Robicelli's

It’s March 23rd! (Wasn’t Christmas just like 2 weeks ago?) This means:

A) we’re only a week and a half away from Tasting Brooklyn! 

B) the grand reopening of Robicelli’s at DeKalb Market is ALSO only two weeks away! AND it’s Easter/Passover weekend, so you should place your orders for pick-up!

C) then the EscapeMaker.com trade show is only THREE weeks away! We’ll be doing free tastings and selling some super-special baked goods!

D) and then the wedding of the millennium, Simon & Christina from Macaron Parlour, is FOUR weeks away! We’re making the cupcakes for it, proving once and for all that cupcakes and macarons can peacefully co-exist. It’s going to be just like the Peace of Westphalia, but with more tummyaches.

E) and finally, to end the month of April, I’m going to be headed to beautiful sunny Delaware for the weekend. If you think for a second that I’m not crazy excited about that one, you’re wrong. Matt’s going to be getting his tattoo finished with Shane O’Neil, so I’m going to hole myself up in a hotel for two days with my phone off, hide under the covers and eat an entire case of Swiss Miss pudding packs. I’ve been dreaming of a vacation just like this one all my life.

You’re going to need to start training if you’re going to keep up with all the deliciousness we’re going to be bringing. I say you start now with some of these:

Clockwise from front: Tiramisu, Wild Maine Blueberry Cobbler, Banana Cream Pie, Ebinger

Tiramisu: Espresso soaked cake, espresso ganache, mascarpone buttercream, cocoa powder

Wild Maine Blueberry Cobbler: Vanilla cake, blueberry syrup, vanilla buttercream, blueberry compute, streusel

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

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

___________________________

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

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

________________________________

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

_________________________________

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

HOLYCRAPHOLYCRAPHOLYCRAP!!!!

In the event you have not yet heard…..

…NONA BROOKLYN GOT NOMINATED FOR A JAMES FREAKING BEARD AWARD FOR BEST GROUP BLOG!!!!! AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

And as I’m a columnist for Nona, by proxy I got nominated for a James Beard award myself! 

Honestly, there is no way I could be any happier for Nona creator/editor Peter Hobbs.  Peter is one of the biggest cheerleaders of local food, one of the nicest guys ever, and a saint all around. He’s also the man who reached out to me and convinced me that I could actually write, and was the one who pushed me into believing that I could write a funny cookbook.  He has given everything he could for the past two years into this, and I personally and professionally can not think of anyone more deserving.  Congrats, Peter. And thank you for bringing me along for the ride.

Now back to me. 

As a popular contributor to Nona, I’ve determined that about 7% of this nomination is mine. So here’s what 7% of me has to say.

And this is precisely why the only way I’m ever getting nominated for a Beard is by squeaking in with someone else. Fooled you, Beardy!

Clockwise from front: Banana Cream Pie, Tiramisu, Bea Arthur, Duckwalk 

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

Tiramisu: Espresso soaked cake, espresso ganache, mascarpone buttercream, cocoa powder

Bea Arthur: Black coffee chocolate cake, cheesecake buttercream, espresso ganache

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

___________________________________

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

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

_______________________

Whoopie Pies Available At:

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

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

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

___________________________________

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

_______________________

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

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

______________________________

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

_____________________________

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

It’s a good news/bad news day.  Just going to get to it.

The bad news is that we’re cancelling some of our dates for our Park Here pop-up, meaning there’s no place to pick up individual Chicken n’Waffles/Buffalo/etc cupcakes during most of the playoff games, and you need to order them for delivery.  Reason? We just have a TON of back-end stuff to do.  Not stuff that would make an interesting Tumblr. The kind of stuff that makes me go dark on Twitter, get headaches, and stare at a computer screen until I’m compelled to cover myself in warpaint and sit in the middle of my living room floor butt naked while eating a tub of ice cream with my bare hands.  You’ve all been there (right?).

