Remember a few months back when we planned a one day lecture/pop-up shop out east in Quogue, but then a few days before we were supposed to go out it seemed like it was going to snow, and the The Weather Channel started going “AAAAHHHHHHH IT’S A BLIZZARPOCOLYPSE AND WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE!”, we were were all “NOOOOOO!!!” and cancelled our pop-up, and then everyone went to Costco and bought all the potato chips and bottled water they could and we stayed home waiting for the end, and then it snowed like 4 inches?
And that’s the story of how Costco was out of Cool Ranch Doritos for four whole days and it totally ruined Crainium night at our house.
Point is we weren’t just going to up and cancel on the good people of Quogue, so we reschedueled for a date where we were (almost) certain there would be no snow - and that date is this coming Sunday!
If you’re interested in coming down, you’ll need to register first, as there’s limited space in our venue, the Quogue Library. If you’re from Long Island and have yet to visit the Quogue Library, this is a perfect excuse to go- it’s been rated one of the top 10 libraries in the entire country, it’s got a tiny one room schoolhouse from the 18th century on the grounds, and you’ll get to watch me running around the grounds for about three hours flipping my crap over all the historical architecture, because I am so, so lame.
Now for the baked goods that are going to stores in the right now in New York City. We forgot to take a picture of the cupcakes today, so instead enjoy this image of a young Scott Baio in teeny tiny white shorts. Happy Monday!
I can’t write the Tumblr today because I accidentally left the television on some channel before when I was making dinner, and when I came back into the room they were having a mini “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” marathon. I have not moved from the couch since.
How is it legal to air this many episodes of “Law & Order” in a row? We know what this show does to people! You catch a marathon off-guard, your whole damn week is ruined! RUINED!
Anyway, here’s cupcakes. They go really well with tv and….er…something something. TV.
(Jebus if you allow this show to be cancelled I will be SO ANGRY. This is the only bright spot I have in my life! Besides, you know, the children.)
I have written, edited and revised 74,928 words (give or take), and now I’ve let my baby go and placed it in the hands of the Penguin/Viking Studio team where they shall caress her into a beautiful shiny book that will reveal herself on October 17th and is going to MAKE your fall/holiday 2013. What is it right now- February? I’ve already figured out what you’re getting everyone you know for Christmas. You’re done. Now you can live the next 10 months of your life free from that burden.
The moment the final manuscript was submitted, Matt and I did the only logical thing: got so freaking sick that we spent the ”two days off with our kids” we planned almost completely catatonic. Apparently if I take NyQuil, I not only become unresponsive for 12 hours, but I also have vivid dreams about pandas, mashed potatoes, and running a flamethrower smuggling trade in a post-apocalyptic Las Vegas. And when I wake up, Matt will be furious with me as in the middle of the night I will have punched him/kicked him/randomly rolled over and bit his nipple while screaming “CRACKERS!”. For the record, I believe NONE of this, and think me being banished to the couch is less about “preventative measures” as it is “someone wants the bed to himself”.
The important part of all of this is I FEEL BETTER, and we can thank the NyQuill for that. I also might start using it recreationally because that panda/flamethrower crap was pretty freaking awesome. Now other important things:
-Since the book is finally finished and I don’t have to funnel all my creativity/stupidity towards that, I’ll not only be back on the blog, but also spending too much time over on Twitter. And maybe I’m working on some other super secret stuff,…
-Our online store is officially reopen! We are now shipping with a new carrier who have guaranteed us quicker delivery and safer handling of your packages. And to celebrate, we’re offering 10% off our entire stock until Sunday if you enter the code “Snowball” at checkout!
-I’ve posted up the March cupcake schedule, with April’s coming later today (taking requests over on Twitter! Get yours in!). We’re accepting preorders for St. Patty’s Day and Easter, and will be selling our flourless Passover brownies online this year. Planning ahead!
-Speaking of St. Patty’s day, we’ve already started production of Matt’s famous Irish Soda Bread, with a few loaves headed out to Queen City Cupcakes in Patchogue Long Island. Ours is less like a rock, and more subtly flavored with honey and studded with Drambuie soaked golden raisins. Yeah yeah yeah- we all know how much I hate raisins, and how I’ve vowed to never allow them in any of our items. But there’s no way around it for soda bread, and if we have to make an exception to the rule, we may as well rehydrate them in booze. And yes, even I will eat raisins in the context of this bread. It’s that good.
