Robicelli's

It’s MARCH everyone! Already! We’re just plowing through this year like a thoroughbred racehorse on cocaine!

We’ve been waiting for March 1st forever, because today’s the day……

THE RED HOOK LOBSTER POUND REOPENS!!!

Over four months after being completely destroyed by Sandy, the best lobster roll in the world is coming back to Red Hook tomorrow! And there will be $20 lobster dinners, lobster mac & cheese, lobster BLTs, lobster chowdah……oh the hell with it, here’s the menu:

Know what else they’ll be serving? Our famous whoopie pies are coming back! Not only that, since tomorrow’s kinda a special day, we’re doing something very special….

BEHOLD THE BEAUTY THAT IS OUR BLUEBERRY COBBLER WHOOPIE PIE.

This is our classic vanilla whoopie filling with homemade wild Maine blueberry compote and brown sugar streusel. And it tastes like victory. You can get them tomorrow starting at noon at:

Red Hook Lobster Pound

284 Van Brunt Street, Brooklyn

And aside from Whoopies, here’s the first cupcakes of March. Suck it, Sandy! Red Hook is back!

Hazelnut Kiss: Chocolate hazelnut cake, Nutella buttercream, roasted hazelnuts

Bananas Foster: Banana cake, rum salted caramel buttercream and drizzle

Ellie: Walnut orange cake, espresso ganache, vanilla buttercream, roasted walnuts

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

The book is DONE! I think! 

(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. 

-These puppies are headed to stores as we speak!

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

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

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

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

There is just TOO MUCH GOING ON OVER HERE! I can’t even begin to tell you all about it because I need to fit in some sleeping. Last night I tried clearing the table after dinner and ended up accidentally passing out on the floor for about two hours. So no time for funny businesses today!

Ok- maybe a little funny business.

Yes, second day in a row I’m posting a gif from Happy Endings. I’m going to keep doing this until you all start watching and I hear it’s been picked up for another season, because it’s the funniest show on network television and the only thing I look forward to watching every week. And I will NOT let you people take this from me the same way you took Arrested Development!!! YOU GOT THAT, AMERICA!!!

Now to get to one business thing today, before I close the computer and head back into the abyss of photoshoots and paperwork:

You’ve been waiting 4 long years for the Robicelli’s to come back to Bay Ridge. Yes, we have a few joints we wholesale there, but if there’s any SUPER old fans out there who remember our first store that ran from 2008-2009, you’ll remember that we did LOTS more that cupcakes. There were scones, sticky buns, pies, doughnuts, cakes, cookies and so so so much more. We also had a great sit-down brunch on the weekends where we did all sorts of fancy stuff on a plate. Bay Ridge is more than where we live: it’s where we met, where we cut our teeth, where we practiced our trade in the beginnings of our careers, where we began tinkering with the original ideas that would become Robicelli’s.

Well, what better place for us to spend Valentine’s Day then right in the place where our marriage, our business, was born. 

For one night only, and two EXTREMELY limited seatings, Matt and I are coming back to Bay Ridge to do a dessert pop-up at The Owl’s Head Wine Bar. We’re known for reverse engineering our ideas for fancy-schmancy plated desserts to make them into cupcakes- for Valentine’s, we’re engineering them back to their original state. 

We’ll post the final menu later today when it’s ready, but you may want to try and nab a reservation now- they already have a few couples on the book, and again, this place is tiny. 

Now to the Robicelli’s deliciousness that’s available TODAY- namely these cupcakes! How much do you guys love cake?

That’s what I thought- go get ‘em!

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

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

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

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

We’re now at the end of July, which means that it’s time for (press play on this now)……..

ALLISON’S ANNUAL EXISTENTIAL CRISIS!

Yes folks, over the next two weeks, we’ll see the 6th anniversary of the day I found out I was pregnant with my oldest son, the 4th birthday of my youngest son, the 2nd anniversary of my Grandmother’s death, the 11th anniversaries of both the day my childhood dog died AND the day I was diagnosed with stage IV Lymphoma and told I had 5 months to live (and who’s the bitch NOW, cancer?!?! HUH?!?!), and then finally closing it out on August 1st with my 32nd birthday. 