The good news? I’m hoping that there will be a ton of it once all this paperwork gets done.  Namely, ALL MY PAPERWORK WILL BE DONE.  But primarily, I have done almost no work whatsover on the forthcoming Robicelli’s Cookbook since right before the Union Square Holiday Market started, and that thing ain’t going to write itself (I checked- it hasn’t done a damn thing on it’s own in my absence. Lousy slacker book proposal).  

Other good news? Valentine’s ordering is now open!  

AWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For only fifty dollars, you can send your loved one 12 very special Robicelli’s cupcakes or brownies, tied up with a beautiful ribbon with a personalized handwritten card attached, and hand delivered right to their home or office.  We’ll even have the delivery guy wear a tie so he’s extra good looking (though not as good looking as you).

I know it seems like New Years was just yesterday & V-Day is more than a month away, and you’re already sort of freaking out that Duane Reade etc is already stocking their shelves with Valentine’s candy and shoving the entire thing down your throats.  Totally get it.  However, I had to put it up now because it’s one of our two busiest days of the year, mostly because for one day we drop our delivery minimum to only one dozen, and we can only make a limited amount of deliveries as we don’t yet have a cloning device or one of those gizmos from Clockstoppers that would allow us to move superquick through time and make more stops in the Robicellimobile.  Last year we opened ordering on 2/1 and got to capacity really quickly, so we wanted to give everyone a bit more time.  We care like that.

Next bit of good news- realized that Lunar New Year comes a tad early this year, so we’ve changed the cupcake schedule a bit for this month- Green Tea Mandarin AND Black Sesame will both be available on January 23rd! Keung hei fat choi NYC! 

And final piece of good news- NEW CUPCAKE! Oatmeal cream pie! Go git!

Clockwise from front: Oatmeal Cream Pie, Liddabit, Banana Cream Pie, Car Bomb

NEW! Oatmeal Cream Pie: Brown sugar oat cake, vanilla buttercream, oat crisp

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

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

Car Bomb: Chocolate Guinness stout cake, Jameson whiskey ganache, Bailey’s Irish Cream buttercream

Available at:

Cafe at Sam’s Bakery: 94th St off Third Ave, Bay Ridge

Hom: Third Ave & 88th Street, Bay Ridge

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

Battery Place Market: 77 Battery Place, Battery Park City

The Brooklyneer: 220 West Houston Street, West Village

Red Hook Lobster Pound: Whoopie Pies Only

Queen City Cupcakes: Patchogue Long Island

Giants win. Tebow passes 316 (coincidence?). The only way next weekend could get more epic is if you had Robicelli’s meat cupcakes.  SO ORDER THEM ALREADY!!!!

Now I’ll get straight to today’s flavors, and back to being in bed, sick, wishing that my mom would come over and make me chicken soup. Or that she’ll read this blog and make it.  I love you, Mommy. :)

And check out the Chocolate Graham! It got introduced super quick last fall and sort of got lost in all the seasonal craziness- but it’s super delicious!

Clockwise from front: PB&J, Chocolate Graham, Banana Cream Pie, Liddabit

PB&J: Vanilla cake, grape jelly, peanut butter buttercream, roasted peanuts

Chocolate Graham: Chocolate cake, graham cracker buttercream, ganache, graham cracker crumbs

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

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

Available at:

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

Aloha Grinds: 77th and 3rd, Bay Ridge

Bagel Schmagel: 76th 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

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

Red Hook Lobster Pound Classic Whoopie Pies Only

IT’S THE LAST SATURDAY TO SHOP BEFORE CHRISTMAS!!! OMG OMG OMG!!!

And we know that you’ll probably need some sugar to help keep you going while you attack the market. Or perhaps you’ll need to stress eat.  Either way, we’re there for you. Because we care.

We asked for flavor suggestions on Twitter, so in addition to some of the flavors we’ve been peddling all week (Riskrem, Chocolate Orange, Eggnog etc), we’re bringing back some old favorites. And adding a new flavor, of course, because that’s just what we do. 

