friends and cupcakes

My dear, dear friend Joan came to town to visit her adorable daughter Whitney - YAY!

Do you recognize them? Yes, they've been on my blog before! I *LOVE* this dynamic duo!

While Whitney was working Joan and I drove to 4 different cupcake bakeries - yes we did!

 And that night we had a very FUN cupcake taste-off!

We had everything from Twinkie cupcakes to Bacon/Maple cupcakes!

And everything in between! Nutella cupcake anyone? That was my favorite by far!

I know - it's really a nasty job, but SOMEONE'S gotta taste all those cupcakes!

~

I love you Joan and Whitney! xoxoxoxo

Shell & I are wicked

You know what these two sets of feet mean.

SHELL CAME TO VISIT!

She was barely off the plane and we got pedicures first thing!

 I also made her get extra piercings because I knew she wanted them :)

So after we took a class at the Apple store, we went straight inside the mall!

 Second piercings on both ears, plus a cartilage piercing up top - SO CUTE!

 Shell was here when we had our Velvet vs. Cake Goodness Girls Only Taste Test!

I so wish we had taken a pic of all 4 of us: Tori, Taylor, Shell & me - 

we had so much fun and laughed so hard we were dying :)

 We spent a lot of time with the Mouse, and really enjoyed his guitar playing

He has a killer acoustic version of "Blackbird" that he's just GOT to record!

 Then Shell & snuck off for the day and drove to Redondo Beach

 and did something we had planned on for months but hadn't told anyone.....

TWIN TATTOOS

 We searched and searched for something that would be meaningful to us both -

we found a Celtic symbol that is beautiful and means several things.....

Friends and Sisters Forever

 Shell got hers in black on the back of her neck - it looks AMAZING :)

I got mine on my forearm in turquoise - also amazing :)

FRIENDS AND SISTERS FOREVER :)

 Obviously Shell and I did LOTS of fun things together during the week she was here!

Shopping probably topped the list. Well, after the piercings. And tattoos. And seeing friends.

And we drove to Santa Monica so Shell could go to one of the Shabby Chic flagship stores :)

 So of course we HAD to drive to Pacific Palisades and visit the house I grew up in!

It had been nearly 40 years since Shell had seen it! 40 years! Oh, the fun we had here together :)

 Matty took some pics of us before we had to drive Shell to the airport, hehe

They make me happy and sad at the same time - I miss her so much already.

I love you Shell!!!

foodie week: girls only cupcake war

Well guess who came a few weeks ago..... to spend an entire WEEK with me!

THAT'S RIGHT - MY COUSIN SHELL!!! HAH! :)

I'm going to report all our shenanigans on my blog next week (okay, almost all of them) 

but I need to blog about THIS one during foodie week!

~

Now that more cupcake places are popping up around here, I simply MUST go investigate!

It's really a drag, and I hate to do it..... but I'm used to it now :/

~

This time Shell, Tori, and Taylor (we missed you Whitney!) 

pitted Velvet Cupcakes - the reigning champion - against Cake Goodness.

This was definitely our closest competition to date! Cake Goodness turned out to be VERY GOOD!

Located on Lyons Ave. in Newhall, it is a very friendly and fun place to go! 

~

This contest was more about which cupcake/s we loved the most overall.

There were only 2 multiple flavors to compare (pumpkin!) so we mainly went with our faves.

(and the red velvet & salted carmel weren't in the running since they were Shell's)

Here are the flavors we had a *BLAST* taste testing:

VELVET CUPCAKES:

Pumpkin

Hazelnut Chocolate

Toffee Crunch

Classic Vanilla w/ Chocolate Frosting

CAKE GOODNESS:

Pumpkin

Double Chocolate

Cinnamon Crunch (like coffee cake)

Banana

And here are our thoughts on what we liked, loved, and couldn't get enough of:

• The pumpkin from Cake Goodness was the most spicy and flavorful, with cream cheese frosting
• The pumpkin from Velvet Cupcakes was smooth-flavored and more mellow
• (we all liked both pumpkins, for the different reasons I just mentioned)
• Velvet's Hazelnut Chocolate was a BIG pleaser - we all LOVED it!
• CG's Double Chocolate was a great, rich chocolate taste all around
• Velvet's Toffee Crunch tied with it's Hazelnut Chocolate for our most favorite - YUMMM!
• CG's Cinnamon Crunch had an AMAZING flavor, just like delish coffee cake
• Velvet's Classic Vanilla w/ Chocolate Frosting had SUPER awesome chocolate frosting
• CG's Banana was the surprise of the evening - it had a WONDERFUL flavor we all loved

OVERALL:

Velvet's texture, frosting, heavier density, moistness and flavors are still the winner with ME!

But I can't help it - I've never had a disappointing cupcake from Velvet Cupcakes! They ROCK!

HOWEVER, Cake Goodness was a near equal contender - we were all super impressed!

Their cupcakes were lighter & fluffier (which many people prefer), with TERRIFIC flavors!

OKAY IF YOU'VE MADE IT THIS FAR YOU'RE MY BEST FRIEND, HAHA

AND I KNOW YOU'RE LAUGHING THAT I THINK I'M A SERIOUS CUPCAKE CRITIC

I don't really think that, I just love cupcakes and this is so fun to do with my friends!

