Cake Byte: Trophy Cupcakes Offers Hi-Hat Cupcakes For a Limited Time

Happy, happy Easter week! In Seattle, here's a very sweet way to celebrate: with a limited run of Hi-Hat Cupcakes from Trophy Cupcakes! Here's the 411:

Trophy's most anticipated cupcake of the year returns especially for Easter weekend! Available just two days per year, the Hi-Hat Cupcake is made by topping Trophy's Valrhona Chocolate Cupcake with a sky-hi swirl of pastel marshmallow frosting…but that's not all… they are then hand dipped in Semi-Sweet Callebaut Chocolate! Pastel marshmallow, Belgian chocolate and Valrhona Cake all rolled into one amazing cupcake…what could be a more perfect Easter treat?!

Available April 23rd at all three Trophy locations and on Easter Sunday at The University Village, for $4.00. Trophy will also be dressing up all of their cupcakes for spring with flowers, bunnies, candy eggs and baskets, perfect for your weekend festivities.

Trophy Cupcakes will take advance orders for Hi-Hats, as well as for Easter themed cupcakes. Hi-Hats and Easter Cupcakes will also be available in each of the three retail locations on Saturday and at the Univerty Village shop on Sunday (The Bravern and Wallingford shops will be closed on Sunday). Quantities of Hi-Hats for walk-in orders are limited, so Trophy recommends placing an advance order at least 48 hours prior to your pick up. The Wallingford Center and The Bravern are Closed on Easter Sunday, April 24th. University Village is open from 10am to 6pm.

Available at all three Trophy Cupcakes locations; for availability, directions and hours, visit their website. Also, follow them on Twitter!

Batter Chatter: Interview with Stacy Heller of OneSmartCookie

Fact: it's always fun to discover a new baking business. OneSmartCookie is a newcomer to the Seattle scene, a small home-based cookie business specializing in one of a kind sweet petite treats. Who is the baker, and what does the future hold for this business? Let's learn more with this interview with proprietress Stacy Heller:

So. OneSmartCookie. TellMeMore. I'm a stay-at-home mom of four who sort of fell into baking cookies for others. Peer pressure got me addicted to Diet Coke and baking. I started "playing" Julia Child as a kid, it was way more fun than house or school - all those small bowls lined up called to me! I like cookies best because each one is like a small canvas. The "realist" in me knows what a banana looks like, the "artist" in me likes to interpret what a decorated banana cookie looks like. Far sweeter!

Cake or Pie? Cake - they're pretty and tasty and festive and don't wear a "mask" of healthy (fruit pies - ha!).

Pants or Skirts? Pants - in my fantasies, "smart slacks" in reality, jeans.

Yes or No? First no, then yes. (doubt is a bad habit).

Vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry? Vanilla. Surprising depth to be found  in the more humble "package".

Cookies: drop, molded, rolled, cutout, or refrigerator? Rolled/cutout to make your eyes and stomach happy. Drop to make your mood and stomach happy. Any to make others just all-around happy! 

What is the last delicious thing you ate? Movie popcorn - I'm a savory girl! Sweets-wise - a New York style coffee cake my daughter made that is reminiscent of an Entenmann's (I find them only back east, where I'm from).

Where can we buy your cookies? Special order only through me at the moment. Contact details are on my blog.

What is next for you and your business? To bake or not to bake, that is always the question. I love baking, but doing it is truly a LABOR of love. I need to decide if I really want to turn it into a J O B versus a hobby....if it's a calling, can you choose though?

Find out more on Stacy's blog.

Top of the Pops: Doughnut Pops by Frost Doughnuts, Mill Creek WA

Topping the list of things I'd like to pop in my mouth? Doughnut pops by Frost Doughnuts!

That's right: they've got a totally sweet new product over in Mill Creek:

We are excited to reveal our newest creation: FROST Pops! All of the flavor you love in FROST doughnuts, in a pop!

Launching for Spring, FROST Pops aren't doughnut holes on-a-stick, but an entirely new doughnut-based cake that has the moistest brownie-like texture you can imagine - dipped in chocolate! Best of all, they have the unmistakeable flavor of FROST.

The flavors will range from your favorite Evolved line doughnuts to new and exciting creations. Shown here are Red Velvet and Peanut Butter Perfection, both dipped in luscious chocolates. These, plus our newest variety Island Escape will be available at launch next week at a price of 1.49ea.

For more info, visit frostology.com; stay updated via their Facebook page, too.

Cake Byte: April Means Coconut Lime Cupcakes at Cupcake Royale, Seattle

It has been said that April is the cruelest month, but this is not the case at Seattle's Cupcake Royale, where a delicious flavor reigns supreme all month long: Toasted Coconut Lime!