As of late I’ve been up til about 4 or 5 every morning finishing the first draft of our book, always with Hallmark Channel on in the background as they play a two hour block of The Golden Girls every night, followed by one hour of Cheers (though they’re showing the Diane years right now which are really far inferior to the Rebecca years- but that is an essay for another day).
Along with my shows are the commercials for the many many many stupid “Made for Hallmark” tv movies (I know for a fact that they’re stupid because I watch them and I can’t stop myself). And oddly enough, there are a TON of Hallmark movies about cake and/or cupcakes! There’s…
“Operation Cupcake”, about a woman who like needs to find herself or something- maybe she got dumped or lost her job- and then she has to bake cupcakes and probably doesn’t think she can do it, but then Dean Cain shows her how and melts her cold cold heart, and then everyone loves their cupcakes and love saves the day! (note I haven’t seen this movie, but this is probably the plot).
Also….
“The Sweeter Side of Life”, about a woman who’s probably a big time executive or lawyer who’s too career driven to find true love, then she probably loses everything somehow and needs to move back to her hometown to save the family bakery, butts heads with a local who ends up melting her cold cold heart, thus teaching her the meaning of love, family, and home. (note: this movie hasn’t actually premiered yet, but I’m pretty sure that’s the plot).
Or:
“Taste of Romance”- driven chef, icy heart, blah blah blah- probably fall in love and get great restaurant review, then adopt a puppy and make a snowman in the moonlight.
Or
“Just Desserts”, where Lauren Holly & Costas Mandelor play pastry chefs who try to distract you that once upon a time they were on Picket Fences which was one of the greatest television shows of all time, and now they’re in this crap. (and seriously- why don’t we all talk about Picket Fences more? That show was the center of the universe for a solid 3 years).
Kinda makes you wonder what their next movie will be…..doesn’t it?
(I swear- it’s coming back soon. I promise)
rs
Pecan French Toast: Maple custard soaked cinnamon cake, maple cinnamon buttercream, maple glazed pecans
Flavors today are the same as Monday- we repeated them because they’re so goshdarn popular. Just scroll down a bit and you’ll be up to date!
Speaking of flavor schedules, did you know that one of the ways we decide on what flavors we’re doing is by asking for your input? AND I just so happen to be finishing up the schedule for November and have waaay too many flavors to choose from, so I absolutely need your help. Head over to our Facebook page and throw me your requests.
Remember- if you don’t give me your two cents, your dreams may not come true. Because I’m completely positive that’s what your dreams are about. Mine are usually about Chris Christie and water skis. Far too complicated to explain here, but trust me- they’re exhilarating
Since we’ve already posted a pic of today’s flavors in the last post, here’s an adorable pictures of baby otters! Hat tip to @ChurchoCupcakes on Twitter for this!
In Fridays post, I made mention of Matt’s #1 lifelong dream of eating at a Pizza Hut. I suppose you can argue that it’s wrong to judge a person’s dreams, or maybe it’s understandable as we’ve been tempted all our lives with their commercials, yet we don’t have real sit-down Pizza Huts in New York City to indulge our stuffed crust fantasies at.
But you know what? It’s a STUPID dream. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Regardless of my personal beliefs, I love my husband, and I promised him seven years ago that for the rest of our lives, I’d stand by him and believe in these dreams, even if they are the dumbest freaking thing that I’ve ever heard in my entire life. So a few weeks ago during a family visit out in Jersey, we had dinner in a Pizza Hut.
I don’t think we need a full recap here. I will say that Matt found his dream “less than fulfilling”, and said that we need to maybe go to another Pizza Hut somewhere for a “Do-Over”. Perhaps that Pizza Hut will have a salad bar that doesn’t look as if it’s been hosed down with salmonella.
And then yesterday, we saw THIS:
I don’t know what to say about that. I mean, I’d love to say “This is what’s wrong with the world” or “You wonder why everyone thinks Americans are fat and lazy”, or most of all- “I REALLY don’t want to ever eat that”, but I honestly can’t. I’m totally hypnotized by this thing. And I’m wondering why the most exciting menu item at Pizza Hut I went to was small nuggets of pizza dough rolled in cheap Parmesan cheese, and Pizza Hut Middle East has…..
I don’t even know how you’re supposed to eat that! And yes, I know it’s more than likely horrible, but I can’t stop thinking about it!
I really don’t care what that does to my body. I’m positive just looking at that picture shaved 5 years off my life, and I’m totally ok with that.
