Long Over Due at Billy's Bakery

This title has a number of hidden meanings.

First and foremost it refers to the fact that this post should have gone up a very long time ago. You'll see what I mean by the rainy dreary day captured in the pictures, as well as the winter caps and coats that also make appearances.

Another would be the fact that Billy's and I (and Nicole) were supposed to meet quite a long time ago. Almost a year to be exact.

And finally, I was accompanied on my visit by fellow blogger and all around great gal (and new MOMMY to be!) Miss Sofia Zimmerman. She chronicles her life as a savvy foody in Brooklyn, here, on Brooklyn Baba.

Billy's is adorable with a kitchy old-school feel and atmosphere that's reminiscent of both Magnolia and Babycakes Bakeries. Two former Cuppie Tour stops. The taste -- we both opted for vanilla on vanilla cuppies -- very similar to Magnolia and Buttercup Bakeshop. I believe I'd heard that Billy's is also owned by one of the founders of Magnolia (as is Buttercup). Does anyone know if that's true?

Anyway, here are a couple shots of the shop:

And one of my fellow cupcake lover:

Sofia says another good choice, although a bit on the sweeter side, is the banana cupcake. I brought home the red velvet and carrot cake to try as well and both were D-LISH!!!!!!!!!!

~AnnMarie

DinaCakes Giveaway Winner!

Vineyard cupcakes from DinaCakes

Drumroll please...

Patrick McCarthy you are the winner of two dozen cupcakes from DinaCakes!

Congrats! I'm very jealous...

Please contact me at theroadtosweetness@gmail.com so we can get your address.

Thanks for playing kids:)

~AnnMarie

Odd Cupcake News

This is pretty stupid. And not funny. But yet cupcake-related.

I'm in a bad mood this dreary Sunday, in case you can't tell.

Do you have any other odd-ball cupcake lore related stories to share?

Don't forget to enter our DinaCakes giveaway. Last day...

~AnnMarie

Ammie's Breakfast Cuppie

Often my breakfast of choice ends up being a banana and a cup of coffee, usually due to time constraints.

Right now my mother is frowning and shaking her head in disgust.

Anyway, it got me thinking that if Nicole and I ever do realize our dream of opening up our own cupcake shop, I'd insist on offering "Ammie's Breakfast Cuppie." This would of course be a banana coffee cupcake.

But the question is which part would be the banana? Would it be a banana cupcake? Or banana frosting? I think I'd prefer a banana cake with a creamy espresso frosting. MMMmmmmmm......

What would your perfect breakfast cuppie be??

Happy Blogoversary

I know, I know, we've (more like I'VE) been seriously slacking on the blogging lately. But I couldn't let today pass without letting everyone know that not only is it St. Patrick's Day, but also our one year blogoversary.

 I guess I should get Nicole a set of paper towels.

It's been a very busy couple of months between wedding planning and finding a new job, so my blogging duties have gotten neglected. But at least it wasn't all for naught as I did indeed start a new editorial position just last Monday. Please hold your applause.

Since I'm finally speaking up I thought I'd give you all an update on our wedding cuppies. At first, we'd thought a cake was included in our contract. So I had to swallow my pride and let go of having cupcakes for dessert rather than the traditional cake as we couldn't turn down a free cake given how ridiculously expensive it is to throw a wedding.

But we found out recently that it is NOT included so after feigning extreme anger and disappointment I realized it meant we (and by we I mean Nicole and I) would get to see our dream of having wedding cuppies come true.

So we immediately contacted our fave cupcakery: Kumquat. I've written about them numerous times on The Road to Sweetness. They do not delivery outside of the city but thought it couldn't hurt to ask. Unfortunately all I got was radio silence on the other end:(

So here's just one of the places we're considering: Lulu's Cake Boutique. I thought I'd share with you all their amazing menu. I've got my eye on "the glazey river."

Happy drooling.

~AnnMarie

New Year, New Cupcakes

I'll admit it…we play favorites.