Tomorrow at DeKalb Market, Union Square Holiday Market, and the Brooklyn Night Bazaar:

NEW! “The Dread Pirate Roberts”: Rum and honey soaked cake, honey rum buttercream, rum glazed roasted bacon

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

Chocolate Strawberry: Chocolate cake, mascarpone buttercream, strawberry jam

Bourbon Caramel Apple: Apple cake, bourbon salted caramel buttercream, roasted apple

Let’s do some news updates! It’s been a while!

DINE OUT IRENE: For all the joking we did about the hurricane down here, it did a lot of damage upstate- lots of families lost their homes and all they owned, many farms were completely devestated.  Some awesome people have put together an event called Dine Out Irene, and we are extremely honored to be participating.  On Sunday, September 25th, go eat any any participating establishment in NYC, and 10% will be donated to relief efforts.  You get something nice to eat, stimulate the local economy, and help your neighbors all at the same time. Win, win, win.  You of course don’t need reservations to come to our shop, but you can book tables for the restaurants through Opentable now

THE BROOKLYN LOCAL: It’s only one week until the Brooklyn Local, the MASSIVE fundraiser for City Harvest!  Admission is only $5, and once you’re inside you’ll have the chance to purchase lots of special food items from all your favorite local food-type people like us! Will we be bringing some super awesome brand spanking new cupcakes? You freaking KNOW IT! We don’t know what they are yet, though, so if you want the inside scoop, remember to follow up on Twitter, where I sputter all sorts of ridiculousness day in and day out.  We’re almost certain that we’ll bring the fig-balsamic-prosciutto cupcake we did last week (aka “The Lauranzano”), as it was extremely popular and sold out relatively quickly.  

Also, if you have kids bring them on down, as I’ve been asked to run a cupcake decorating section for kids!  Apparently since I’m a mother of two, I am more than qualified for this position.  However, my kids won’t be going since I’m working, so let me play with yours to overcompensate for what I feel are my failures as a parent!

MASTER CLASS AUCTION: Just Food, the local charity that improves food systems in our area, is holding it’s annual fundraising auction, and we just happen to be one of the prizes!  We’re teaming with the GerNis culinary center to offer a master class and baking party for TEN ENTIRE PEOPLE!  It could be a birthday party, bachelorette party for those who fear gratuitous nudity, one of those corporate dealies where you all learn how to work as a team or some crap……but whatever it is, you’ll get to hang out with Matt and I for a night and take home lots of yummy cupcakes!  You can go straight to our auction by clicking HERE, but do poke around all the available auctions- there’s a lot of unique items that would make great holiday gifts.  Yes- I said holiday gifts.  It’s only a few weeks til you have to start worrying about that stuff, so why not get some of it out of the way now? 

MADISON SQUARE EATS: Starts in, like, two weeks!  You have absolutely no idea how effing stressed out I am about this!  But I hope everyone in Flatiron is getting VERY excited for all the fall flavors we’ll be bringing down, because what we have planned is going to smack you people in the face with AWESOME!

FOODAISSANCE AT THE JAMES BEARD HOUSE: So remember a few months ago when I posted that photography series “Foodaissance” we were a part of? It’s going to be exhibited at the James Beard House!  Being at the James Beard has always been a dream of mine which I figured would never happen since, well, we make cupcakes.  Matt already had his shot back in our pre-Robicelli’s days when he did an event making sushi with a young up-and-coming Food Network chef named Rachel Ray (a story for another day), but whereas I have cooked various dishes that were served at the Beard House, I have never been able to attend.  A BIG “Thank You” to super-photographer Donny Tsang, who has managed to finagle us and cupcakes into the back door of the White House of American cooking!  

NUTELLA WHOOPIE PIES: Are in existence, and are at DeKalb Market! Want to see our brownies and whoopie pies in a shop near you? Tell them! We’re going to start wholesaling both in the next few weeks!