Now to the point of this post: last December I received an email from a person in Saudi Arabia inquiring about how they could open a Robicelli’s franchise in Dubai. If you are still out there and read this blog, I’m sorry I said we couldn’t do it! I was probably drunk and didn’t know what I was talking about. You should TOTALLY call me and I’ll be happy to discuss business while slowly killing myself with Pizza Hut.
Also of note: This may be the first time that today’s cupcakes look like the healthiest thing on this page.
Clockwise from front: Bourbon Caramel Apple, Chocolate Pumpkin Cheesecake, Caramel Macchiato, Cinnamon Bun
It’s time for school to start, meaning that as promised, I’m a hysterical mess! Weeeee!
Since this is our first year at kindergarten, I’m a newbie to this whole “Back to School” business, but I pretty much know what’s going to happen next. By mid next week, my house will be quiet, I’ll have time to go back to the gym, I’ll be able to work on my book in peace without hearing “Mommy, can I play Sesame Street dot org on your computer?” every five minutes, I can start watching Days of Our Lives again and yell at the tv while I’m supposed to be working (which I wouldn’t have to do if Sami just stopped making such bad decisions and just listened to her heart!). It’s going to be amazing.
Then you know what happens in two weeks? ROSH HASHANA. I get all stoked to have a life without “Mooooooom! He’s hiiiiiting me!!!” or “Mooooom! I got green beans in my pants!” (happens more often than you’d think). I get my routine down, get adjusted to the peace and quiet, then BOOM- I’ve got to find ways to impress them for four whole days in a row!
Upon realizing that today, I also realized that even we’re barely feeling like it’s fall, it’s time to get the Rosh Hashana ordering up. Our “L’Shanah Tovah” is one of our oldest flavors, and only comes out once a year- our moist apple cake topped with honey vanilla buttercream, roasted apple, and drizzled with spiced honey. We’ve also got a pumpkin flavor on tap as well as others, and are stoked to announce our first ever brownie for the holiday: Chocolate Walnut Pomegranate!
But of course- we’re delivering, so if you’re looking to send a hostess gift or just a little something to friends or neighbors to wish them a sweet New Year, you really can’t go wrong with these. If you just need a few, I still heavily recommend pre-ordering, as we are only producing a limited quantity and preorders are your only chance of guaranteeing you get one. You can order for pick-up at our Gourmet Guild Williamsburg location, or ask your local Robicelli’s vendor if they’d be willing to set a few aside for you.
And now let’s stop thinking about 2 weeks from now, and start thinking TODAY and our special seasonal number. Nothing reminds me of being a schoolgirl more than taking an apple, coring it, stuffing it with peanut butter and slicing it up. The rest of this week we’re doing our limited edition Apple Peanut Butter cupcake- for the kid in your life, or just to make you feel that for just a few moments, you’re one again yourself.
Clockwise from front: Banana Nutella, Ebinger, Cinnamon Bun, Apple Peanut Butter
Apple Peanut Butter: Apple cake, peanut butter buttercream, peanut brittle
I ate too much at Choice Eats and now I think I might die. Or I might just pass out on my keyboard. I really need to learn to pace myself better, instead of just shoving things into my mouth while screaming “OOOOH! FREE MEAT!”.
I ate so much, our station was directly across from Doughnut Plant and I was too full to eat a doughnut. How messed up is that?
Thank you so much to everyone who stopped by - and I’m sorry if I didn’t have enough time to stop and chat with you. These things get pretty crazy and once the doors open up its total insanity for Matt and I to make sure that everyone is fed and happy. And I hope you liked our pine tree honey cupcake! We discovered pine tree honey last year and have been itching for a chance to work with it for months. You’ll probably be seeing that cupcake again once our shop at DeKalb Market reopens on April 7th.
If you didn’t make it to Choice Eats tonight, and are totally super jealous that you don’t also feel like you’re dying from being full of 500 types of meatballs, make sure you buy tickets next year! And if you can’t wait that long, may I suggest buying tickets to Tasting Brooklyn on April 3rd? It’s a tad smaller, but will feature food from such great BK spots as Stone Park Cafe, Egg, The Meatball Shop, and, of course, us! Don’t know what we’re making yet, but it’s bound to be super-special.
And speaking of super-special event cupcakes, remember a few weeks back when we made that exclusive limited edition cupcake for Sixpoint Brewery’s Seventh Anniversary? It’s going to stores today! And it will be with us all week through St. Paddy’s Day. If you want to order cupcakes for the holiday shoot me an email ASAP- we need to hear from you by the end of today to make sure we’ve ordered enough beer for the weekend.
