptions to Food & Wine and Saveur, and yesterday he asked for “more counter space for my toy kitchen”. 

He’s picked this piece from the Ikea catalog for not only it’s ample “counterspace”, but for the fact that he can store his kitchen tools and cookbooks in the drawers. And he asked his Uncle Scott from Brooklyn Cured to teach him to make sausages. He says he now wants to be a “cooker” when he grows up. His little brother? He says he wants to be “A cheese maker and Batman”.

*sniff* Ok, maybe I’m a little proud of my boys.

Happy birthday, Buddy. I love being a chef, and a writer, an entrepreneur, and whatever the hell else it is I do, but the job I love more than all those things put together is being your mommy.

Clockwise from front: Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel, Lemon Blueberry Ricotta, CPB, Banana Nutella

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel: Chocolate cake, peanut butter buttercream, crushed pretzels and peanuts

Lemon Blueberry Ricotta: Lemon polenta cake, ricotta buttercream, wild Maine blueberries, lemon zest

CPB: Chocolate cake, peanut butter buttercream, roasted peanuts, ganache 

Banana Nutella: Banana cake, Nutella buttercream, banana hazelnut praline

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Cupcakes Available at:

Hom: Third Avenue and 88th Street, Bay Ridge

Crespella: 7th Ave off 9th Street, Park Slope

Tazza: Clark Street off Henry, AND Henry off Atlantic, Brooklyn Heights

Joe Columbia University: West 120th Street btwn Broadway & Amsterdam, Morningside Heights

Battery Place Market: 77 Battery Place, Battery Park City AND 200 West Street, Goldman Sachs Building

Queen City Cupcakes: West Main Street, Patchogue, Long Island

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Whoopie Pies Available At:

Red Hook Lobster Pound: 284 Van Brunt Street, Red Hook

Queen City Cupcakes: West Main Street, Patchogue, Long Island

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Brownies Available At:

Queen City Cupcakes: West Main Street, Patchogue, Long Island

Oaxaca Tacos: 250 4th Avenue- Park Slope Brooklyn; 251 Smith Street Cobble Hill Brooklyn; 16 Extra Place, LES Manhattan

I was planning on writing a big, quirky Tumblr post just for Leap Day, but today (Tuesday) has been one of the loooooongest days of my life, starting at 6am and involving lots of running around Manhattan like a crazy person. I’m totally burnt and need to go to bed, so you’re all going to have to wait another four years for the post. Sorry.

By this point, you know how much I hate taking pass days on the blog, but I always like to put something up to make you smile. So here’s an adorable cat!

What do you mean “Cats Again”?

Not true! Or at least, not every single time. But cats are the single most popular thing on the internet, so we get tons of hits and reblogs from it.  I mean, I doubt people really care or even notice…..

Well maybe I’m TIRED, cat!!! Maybe I’m, you know, wasting all my energy raising two kids and, you know, running a freaking business!!!

I’m TIRED! I’m trying!

Ok, fine. If I don’t have my A-game today, and stupid jerk face cats won’t cover for me, then I’m just going to have to use the second most viewed thing on the internet.

Yes sir.

Clockwise from front: S’Mores, Banana Cream Pie, Milk & Cookies, Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel

S’Mores: Chocolate cake, speculoos pudding, toasted marshmallow buttercream, ganache, graham cracker crumbs

Banana Cream Pie: Banana cake, vanilla custard, vanilla custard buttercream, banana chip, graham cracker crumbs

Milk & Cookies: Brown sugar chocolate chip cake, mascarpone buttercream, crushed chocolate chip cookies

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel: Chocolate cake, peanut butter buttercream, crushed peanuts and pretzels

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Cupcakes Available at:

Hom: Third Avenue and 88th Street, Bay Ridge

Cafe at Sam’s Bakery:  94th off 3rd, Bay Ridge

Battery Place Market: 77 Battery Place, Battery Park City AND 200 West Street, Goldman Sachs Building

Joe Columbia University: W. 120th Street btwn Broadway & Amsterdam, Morningside Heights

Queen City Cupcakes: West Main Street, Patchogue, Long Island

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Whoopie Pies Available At:

Red Hook Lobster Pound: 284 Van Brunt Street, Red Hook

Tazza Cafes: Clark off Henry AND Henry off Atlantic, Brooklyn Heights

Queen City Cupcakes: West Main Street, Patchogue, Long Island

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Brownies Available At:

Queen City Cupcakes: West Main Street, Patchogue, Long Island

Oaxaca Tacos: 250 4th Avenue- Park Slope Brooklyn; 251 Smith Street Cobble Hill Brooklyn; 16 Extra Place, LES Manhattan

So, Oscar night, huh? That was something, wasn’t it! Yep….erm….sure was great!