But enough about whoopie pies and brownies……the cupcakes are still great, and here they are!

Clockwise from front: Apple Peanut Butter, Cinnamon Bun, Banana Cream Pie, Bea Arthur

Apple Peanut Butter: Apple cake, peanut butter buttercream, homemade peanut brittle

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

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

Bea Arthur: Black coffee infused chocolate cake, cheesecake buttercream, espresso ganache

Available At:

Robicelli’s at DeKalb Market: Flatbush Ave Ext and Willoughby Street, Downtown Brooklyn

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

Bagel Schmagel: Third Avenue off 75th Street, Bay Ridge

Aloha Grinds: Third Avenue off 76th Street, Bay Ridge

Cupcake Stand: 5th Avenue and 60th Street, Sunset Park

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

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

Court Street Grocers: Court Street off Luquer, Carroll Gardens

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

Eastern District: Manhattan Avenue off Eagle Street, Greenpoint

Brooklyn Standard: Nassau Ave and Jewel Street, Greenpoint

Cake Shop: Ludlow Street btwn Stanton & Rivington, LES

Brooklyneer: 220 West Houston, West Village

Battery Place Market: 77 Battery Place, Battery Park City

Red Hook Lobster Pound (Whoopie Pies Only): 284 Van Brunt Street, Red Hook, and Roving Food Truck, All Over the Damn Place

We work the night shift, so I’m always writing the Tumblr WAAAAAAAY past everyone’s bedtime.  And every night I think “Maybe I’ll take the night off and not write anything funny, and just post the flavors”.  But I never do, because I love you guys and I want to make you smile a little to start your day.

But as you may have seen by my gorgeous pictorial debut in the NY Times, I have been busting my ass for two weeks in the heat, building the new store almost completely singlehandedly.  Then I go bake.  I haven’t seen my kids enough, so I’m pretty sad & cranky.  And now, it’s A MILLION JILLION FREAKING DEGREES. You know what that feels like when you’re baking and you have the ovens on?!?!?!  A million jillion and fourteen, that’s what.

So tomorrow, God willing, I will have the strength to do a big beautiful post about everything you can expect at DeKalb on Saturday.  Or better yet, follow me on Twitter, because that’s my #1 means of connecting with the outside world, and pretty much all the good content goes there.

But starting right now, folks, I’m checking out mentally, because I am now completely and utterly fried.  I’m going to get a solid 5 hours of sleep, then get right back into finishing the container, driving around Brooklyn seeking odds and ends, baking everything for Saturday, and screaming at Matt for absolutely no good reason than the fact he’s my husband and I scream a lot when I’m nervous. Or when I’m bored….it’s an Italian thing.

If you could just do me one favor though- see these cupcakes here?  Yeah, they were born on the hottest day of the year, and they’re worried that no one will ever love them.  Why don’t you go out and show them what they mean to you by putting one in your belly.

Clockwise from front: The Ebinger, Frutti di Bosco, Dark Chocolate Dulce, Banana Cream Pie

The Ebinger: Chocolate cake, chocolate custard buttercream, chocolate glaze, cake crumbs

Frutti di Bosco: Vanilla cake, wildberry syrup, ricotta buttercream, wildberry compote

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

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

Available at:

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

BAGEL SCHMAGEL:  Third Avenue btwn Bay Ridge Pkway & 76th Street, Bay Ridge

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

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

RADISH- Bedford Ave off N8th, Williamsburg

EASTERN DISTRICT- Manhattan Ave off Eagle St, Greenpoint

BROOKLYN STANDARD:  Nassau Ave & Jewel St, Greenpoint

RED HOOK LOBSTER POUND: 284 Van Brunt Street, Red Hook and Roving Food Truck *Whoopie Pies only*

CAKESHOP- Ludlow btwn Stanton & Rivington, Lower East Side 

BATTERY PLACE MARKET:  77 Battery Place, Battery Park City

Ok, I’m not going to talk about the store today.  I’m feeling good about where we’re at, and really excited about all the new projects to come.  Right now I’m most excited about finally ending buildout phase, then going back to being a good woman and getting my ass back in the kitchen where it belongs. The past few weeks I’ve been nuts and obsessive over opening, and I need to start stepping back and relaxing, and remembering that I do have a life. So we’ll talk about something else.