Can you blame us? When you find a good stand-by and someone who never lets you down it gets hard to step out of your comfort zone and trust someone new.

Especially when it comes to cuppie shops.

So I know we've sort of missed the boat on the whole resolutions thing as it's the 18th at this point but hey…at least it's still January. But we've decided to expand our horizons this year.

And we plan to do that with the help of Red Velvet Diaries.

Brave soul Kara has decided to chronicle her journey to find the perfect red velvet cupcake. And she's really made the rounds!

Kara rates from 1-5 and let me tell you she knows her stuff and is a tough critic. She's visited many NYC bakeries, Jersey bakeries and beyond!

And do I need to mention the adorable art work that accompanies her posts, along with the "Sweet Moment of the Day." She also holds a special place in my heart as she is currently planning her wedding as well, which she also writes about on Red Velvet Diaries. I think I can speak for myself and the world when I beg this question: will she be having red velvet cuppies at her wedding!?

She's featured a few bakeries that have been on our radar, particularly Two Little Red Hens. We'll make it our business in 2011 to sample them ourselves. And of course keep them in the running for Cuppie Tour 2011!

Butter Lane Cupcake Class TONIGHT

Butter Lane Cupcakes at 123 East Seventh St., New York, NY is hosting a cupcake class tonight and there are two spots left!

Running from 4-6 p.m., email Joe@butterlane.com if you’d like to reserve: first-come, first-serve.

For more information on Butter Lane's classes, Like them on Facebook or click here.

~AnnMarie

It's National Cupcake Day

Happy National Cupcake Day everyone!






















How did YOU celebrate. Tell us here or on our Facebook page.

~AnnMarie

Missed Opportunities

So, I've been trying to get my act together and post about this for over a month. Seeing as it's going to be December this week...I figure the time has passed.

But that doesn't mean I can't share a picture or two.

As you guys know, we did a 100 cupcake giveaway a couple months ago on Sumo's Sweet Stuff. After a couple tries, we finally had a winner: Crystal from Crystal's Craft Spot!

Crystal is all the way in Washington State! So you can imagine the challenge this posed to us.

Thanks to this amazing suggestion though, from the equally fab cuppie blog i heart cuppycakes, we were able to get 100 cupcakes all the way across the country to Crystal in great condition. See for yourself!

Crystal requested them for a family Halloween party, so we put together the following for her:

-Vanilla purple monsters (vanilla cuppies with violet-tinted vanilla frosting)
-Red velvet mummies (with cream cheese frosting under white fondant pieces)
-Chocolate spider webs (chocolate cuppies with chocolate icing and a spider web decoration and small plastic spider)
-Ghost stories carrot cakes (with cream cheese frosting and marshmallows) 

So after a very late Wednesday evening in October of blood, sweat and even a few tears, we were able to overnight them on Thursday and have them arrive in Washington on Friday for Crystal's Saturday party.


Looking forward to our next trial...one that's not on the other side of the country:)

Just kidding Crystal! We had a great time!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving...

~AnnMarie

Cinnabon Cupcakes!

We were just at the Palisades Mall (Nyack, NY) to see an afternoon showing of The Social Network (which was awesome PS!) and were of course immediately taken by the hand upon entering by the intoxicating smell of Cinnabon. Which is conveniently placed just a few steps away from the theater.

And we found this:

They now have cupcakes! I didn't sample, but just thought I'd deliver the news. They had mini and regular sizes available.

Cute frosting on the vanilla ones above, meant, I assume, to resemble a Cinnabon!

Cupcakes and Facebook...takin' over the world!

~AnnMarie

Cupcake Vineyards

Um, hellooooooo!!??!?!?! Why has no one ever brought this to my attention!?!?!

Cupcake Vineyards! Brought to you by Underdog Wine Merchants, it doesn't look like they have much of anything to do with the baked goods other than capitalizing on using the word 'cupcake' and their "shtick" so to speak is that they want to "invoke the feeling that you get when reward yourself,” just as you do with a cupcake.