Now- cupcakes!
Clockwise from front: Sixpoint Brownstone, The Hinsch, Cinnamon Bun, Car Bomb
Sixpoint Brownstone: Sixpoint Brownstone Ale & brown sugar cake, Brownstone toffee buttercream, crushed chocolate espresso beans
Happy Monday everyone! Pretty uneventful weekend over here at the Robicelli’s camp- nice dinner at Tuscany Grill on Friday, lunch at Union Square Coffee Shop Saturday, few errands- that’s about it. Yep.
What’s a good way to end a weekend that low key? Laying in bed watching Sandra Lee baking videos. Now, even though foodies love to talk smack about Sandra, as a working mother I really do understand and appreciate her approach, and understand that it definitely has it’s place in realistic households. But sweet Lord almighty she needs to keep her hands off dessert. And here’s why:
Processed supermarket cake, covered with Cool Whip. Really. At this point, why are you bothering? Go to a bakery, to someone who does this professionally, and buy a damn cake. Ask one of your guests to bring dessert. Or serve ice cream. Really, Sandra. Everyone loves ice cream.
You know what I had at my big Italian wedding? A cake filled with COCONUT AND PINEAPPLE.
Please, Sandra, please look at a map. And for the love of God, adding a tablespoon of vanilla extract to anything does not make it taste homemade. It makes it taste like a can of chemicals with vanilla in it.
I have nothing to say about this cake. You know how I usually talk way way waaaaay too much? Well, now we’ve found the answer. Just show me this video. I’ll stand there, slackjawed, as tears pour down my face.
Really, my biggest problem with Sandra Lee isn’t the cheaping out on ingredients, or taking shortcuts, or any of that. She wants to do a 30 minute show where she makes everything with soup mix, that’s fine by me- I understand not everyone knows how to cook, or has the time, and that groceries are expensive. But then THIS happens at the end of every freaking episode (go straight to the one minute mark):
You can spend $1000 on plates and accessories, and days on craft projects, just to set the freaking table for one solitary meal. And what are you serving at this fancy table that’s obviously set for high society? Fondue made from canned cheese soup and Cool Whip covered supermarket angel food cake.
That’s where I’m losing you Sandy. I think that’s where everyone’s losing you.
Now go enjoy your Monday everyone. But first:
KWANZAA CAKE! I know I’ve posted this one before, but I just can’t watch Sandra Lee videos if I don’t watch this one, too. Plus, our cupcakes look REALLY good next to the Kwanzaa cake. Sorry, Sandra.
Clockwise from front: Funky Monkey, Pecan Praline, Cinnamon Bun, The Hinsch
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
And you KNOW we’re going to be partying hard! Saturday we’re going to take our oldest son for this Kindergarten admission test! And if he’s good, we’re going to get him some ice cream!!! WOOOOO!!!!
*sigh* I had planned something really nice, and then right after I was all set I got the letter from the Department of Education that out of all days, they scheduled Atticus’ test right in the middle of Matt’s birthday surprise. Things happen. But now my husband’s birthday is less than 24 hours away, and I have NO idea what to get him.
You know what I think he’d REALLY like? For all of you to wish him a happy birthday on Twitter. Many of you don’t realize that he has his own account (@mattrobicelli), since I’m the one @robicellis who’s always talking (that’s in real life too). You should follow him and wish him a happy birthday, because I really think that would make his day.
Or what about making him a card like the one I did above and posting it up to our Facebook page? Or perhaps a video of you singing “Happy Birthday”, or “(I Wear My) Sunglasses At Night”? There could be a prize in it for the one that makes him smile the most. Not that I need to bribe you or anything.
What else can you do for Matt’s birthday? Celebrate with some cake!
Clockwise from front: Boston Cream, Cinnamon Bun, Chocolate Caramel Pretzel, Banana Nutella
Boston Cream: Vanilla cake, vanilla custard buttercream, chocolate fudge
Happy New Year everyone! You know what my resolution is?
BE MORE AWESOME.
It’s National Meat On Top of Cupcakes But They Taste Really Good I Promise Month!!!!
Is that true? Probably not. I don’t know who the hell doles out these National Food months- probably some advisory boards or something (how do you get on those anyway?). As an inventor of the Chicken n’Waffles & Buffalo Chicken cupcakes, and being one of the people who put the whole “bacon on a cupcake” thing on the map three years ago, I am grabbing destiny by the horns and using my gravitas to commandeer an entire month in the name of dessert! Why the hell not!