Ok, I didn’t watch. I haven’t seen a grown-up movie in the theater since “For Your Consideration”.  The last movie I saw in a theater was Cars 2 this summer with my oldest son, because we were on vacation in New Jersey and had run out of things to do by day three. The cost for myself, a four year old, two drinks and a small popcorn in a strip mall movie theater on Route 1? FORTY EIGHT DOLLARS.

I’m still not over this. Not one bit.

Then Saturday night, Matt and I went to the Ranger game with our sous chef, Rachel.  I was a pretty obsessive hockey fan before I had kids and the boys made me change the channel to “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” within the first 5 minutes of every Ranger game I’d try to watch.  Being at the Garden, watching my team, getting caught up in the excitement- I realized the perfect way to finally get my boys into hockey would to get tickets up in the nosebleeds and take my kids to a real Ranger game.  

I went home and looked up tickets for every home game left in the season. Non scalped, straight from Madison Square Garden tickets? Starting at eighty dollars a piece for nosebleeds, going up to almost $1100 per ticket.

Then after about 10 solid minutes of screaming at Matt about how ridiculous it is to think that it would cost close to $300 for me to take my sons to a hockey game, how movies are too expensive, how rent is too damn high, I came to the most horrifying realization of my adult life:

I HAVE TURNED INTO MY FATHER.

I’m only 31 years old! How much more time do I have before I start talking about the days when you could get gas for less than $2 a gallon and walking around the neighborhood in “leisure pants” (my father’s misguided term for pajama bottoms)? And my dad is only 58! As we both move into the 2020s and 30s, will my father and I both just become exponentially crazier, throwing rotten fruit at Madison Square Garden while shaking our fists? I don’t even know where crazy old people are getting all this rotten fruit to throw at things - I’m not ready for this!!!

I’d enjoy these rich decadent cupcakes while you still can, before I start making all our cakes with raisins, tomato soup and Benefiber.

Clockwise from front: Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel, Cinnamon Bun, Banana Cream Pie, Dark Chocolate Dulce

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel: Chocolate cake, peanut butter buttercream, cushed peanuts and pretzels

Cinnamon Bun: Cinnamon sugar spotted cake, cream cheese buttercream, cinnamon butterscotch, streusel

Banana Cream Pie: Banana cake, vanilla custard, custard buttercream, banana chip, graham cracker crumbs

Dark Chocolate Dulce: Dark chocolate cake, dulce de leche buttercream, dark chocolate ganache, Maldon sea salt

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Cupcakes Available at:

Cafe at Sam’s Bakery:  94th off 3rd, Bay Ridge

Aloha Grinds: 77th and 3rd, Bay Ridge

Crespella: 7th Ave off 9th Street, Park Slope

Tazza Cafes: Clark off Henry AND Henry off Atlantic, Brooklyn Heights

Cake Shop: Ludlow btwn Stanton & Rivington, LES

Joe Columbia University: West 120th btwn Broadway & Amsterdam, Morningside Heights

Queen City Cupcakes: West Main Street, Patchogue, Long Island

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Whoopie Pies Available At:

Red Hook Lobster Pound: 284 Van Brunt Street, Red Hook

Tazza Cafes: Clark off Henry AND Henry off Atlantic, Brooklyn Heights

Queen City Cupcakes: West Main Street, Patchogue, Long Island

______________________________

Brownies Available At:

Queen City Cupcakes: West Main Street, Patchogue, Long Island

Oaxaca Tacos: 250 4th Avenue- Park Slope Brooklyn; 251 Smith Street Cobble Hill Brooklyn; 16 Extra Place, LES Manhattan

While our shop at DeKalb has been closed this winter, we’ve been doing LOTS of exciting back end stuff here at Robicelli’s. Like taxes! Setting up new accounting software to handle payroll! And (finally) finishing the book proposal! Would you believe that’s just the tip of the iceberg? Seriously! 

One of the many projects I’ve been working on is finally coming up with a “graphic identity” for us, which we haven’t really had for the past few years because we were broke and couldn’t afford it.  Also, throughout my entire career I’ve seen (and worked for) companies who spend all their efforts branding - creating a slick, glossy corporate package - and then once you look past the logo you find that there’s actually absolutely zero quality and nothing of substance.  