A co-worker says its both yummy AND cheap! Perfect combination. Looks like they've got a sweepstakes goin' on too, so get over to their Web site to see what it's all about and of course, enter!

~AnnMarie

ps, happy October!!!

pps, anybody ELSE other than my savvy co-worker ever try any of the wines?

100 Cupcake Giveaway on Sumo's Sweet Stuff...'til Tuesday!

Our big giveaway is still going on! If you haven't checked it out yet, it's being hosted by Sumo's Sweet Stuff and all who follow the three simple steps will be entered to win 100 of our cupcakes! It will be, not THE, but ONE of our first big taste tests. So be the first to sample our wares. Trust me, you won't be disappointed.

Spread the word to all your friends. Click here to see the official giveaway and to check out Sumo's Sweet Stuff.



~AnnMarie

ps, a big happy welcome to all our new followers! I hope you enjoy our cupcake adventure...

The ICE Redeems Itself

So Friday I had to take a personal day because one of the three baking classes I'd signed up for at the ICE (Institute of Culinary Education) was actually during the day, which I hadn't realized. The other two are at night.

Everybody Loves Cupcakes took place from 10-2, led by Chef Loren Banco, and it officially redeemed the school in my book.

So much more enjoyable than Basically Baking I would recommend to anybody who needs to get their cupcake baking feet wet or just looking for a fun experience.

I actually felt like a human being on Friday and was able to enjoy the four hours, which flew by!

The kitchen we were in was much less cramped and Chef Loren was such an enjoyable instructor. He was sweet, helpful, unassuming, and none of his students were afraid to make a move out of fear of being embarrassed by their teacher.

First, we sat around a long table where we reviewed all the recipes. We then split up into teams of just two, which was highly more affective for learning and retention than the larger groups of four we had to work in for Basically Baking.

There were a few recipe options to choose from for cupcakes and frostings, and each team was required to pick two of each to make. My partner and I decided to go with double chocolate cupcakes and peanut butter cupcakes with ganache filling (yummoooooo). For frosting we decided to stick with easy buttercream, and fudge frosting.

This was basically my first foray into frostings. And too my naive surprise I found that they are basically tons of butter and sugar. Oh and a dash of vanilla and salt. How Nicole and I will ever be able to craft healthier frosting I have no idea. But that's a story for a different day.

Chef Loren showed us how to fill and use a pastry bag, and also displayed some decorating techniques! Here was my attempt at icing on our peanut butter cuppies:

I know. I need some practice. Here's a shot of some of our double chocolates:

So I was very pleased with the experience and it's making me look forward to my final class in July, Cupcake Workshop 1.

~AnnMarie

ICE, thumbs down…so far

Sorry we haven't touched base in a while. Those damn day jobs again…

But I'm thrilled to report I actually have tomorrow AND MONDAY off! And couldn't be more excited. It will give me lots of time to catch up on stuff that has had to fall to the wayside. Stuff such as The Road to Sweetness.

So while we might not have been too vocal, we have remained active in our quest. Between my sister, me, and my mother, we've gotten through two of the Institute of Culinary Education's recreational classes over the past couple weeks, and must say we haven't walked away too enriched.

Two Saturdays ago, I took Basically Baking with Nick Malgieri, and my mother and sister took Low-Fat Baking with an unnamed instructor who claimed "these aren't my recipes, I just teach the class," last Sunday.

On the contrary, Mr. Malgieri took particular ownership of his recipes, as he's "only been a baker for 40 years, what do I know?" he asked nobody in particular.

His antics made the class, as many of us were too scared to make a move lest we get yelled at for not doing it correctly.

"I didn't see it!" exclaimed one class member as a dirty look was shot his way when it was realized that he'd neglected one egg that was needed for a recipe he was assisting with.

While definitely a fun experience, we have to say we've gotten no new information or tips to use for the Skinny Minnie Bakeshop. We had high hopes for Low-Fat Baking but Nicole said instead of focusing on ingredient alternatives, it was all about portion control.

