Uploads from Chris Blakeley, tagged cupcakes, with geodata

Trophy Cupcakes - Green Tea

nobody@flickr.com (Chris Blakeley) — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 06:35:15 -0700

"It is green."

What's this, Chris? It's not St. Patrick's Day and it's not an ungodly green color. What kind of cupcake is this? Spinach and sweet pea? Arugula?

Nope. It's a green tea cupcake that actually looks like green tea. And it tastes... amazingly like green tea. Subtle and just sweet enough at times.

The cake is of their moist variety, but unlike any of their other cakes, it has a very light flavor. It's obviously sweet, of course, but not cloying like some of the green tea sodas out there. Honestly, it was a bit less sweet than a like my tea, which made for a very good cupcake. I found out later from one of the bakers that the cake was flavored with brewed matcha tea that was added to the batter as well as the icing.

And after that, the icing was good but actually a little too sweet. Not badly so, but it had a tendency to overwhelm the cake after a while. The balance of flavors was a little off. Not badly so, but enough that my friend stopped eating the frosting after a while.

Definitely worth checking out if you have the chance.

tiered cakes

nobody@flickr.com (Chris Blakeley) — Tue, 09 May 2006 21:49:50 -0700

Chris Blakeley posted a photo:

Wedding cupcakes from Cupcake Royale.

These are more cupcakes from Cupcake Royale. Yellow is lemon, orange is orange, white is carrot cake/cream cheese and green is vanilla. It's counterintuitive until you realize that the frosting was colored based on a swatch from the wedding's color scheme.

snowmen on the march

nobody@flickr.com (Chris Blakeley) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 08:52:37 -0800

Chris Blakeley posted a photo:

this is halloween

nobody@flickr.com (Chris Blakeley) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 15:02:44 -0700

Chris Blakeley posted a photo:

Carrot Walnut Cupcake

nobody@flickr.com (Chris Blakeley) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:20:19 -0700

Chris Blakeley posted a photo:

What's better than one cupcake from Trophy Cupcakes? Duh!

The Carrot Walnut cupcakes at Trophy are like their muffin counterparts but with maybe 75% of the density. This, in my book, is a wonderful thing. There should be that kind of difference between the two and the bakers at Trophy manage it with a startling consistency.

The frosting is where cream cheese frosting goes when it dies, it is that good. The tang of the ingredients comes through clearly in a light and almost frothy consistency.

Meanwhile, the cake is moist, chewy and has just enough filling (walnuts, raisins... and I want to say pineapple?) to make this a real treat without it becoming a fruitcake.

Taken together, this is another divine creation that demands attention. Unless you're allergic to nuts, in which case I'll allow that you should probably try something else... ;)

Chocolate Orange

nobody@flickr.com (Chris Blakeley) — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 06:35:03 -0700

Chris Blakeley posted a photo:

Ah the joys of a complicated photo shoot. Fortunately the models were all very sedate and not at all picky.

Yep, Cupcake Royale hired me and I spent an afternoon in the presence of their desserts. Oddly enough, I'm not sick of them yet.

Chocolate Vanilla

nobody@flickr.com (Chris Blakeley) — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 06:34:38 -0700

Chris Blakeley posted a photo:

Gingerbread

nobody@flickr.com (Chris Blakeley) — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 06:34:54 -0700

Chris Blakeley posted a photo:

Old School Cupcakes

nobody@flickr.com (Chris Blakeley) — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 06:36:04 -0700

Chris Blakeley posted a photo:

Trophy Cupcakes - Vanilla/Chocolate

nobody@flickr.com (Chris Blakeley) — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 06:35:32 -0700

Chris Blakeley posted a photo:

OK, I've done my fair share of odd flavors and strange combinations, it's time to get back to something much more mundane. In that vein, I had the vanilla/chocolate combination and was pleasantly surprised.

The cake was one of their fine, dry vanillas with a very pleasant texture and flavor. Dense without being impenetrable, flavorful without being sugary, I think this is close to some sort of Platonic ideal for cupcakes.

The frosting, however, was a knock out. I'm guessing that they used baker's chocolate somewhere in its preparation and it left me floored, gently. And, once again, a buttercream frosting that didn't require a jackhammer to bite through.

Together, I enjoyed a classic. And while I'm still enjoying trying out the varieties at Trophy Cupcakes, I'm delighted to find something that could easily become an old standby.