But just one thing really quick……we had a few IndieGoGo notes come back to us in the mail.  If you haven’t received yours yet, email me at allison@robicellis.com so I can go back into our databases and make sure everyone gets their thank you note and coupon.  That’s all.  I promise.

Ok, now back to me not talking about anything related to the store.

Ummmmmm…….

So…..ummmm…..how are you guys doing? You doing good? It’s really hot out, ain’t it? Yeah. Real hot. Yeeeeaaaaahhhh……..um………

Oh! I got an email this week that I’m not a Gold Star Member at Starbucks!  That’s pretty exciting, right? My birthday’s in a few few weeks, and I’m going to get a free drink!  I usually get something sensible like just plain coffee, but I think for my birthday I’ll get something more indulgent, like a vanilla latte or something.  I’m really looking forward to it!

Ummmmmm…….sooooo……..

Ah, screw it.  LOOK AT WHAT I MADE TODAY!!!!

It’s not close to being done yet, but this is a hand-painted sign that will be facing the inside of the market.  We took the colors from the paint that was already on the container, but they’re also the school colors of my alma mater McKinley IS 259 (Strutting Eagles! What what!!!).  They also celebrate my children’s most favorite place in the whole world, which in their eyes is as close as we mere mortals can get to heaven on this earth: Ikea.

Friday I’ll give you the whole rundown on everything to expect this weekend, plus the scoop on what will be coming up for the next few months down there.  But the weekend is so far away, and the cupcakes that you see below you are going on RIGHT NOW, so you should eat them because they are super-yummy.

Clockwise from front: Banana Cream Pie, The Ebinger, Coconut Custard, Boston Cream

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

The Ebinger: Chocolate cake, chocolate custard buttercream, chocolate glaze, cake crumbs

Coconut Custard: Coconut cake, vanilla custard buttercream, roasted coconut

Boston Cream: Vanilla cake, vanilla custard buttercream, chocolate glaze

AVAILABLE AT:

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

BAGEL SCHMAGEL:  Third Avenue btwn Bay Ridge Pkway & 76th Street, Bay Ridge

BLUE APRON FOODS- Union Street off 7th Avenue, Park Slope

COURT STREET GROCERS: 485 Court Street, Carroll Gardens

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

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

BATTERY PLACE MARKET:  77 Battery Place, Battery Park City

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

RED HOOK LOBSTER POUND: 284 Van Brunt Street, Red Hook and Roving Food Truck *Whoopie Pies only*

With only four days left, we’ve finally hit the halfway mark of our IndieGoGo campaign! We have til the end of the week to raise another $4500 to help us open a new storefront at the DeKalb market and make our triumphant return to the world of retailing.  So if any of you have some rich friends with a crap-ton of money they don’t know what to do with, could you hook us up?

Thank you so much to everyone who’s contributed so far- every little bit, even only a few dollars, really helps. It’s sort of amazing knowing how many people believe in us and believe in the dream- I’ve been tearing up every time I find out that people have been contributing, and seeing all the supportive Tweets and Facebook messages.  It’s been a long road since we started this business three years ago, and there hasn’t been a single dull (or easy) moment about it.  We are insanely fortunate not only to have each other and an incredible support network of friends and family, but to have fans like all of you as well.  There’s not a second where we’re not grateful not just for our successes, but mostly for all the wonderful people that this business has brought into our lives. (Everyone together! “AWWWWWWWWWW”)

Since all this mushy stuff makes me feel gross, head on over to our Facebook page and help me discuss something super-awesome: MACGYVER.  Matt and I have been watching episodes on Netflix every night, and there’s just so much to discuss, like:

-What’s up with MacGyver’s hair?