-Chicken n’Waffles Cupcakes!!!
-Buffalo Chicken & Blue Cheese Cupcakes!!!!
-Elvis Cupcakes with Peanut Butter, Banana & Bacon!!!!
So WHY is it National Meat on Top of Cupcakes But They Taste Really Good I Promise Month? Because it’s time for football playoffs. And when a bunch of people get in a room to drink beer and watch football, you will need food. And there’s only so many bowls of chili and nachos you can consume before your wife makes you start sleeping out on the fire escape.
As you may know, our Chicken n’Waffles cupcakes is rarely released, our Buffalo Chicken one even rarer, and when we do make them they sell out ridiculously quick. Reason being? Well, for one thing our retail locations won’t sell them. Another, if they were available all the time, they’d stop being special and you wouldn’t want to jump all over them when they finally did come out! And most of all, frying hundreds of pieces of chicken in a teensy tiny pot takes foorrreeevvverrr.
But for the last days of football season? Well by golly, we are more than happy to slave over that pot day in and day out, from dusk until dawn, because if there’s one thing that both meat cupcakes and football scream, it’s that WE LOVE AMERICA.
I will never pass up an opportunity to link to Neil Diamond.
Normally, you need to order 4 dozen of these cupcakes to have us deliver them to you. But since they’ll technically be “rotation” for the weekends, you’ll be able to order them with a one dozen minimum to Brooklyn, 2 dozen to Manhattan! (And you’ll be able to pick-up any quantities you want in Manhattan starting next weekend!). This NEVER happens!
So if you’re having people over to watch the games, want to make yourself the most popular guy/girl at the bar, or are just one of those people who’s always wanted to try them, place your order for football playoff cupcakes and brownies ASAP! And if you’re a bar owner who wants to order some for a promotion, email me at Allison at robicellis.com- we have discount rates for businesses ordering in bulk!
Now for the cupcakes heading to stores as we speak- they may not have chicken or bacon on them, or be loaded with 18 types of booze, but they are insanely delicious and will help you stop being bummed that the holidays are over and you had to go back to work this week. We’re there, too. Thank Jebus I have a bunch of Bluths to get me through the ritual of taking down the Christmas tree- it’s so sad!
Clockwise from front: Tres Leches, Chocolate Strawberry, The Bluth, Cinnamon Bun
Tres Leches: Three milk soaked brown butter cake, dulce de leche buttercream, caramel shards
Chocolate Strawberry: Chocolate cake filled with strawberry jam, mascarpone buttercream, jam drizzle
The Bluth: Chocolate banana cake, chocolate buttercream, roasted walnuts, ganache
Hope you all had a great Christmas! Matt surprised me with a Nintendo 3DS with my favorite game of all time- The Legend of Zelda- Ocarina of Time (in 3D!). I had no idea I needed this thing, but now I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT IT. So quick- to whatever needs to happen right now so I can get back to my game:
NEW YEAR’S EVE ORDERING! Now that Union is over I’m getting back to being somewhat on top of my work, and I actually got a NYE ordering tab up in a timely manner! I love the flavors we picked out, it’s one of the 4 yearly appearances of our much sought-after “Strawberry Champagne” cupcake, we’re doing cocktail party sized brownie platters, PLUS we’ve lowered our minimum for delivery to just one dozen for the holiday!
And if that wasn’t enough, not only will our cupcakes jazz up your New Year’s Eve party, but the carbohydrates will actually allow you to drink MORE. You’ll be able to ride that fine line between drunk enough to have a great time, and so drunk that your top comes off and you fight your buildings super! It’s an investment in your parties success, AND your clean criminal record! ORDER NOW!
FINAL DAYS AT DEKALB! We’re open today through Friday from noon til 8, Saturday from 11 til 4pm, and then we’re closed for construction projects for three months. Thanks to some delays with city permits, we had to rush to get DeKalb open last summer, and kinda had to do some things backwards just to get it going. Now that we’re entering the slow winter months, she’s getting shut down so our friends at Urban Space can make some exciting improvements, like……
………..Boardwalks!!!! (ooooooh!)
………………Canopy over the food court!!!!! (aaaahhhhh!!!)
……………Beer Garden!!!!! (My oh my!!!!!!)
…………..Drainage system!!!! (More exciting than it sounds!)