One perk was that while I'm not sure what my mother and sister walked away with, I came home with a feast of muffins, focaccia, cookies, cakes, and more! Here's a couple shots of our final products:

(Mr. Malgieri agreed to swap some of that focaccia you see there for some drinks from the bartending class going on across the hall. Smart move.)

Up next for me will be Everyone Loves Cupcakes next month.

This is how the description reads on my receipt:

Everyone loves cupcakes---they’re fun to make, great fun to decorate, and the MOST fun to eat. Chef-Instructor Loren Banco will teach you to make your choice of old-fashioned yellow, double chocolate, and peanut butter with chocolate truffle center cupcake batters, and then assorted buttercream frostings including raspberry, amaretto and chocolate espresso. A variety of decorative techniques will be demonstrated, from which participants will be able to choose to personalize their own creations.

Hopefully, the specific cuppie classes prove more useful!

We'll let you know.

~AnnMarie

PS, only a few days left to vote for our Cuppie Tour 2010 stops! Don't forget to cast yours...

We have a winner!

Aaaalright ladies and germs, Nicole and I have chosen a logo for our first Web site.

The esteemed honor goes to: Sarah Mapes!

Amie, Sarah, we loved both of your work and I am here to say how talented BOTH of these ladies are. See previous posts for their contact information.

We'll be working on the Web site in the coming days and hope to have something available by next weekend.

In other news, Nicole and I have signed up for 3 classes each at the Institute of Culinary Education in NYC and can't wait for them!

Me:
Everybody Loves Cupcakes
Cupcake Workshop 1
Basically Baking

Nicole:
Cupcake Workshop 2
Cupcakes Unlimited
Low-Fat Baking

I thought it best if we divide and conquered. Barbara (Mom) will of course be coming for one class each.

Trials tomorrow. Better get some rest. I think I'm going to stop at the Briarcliff Manor, NY Winter Farmer's Market to pick up a few supplies from Feather Ridge Farm. Thanks for the tip Phyllis!

~AnnMarie

Cupcake Business Class in Philly?

Considering this: http://cupcakestakethecake.blogspot.com/2010/03/cupcake-business-class-on-april-17-in.html.

Not sure if we're "there yet" though. It might be wise to focus on our recipes/menu more so first.

~AnnMarie

The Things I Do...

For cupcakes: I'm willing to let this be shared even though I think I've never looked more awful in my life. But it's pretty funny, thanks to my father's running commentary. He took another as well where he films the actual taste tests. I'll try to wrangle that one out of him for a future post.

Enjoy!




~AnnMarie

PS, I created a fan page for us on Facebook. And right now it only has one. So make us look a little less pathetic and +Become a Fan!

Spring has Sprung!

Sorry I went dark for a couple days. Don't worry, conversations still revolved around all things cupcake but I was spending my free time outside, rather than in, blogging.

That being said, I just want to scream this from the rooftops: IT'S SO GORGEOUS OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This weather is making me so happy after three months of snow and darkness. And it gets me all the more excited for our plans for the Skinnie Minnie Bakeshop.

Let me explain our name choice a bit further. It's not just because Nicole IS a "skinnie minnie," and I ASPIRE to be a "skinnie minnie." We want all our offerings to be much healthier than the traditional baked goods so all of us who love cuppies so much can be able to eat them more freely, without (too much) guilt. Because nothing is sadder than an existence not surrounded by artfully frosted little cakes.

Now how exactly we're going to achieve that is the question. That's what we'll focus on today when we meet for our first serious business meeting, which will probably take place sitting on my sister's bed in the room we grew up in. Very VERY serious...

We've got some ideas and we've been compiling a few secret weapons. One element that we definitely want to try to implement in our baking will be the farm-to-table philosophy. So the best way to truly understand that is to start at home, right?