-No, really, what’s up with that?

That’s really all I got….having a lot of trouble moving past it.  Last night we were watching an episode where he was fistfighting…..wait for it….BIGFOOT, and yet I still find his hair the most implausible part of the entire series.  I’m sure we can talk about him turning a bike and a paperclip into a blowtorch or something, too…..just as long as we’re off the mushy stuff and talking about cool things like explosions and hair extensions.

And if you’d rather not talk about MacGyver, how about just going out and having one of these awesome cupcakes instead?

Clockwise from front: Liddabit, Banana Cream Pie, Car Bomb, PB&J

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

Banana Cream Pie:  Banana cake, vanilla custard, vanilla custard buttercream, banana chip, crushed graham crackers

Car Bomb: Chocolate Guinness cake, Jameson whiskey ganache, Bailey’s Irish Cream buttercream

PB&J:  Vanilla cake, grape jelly, peanut butter buttercream, roasted peanuts

Available at:

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

HOM:  88th and 3rd Ave, Bay Ridge

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

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

COURT STREET GROCERS: 485 Court Street, Carroll Gardens

BERRY PARK:  4 Berry Street, Williamsburg

SCHNITZEL AND THINGS:  Third Avenue btwn 45th & 46th Streets, Midtown

*Note: Not all locations receive all flavors.  The flavors recieved are determined by each store’s management, not by us.  If there’s something in the upcoming rotation you want to see, let them know directly

Hope everyone had a great Mother’s Day weekend!  Now lets get straight to business…..

……we have only FIVE DAYS LEFT on our IndieGoGo Campaign, and we’re only 47% of the way towards our goal!  For those of you bad at the mathematics, that’s less than half!!!

I know I haven’t been pestering everyone on this like I know I should have- sending tweet after tweet, bombarding all your Facebook pages and writing 5,000 blog posts about it, because I really didn’t want to annoy the crap out of all you (that’s called love, guys).  Take, for example, our 4 year old son.  We took him to Chuck E Cheese ONCE, and now every day I have to hear “Mommy, can we go to Chuck E Cheese? You know what’s great? Chuck E Cheese. We should go to Chuck E Cheese.  Do you like Chuck E Cheese? Because we should go to Chuck E Cheese.  Can we go to Chuck E Cheese right now?” for 12 HOURS A DAY.  Now instead of taking him there, I want to burn that damn place down so I never, ever, ever have to hear about it again. 

However, with only five days left, we’re going to be getting very “Can you help our IndieGoGo? We really need the help on IndieGoGo. We worked so hard since we closed our old store to rebuild, and we really really really want this, so can you help with our IndieGoGo? Pleeeeeaaaasssseee?”.  And seriously, how pathetic is that?!?!?!  You’re annoyed, and I feel gross and bad about myself.  No one is winning here, folks.  So please, help us reach our goal so I can stop groveling and we can move on to a new era with a gorgeous storefront, where the the Chicken n’Waffles cupcakes will flow like wine and beautiful women will flock like the Salmon of Capastrano.

In the meantime, go pick up some of these delicious flavors, and hopefully they’ll convince you to throw us a few bucks.  And not because they’re filled with mind-controlling drugs….yeah……that’s it…….

Clockwise from front: The Liddabit, Banana Cream Pie, The Tina, Egyptian Cobra

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

Banana Cream Pie:  Banana cake, vanilla custard, vanilla custard buttercream, banana chip, crushed graham crackers

The Tina:  Chocolate almond cake, vanilla buttercream, roasted almonds, chocolate ganache

Egyptian Cobra:  Orange flower & cardamom cake, Egyptian rice pudding buttercream, brown butter & spice toasted rice crisps

AVAILABLE AT

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

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

Brooklyneer: West Houston & Varick St, West Village

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

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

*Note: Not all locations receive all flavors.  The flavors recieved are determined by each store’s management, not by us.  If there’s something in the upcoming rotation you want to see, let them know directly

If you follow us on Twitter, you may have noticed earlier in the week I was talking about shipping cupcakes.  I’d say after recipe requests, the second most popular type of email we get is asking us when we’ll start shipping.  I’m here to tell you that this week, we shipped our first dozen cupcakes ever.  Remember how I promised you a funny story a few days ago?  Well here it is!