I think the last part is what’s hitting me the hardest. Now, I’m not upset that I’m going to be 32- in fact, I absolutely love being in my 30s.  Once you hit 30, you have a better idea of who you are, your place in this world, where you want to go and who you want to be.  

Most of all, you begin to know what you really, really want out of life. And the older I get, the things stop being these ridiculous grandiose things like “I want to have millions of dollars”.  As you get older and really understand the power of the little things in your life, like having your child fall asleep in your arms, or having your husband surprise you with a bag of KitKats and a cup of tea when you’re sad for no good reason.

And after weeks of thought, I think I finally know the #1 item on my “must do in my lifetime” list.

I need to hold a koala. 

I’m not even kidding about this a little. I think koalas are the cutest animals alive, and the idea of holding one in my arms and petting his little head as he clings to my chest gets me so excited I start jumping up and down a little. Though I’ve been told that I absolutely shouldn’t do that when I’m actually holding the koala, because they have a tendency to pee on you when you do that. But you know what? I really think I’d be totally ok with being covered in koala pee. 

So does anyone have ideas on how I can make this happen? I’m a member of the Wildlife Conservation Society- do you think the Bronx Zoo has loaner koalas? Could I take one out for the day for a picnic- maybe feed him some leaves and play a little fetch? Do koalas even play fetch? SO MANY UNANSWERED QUESTIONS.

You know what’s the other big thing on my life list? I want to make millions of people happy. And I get to do that every day because you guys let me, so thank you for that. Now go get some of these cupcakes and get your Friday dose of happy.

Clockwise from front: Root Beer Float, Dark Chocolate Dulce, Odessa, Key Lime Cheesecake

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

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

Odessa: Vanilla cake, sour cream buttercream, sugared sour cherries

Key Lime Cheesecake: Graham cracker cake, key lime curd, key lime cheesecake buttercream, graham cracker crumbs, lime zest

I love love loooooooove weddings so much. :)

The groom in this picture is Mike, who I’ve been friends with since I was 5 years old. I love him more than most of my biological family. And he is, in part, one of the reasons that there is a Robicelli’s in the first place.

Growing up, I was a guys girl- my main group of friends consisted of seven “Bay Ridge guys” (if you’re from South Brooklyn, you get what that means). One night in January 1995, when we were 14 years old, we were hanging out drinking malt liquor- which FYI is the defacto standard weekend activity when you grow up in Bay Ridge. One of their birthdays was coming up, and I suggested we do something special- because as I’m a girl I’m actually considerate about crap like that. 

So one of the guys- we’ll call him “Luke” because that’s his real name- scoffs “Yeah, what are you going to do? Bake a cake?”, and starts laughing at me. I say “What, you don’t think I can’t make a cake?”. And he keeps laughing at me. So being the obstinate girl I am, I decide that yes, I am baking everyone a freaking cake, and I’m going to shove a big hunk of that cake right down his little throat and it’s going to taste like defeat. Rich, velvety, creamy defeat.

By the time I was 14 I had read the “Good Housekeeping Complete Illustrated Cookbook” about 973 times, I’d played with savory food (and poorly at that), but I’d never baked a single thing on my own in my life. My first ever, my “spite cake”, was a cheesecake which though very delicious, had a gigantic crack down the center. I whipped up a quick sauce with some frozen berries and covered the top so no one would notice, but it didn’t matter. Regardless of the fact that it was delicious, I knew it was flawed.

PS- to keep this from happening to you, cook AND cool your cheesecake in a hot water bath. Turn the oven off right as the cheesecake looks barely set in the center, then just keep it partially open until the oven and water are cool. Then cover the cake and let it set overnight in the refrigerator to allow the egg proteins to set. OR ignore all that advice, just cover it with strawberries and keep your damn mouth shut. You’re welcome.