I can’t wait until late March to open up our door again. In the interim, we’ll be popping up in Nolita just like we did last winter, trying to amp up our wholesale presence around NYC, showing some skin to potential investors and doing LOTS of R&D for the coming year. But for the next four days, DEKALB MARKET IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS, while most of our usual retail outlets are closed for vacation- meaning you should DEFINITELY come and see us!
Navi the Fairy: You would think in the almost 15 years since this Zelda was originally released (yeah, it’s been that long), someone would have thought that in a re-release they would have made her SHUT THE HELL UP.
Every five seconds: “Hey! Hey Link! Hey! Hey! Listen! Hey! Hey! Listen! Heeyyy-Oh! Em…errrr….oh, I know- what would Saria say if she knew we were saving Hyrule? That’s, um, pretty great, right? Yeah, I didn’t think I was actually going to get your attention, but now that I did let’s talk! Tell me about your day….Link? Link? Hey! Hey! Hey! Listen! Hey! Hey! Hey! Listen! Hey!”
January’s Schedule: I’m doing it today, so if you have a request, get over to Facebook ASAP and let me know! Feel free to throw us any ideas you have for new flavors, too- you never know what we’ll run with!
People’s Choice Winners 2011! We had a lot of great new flavors come out this year, but a few stood out in your eyes as the best of the best. So today, YOU picked the menu- your four favorite cupcakes of the year! And they are…….
Clockwise from front: Hot Toddy, Pecan Potato Chip, S’Mores, Cinnamon Bun
I have to lead with that because even though I thought Thanksgiving was an entire week away, we’ve apparently already skipped straight ahead to Christmas. I stopped into Starbucks today and the carols were blasting, the decorations were everywhere, and Thanksgiving blend has already been put in the vault in favor of Christmas roast (which tastes remarkably like elf blood and cheer! It’s delicious!).
I’m glad “the man” made me switch to a more joyful coffee a bit prematurely, because today I began the build out of our space at the Union Square Holiday Market! It’s painted a lovely shade of paint called Red Velvet (not kidding). I assembled all our Flurms and Shmurgens from Ikea and the table my dad custom made for us in a 25 square foot booth, and strung up 1100 Christmas lights so our booth glows like the sun. That last part is really important as I managed to get lost in the market 7 times today, so I want to give you guys a chance to find us.
Even in the first day of build-out, this market is already one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. I cannot wait for you guys to come down and visit us.
So while I was busting my ass getting the booth all ready to go for you guys, what was Matt doing to put you guys in the Christmas spirit?
Yep. Christmas spirit.
He also put a shirt on and made these cupcakes, and what do you know, there’s a new fall flavor in there! Trotting it out for you to love it, just to cruelly rip it away at the end of the week and forcing it into the depths of the vault! We can be such jerks sometimes!
Clockwise from front: Pear Cardamom Ginger, Cinnamon Bun, Apple Maple Crisp, Butternut Spice
This is sort of the sad part of fall for me, because I wait all damn year for the fall flavors to come back, and now as we burn through the schedule and get closer and closer to Thanksgiving, we start putting them back in the vault til 2012. Most of what you’ve seen this month will not be going back to stores this year, and we’re almost done baking off our batters for DeKalb. I try to be optimistic and think about all the exciting new Holiday flavors that are coming up, like Port Poached Pear, Chocolate Paneforte and Milk & Cookies, but I still know what the end of fall means……
Sad Panda is not looking forward to shoveling snow this year.
Ok, enough with this sadness nonsense. Let’s talk happy stuff- like:
being mentioned by New York Magazine for the “Pumpkin Beyond Pie” feature! Seriously, every time we’re mentioned on a list that includes Francois Payard and Jacques Torres, I need to slap myself. Chef Torres is the entire reason I wanted to go into pastry when I was 15 years old (thanks to his amazing ‘Dessert Circus’ program on PBS), and Payard is on a very high pedestal in my book. And now Chef Torres and I are neighbors at DeKalb Market! Fifteen year old Allison it totally freaking out over it!
Of course, this whole slideshow is a reminder that you need to get your Thanksgiving orders in ASAP. If you don’t want to order through us, you CAN order at your local Robicelli’s retailer- all our Thanksgiving flavors are going to stores both Monday and Wednesday next week. Now I’m going to quit nagging you about it- because there’s still two more blog posts this week where I can do that and I need to save my strength.
Cupcakes! Go eat!
Clockwise from front: Cinnamon Bun, Sweet Potato Pie, The Julia, Apple Maple Crisp
rs