Though I can name a thousand graphic designers who will argue otherwise, not having a budget for design ended up being invaluable to us for lots of reasons. For one, it made people notice us on the strength of our product, and not because lots of stuff on our website moved around to trance music. Instead of having a fancy website, we ended up making our internet home here on Tumblr, which was without question the smartest move we could have made as a growing small business (as for all the reasons why- well, that’s another post entirely).  Also, trying to make a logo ourselves yielded this:

We made some other ones, too, but I’m trying hard to keep this blog PG-13. 

2012 finds us in a new place. We’ve proved that we have substance. We have plans of expansion, and big projects on the way. We’ve got our first whole season at DeKalb starting on April 6th.  And after years of hard work, we have a teeny weeny little budget. So one of my projects for this winter was to finally find a designer that answered emails and phone calls, and start working on a comprehensive visual branding profile for Robicelli’s.  This blog is going to get itself sexified!!! 

After countless interviews with designers who just didn’t get what we were looking for, hours of research, asking around for references, tons of preliminary sketches that we hated, we finally found our designer by screwing around on Facebook. I always think of my old friend Isaac Lubow as the 15 year old kid with a blue mohawk that I went to Stuyvesant High School with. I keep forgetting that since we graduate, he also graduated from Pratt, also became a parent, did some modeling, and opened a graphic design firm in Bali. He also takes the time out of his busy schedule to be one of the funniest people on Twitter, because he’s truly a gift to humanity.

Within 12 hours of talking, three preliminary sketches were in my inbox. Usually when I get sketches, I hate most, if not all of them. This time? HEAD OVER HEELS IN LOVE WITH THEM ALL. Which sucks, because I can’t choose. So I put all three of them up on Facebook and on my personal page, thinking there would be an obvious favorite and I’d just run with that. Except that when I broke down all the comments, they were all voted for equally, all defended by excellent arguments. And I cannot for the life of me decide which one to use as a starting point:

“Easy to read”. “Hands down my favorite”, “Like both the design/font”, “Has the most potential as a first draft”, “Clean & simple”, “Will translate well to packaging”

BUT ”Reminds me of a diner sign and crappy diner cake” “Too Broadway”

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“Personal, classy and already feels important”, “Reminds me of classic bakeries”, “Love the retro feel”, “Would look good on print materials”, “Reads more gourmet and upmarket”, “Fancier”

BUT ”I think the ‘o’ sort of looks like an ‘a’, so I’m reading it as Rabicelli’s” “Cursive writing is pretentious now, and people under the age of 18 can’t read cursive anymore”

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“Looks the most iconic and visually arresting”, “Progressive, new, and smacks your mother in the ass then licks your dads nose”, “Very ownable- retro, yet there’s something modern about it” “Like that it says ‘Brooklyn’”, “Will hold up in different sizes”, “The guys from Clutch would pick this logo, and seriously Allison, when do you not listen to the dudes from Clutch” 

BUT ”Reminds me of a Soviet Propaganda poster”, “Reminds me of gum” “Cold & sterile”

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And these aren’t even the final drawings! This is the first draft! How has a first draft become do divisive?!?!

This little social media experiment has accomplished the following:

1. Exposed me to the fact that every single person that I know is a designer, or is married to a designer, or has a best friend who’s a designer, or lives next door to a designer, or took design in school once.

2. Given me the worst headache I have had since my I finally finished the book proposal (so, since last Friday)

3. Made me realize that once I pick the first draft, I’m going to have to pick a second draft, then a third, and then we can start talking about color schemes. And this is just for the logo. After that, we redesign the Tumblr. And then packaging. And then the t-shirt and the officially licensed Robicelli’s tracksuits and G-strings. Meaning there’s an excellent chance that by the end of this year, I will be 100% catatonic, but as a small consolation, I will at least be wearing a dope-ass tracksuit. And maybe a G-string, depending on how cold it is.

Isaac told me to just go with my gut and pick one, but even my gut isn’t sure. So we’re doing the only logical thing:

We are making the entire process of branding our company interactive.