With the memory of my cracked cheesecake haunting me, I did the only thing I could do - I started to learn everything I could about baking cake. When Luke turned 15 a few weeks later, he got a cake, too. Then for Mike’s birthday, which coincidentally is today, he asked me to make him a blueberry pie, so I started to expand my repertoire. And until we all went away to college, every single one of my friends got a cake, or pie, or bread or cookies or whatever on their birthday, 60% out of love, and 40% out of vengeful, vindictive spite.

On Saturday, 17 years and 6 months after that fateful night where Luke inadvertently taunted me into my career in an Olde English induced stupor, we were together again watching Mike and his new wife cut into a cake that I made with the man I married, the man who I met in a bar one night at talked about cake with until 10am the next morning. And behind them was the eventual product of my own personal fairy tale- a big tower of Robicelli’s cupcakes.

We’ve been a part of hundreds of weddings- for clients, for friends, for family, for strangers. Even before this business we both spent the majority of our careers working a large amount of banquets and catering.  They are checklists, set-ups, breakdowns, deliveries, vendors, planners, tuxedos and walkie-talkies. Weddings for Matt and I are a business. Even our own wedding, which we planned and executed ourselves, was like that in many ways.

This one was different. Maybe because seeing someone you love so much finally finding his other half, and having her be one of the most amazing women you’ve ever met, can make you as happy as if you were falling in love yourself. Maybe it’s because that in that moment, surrounded by the friends who have for the better part of my life been my brothers, I remembered that for all the headaches and hoopla and commercialism- weddings really, truly are one of the most perfect moments in life. And I am overwhelmed with gratitude that so many couples choose us to be such an important part of the greatest moment of their story.

As for my friends- we may not see each other every Friday night anymore, we might not all have as much in common as we did when we were kids, and not all of us survived to be there (we still miss you Sean. I didn’t forget it was your birthday today- happy 32nd in heaven, handsome. I’ll bake you a Car Bomb Cake when I get up there, I promise). Though I am grateful to them for helping me keep my head while coming of age, for accidentally launching my career, for inadvertently giving me the skill that would lead me to finding the man of my dreams- what I am most grateful for is that even as we are all getting older, whenever we get together, we still in so many ways are those idiot 14 year old kids getting drunk in Bay Ridge. And I had forgotten just how much I had missed that.

I love you guys. Even you, Luke. Even though you’re still a jerk sometimes.

What would be really lovely for all of you to do today is perhaps to pick up a cupcake for someone you love, just to put a smile on their face and remind them how much they mean to you. It’s always a good day for that, but today is an exceptionally good day.

Clockwise from front: Dark Chocolate Dulce, Coconut Custard, Root Beer Float, The Bluth

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

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

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

The Bluth: Chocolate banana cake, chocolate buttercream, roasted walnuts, ganache

Robicelli’s at DeKalb Market is closed Mondays, but will reopen tomorrow. All the cupcakes you see above, plus brownies, whoopie pies, and more, are going to select Robicelli’s retail partners. Availability varies per store- call ahead if you’re looking for something in particular.

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

The Tumblr is 11 hours late today because I’ve been dealing with a migraine all night. Sorry America. And non-Americans, too- don’t think I don’t notice all you readers in Australia. 

Here’s a video of the Swedish Chef making donuts. That should be enough to distract you from my total lack of content.

Now let’s get to the cupcakes

Clockwise from front: Tres Leches, Dark Chocolate Dulce, German Chocolate, Funky Monkey

Tres Leches: Three milk soaked brown butter cake, dulce de leche buttercream, caramel shards

German Chocolate: Chocolate cake, salted caramel buttercream, roasted coconut

Funky Monkey: Banana chocolate chip cake, peanut butter buttercream, banana chip, ganache

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

___________________________

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

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

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

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

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

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 

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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

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

Posting the blog a bit on the later side because apparently when the Giants won last night, the entire internet broke.  Seriously, I had to live without Twitter for, like, twenty freaking minutes! It was awful! How were any of you supposed to find out what I was eating, or if I was itchy, or if I was saying “Yay Giants”? HOW WOULD YOU KNOW?!!?!