Before we begin, I must stress that these cupcakes were not for a client, and you CANNOT order cupcakes from us at this time.  It all has to do with some of the super-secret stuff we said we can’t talk about. I’m not saying to give up hope on the shipping- I’m just saying I can’t see it happening until at least the end of the summer at this point, if not later.  And you’re about to find out why.

Tuesday morning we were invited to be in the audience for the special entrepreneur episode of Martha.  This meant- brace yourselves- we actually had to turn off our Blackberries for an hour and a half (I know- it was really hard).  The second we’re off the air, I grab it and turn it on, only to find a missed call from a certain “Mr. X”, a very, VERY important person whom I have been waiting to hear from for almost a week.  Mr. X is in Florida, and has just learned he has a big meeting with Mr. Y the next day. 

Note how Mr. X had TWO “verys” in front of his “important person” status.  Well, Mr. Y has twenty “verys”.  And Mr. Y wants to try the cupcakes.  At 11am.  The next day.  In Florida.

It is at this point I almost brush off the staffers of Martha I was hoping to talk with, because Matt and I need to get our asses back to Brooklyn two hours ago.  We bolt out the door into the pouring rain and into the subway, where we can do nothing but just sit there for an hour (we really need you to get on that whole cell service in the subway thing, MTA).  We now have 2 hours to drive around Brooklyn, find proper packaging, figure out how to secure the cupcakes to said packaging so they don’t get destroyed, get ice packs and boxes, wrap the whole thing up and ship it to beautiful sunny Florida, AND see our children for 10 minutes before Matt has to load-in at Tasting Brooklyn and I have to bake for the next day.  You know- average entrepreneur problems.

Matt walks into FedEx with the empty clamshell box just to get a quote and see if they have a box. And this is how that exchange went:

FedEx Guy: Box that size about five pounds? Let’s see….that will be $130.

Matt: (almost slaps the FedEx guy) Excuse me?

FedEx Guy: $130.

Matt:  One more time.

FedEx Guy: Yeah, a few months ago it would have only been, like, 60 bucks.  But gas went up.  So it’s going to be $130.

Matt: Gas went up 33%. How the hell did the price go up over 200%?

FedEx Guy: Well, all our costs went up.  And it’s a perishable package. So we need refrigerated trucks to transport the box to the airplane.

Matt:  But we have ice packs.

FedEx Guy: But we still consider it perishable, so it’s going to cost you more.

Matt:  So what you’re trying to say is that you won’t kick it around as much.

FedEx Guy: In not so many words, yes.

Matt returns to the car and screams about this for a good five minutes, when we decide to drive 6 blocks to the Post Office.  Here is that exchange:

Post Office Guy: Overnight, that’ll be $123. Gas went up. And also, it might not be there tomorrow.

Matt:  But I’m overnighting it.

Post Office Guy: I get that, but it doesn’t mean it’s actually going to show up tomorrow.

Matt:  Then why would I pay you $123?

Post Office Guy: Well, we’ll TRY to get it there tomorrow.  But we can’t swear it’s going to happen.  It might.  But if you don’t overnight it, it definitely won’t.  We can promise it will get there eventually.

Matt:  So if it doesn’t get there tomorrow, do I get my money back?

Post Office Guy: No.

Onto UPS!!!

UPS Guy: Well, the bad news is that it’s $144.  But the good news is that if you’re a AAA member, it’s only $133!