I mean really, who knows our company better than you guys- the ones who read our blog, buy our cupcakes, and have been supporting us as we’ve grown? And who are the people who are going to see this logo on shelves, on storefronts, on skimpy underwear? YOU are. So we want you to guide us along, tell us what you want to see, and have your opinions be a part of this company. CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FIRST DRAFT. We’ll tally the votes next week, then keep you updated as we move forward. And when we need to make another decision, we’ll ask you guys first. 

Because we loves and respects you guys long time. Super duper for reals. Now celebrate our love by eating some cupcakes!

Clockwise from front: Chocolate PB Pretzel, Duckwalk, Chocolate Merlot, Creamsicle

Chocolate PB Pretzel: Chocolate cake, peanut butter buttercream, crushed peanuts and pretzels

Duckwalk: Vanilla cake, blueberry port mascarpone buttercream, port simmered blueberries

Chocolate Merlot: Chocolate merlot cake & buttercream, chocolate shavings, black pepper

Creamsicle: Orange cake, vanilla buttercream, candied orange peel

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Cupcakes Available at:

Cafe at Sam’s Bakery: 94th Street off 3rd Avenue, Bay Ridge

Aloha Grinds: 77th & 3rd Ave, Bay Ridge

Bagel Schmagel: 76th & 3rd Ave, Bay Ridge

Blue Apron Foods: Union Street off 7th Ave, Park Slope

Tazza: Clark St off Henry AND Henry St off Atlantic, Brooklyn Heights

Eastern District: Manhattan Ave off Eagle, Greenpoint

Brooklyn Standard: Nassau Street off Jewel, Greenpoint

Cake Shop: Ludlow btwn Stanton & Rivington, LES

Joe Columbia University: West 120th Street btwn Broadway & Amsterdam, Morningside Heights

Bar 5F at Bergdorf Goodman: 5th Avenue & 58th Street, 5th Floor, Manhattan

Queen City Cupcakes: Patchogue, Long Island

________________________________

Whoopie Pies Available At:

Red Hook Lobster Pound: 284 Van Brunt Street, Red Hook

Tazza: Clark St off Henry AND Henry St off Atlantic, Brooklyn Heights

Queen City Cupcakes: West Main Street, Patchogue, Long Island

_________________________________

Brownies Available At:

Queen City Cupcakes: West Main Street, Patchogue, Long Island

Oaxaca Tacos: 250 4th Avenue- Park Slope Brooklyn; 251 Smith Street Cobble Hill Brooklyn; 16 Extra Place, LES Manhattan

Today we’ve got an AWESOME cupcake coming out, but it’s not going to stores.

Sorry.

But I’m going to talk about it anyway, because I’m tremendously excited about it! And because it’s going to be one of our “new flavors” next month, so it’s kinda sorta like you’re seeing into the future right now. OOOOOOOOH!!!! SPOOOOOOKKKYYYY!!!!!!!

THIS, my friends, is what happens when the master brewers at Brooklyn’s own Sixpoint Craft Ales call us and ask us if we’ll design a cupcake for their 7th anniversary celebration, going down tonight at Kettle of Fish in the East Village (AND open to the public!).  They have us a few growlers of their finished Brownstone Ale, and one of Brownstone Wort (beer that hasn’t been fermented yet, meaning it’s full of sugar - which is what the yeast feeds off in the fermenting process), and asked us to come up with something special.

Building on the toffee and espresso notes of the beer, we made a brown sugar and beer cake, then reduced several quarts of wort to a syrup the consistency of molasses, which we used to make a toffee sauce.  We then added the sauce to the buttercream, and then garnished with a few chopped up chocolate covered espresso beans just to add a little crunch. 

Want to learn more about our creative process - how we develop recipes, analyze flavors, use science to achieve what we’re looking for? There’s two events you need to be checking out:

1- The Cupcake Cruise To Bermuda: One more time, this is a real thing. Totally, super serious. It’s a regular cruise, but it also happens to have special free events that you can attend if you book as part of the “cupcake group”. Events like a master class in science and baking taught by Matt and myself, or a decorating class taught by the geniuses behind Hello, Cupcake. And don’t forget, if you’re in the baking business, you can write the vacation off. You don’t have to tell your accountant about all the drunken limbo contests- he doesn’t need to know about that.

2- Master Class This Weekend in Quogue, Long Island: We are super stoked about heading out east for a weekend away, and joining the prestigious Quogue Library for another installment of their culinary series. We’ll be bringing cupcakes and brownies baked with east end wines for sale and for sampling, and will be hosting an hour long Q&A where you can ask us anything. ANYTHING. Baking, cooking, business…..hell, we’ll even answer the naughty questions. It is a mini vacation after all, and I fully intend to be drunk on oysters and magical sunsets.

