Friday Flavor Face-off!

It's a battle Royale...literally! We wanna know which cupcake yous guys like best. Which delicious flavor reigns supreme? Is it Barack Obama's favorite treat - chocolate salted caramel, or Elvis Presley's beloved peanut butter and banana?


Just two fine-lookin' gents who love some cupcakes.

On one side, you got a dark chocolate cake Royale topped with house made caramel buttercream, Fleur de Sel, and dark chocolate curls. We launched it last year on Inauguration Day, as Obama is a professed fan of Fran's Salted Caramels. A man of taste, for sure.

This January, we launched the Velvet Elvis. In honor of what would have been The King's 75th birthday, (TODAY!) we have a moist banana cake topped with a rich, chocolate peanut butter fudge frosting. Because everyone knows how Elvis loved his fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches.

So, what'll it be? The President, or The King? Salted Caramel, or Velvet Elvis? Which great flavor reigns supreme for Seattle's cupcake connoisseurs?

Ladies and Gentlemen...Elvis has entered the building.

Tiny guitar not included.

The Velvet Elvis, that is! In honor of what would have been Elvis Presley's 75th birthday on January 8th, we've come up with our own version of his favorite peanut butter and banana sandwich. Our January Cupcake of the Month is a moist banana cake, topped with a rich peanut butter chocolate fudge frosting, and a sweet and crunchy little banana chip. So throw on your blue suede shoes and shake it on over to Cupcake Royale on January 1st to try our cupcake fit for The King.

In the meantime, here are some more photos.


And a banana was his crown.


Elvis impersonators. They're everywhere!


Elvis' babies!


The King lives! NOM!

All photos by Amanda Ringstad Photography.

Amber waves of LOCAL grain

You know we love to keep it local here at Cupcake Royale, and we're always tryin' to find ways to make our business even more local-er. We're members of our neighborhood chambers and local business owners groups, we donate to all sorts of local organizations and schools, and we always support our fellow neighborhood business owners whenever they are in need of a little sugar and caffeine. We've been baking our cupcakes with local dairy and eggs for some time now, and we feature seasonal, local produce in our delicious Cupcake of the Month. Sugar, cocoa, and vanilla are a wee bit tough to come by north of the equator, but we knew we could still do better.

So, we got in touch with the good folks of Shepherd's Grain.


There's grain in them there silos.

We've known about Shepherd's Grain forever, but they just didn't have the right type of flour to make our cupcakes truly Royale. Turns out, when you bake as many cupcakes as we do each morning, the kind of flour you use is a pretty, pretty big deal. Fred & Co over at Shepherd's Grain were excited to work with us, and totally up for the challenge of milling a cake flour that was truly Royale. We handed them our flour spec sheet, and voila! The perfect cake flour, milled just for us, from the grains they grow on their no-till farm in Eastern Washington. That's right. They are milling a local flour made specifically for us.


Jody learns a thing or two from our man Fred.


What's so great about that? A LOT.

First of all, we are just wholeheartedly thrilled to be working with such a fine bunch of people. They care about their community, their product, and the earth. A no-till farm is just what it sounds like - they do not till the earth after a crop has been harvested. The field is left as-is, and the remaining plant matter is left to decompose, resulting in a type of soil called humus. This nutrient rich, highly absorbent soil holds water even in the desert climate of Eastern Washington. Plus the non-invasive processing of the fields results in less erosion and overall topsoil loss. It's a sustainable farming practice that preserves the field for future generations, and makes us feel REAL good about using their flour.


The Royale inspection.

Second, we all pretty much know by now the benefits of participating in the locavore movement. Support local agriculture, an integral part of the local economy. Cut down on fuel usage and transportation needs. Encourage sustainable farming practices. And of course, you get the absolute freshest, premium ingredients.


100 years of local, sustainable farming! We HEART Shepherd's Grain.

So now that we have an amazing local grain producer making flour just for us, our cupcakes are all at least 66% local. For a sweet little product that relies so heavily on so many equatorial crops (vanilla, cocoa, sugar,) we think we're doing pretty darn good!

And now, more fun photos from Melanie & Jody's trip to the farm! Melanie is behind the camera, so you will see her only in spirit. The two ended their trip with a harvest meal at an outdoor table with the whole farming family. Seriously. These people are just that good. For more info on Shepherd's Grain, click HERE. To read the recent Seattle Times article about all this goodness, click HERE.


Bosslady loves to take the wheel.


The deed to the farm. Yup. That says Grover Cleveland, President of the United States of America.


That Fred is just a wealth of wheaty knowledge!


Machines of the trade.


Bosslady loves a goody bag!

Huckleberry 101

So you all know by now that our September Cupcake of the Month is the Blue Mountain Huckleberry. You should also know by now that it is ridiculously delicious. If you cannot speak firsthand on that second point, it's time to get serious, and click HERE.