For those of you who were disturbed by my Twitter silence, I assure you- I WAS saying “Yay Giants”.  Pinky swear.

It means more if you sparkle.

Not that we’ve survived til Monday morning and our precious internet has come back, we were anticipating posting something big, but, um…..we’ve got nothing.  I mean, I’ve got SOMETHING exciting to tell you, but it’s not going live til this afternoon, and I’ll be out and about when it actually happens.  I hate it when I have exciting stuff to talk about and I can’t do anything about it just yet. Blargh.  More of a reason to follow me on Twitter where I can bring you exciting cupcake developments as they happen while I’m standing on line at Ikea or fighting over $1.99 a pound pork chops at Waldbaum’s.

Regardless of all that nonsense, IT’S A SUPER EXCITING CUPCAKE DAY! It’s Lunar New Year, meaning it’s time to release TWO super limited edition flavors- like “we made them for today, and then you have to wait til next year to get them again”.  With the Giants, the New Year, and the return of the internet, you’ve got THREE things to celebrate right now, and celebrations need cake, right?

Clockwise from front: Black Sesame, Green Tea Mandarin, Creme Brulee, Dark Chocolate Dulce

Black Sesame: Black sesame cake, vanilla buttercream, white and black sesame seeds

Green Tea Mandarin: Mandarin cake, green tea buttercream, honey glazed mandarin orange

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

______________________________

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

Battery Place Market: 77 Batter Place, Battery Park City

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

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 Internets- I need some answers here.  In the past two weeks, our Tumblr followers have increased by like a million billion percent (which is AWESOME, btw).  Thing is, stuff like this usually happens when you get an amazing piece of press, or you’re on tv or something like that.  My Google alerts are turning up nothing, and I’ve been working so hard these past few weeks that I really have almost no idea what’s going on in the outside world (though I have heard about this whole “Weiner” thing- boy oh boy how about that!  It’s funny, you know, because his name is WEINER!!!  What a doozy!).  

So if anyone can clue me in, head over to Facebook and tell us what’s up.  I don’t have comments on this page because I just can’t deal with the headache of moderating them for trolls and spam and whatnot.  It’s definitely NOT because I have no idea how to set them up.  Yeah…um…yeah.  So just head over to Facebook- we can all chat and screw around.  Oooh- I’ve got an idea what we can do over there!

For ages now we’ve been saying we need a name for all of our fans- something really super cool like “Juggalos”.  Post up in the message thread any ideas you have, we’ll run a poll and announce the winner eventually.  Our suggestion?

STABONES.  What does this have to do with baking? Absolutely nothing.  But “Growing Pains” was awesome, and then we could call you guys “Boners” for short!  Which is totally appropriate, because I’ve decided to start sexting Sarah Palin on Twitter just for laughs….boy, is SHE going to be surprised! 

Clockwise from front: McFadden, Dark Chocolate Dulce, Cherries Jubillee, Triple Chocolate Raspberry

The McFadden: Victorian lemonade cake and buttercream made with a splash of Pimm’s, hand candied lemon peel

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

Cherries Jubilee: Vanilla cake, brandied cherry syrup, vanilla buttercream, brandy sauteed cherries and reduction

Triple Chocolate Raspberry: Chocolate cake, raspberry jam, chocolate buttercream, fresh raspberry, chocolate raspberry ganache

Available at:

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

THE CUPCAKE STAND: Fifth Avenue between 60th and 61st, Sunset Park

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

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

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

COURT STREET GROCERS: 485 Court Street, Carroll Gardens

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 and Wild Maine Blueberry Cobbler cupcakes only*

CAKESHOP- Ludlow btwn Stanton & Rivington, Lower East Side 

LINK CAFE @ THE SHERATON TRIBECA: 307 Canal Street, Tribeca

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

*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

Last week we played host to uberphotographer Donny Tsang (Serious Eats, Midtown Lunch, Edible Brooklyn), who in his downtime likes hanging out with the likes of us and taking lots and lots of pictures.  The results are on his site Foodissance, and I hope you’ll take a minute to poke around and enjoy all his work (and remember to leave comments- they’re good for the site! Still don’t know why, but I overheard someone saying something to that effect once and by golly, that’s good enough for me!). 

