Famous foodies think our cupcakes are the best...EVER!

Jane & Michael Stern...foodies on the go.

And they should know. They travel the country seeking out the very best the US has to offer the palette. We could not be more excited about the sweet review we got from Jane and Michael Stern, a pair of road bound foodies dubbed "America’s leading authorities on the culinary delights to be found while driving" by Newsweek.

Well, they found themselves a clear favorite here in Seattle...our cupcakes! Mm hmm. Rated "Worth driving to from anywhere," Jane said our Salted Caramel "THE BEST cupcake I’ve ever eaten." Michael had equally glowing reviews for our goods on their site. And they both loved the Velvet Elvis, too. Well now, how could you not?

Their only complaint...our cupcakes are "way too fresh." We'll take it!

Listen to them tell all on NPR's Splendid Table.

Pastry Week Installation #3: Cinnamon Roll

You're getting sleepy...your eyelids are getting heavy...uh, you're drooling.

We've all had cinnamon buns before. Some of us may have even dabbled in Cinnabons. However, you have had nothing, nothing, until you try this sweet masterpiece from Le Fournil. A tightly bound coil of light, flaky pastry is held together with sugary cinnamon goodness, and then drenched in a deliciously sticky glaze. And of course, the closer you get to the middle, that epicenter of deliciousness, the better it gets. Each bite setting the stage for the next, each more delectable than the last. If only it never had to end.

Well folks, sadly, everything must end. Including Pastry Week. Tomorrow is your last day to try our delicious new line of breakfast magic for half price. Come in by ten tomorrow morning, buy yourself a cup of coffee, and your pastry is half price.

And don't feel bad about the drooling. You're among friends.

Pastry Week Installation #2: Onion Bialy

Along Came Bialy...

For most Americans, the word bialy conjures up images of good ol' Max Bialystock from Mel Brooks' Producers, and soon the tunes of Springtime for Hitler are running through your head. The name Bialystock is actually derivative of a Polish town, Białystok, the home of the bialy, a traditional baked good of Polish Ashkenazi Jews.

The bialy is a yeasty roll similar to a bagel, though it's not boiled, and thus maintains its dinner roll texture versus the dense, chewy insides of an outwardly crispy bagel. Our bialies (from Macrina Bakery) look like giant, fancy Goldfish crackers. The dough is twisted to create the perfect carriage for sweet pieces of onion, and the whole thing is sprinkled with poppy seeds and sea salt.

As soon as you sink your teeth into that savory ring of soft bread, you realize this is no child's cracker snack. The sweetness of the generous portion of sauteed onions combines with the nutty poppyseed goodness and is married together by the crunch of sea salt. It's a scrumptious taste of the Old World, right here in Seattle, and it is a welcome bite of savoury goodness in a pastrycase that's sugared to the max.

Wash it down with a hot cup of drip, and it's a hearty start to even the roughest of days. And, as with all of our delicious new pastries, it's half price when you come in this week and buy a coffee before 10.

Pastry Week Installation #1: Buttermilk Biscuit with Marionberry Jam

Well, Seattle, you no longer need to go over the river and through the woods to get one of Grandma's old-fashioned buttermilk biscuits. And you don't need to wait til summer to snag one at the county fair. You can get one any day of the week here at Ye Old Cupcake Shoppe. And let us just say, Halleluejah.



Here it is. That flaky, buttery beauty. Tastefully (deliciously) accessorized with a deep purple gem of marionberry jam.

What is a marionberry, you say? Well, sporting a far more complex flavor profile than your typical blackberry, this little fruit is known as the “Cabernet of Blackberries.” It is tart and robust, yet sweeter, juicier, and often larger than your standard blackberry. Essentially, more berry for your buck. It packs a punch, and leaves a sweet purple ring around smiling lips. This, friends, is a marionberry.

Take that and plop a dollop of it in the middle of a delicious, old-fashioned, buttermilk biscuit, and it truly is like waking up on the farm. The buttery biscuit flakes will simply melt in your mouth as you savour the sweet glory of the marionberry jam, and you shall shout to the heavens... this is BREAKFAST! And you will be happy as you wash it down with a bold, creamy latte. This will be the best day ever.

And, it's half price. Whaaa?! Yes. This week is pastry week, your once-in-a-lifetime chance to get this buttery morsel of berry-topped goodness for half price. Head into any Cupcake Royale this week and buy a coffee before 10, and take your pick from our delicious new breakfast pastries from Le Fournil and Macrina, for half price.

Mornings are hard. Let us change that.

My safe word will be whisky.

Or, in this case, "whiskey." Ever wonder why sometimes it's spelled with an e and sometimes not?


I'll fight any man who dares take the "e" out of my whiskey!

Well, back in the day, (late 1800s) it was all called whisky. However, it came to be known that the Scots were apparently cutting corners in ye olde business of malting. Their drink was going downhill fast, and the Irish were like, oh no no no. We won't be takin' the fall for this. We shan't get a bum rap for our blarney brew! (What? No one really said that.) Anyway, the Irish and the Americans got together and added an e to their labels, spelling the name of the drink they so carefully crafted "whiskey" to distinguish it from the alleged swill the Scots were putting out under the name "whisky."

Well, the Scotts have clearly cleaned up their act, BIG TIME, (Anybody try Theo's scotch chocolate 4 pack? Good LORD.) but the dual nomenclature stuck around. So, if you've got some of that Glenlivet headin' down the gullet, you've got yourself one super fine whisky. But, if you're partaking of the Jameson Irish goodness found in our delicious Irish Whiskey Maple cupcake, you, friend, are getting your whiskey on.

That covers the e, but what about the h? Well, speaking of going downhill:



And finally, seeing as we're all hot on the topic of linguistics, the answer to yesterday's trivia question! What are the origins of the word whiskey (or whisky)? It's an Anglicization of an old Gaelic term, uiscebeatha (Irish) or uisgebeatha (Scottish). It means "water of life."

Cheers!

Put some Irish on it!

Done and done. Irish whiskey, that is. Jameson. All swirled up nice and sweet with some real maple syrup, and then piled real high on a moist vanilla buttercake. Yes folks, back by popular demand, the Irish Whiskey Maple cupcake is once again our super delicious Cupcake of the Month for March!



You already knew how delicious Jameson Irish Whiskey was (if you're over 21, 0f course.)

And you've always known that maple syrup is truly the nectar of the northern gods (i.e. Vermont).

And everyone knows that ours are Seattle's Best Cupcakes.

Put the three together, and you get one magically delicious morsel that'll have Irish eyes smiling all around the Emerald City. It's the luck o' the Irish, in scratch-baked cupcake form!



So don't miss out - order 'em up today! We'll even deliver! They're only here through the end of the month. Become a fan on Facebook, and stay tuned all month for delicious giveaways. You never know, you just might get lucky!