As they put it:

Yeah, we did it. We put the lime in the coconut and baked it all up. Moist coconut cake gets a tart and tangy swirl of real lime buttercream. We finish it off with toasted coconut for a truly tasty tropical treat!

But be sure to go early in the day, because in this spy's experience, the flavor of the month is the first to sell out daily!

Available all month long at all Cupcake Royale locations; for directions and hours, visit cupcakeroyale.com. You can also stay on top of their sweet news via their blog and their twitter feed.

Biscuit Time: Butter and Jam Biscuits from Oddfellows, Seattle

It's a documented fact that if you talk to me for more than, say, 10 minutes, I will start talking about my deep love for biscuits. Buttery, flaky, fluffy, did I say buttery, biscuits.

Happily, in Seattle, there are some gorgeous specimens. But my current obsession? The jam-and-butter-filled version from Oddfellows Cafe in Capitol Hill (beloved by The New York Times, and, happily, just up the street from my store!).

These biscuits have a perfect texture, with a dense, flaky, buttery consistency, and a nice crunchy crust on top.

But what takes them from great to awesome overload is the fact that they serve them sliced in half, with about a fourth of a stick of butter and a thick spoonful of jam waiting like a sweet and rich secret inside of those carbohydratey halves.

Bonus: these freeze quite well, so if you pick up several, you can freeze them and then reheat at 350 degrees in your oven until warm.

Also excellent: a rotating selection of savory biscuits, including bacon-cheddar. 

Biscuits from Oddfellows Cafe, 1525 10th Ave., Seattle; online here.

Cake Byte: American Pie Opens in Georgetown, Seattle

This week, when Mr. Spy and I made our usual visit to Calamity Jane's for breakfast, we saw a most beautiful sight: American Pie, which has been "about to open" for a very, very long time, has now officially opened its doors in Georgetown, Seattle.

Sadly, they are not open on Sundays, though, so we didn't get to try the pies.

However, trusted CakeSpy comrade Terri, who works at Calamity Jane's, gave us the 411. Terri can most certainly be trusted, for many reasons, including but not limited to A) the fact that she was the first customer on the first day that American Pie opened; and B) She is the type of person who hosts butter parties.

Terri reports that she has tried several types of their pie, and has officially developed a deep love for their Chicken Pot Pie; on the sweet front, a blueberry pie with lattice-top crust and mini pecan pies have also struck her fancy. The crust is an exceptionally flaky, buttery specimen, adding a nice, savory contrast to sweet fillings, and a buttery complement to savory fillings.

They also sell a variety of empanadas and Spanish cookies, says Terri. While on the one hand it may seem funny that an establishment called American Pie sells a variety of ethnic sweets, it really is kind of all-American in that our nation truly is a melting pot.

Wary of yet more pie in Seattle? Well, as Terri so aptly put it, "I love pie. I mean, putting delicious things in buttery crust--what could be better than that?". Amen to that--bring on the butter, bring on the pie, bring on the sweet revolution!

Of course, if you're in Georgetown on a sunday, when American Pie is not open, Calamity Jane's does have dessert:

American Pie, 5631 Airport Way South, Georgetown, Seattle.

Seeing Green: Trophy Cupcakes Offers Guinness Cupcakes with Irish Cream Buttercream for St. Patrick's Day

Everybody's Irish when there's a cupcake like this around!

That's right: it's March, and that means it's time for some serious sweetness at Trophy Cupcakes, where they've brought back their beloved St. Patrick's Day flavor: Chocolate Guiness Stout Cupcakes with Irish Cream Buttercream frosting on top!

If you suspect that these cupcakes are comprised completely of awesome, you are right. The stout adds a wonderful density to the cake, leaning more toward chocolatey than toward a beer-y flavor; the Irish Cream in the buttercream gives it a little zing--just enough so that you know it's there, but not so much that it drives you to distraction. This sweet treat will be available Monday, the 14th through the 19th, daily.

Trophy will also be debuting "Green Velvet" cupcakes this year on St. Patrick's Day, March 17th. "Green Velvet" is Trophy's award winning Red Velvet Cupcake gone green for one day…our traditional buttermilk and cocoa cupcake will be topped with Trophy's classic Cream Cheese Frosting made extra lucky with a hint of green. 

Available at all three Trophy Cupcakes locations; for availability, directions and hours, visit their website.

March into Yum: Bacon Whiskey Maple Cupcakes at Cupcake Royale

March is in like a Lion at Cupcake Royale, where their flavor of the month is bound to make the masses roar with good cheer: Bacon Whiskey Maple Cupcakes!