One of those east end cupcakes is back in the rotation today- “The Duckwalk”, our homage to the blueberry port from Duckwalk Vineyards.  Also today is the last appearance of our special Valentine’s flavor “The Eve”, so go appreciate her dangnabit!

Clockwise from front: Duckwalk, Eve, Chocolate PB Pretzel, Ebinger

Duckwalk: Blueberry port soaked cake, blueberry port mascarpone buttercream, port simmered blueberries

Eve: Walnut cake, pomegranate cheesecake buttercream, pomegranate glazed walnuts

Chocolate PB Pretzel: Chocolate cake, peanut butter buttercream, crushed peanuts and pretzels

Ebinger: Chocolate cake, chocolate custard buttercream, chocolate fudge, chocolate cake crumbs

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Cupcakes Available at:

Hom: Third Avenue and 88th Street, Bay Ridge

Cafe at Sam’s Bakery:  94th off 3rd, Bay Ridge

Crespella: 7th Ave off 9th Street, Park Slope

Tazza Cafes: Clark off Henry AND Henry off Atlantic, Brooklyn Heights

Battery Place Market: 77 Battery Place, Battery Park City

Joe Columbia University: W. 120th Street btwn Broadway & Amsterdam, Morningside Heights

Brooklyneer: 220 West Houston Street, West Village

Queen City Cupcakes: West Main Street, Patchogue, Long Island

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Whoopie Pies Available At:

Red Hook Lobster Pound: 284 Van Brunt Street, Red Hook

Tazza Cafes: Clark off Henry AND Henry off Atlantic, Brooklyn Heights

Queen City Cupcakes: West Main Street, Patchogue, Long Island

_____________________

Brownies Available At:

Crespella: 7th Ave off 9th Street, Park Slope

Queen City Cupcakes: West Main Street, Patchogue, Long Island

Oaxaca Tacos: 250 4th Avenue- Park Slope Brooklyn; 251 Smith Street Cobble Hill Brooklyn; 16 Extra Place, LES Manhattan

I’ll just get right to the point today so you can go back to watching CNN.

Flavors:

Back after nearly two years in the vault! ROOT BEER FLOAT: root beer cake, root beer custard, vanilla buttercream, maraschino cherry

THE BLUTH: chocolate banana cake, chocolate buttcream, ganache, roasted walnuts

TRES LECHES: three milk soaked brown butter cake, dulce de leche buttercream, caramel shards

CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER PRETZEL: chocolate cake, peanut butter buttercream, crushed peanuts and pretzels

Available at:

BROOKLYN

Cafe at Sam’s Bakery: 94th street off Third Avenue, Bay Ridge

Tazza Cafes: Clark Street off Henry AND Henry St off Atlantic, Brooklyn Heights

Crespella: Seventh Avenue off 9th Street, Park Slope

The Cupcake Stand: Fifth Avenue between 60th and 61st, Sunset Park

Radish: Bedford Avenue off N. 8th, Williamsburg

MANHATTAN

Cake Shop: Ludlow Street between Stanton and Rivington, Lower East Side

Schnitzel and Things: Third Avenue between 44th and 45th, Midtown

Joe- Grand Central Station: Graybar Passage

Joe- Columbia: Broadway & 120th Street, Morningside Heights

     Man, I’ve got to stop writing these things at 2am.  You know how hard it is trying to write anything coherent at this hour? I should get a medal.

     I’m happy it’s warming up a bit, so we brought back the “Romeo y Juliette” cupcake, which is bright, tropical and summery tasting.  It’s a riff off these pastries with the same name I’d get at a long-gone Cuban bakery in the East Village, which was a slab of cream cheese topped with guava paste baked into a perfect little puff pastry crust.  It was so unbelievably simple, but unforgettably delicious.  I’m not positive about the name, but I’m guessing it’s because cream cheese and guava are so perfect together that it seems like the universe made them just for each other, just like Romeo and Juliet.  Or because guava killed cream cheese’s cousin and fiancee, and then they both went out in a horrible and tragic double suicide.  Thank Jehosephet all that senseless bloodshed brought us such a sunshiney-delicious cupcake.  Silver lining, mofos!