Note the industrial sized box of Tums that constitutes 90% of our diets.

I’m sort of hoping to see Donny around a lot more since we share our kitchen with lots of great fartisans* and very good friends: La Newyorkina, Good Batch, Macaron Parlour, Lux Sugar, Granola Lab, Brooklyn Cured, Conscious Nosh, Skim Kim, Regal Vegan and of course, Liddabit Sweets, who he’s already photographed.  After a long, long time of it being just Matt and I, it’s nice to finally have coworkers in a way.  That place is like a frat house, but with locally sourced dairy and exotic fruit purees instead of booze and weed.  Same amount of nudity, though.

One thing I appreciated in the piece is that Donny called attention to exactly how much work we do.  I’d say only about half the time we work is actually spent in the kitchen baking.  People don’t see us trying to catch up on emails, writing blogs, doing PR, making phone calls, working on spreadsheets and business plans, Quickbooks, managing inventory, seeking and managing employees, booking events, networking, making deliveries, checking in our our clients, finding new clients, customer service, planning for the future and about a million other things.  And since Matt and I are married, there’s no part of the day where we are ever “off the clock”.  We’ll be in the children’s museum working on our Blackberries and taking meetings over the phone while chasing our kids, desperately trying to get them to put their pants back on.

You think that we own this business.  It owns us.  But that’s where the passion comes in.  It’s not just about making something really delicious and wanting to share it with the world.  It’s about being willing to sacrifice every shred of normalcy and stability you have because you just love what you do SO MUCH, that letting it consume you is the only option you have to be truly happy.  To be an entrepreneur, you need a lot more than a product or idea- you have to be partially insane. But the honest truth is that if you’re meant to be an entrepreneur, when your business inevitably takes over your entire existence, you’ll love every goddamn minute of it.  This isn’t our job.  This is our life.

On that note, I want to say “Happy Birthday” to our best friend and godfather of our children, who’s surprise 30th birthday party we had to miss tonight because we were working.  We’re also missing his wedding in October because we’ll be, you guessed it, working.  I know our life is hard for a lot of people to understand, and trust us, it does hurt when we miss out on everything.  But we still love you, even though we get to see you 6 minutes a year.

Clockwise from front: The McFadden, Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp, Dark Chocolate Dulce, Toasted Almond

The McFadden: Victorian lemonade cake & buttercream made with a splash of Pimm’s, hand candied lemon peel

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp:  Oat cake, vanilla buttercream, strawberry rhubarb compote, oat crisp

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

Toasted Almond: Almond cake, vanilla buttercream, toasted almonds

Available at:

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

HOM- Third Avenue and 88th Street, Bay Ridge

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

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

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

COURT STREET GROCERS: 485 Court Street, Carroll Gardens

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

BROOKLYNEER: West Houston & Varick St, West Village

LINK CAFE @ THE SHERATON TRIBECA: 307 Canal Street, Tribeca

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

*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

No matter how you feel about Valentine’s Day, just go tell someone you love them today.  Everyone likes to hear it, and it’s wonderful to say.

And if no one tells you they love you today, we do.  Happy Valentine’s Day. :)

Flavors:

The L’Amour:  Chocolate Chambord cake, Chambord buttercream, chocolate ganache, raspberry drizzle

NEW FLAVOR!!!  The Eve:  Walnut cake, pomegranate cheesecake buttercream, pomegranate glazed roasted walnuts

Strawberry Champagne:  Champagne cake, strawberry champagne buttercream, strawberry reduction, edible gold dust

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

AVAILABLE MONDAY AT:

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

Burger Bistro:  Third Ave off 72nd St, Bay Ridge

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

Market:  Cortelyou Road btwn Westminster & Arglye, Ditmas Park

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

Radish:  N8th & Bedford Ave, Williamsburg

Cake Shop:  152 Ludlow St, Lower East Side

Lily O’Brien’s at Bryant Park:  E. 40th St btwn 5th & 6th Ave, Midtown Manhattan

The Brooklyneer-  220 West Houston btwn 6th & 7th Avenues, West Village

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year’s, and that you’re already succeeding at your resolutions!  Except if that resolution was to eat fewer sweets, in which case we hope you fail miserably, or at least make an exception for our cupcakes. 