Well, we really don’t have a choice at this point.  One hundred and thirty freaking dollars is a lot of money to us, but it’s nothing to Mr. Y, and we want to eventually be chilling with Mr. Y in a hot tub on his yacht somewhere.  Our friends at Liddabit Sweets, who ship all the time, hooked us up with ice packs and shipping materials, and off Matt went to FedEx.  Last we heard, cupcakes showed up perfect, and Mr. Y loved them.  We both had nightmares about the post office that night.

Hey, at least we know how to ship now.

Onto flavors……..pay attention to the locations portion, because there’s a brand new store in there! IN QUEENS! Who loves ya, Astoria?!?!

Clockwise from front: Wild Maine Blueberry Cobbler, Banana Cream Pie, Car Bomb, Tiramisu

NEW!!! Banana Cream Pie: Banana cake, pastry cream filling, mascarpone & vanilla custard buttercream, ground graham crackers, banana chip

Wild Maine Blueberry Cobbler:  Vanilla cake, blueberry syrup, vanilla buttercream, blueberry compote, cinnamon streusel

Tiramisu:  Espresso soaked cake, espresso ganache, mascarpone buttercream, cocoa powder

Car Bomb:  Chocolate Guinness stout cake, Jameson whiskey ganache, Bailey’s Irish Cream buttercream

_________________________________________

Available at:

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

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

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

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

COURT STREET GROCERS: 485 Court Street, Carroll Gardens

QATHRA:  1112 Cortelyou Road, Ditmas Park

RADISH- Bedford Ave off N8th, Williamsburg

RED HOOK LOBSTER POUND: 284 Van Brunt Street, Red Hook *Wild Maine Blueberry Cobbler cupcakes only*

BEDFORD HILL: Corner of Franklin & Greene, BedStuy/Clinton Hill Border

EASTERN DISTRICT- Manhattan Ave off Eagle St, Greenpoint

BROOKLYN STANDARD:  Nassau Ave & Jewel St, Greenpoint

CAKESHOP- Ludlow btwn Stanton & Rivington, Lower East Side

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

JOE: GRAND CENTRAL STATION-  44 Grand Central Terminal, Near the Graybar Passage

NEW LOCATION!!!!! QUEENS COMFORT: 40-09 30th Ave, Astoria

*Note: Not all locations receive all flavors.  The flavors recieved are determined by each store’s management, not by us.  If there’s something in the upcoming rotation you want to see, let them know directly.

Today I’m calling in a pass on the blog.  I’m sorry.  It’s just that I’ve been working non-stop since 6am, and now it’s 1am and I’m totally shot (my kids got to spend all of 10 minutes with us today- not cool at all).  So since it’s “one of those days”, I’m using an IOU.  I’ll try to post a funny story a little later on today about all the crazy stuff I just went through, after I nab a few hours of sleep and then have a much deserved breakfast with my boys. Or maybe I’ll just sit in my pajamas all day and watch the director’s cut of Dumb & Dumber on Netflix over and over- who knows what will happen.

If you really want something to read, check out the NonaBrooklyn column I wrote if you haven’t already. I’m already stressing out figuring what I’m going to write about for the next one.

And FYI- today’s new cupcake is ridiculously good.  For reals.

Clockwise from front: Banana Cream Pie, The Morgan, Tiramisu, Toasted Almond

NEW!!! Banana Cream Pie: Banana cake, pastry cream filling, mascarpone & vanilla custard buttercream, ground graham crackers, banana chip

The Morgan:  Chocolate espresso cake, peanut butter buttercream, ground chocolate espresso beans, espresso ganache

Tiramisu:  Espresso soaked cake, espresso ganache, mascarpone buttercream, cocoa powder

Toasted Almond:  Almond cake, vanilla buttercream, toasted almonds

__________________________________

Available at:

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

HOM:  88th Street and 3rd Ave, Bay Ridge

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

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

COURT STREET GROCERS: 485 Court Street, Carroll Gardens

QATHRA:  1112 Cortelyou Road, Ditmas Park

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