     Also, yesterday we hit 1,000 followers on Twitter, so here’s yet another one of my gratitude schpiels: thank you. Thank you to every single one of you who has ever bought a cupcake, read our Tweets or Tumblr, mentioned us to a friend, referred us to a store or sought us out in any way.  If you haven’t noticed, I don’t have much downtime with two toddlers and a business, so Twitter has essentially become my entire social life. Over the past year I’ve gotten to know so many of you online- had you pick up up when we were down, kick us in the ass when we needed the motivation, and made us smile on days where we thought we had nothing to smile about.  Matt and I don’t think of you as customers- we think of you as Robicellis, too.  

     In fact, I think it’s about time we found a proper name for all you guys. You know, like the Grateful Dead have “Deadheads”, Jimmy Buffet has “Parrotheads”, or The Situation has “Sluts Named Theresa Marie”.  Something catchy that can refer to you guys as a whole.  And please don’t suggest “Cupcakeheads”, because that makes me think of people walking around like zombies with giant bobble-like cupcake heads, and that is just TERRIFYING. Think something quirky and adorable, like “Juggalos”.  And post your ideas up on Twitter during the day- we’ll come up with a few ideas to vote on as a group starting next week. Deal?

Now to flavors! Forgot the camera again, so instead of cupcakes, enjoy this picture of Batman riding a Lisa Frank unicorn!  TOTALLY BADASS!!!!

ROMEO Y JULIETTE: Guava cake, cream cheese buttercream, guava puree

THE LIDDABIT:  Chocolate cake, salted caramel & nougat buttercream, roasted peanuts, ganache & salted caramel drizzles

BANANAS FOSTER:  Rum-banana cake, rum-salted caramel buttercream and drizzle

CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER PRETZEL:  Chocolate cake, peanut butter buttercream, crushed pretzels and peanuts

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Available at:

CAFE AT SAM’S BAKERY- 94th Street off 3rd Ave, Bay Ridge

HOM- Third Avenue & 88th Street, Bay Ridge

CRESPELLA CREPE & ESPRESSO BAR- 321  7th Avenue at 9th Street, Park Slope

MARKET- Cortelyou Road btwn Westminster & Argyle, Ditmas Park

TAZZA CAFES- Henry off Atlantic and Clark off Henry, Brooklyn Heights

BEDFORD HILL:  Corner of Franklin & Greene, Bed Stuy/Clinton Hill

RADISH- Bedford Ave off N8th, Williamsburg

EASTERN DISTRICT- Manhattan Ave off N8th Eagle St, Greenpoint

BROOKLYN STANDARD:  Nassau Ave & Jewel St, Greenpoint

CAKESHOP- Ludlow btwn Stanton & Rivington, Lower East Side

LILY O’BRIEN’S AT BRYANT PARK-  E40th btwn 5th and 6th, Midtown

THE BROOKLYNEER-  220 West Houston btwn 6th & 7th Avenues, West Village

JOE: COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY-  W. 120th btwn Broadway & Amsterdam Avenue

Rue has come back from the vault!!!  As you may have noticed, I love the Golden Girls to the point where I truly have no words to describe it.  And even thought it’s a new flavor week, I’m leading with Rue so I could put a picture of her up at the top of the page.  My GOD she is just phenomenally stunning- I should be so lucky to be that gorgeous as I grow older.  Our Bea Arthur is one of our oldest and most popular cupcakes, but I feel we really haven’t brought the Rue out enough to give it the love it deserves- odd since Blanche is my hero.  I hope Matt lives to be a million, but if by chance I do one day find myself a widow, after a proper length of mourning I hope to be banging as many hot, wealthy cardiologists as I possibly can.

And yes- it’s a NEW FLAVOR WEEK!!!  Introducing the Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel: our moist chocolate cake topped with velvety peanut butter buttercream, rolled in a mixture of crushed up pretzels and peanuts.  We sneak-previewed this one at Park Here a few weekends ago and sold out in a matter of hours, with some people coming back for boxes of them to take home.  This ones a winner, folks.  Hope you all enjoy it.  :)

Clockwise from front: Wild Maine Blueberry Cobbler, Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel, Hazelnut Kiss, Rue McClanahan

FLAVORS:

NEW!!!! CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER PRETZEL:  Chocolate cake, peanut butter buttercream, crushed pretzels and peanuts

RUE MCCLANAHAN:  Peach cake, cheesecake buttercream, peach compote

WILD MAINE BLUEBERRY COBBLER:  Vanilla cake, blueberry syrup, vanilla buttercream, wild Maine blueberries, cobbler crumbs