On the topic of weight loss and cupcakes, here’s a totally true story.  One of our oldest customers happens to a regional director for Weight Watchers, and used to come into our old store every weekend with her family for a cupcake.  We were actually really surprised when we found out where she worked, because quite frankly, she was one of our best customers and most enthusiastic supporters when we began to do cupcakes.  Then she shared something we found quite suprising- our cupcakes helped keep her ON her diet.  It was a treat she looked forward to every week, and knowing that our flavors changed every week, she had to come in and try each one when it was released.  Any time she’d be tempted to eat mindlessly- a few packaged cookies or a cheap packaged cake- she’d remind herself that she could either eat those or save the “points” for one of our cupcakes that weekend.  And she said that the wait every week was totally worth it.

One Saturday, she walked in with her husband and daughters, sat at a table and watched them all buy cupcakes while she just scowled.  Then her family proceeded to eat them in front of her, exclaiming “Oh my God!  This is the best flavor ever! ” while she began to scowl even more (I think it actually went from scowling to full-on glowering).  We asked her where her cupcake was, she looked at us with the most pathetic puppy dog eyes we’d ever seen, and said “I had a handful of chips on Tuesday!”. 

From then on, we saw her every weekend with cupcake in hand, and then once the store closed she’s been getting a cupcake at Hom every Thursday.  And she’s lost 20 lbs and kept it off.  I never thought we’d be part of someone’s diet regiment, but there you are.  It fits perfectly into our philosophy- all good things, but in moderation.  And if you are going to invest the calories into a dessert, that dessert better be worth it.  Do you really want to spend your calories on something reduced fat that you’re going to forget you ate in five minutes, or want to forget you ate?  If you’re bothering going in, go ALL IN.

Now-flavors!  Fall and holiday flavors have returned to the vault for another year, so we’re back to classics!

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

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

Bananas Foster:  Banana cake, rum-salted caramel buttercream & drizzle

Hazelnut Kiss:  Chocolate hazelnut cake, Nutella buttercream, roasted hazelnuts

AVAILABLE MONDAY AT:

Market:  1211 Cortelyou Roast, Ditmas Park

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

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

Radish:  N8th & Bedford Ave, Williamsburg

Cake Shop:  152 Ludlow St, Lower East Side

Lily O’Brien’s at Bryant Park:  E. 40th St btwn 5th & 6th Ave, Midtown Manhattan

We’re starting to book Thanksgiving preorders, so if you need cupcakes for your gathering, contact us sooner rather than later!  (Email us at info@robicellis.com)  You can also place an order at one of our retail outlets for pick-up on Wednesday, November 24th.

In the meantime, lets get to flavors! 

Bailey’s Cheesecake: Bailey’s Irish Cream chocolate cake, Bailey’s cheesecake buttercream, cake crumbs

Pumpkin Caramel:  Pumpkin cake, salted caramel buttercream, spiced pumpkin seeds, salted caramel drizzle

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

The Julia:  Pear brandy cake, brandy buttercream, brandy snap cookie

Available at:

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

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

Market:  Cortelyou Road btwn Westminster & Argyle, Ditmas Park

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

Radish:  Bedford Ave off N8th St, Williamsburg

Cakeshop:  Ludlow St btwn Stanton & Rivington, Lower East Side

Lily O’Brien’s Chocoalte Cafe at Bryant Park:  40th St btwn 5th & 6th Avenues, Midtown