It was Thursday, I believe, when I got lost in my (our!) favorite store Anthropologie. I by-passed the surprising number of cupcake cook and recipe books they had for sale, including the one from Babycakes (which was also a stop on last year's CuppieTour. See a pic on the right of Nicole outside of the NYC shop, about to dive in.) Instead, I picked up a copy of Grow Great Grub, Organic Food from Small Spaces, by gardening extraordinaire Gayla Trail.

The title jumped out at me because I certainly fit that description. The attic apartment I share with my boyfriend and cat is definitely a "small space." So if she can teach me how to get around that and understand the difference in flavor and texture you achieve from ingredients that are in season and come straight from the ground to the plate, then I'll definitely be indebted to this farm-to-table movement.

Well at first flip through, I love this book! She offers very simple how-tos on growing your own herbs, veggies, fruits and more, no matter how much or how little space you have access to or what your budget is. She even offers some pretty mouth-watering recipes and there is actually a page (27) on how to start your own seed beds with just toilet paper tube rolls! Now I just need to get to a Whole Foods soon to pick up some seeds. I want to get started with fruits (Chapter 8).

And oddly enough, the very next day I was greeted with some great news. There is actually a few yards of gardening space on the side of our house, but it was always occupied by the tenants in the 1st floor apartment--who confirmed they've purchased a house of their own and are moving out next month! I'm going to jump on that and ask the landlord if I can take it over once they're gone.

Alright, I'm going to sign off to get ready and get to our meeting!

Eat our crumbs!
~AnnMarie

A Babycakes cuppie...mmmmmmmm.........

TMI on TMs

My head is spinning from A to Z with visions of tiny letters in circles and all the warnings and threats and horror stories and laws that can go along with them, from ® to © to ™.

Here's an interesting link at FindLaw®. Scroll down for a snicker. Funny, but still relevant! (I'd love to know where this one went).

It seems like as far as recipes go, copyright infringement can get a little, uhhh, fuzzy?? Seems like that according to this post from one of our fave blogs Cupcakes Take The Cake.

But I think we're going to take cues from this one, for now, and make one of our main goals to get our chosen name, Skinnie Minnie Bake Shop, registered--and as quickly as possible before any of you snatch it up! Oh, I'm sorry, it's Skinnie Minnie Bakeshop, as Nicole corrected me this morning. OR, as another close friend called it: SMBS. Love that!

If anyone has information or advice to share on the subject, we're all ears. Meanwhile, I'll be working on my application. Do you need an attorney for this? Help!

~AnnMarie

A Day to Remember

I just want to mark today in my brain. So I can look back and say "I remember it like it was yesterday..."

It was this morning in the shower that I decided (well at this point, technically yesterday morning). The morning of St. Patrick's Day, March 17, 2010 was when I decided it was time for us to stop talking and start doing.

For the past few years my sister Nicole has been talking about opening a bakery and calling it the Skinnie Minnie Bake Shop. Because that's what she is...a skinnie minnie. That's us at Sweet Revenge at 62 Carmine St., NYC, on last year's CuppieTour (I'll explain in future posts so stay tuned). That's me on the left, her on the right.

She's a teeny 5-ft.-nothin', 100 and nothin' pound beauty. And I'm...well...not. But that's OK, there's always gotta be some brawn to the brains, right? And over the years, she's added to said "brawn" by slowly bringing me on board with her love for baked goods. ESPECIALLY cupcakes! And eventually her dream of opening a bakery, turned into our dream.

"I can tell you think I'm not serious," I texted her after getting out of the shower and telling her of my revelation. "I mean it."

"I believe u! I was serious about it in the first place," she wrote back.

Well, let's see her put her money where her mouth is. First business meeting is scheduled for Saturday where we're going to get serious about getting serious. I'll let you know what our brainstorming session yields.

But in conclusion, this blog will chronicle our journey down the road to sweetness--what we hope to be a wildly successful bakery that makes people just as happy as those little cups of frosted goodness make us!

Eat our crumbs! (we say that with all the love in the world )

~AnnMarie