HAZELNUT KISS:  Chocolate hazelnut cake, Nutella buttercream, roasted hazelnuts

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Available Thursday at:

CAFE AT SAM’S BAKERY- 94th Street off 3rd Ave, Bay Ridge

HOM- Third Avenue & 88th Street, Bay Ridge

BLUE APRON FOODS- Union St. off 7th Ave, Park Slope

CRESPELLA CREPE & ESPRESSO BAR- 321  7th Avenue at 9th Street, Park Slope

MARKET- Cortelyou Road btwn Westminster & Argyle, Ditmas Park

FARMACY- Corner of Henry & Sackett Streets, Carroll Gardens

FLYING SAUCER CAFE- Atlantic Ave btwn 3rd Ave & Nevins St, Boerum Hill

TAZZA CAFES- Henry off Atlantic and Clark off Henry, Brooklyn Heights

BEDFORD HILL:  Corner of Franklin & Greene, Bed Stuy/Clinton Hill

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Available Friday at:

RADISH- Bedford Ave off N8th, Williamsburg

EASTERN DISTRICT- Manhattan Ave off N8th Eagle St, Greenpoint

BROOKLYN STANDARD:  Nassau Ave & Jewel St, Greenpoint

CAKESHOP- Ludlow btwn Stanton & Rivington, Lower East Side

LILY O’BRIEN’S AT BRYANT PARK-  E40th btwn 5th and 6th, Midtown

THE BROOKLYNEER-  220 West Houston btwn 6th & 7th Avenues, West Village

Also: Wild Maine Blueberry Cupcakes available at

Red Hook Lobster Pound

284 Van Brunt Street -AND- The Brooklyn Flea @ One Hanson Place

It was awesome seeing so many of you at the last pop-up we did at the beginning of January.  We had a ridiculous response last time, and were so happy to be able to do so many of our more “extreme” flavors again.  And as we opened up the PARK HERE project, we thought it would only be right if we came back to close it, with possibly the most ridiculous cupcake that has ever been created……

The Hot Josh

Celery root & carrot cake with Point Reyes blue cheese buttercream and citrus tinged Buffalo chicken. 

This is the cupcake idea that Matt and I have been fighting over since October of  ‘09, wondering if it even should exist at all.  We’ve received countless emails and tweets from fans egging us on to do it, with me personally vetoing it every time.  Well, this weekend my husband turns 30 years old, so to celebrate I’ve relaxed my stance and will be making the most controversial cupcake of our marriage.  Because I’m a thoughtful wife like that.

I really have no words to describe the Hot Josh. It’s a culinary acid trip; something that engages you, messes with your head and at the end of it all is completely unforgettable.  I actually feel a little abused by this cupcake, to tell you the truth.  It’s like that time I saw that movie where at the beginning I totally thought I knew what was going on, then I thought that there was going to be a twist and I had figured it out, then by the end I was just COMPLETELY wrong and was so confused and disoriented by the whole experience that I was rattled to the bone for days.  I still cannot see anything about “Maid In Manhattan” without shuddering just a little.

If you’re wondering about the name, it’s for one of our fans who had heard Matt mention this cupcake about a year ago, and has been campaigning relentlessly for it ever since.  So everyone, thank @loungeaxe for this one!

Also on tap for this weekend:

Photo courtesy of Blondie & Brownie

Chicken n’Waffles

(because if we don’t make these for every event someone will probably stab us)
Vanilla “waffle” cake, vanilla buttercream, buttermilk soaked fried chicken dunked in pure Vermont maple syrup

El Guapo
Sweet corn cake, cilantro lime buttercream, Iowa yellow kernel popcorn

The Sarah
Apple spice cake, goat cheese buttercream, salted honey-almond brittle

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel
Chocolate cake, peanut butter buttercream, crushed pretzels, ganache drizzle

I hope lots of you can make it, and I look forward to seeing you all!  Please do make sure to wish Matt a very happy birthday, and REALLY emphasize the fact that he’s 30 now.  I’m only 6 months older than him, but he’s spent these past 6 months calling me “Cougar Chops”.  I can’t tell you how much I’ve enjoyed that.

Robicelli’s Cupcake Pop-Up
PARK HERE @ OpenHouse Gallery NYC
201 Mulberry Street btwn Spring & Kenmare
Saturday, January 29th ONLY
11 am- 6pm