Alright, enough already..... go get some cupcakes!

and now some sweet fun

If you thought for one minute that after the cemetery service was over, 

and our goodbyes had been said, and my brother had driven back to southern Utah..... 

that Matthew and I drove right back home as well..... 

YOU WOULD BE WRONG! 

I mean come on - I'm staying with my cousin Shell! Let's get this party started!

~

Those of you who read the Nie Nie Dialogues will recognize the name of this YUMMALICIOUS Utah bakery! I had only read about it though, and now I had the chance to GO to one! YAYYY!!!

 Yeah..... I'm just gonna let these delectable goodies speak for themselves.....

 !!!!!

 !!!!!

 !!!!!

 These INSANE little candy-like nuggets are..... wait for it..... CAKE BITES!

 !!!!!

 Oh-my-stars-in-heaven-above..... these cookies were some of the best cookies I'd ever eaten!

IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!!!

The cookies themselves were unbelievable, but the frosting..... the FROSTING!!!

!!!!!

So suffice it to say, I dream of the Sweet Tooth Fairy in my dreams. 

Check them out to see ALL their amazing creations and make yourself miserable like me :/

----------> the Sweet Tooth Fairy gourmet bakery <---------- 

THOSE COOKIES..... OH!!!

speaking of cupcakes... taste test!

 So speaking of cupcakes and our fascination of all things tasty gooey cake-like flavorful piled with frosting and unhealthy..... one Saturday we decided to have a taste test comparison. This competition was between - - - - -

 Who we've already mentioned (toffee crunch anniversary cupcakes, remember?)

 And Bake You Happy - who actually won the "Cupcake Wars" competition on the Food Network

 Above are the cupcakes from Velvet Cupcakes. Three of them are our contest subjects: Their Red Velvet (back right), their Salted Caramel (center), and their Lemon. The Chocolate/Vanilla (back left) and the Chocolate Strawberry (front left) tagged along just because we WANTED THEM.

 Above are the contestants from Bake You Happy. Their Red Velvet (right), their Salted Caramel (back), and their Lemon (front). The cupcake with all the popcorn on it is actually the one that made them the winners of Cupcake Wars, so we bought one to try because we WANTED IT.

~~~

THE RESULTS

Salted Caramel winner: Bake You Happy

Lemon winner: after a major fight we decided to call it a tie

Red Velvet winner: Velvet Cupcakes

*and I have to add a little note here that we're pretty partial to Velvet Cupcakes all the way around

~

Super scrumptious, OF COURSE!

Deleriously delishious OF COURSE!

They use fresh strawberry puree for the strawberry frosting

Umm..... interesting? 

Caramel cake, marshmallow frosting with popcorn, candy covered sunflower seeds, and a drizzle of caramel. It was an unusual but pleasant mix of flavors, but I don't think I'd have it again.

mo anniversary fun

 So you thought our anniversary fun was over at the cemetery but you would be wrong! After all, this is US!

 So of course we went over to the mall so I could loiter around the iPhones in the Apple store for at least the tenth time, check out cute earrings in Franchesca's (yes I made John go in with me), and last but not least, go to Velvet cupcakes for 2 anniversary cupcakes! Velvet cupcakes is the next best thing to Sprinkles - and you all know how much I love Sprinkles! Velvet cupakes are equally good!

 We totally lucked out because one of their offerings of the day was their toffee crunch cupcake! Score!

Happy, Happy, VERY Happy 30 Year Anniversary!

2 words

 YUMMY CUPCAKES

or

Burbank, CA

or

sugar coma

(I'll let you choose which 2 words you want!)

 (There are more locations than just Burbank of course)

And these cupcakes are seriously fun and innovative!

Cupcake pops, frosting shots, cupcakes in a JAR!!!

Not to mention flavors such as French toast, and pancakes & bacon...

and those are the tip of the iceberg people - just the tip!

 I'll stop jabbering now - these little cakes speak for themselves!

 !!!!!!!

!!!!!!!

You're welcome :)

Sprinkles Cupcakes

Our family took a little field trip a week or so ago (and yet again!) to Sprinkles Cupcakes in Beverly Hills. Davy & his girlfriend Val were the first to venture there, and when they shared a few bites with us, we knew we had to partake for ourselves. And how. 
It was a gorgeous day (check out the reflection in the window) and the line out in front of the store was not very long. For those of you not familiar with Sprinkles, there are several locations in several states, and their website is a gem of interesting information.
The inside of the store is very small and minimal. The highlight of the Sprinkles experience is the extremely friendly staff and of course, the amazingly delicious cupcakes. Some cupcakes, such as their famous red velvet cupcake, are served every day. Other flavors vary depending on the day. 


In this view from the Sprinkles website (*photo credit Victoria Pearson), you can see how each cupcake is color coded with 2 round candies on top. This is how you know what flavor it is. You can also pre-order different candies to go on top for special occasions. And for Valentine's Day, many of the cupcakes wore cute little hearts. 
So now we come home with all our cupcakes and I get to play with them! Here are all our red velvet lovelies. We've tried many of their flavors and have several favorites, but the red velvet remains our unanimous all-time favorite :)

If you look real close you can see just a hint of red cake

Ah, here are the red velvets mixed with a few other flavors - vanilla/vanilla (with the white sprinkles on top), strawberry/strawberry (a favorite of mine - the strawberry frosting is DI-VINE), and an unusual cinnamon/sugar cupcake with no frosting at all (!!!)

mmmmmmmmmmmm :)