Trophy Cupcakes - Triple Chocolate and Peanut Butter & Jelly

nobody@flickr.com (Chris Blakeley) — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 23:00:27 -0700

Chris Blakeley posted a photo:

Can I be honest and say that as much as I like Cupcake Royale, I've come to find them to be kind of boring after a while. They're tasty, I like swinging by there, but if you break down their cakes you'll find that a vast majority of them are vanilla or chocolate with a variety of frostings. There are a few seasonal varieties (carrot, pumpkin, etc) every six months or so, but otherwise what you see is what you get. As much as I love getting a Classic... it's been done. And that Chocolate Deathcake of theirs was a lot of fun, but after the first few bites with my girlfriend, it became a kind of a chore.

That's why I liked Grand Central for their peanut butters and their cranberries before they switched their menus. It's why I was thrilled to see Coco La Ti Da for their cream cheese stuffings and the coconut.

And it's why I've fallen for Trophy Cupcakes, newly opened in Wallingford. Yes, you've got your chocolates and vanillas and mixtures as well as a constant red velvet, but also coconut, green tea, lemon strawberry... and I'm in love. In love after a pretty heavy sugar crash (word to the wise: do not have two cupcakes at once!), but love nonetheless.

The triple chocolate is a regular cupcake, costs $2.75, and is worth every cent. The cake is moist devil food and mounded just over the top of the paper. And then, just to confound us all, it is topped with only a bare coating of rich chocolate frosting which is then encrusted with chocolate sprinkles. Does this sound boring? Let me assure you that it is anything but. This was a delight. Rich, creamy, dense and almost too chocolate for me. Almost. Not that I let that stop me, I assure you. The sacrifices I make.

Next we have one of their "special" cupcakes at $2.99, the peanut butter and jelly. If you look carefully at the frosting, you'll notice that it's not any one specific color but has more of a watercolor effect to it and with good reason: It's peanut butter and jelly butter cream frosting. It is light to the point of non-existence. Biting through it was simplicity, as opposed to some of the dense creations I've had lately. The cake is a vanilla, dense like a corn muffin with, to make this even better, a tiny dollop of peanut butter and strawberry jelly in the center. It's sweeter than a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, of course, but that's not a complaint, I assure you.

Long story short: Get your butt out to Wallingford if you want a fine baked goods experience. You'll thank me.

Trophy Cupcakes - Triple Chocolate

nobody@flickr.com (Chris Blakeley) — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 22:59:50 -0700

Chris Blakeley posted a photo:

The frosting isn't enough, it needs a proper coverage to really get you a proper chocolate fix.

Trophy Cupcakes - Peanut Butter & Jelly

nobody@flickr.com (Chris Blakeley) — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 22:59:14 -0700

Chris Blakeley posted a photo:

Notice that the frosting is actually a swirl of colors. There's a damned good reason.

mini cakes

nobody@flickr.com (Chris Blakeley) — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 06:29:53 -0800

Chris Blakeley posted a photo:

Enough cheesecake! Back to the cupcakes.

the sign

nobody@flickr.com (Chris Blakeley) — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 06:39:27 -0700

Chris Blakeley posted a photo:

Cupcake Royale recently changed their case sign.

I like being thought of as an "uber-excited adult"

natural habitat

nobody@flickr.com (Chris Blakeley) — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 06:39:00 -0700

Chris Blakeley posted a photo:

Here we see a group of lemon cupcakes in their natural habitat in the wilds of Cupcake Royale.

Cupcakes

nobody@flickr.com (Chris Blakeley) — Tue, 16 May 2006 19:25:41 -0700

Chris Blakeley posted a photo:

Cupcakes by Cupcake Royale

Winner: Cupcakes!

nobody@flickr.com (Chris Blakeley) — Tue, 16 May 2006 06:54:57 -0700

Chris Blakeley posted a photo:

Yeah, I may not have won the t-shirt, but I got a dozen cupcakes from Cupcake Royale! Chocolate, mint and lavender represent.

say... cupcake!

nobody@flickr.com (Chris Blakeley) — Tue, 09 May 2006 22:14:48 -0700

Chris Blakeley posted a photo:

I was not the only one fascinated by the cupcakes. Of course, now I'm very curious to see how her shots turned out. We'll see in two to three weeks...

Rush set-up

nobody@flickr.com (Chris Blakeley) — Tue, 09 May 2006 21:49:05 -0700

Chris Blakeley posted a photo:

There were some crossed wires, so the set-up was rushed and they even asked me how it was supposed to look. But it turned out just fine, I thought.