Robicelli's

We’re only halfway through the week and I got to do two really cool things.  Monday night, me and my BFF Danny Macaroons hit the launch party for the redesigned Zagat blog, which was even more fun than you can imagine.  Saw lots of great friends, made some new ones, got to meet a lot of fans for the first time, AND I went home with a snazzy tin of Zagat breath mints! I smelled like an effervescent bouquet of wintergreen and sweet & sour chicken all night, which is no doubt why I was so popular!

Even thought that pretty much would have qualified as the coolest thing EVER on any given week in my life, this week, it gets second place.  WHAT could have been more exciting? Well how about on Sunday night at Madame X, getting all amped up for…….

CUPCAKE CRUISE!!!!!

Once again- YES, this is a real thing! I wouldn’t lie about something this important!

This is what I know from the meeting:

A- This is going to be pretty much the coolest thing ever. Matt and I have been looking over all the stuff there is to do on the Celebrity Summit, and want to get on the boat NOW.  They’re also well known for having the best food on any cruise line, and as someone who’s been on a few cruises before, that’s really saying something (I still remember every single meal I had on a Princess Cruise 10 years ago- it was that memorable).

B- If you call it a “boat”, the people from the cruise get REALLY mad. It’s a ship, and you hurt the ship’s feelings when you call it a boat. Sorry, ship

C- The cruise isn’t all about cupcakes, so everyone who’s thinks they can’t take seven whole days of cupcakes can relax.  What it IS is a regular Celebrity cruise with all the normal events, shows, entertainment etc.  HOWEVER, if you book through the Cupcake Cruise tour group, you will get all the regular stuff, plus

          -a pastry science and technique master class with us! 

          -a recipe development class with the dudes from Baked!

           -a cupcake decorating class with the authors of Hello, Cupcake!

            -a “How to start a small business” class with us!

             -a private cupcake and cocktail party!

              -a tour of the cruise ship kitchen with Celebrity’s pastry chef!

              -a private beach party with other bakers from across the globe!

               -the chance to work out with me in the gym every morning, and watch me berate myself on the treadmill as I cry!

All that stuff above is over a $500 value on land. But at sea, all those things, PLUS all your food, PLUS your lodging and travel to Bermuda, PLUS your entertainment, PLUS childcare, PLUS all the room service you care to order- it’s all included in the price of your trip! How ridiculous is that!

If you love baking, this really is the best vacation you can take this year.  And did I mention the free childcare yet? I did? Can I admit that this is my favorite part of the entire trip? Like, I can drop my preschoolers off and have a romantic dinner with Matt, or leave them on the boat while I go snorkeling at the site of a sunken ship?  Or maybe my favorite part is that once they go to sleep, Matt and I can order unlimited room service pizzas and eat them in bed?

Start talking your family into it now- that last thing I learned at the meeting is that there’s only a limited amount of room on the cruise, and bookings have already started coming in from all over the country.  So essentially, book sooner rather than later- they told me by April, the boat (er, ship) is usually fully booked.

Also remember- if you own a bakery or a food blog, you can write this off! Seriously! Go call your accountant right now and ask him- it’s going to make your entire day! And if it doesn’t totally make your day, then maybe you need a cupcake for that extra push!

Clockwise from front: Banana Nutella, Creme Brulee, Dark Chocolate Dulce, Boston Cream

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

Creme Brulee: Vanilla cake, vanilla custard buttercream, caramelized sugar

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

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

__________________________________________

Cupcakes Available at:

Hom: Third Avenue and 88th Street, Bay Ridge

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

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

Brooklyneer: 220 West Houston Street, West Village

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:

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

If you follow us on Facebook, you would have seen us cryptically announce that we had a huge piece of news that would have to wait for Monday. And I’m not even going to waste your time with jokes or anything, because this is without question the ABSOLUTE COOLEST FREAKING THING EVER.

You ready?

Next August, from the 19th til the 26th, Cupcakes Take the Cake will hosting….

THE FIRST EVER CUPCAKE CRUISE ON CELEBRITY CRUISE LINES!!!!

The Celebrity Summit will be leaving Port Liberty New Jersey for several fun days at sea as it makes its way to beautiful sunny Bermuda, where you’ll be able to spend three whole days doing whatever it is people do in Bermuda! 

There will be a Cupcake & Cocktails event, a “Cupcake Beach Party”, decorating classes with the people who wrote “Hello, Cupcake!”, a workshop with the guys from Baked, and of course…..US!!!! As of now, we’re teaching a technique class, and will be baking cupcakes on board for several of the events.  

I will talk more about this in detail another day, because right now I am just too freaking excited about all of this.  I know this will sound really stupid to a lot of you, but I’ve always been kinda jealous about people who get to travel for work. And everyone who I tell that to is like “UGH! You don’t want to travel- it sucks! It’s not a vacation, you don’t get downtime, it’s not fun at all”.  

Thing is, I haven’t done much travelling.  We didn’t have a lot of money growing up, and we didn’t take vacations (my dad’s idea of a vacation was taking a week off from work to patch up the roof).  Probably the most exotic place I’ve ever been was that time I drove to Kentucky, which was the most foreign place I’ve ever experienced. Yes, I’ve been out of the country, but remember I grew up in Brooklyn where there were lots of people from Mexico and the West Indies, but not a lot of people from Kentucky.

I love seeing new places and meeting people who don’t know anything of New York. I love hotel rooms with their little bottles of shampoo, and sitting in a plane with my face pressed up against the glass, bouncing up and down like I’m five years old while it takes off. I love road trips and rest stops, listening to different radio stations and eating things I’ve never heard of but the waitress swears is good.  And I’m 31 years old and still haven’t done it, and now I have two kids so not only is it difficult to travel, but it gets really really expensive when you realize that you can’t go anywhere without paying for four people.

But next August? I’M ON A BOAT!!! I’m going to get to hang out with bakers from all over the world for seven days to share ideas, learn new things and meet new people. I’ll be on a proper trip for the first time in six years. AND I’m going to get to sleep without my kids climbing into bed and waking my ass up at 5am for SEVEN WHOLE DAYS.

This is kinda the best news I have gotten in a long long long long time. Thank you so much to all the Cupcakes Take the Cake girls for asking us to go.  We are so freaking lucky.

And the best part of all of this is that YOU can come on the boat with us! I know somewhere on your dream list is “Going on a vacation with the Robicelli’s”, and now you have the opportunity! Here’s what you need to do:

-Go “like” the Cupcake Cruise Facebook Page. Follow them on Twitter. You’ll be able to keep up with all the news and goings on as they happen.

-Check out CupcakeCruise.com, and sign up to be alerted as to when tickets go on sale!

-Follow me on Twitter for updates as well because you KNOW my ass isn’t going to shut up about this.

But enough about the future- let’s get to the present. Namely, the cupcakes that are in stores today!

Clockwise from front: The Hinsch, Butterbeer, Banana Nutella, Coconut Custard

The Hinsch: Chocolate malted cake, vanilla buttercream, malted chocolate sauce, homemade malted milk balls

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

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

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

Available at:

Robicelli’s at DeKalb Market: 138 Willoughby Street, Downtown Brooklyn

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

Bagel Schmagel: Third Avenue & 76th Street, Bay Ridge

Aloha Grinds: Third Avenue & 77th Street, Bay Ridge

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

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

Cake Shop: Ludlow Street btwn Stanton & Rivington, LES

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

Red Hook Lobster Pound: 284 Van Brunt Street, Red Hook and Roving Food Truck  *Classic Whoopie Pies only*