Here is a photo of our Blue Mountain Huckleberry cupcake.



Here is a photo of it in babycake form.


Here is a photo of it with a tiny deer to emphasize the woodsiness of these wild berries.


Here is an image of Huckleberry Pie, Strawberry Shortcake's assumed boyfriend, with his dog, Pupcake, possible inter-breed love interest of her cat, Custard. Very progressive.



Here is a drawing of Huckleberry Hound, looking relaxed and happy, like maybe he just ate a delicious Blue Mountain Huckleberry Cupcake. (Note, Huckleberry Hound is just a cartoon. Please do not feed your real dog a cupcake. It may seem like a good idea, but it is not.)





Here is one artist's rendition of Huckleberry Finn, timeless boy-icon of American literature. You've probably read this book. If not, you're in luck, because the libraries open back up tomorrow, and you can go borrow a copy for free. We suggest you read it with a hot cup of Vérité Coffee...and of course, a Blue Mountain Huckleberry Cupcake.


Here is a photo of that cupcake again.

The Final Countdown!

That's right people! Just one more week until we throw open the doors to our sweeeeeeeeeeet new bakery and café at 1111 E PIKE on Capitol Hill! Yes. Yes. YES! Join us next Wednesday, July 22nd for DAY ONE of Capitol Hill cupcake goodness. We open at 6, and stay open 'til 11, so you can get your cupcake on all day long. Here's what you can expect:

1. CUPCAKES! Featuring our new "More Moisty-er!" recipes. PLUS, we'll have the delicious Strawberry 66 through the end of this month.




2. COFFEE! Truly fine baristas serving up the best from Stumptown Coffee Roasters.



3. ART! Our opening show is a doozy, with work from the likes of Claudia Fitch, Ken Kelly, Jeffry Mitchell, and Joey Veltkamp.

To be fair, this cupcake café is a work of art in and of itself. Designed by Roy McMakin & Ian Butcher over at DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE, and all put together by the good guys over at Dovetail, we kind of can't believe how gorgeous it is. With glasswork by Greg Lundgren, woodwork by Sterling Voss, countertops and furniture by Big Leaf Mfg, and a custom stained glass Cupcake Royale by Seattle Stained Glass, it's all pretty magical.



Which brings us to...

4. MAGIC! That's right. We told you it was the Final Countdown. 7 days and counting.

Straaaaaaaaaaaaaawberry!

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Go on, now. Stick a couple straws in your nose and say it like Will and Dee Dee did on that episode of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air where Queen Latifah guest-starred as Will's full-figured lady friend that he was too embarrassed to take to the dance (She Ain't Heavy, Season 2.)



Our July Cupcake of the Month is worthy of just that kind of enthusiasm, because it is almost too delicious. Almost.

We take the freshest, ripest, juiciest strawberries from our pals over at Skagit Sun Farms, and we whip them up into a sweet and summery strawberry buttercream. Then we swirl it on top of our delicious, new, More Moisty-er! vanilla buttercake, and sprinkle it with a little bit of red sparkle. This is cupcake magic, people. It's like an old-fashioned strawberry shortcake, in cupcake form.



Skagit Valley Strawberry cupcakes will be in pastry cases starting July 1st, but you can call to order ahead today! They're the perfect summer treat for 4th of July BBQs, Sunday picnics, a day at the park, or just because it's summer, and you deserve it.

Also available in adorably delicious babycakes. Little green berry box not included.


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Sometimes you just gotta tell it like it is.

Ok, we're WAY too busy to write a real post today, so enjoy this while we continue to bake test batches of our July cupcake of the month...STRAWBERRY!

Let's hear it for the bees!

Because they are clearly the true heroes behind our April Cupcake of the Month...

Honey Peanut Brittle!

What we've done here is take some delicious Pacific Northwest blackberry honey and transform it into a mouth-watering buttercream.

Then, we took some more of that delicious Pacific Northwest blackberry honey, threw some salted peanuts in there, wiggled our magical cupcake noses, and out came honey peanut brittle.

That's right. Honey. Peanut. Brittle.

Finally, we swirled the honey buttercream onto our vanilla buttercake, and crumbled the honey peanut brittle all over it. Good God y'all!

The perfect combination of sweet and salty honey peanut goodness.

Bzzz.

Irish Whiskey Maple. Shamrocks make it Irish. Whiskey makes it awesome.

We love whiskey. We love maple. So, we baked ‘em together into one magically delicious morsel of cupcake goodness.

Jameson Irish whiskey swirled into real maple buttercream, topped with shamrocks, sprinkles, and organic maple sugar.

Available March 2nd - 31st. Order some up today!

Please enjoy responsibly.