Category Archives: Cupcakes

Love’s Cupcakes — Finally

Caramel cupcake.

It’s taken more than a year of waiting, but Love’s Cupcakes has finally opened in downtown San Jose.

I used to laugh when my gym workout buddy, Ellie, would give me week by week updates on the site, which she doesn’t live too far from.

“Oh, brown paper went up on the windows a few days ago!”

“A guy was actually inside working yesterday!”

“I peeked my head inside and they told me it would be open by the end of April!”

“They’re saying it’s PG&E’s fault now, that there’s a delay in turning on the power!”

“Still no power. Can you believe it?”

And on and on it went. I started to think it was some cruel joke by the baking gods, that the place would forever be in construction limbo.

Chocolate Dream cupcake (front), Caramel (rear left), Hummingbird (rear right)

But lo and behold, it’s now churning out about half a dozen flavors a day. I visited the cheery bakery on opening day (July 25). It was started by April Zarazua, a home baker, who graduated from the California Culinary Academy’s pastry program.

The regular size cupcakes are $3.25. There’s also a fun “create-your-own” cupcake option. Choose vanilla or chocolate cake, then your choice of frosting and one topping. Additional toppings are extra.

I chose three from the bakery case: Hummingbird, Chocolate Dream, and Caramel.

So were they worth a year-long wait?

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Kara’s Cupcakes Opens In Napa

Chocolate cupcakes. (Photo courtesy of Kara's Cupcakes)

If you think Napa is all about wine, wine, and more wine, well, it still is. But now, you can get your fix of cupcakes there, too.

Kara’s Cupcakes has opened in the Oxbow Public Market in downtown Napa.

Now, if you need a pick-me-up after wine-tasting, head over to Kara’s for a Fleur de Sel (chocolate cupcake with caramel filling, and ganache frosting sprinkled with sea salt) or Kara’s Karrot (carrot cupcake with tangy, thick cream cheese frosting).

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Green Velvet Cupcake

Green, it is! (Photo courtesy of Sprinkles Cupcakes)

Yes, it’s what you think it is: A Red Velvet cupcake shaded green instead.

It’s a special St. Patrick’s Day cupcake that will be featured at Sprinkles  Cupcakes for the holiday. Priced at $3.25, it’s available now through March 17.

For even more St. Patrick’s fun, Sprinkles also is offering an Irish Chocolate Cupcake at the same price. It’s a Belgian dark chocolate cake topped with Bailey’s Irish cream cheese frosting, and a green shamrock.

At Kara’s Cupcakes in Palo Alto and San Franciso, all the cupcakes will get a dash of green.

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Teacake Cupcakes

Teacake Bake Shop cupcakes. Chocolate Sour Cream Cake with dulce de leche frosting in foreground.

As with politics, when you have two opposing viewpoints, you listen intently, weighing both sides to form your own opinion.

Call this then the politics of cupcakes.

When my sis-in-law Jennifer urged me to try the cupcakes at Teacake Bake Shop, I was eager to do so, especially when she heard my teeth were practically disintegrating from all those achingly sweet frosting bombs at so many other bakeries.

But when Single Guy Chef got wind of that recommendation, he cautioned me that he had found Teacake’s cupcakes just so-so.

Hmmmm, hmmm, I thought.

So what was a Food Gal to do except try some for herself, right? So recently, my hubby and I made our way to the Emeryville location (Teacake also has branches in Corte Madera and Lafayette). Each day, about nine or so different cupcakes are available.

We toted home a Pink Velvet with cream cheese frosting, a Chocolate Sour Cream with dulce de leche buttercream, and a Peanut Butter with peanut butter buttercream.

The cupcakes ($3 each) are pretty, decorated simply with a clean, modern sensibility. I took a bite of the Pink Velvet. My sis-in-law was correct that the frosting was not overly sweet, and actually had a nice tang from the cream cheese. The cake itself was not super strong in cocoa-flavor, and the texture a little dry.

Pink Velvet.

The chocolate cupcake was fudgy tasting, and the frosting was thick, creamy, and tasted dreamily of caramel. But again, the cake was a little on the dry side.

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