Here's the 411, direct from Cupcake Royale: 

For one month only, get moist vanilla butter cake, made from local ingredients like milk, eggs, and butter from Medowsweet Dairy and specially milled Shepherd's Grain cake flour from Eastern Washington, hand-frosted with Irish Whiskey Maple Buttercream. Made with Jameson Irish Whiskey and real maple syrup, this malted maple swirl truly takes the edge off...a sweet tooth, that is. Dusted with either bacon crumbles from Zoe's meats or organic maple sugar and shamrocks, it's delicious to the tiniest detail.

But don't hesitate--in this spy's experience, the flavor of the month is usually first to disappear from the bakery case on most days! To ensure availability, call ahead.

Available all March long at all Cupcake Royale locations; for directions and contact info, visit www.cupcakeroyale.com. Of course, you can keep up to date with their goings-on at legalizefrostitution.blogspot.com and via Twitter.

Cake Byte: CupcakeCamp Seattle 2011 Coming on April 17

Hey, sweeties. Remember what an awesome time CupcakeCamp 2010 was? Well, forget about that, because CupcakeCamp 2011 is coming, and it promises to be bigger, badder, and buttercreamier.

Here are the details. I know I'm announcing it early, but I'm excited because I did the artwork for the poster again (pictured above) and I really, really want you to see it; and, you know, it's always nice to have something to look forward to, isn't it?

Date:  Sunday April 17, 2011. 
Time: 12PM- 4pm
Location: The Canal, a Jewel Hospitality property in Ballard
5300 34th Avenue NW Seattle, WA 98107
Why: Because who doesn’t love cupcakes? Plus we will have some fun competitions and all proceeds go to a good cause!

HOW:Purchase tickets HERE for $8 or $10 at the door.

Ticket valid for 6 mini cupcake tastings or 3 standard size on the day of the event only. No refunds available.

For a preview of the awesomeness that awaits you, check out this epic post on last year's event.

PieStalking: Pie Slam Coming Up on March 14 at CakeSpy Shop!

Did you miss National Pie Day on January 23rd? Aww, poor thing. But don't despair, because in the effort to keep you fat and happy all winter long, CakeSpy and Four and 20 Blackbirds are teaming up to host Seattle's first Pie Slam on March 14 (the "other" pie day...Pi Day!), at CakeSpy Shop, 415 E. Pine Street in Capitol Hill. Here are the details:

Cake and Pie Peace Talks Result in Seattle’s First Pie Slam

Seattle, WA – While the media has been heralding the demise of the cupcake and the ascension of pie – two Seattle bakers have come together in peace to hold Seattle’s first writing and baking contest – the Seattle Pie Slam.

Jessie Oleson, artist and blogger of CakeSpy fame, and Wendy Sykes, owner of the baking business Four and 20 Blackbirds decided there was no room for malice in the world of dessert and came up with the concept of a Pie Slam.

“It’s a writing contest and a pie contest, all baked into one,” said Sykes. “The concept is loosely based on a poetry slam, but in this contest the plot must contain pie. And the writer/baker is judged not only on the content and quality of the story -– but also on the quality of the pie.”

The Details

While entry is free, space is LIMITED! So whether you'd like to perform or just attend, be sure to RSVP via email to jessieoleson@gmail.com.

When: Monday, March 14th, 6:30pm
Where: CakeSpy, 415 E Pine St., Seattle WA 98122 (space is limited)

What: Be prepared to eat their words! 
It’s Seattle’s first Pie Slam, where judges decide who has the best story, and the best recipe – all baked into one contest.

Pie Slam Rules, based on rules from Poetryslam.com
Each story must be of the writer's own construction;
Each writer gets three minutes (plus a ten-second grace period) to read one
story. If the writer goes over time, points will be deducted from the total score. 
Of the scores the writer received from the five judges, the high and low scores
are dropped and the middle three are added together, giving the writer a total
score of 0-30.

Recipes: 
Recipe does not have to original, but must be made from scratch.

Contest Rules
Pie must be mentioned in a way that is intrinsic to the story, not peripheral (as in, “…and then he had a piece of pie.”
Writing submissions must be acceptable for a mixed-age, family event. Keep it clean folks!
Submissions must be entered in digital form, including recipe, by 5pm Monday, March 7th, or will not be considered.
Pies/desserts must be dropped off at CakeSpy on Monday, March 14th between 4pm to 6pm
Plates/desserts must be clearly marked with entrants name and phone number. 
Please bring knife/serving tools if needed.

For more details on entry rules, prizes and judges, email jessieoleson@gmail.com!