Sweet Surrender

Over the last couple of days, we have sampled one of the more important vendors. That's right people: cupcakes.

We originally looked at both Kara's and Sprinkles. Kara's is a bakery that is both in SJ and the city. We love their stuff, especially their S'mores cupcakes (grahm cracker bottom, chocolate cupcake, marshmallow frosting.) We like them, but sometimes the frosting dominates the cupcakes. There needs to be a delicate balance between cupcake and frosting. You definitely don't want more frosting than cupcake - that's something I know for sure. Sprinkles is good, but the cupcakes are enormous, and perhaps a bit too shee-shee for what we had in mind. So, Mike had a great idea to look into an old colleague from PP&Co who left the accounting world to start her own bakery. She has won a few pretty prestigious awards here in the bay, so we thought we would investigate...

He got back in touch with her and she sent us a list of all of her (mouth watering) flavors. We definitely wanted to sample each of them. We needed to do the field research before settling down and committing to a few flavors. We decided that we also wanted our friends to sample the cupcakes - after all, they are going to be enjoying them too! We ordered about 2 dozen cupcakes for my birthday, of all the different flavors. What follows below is a food diary, walking you through the tasting of said (delicious) cupcakes.

#1: Red Velvet Cupcakes, cream cheese frosting, topped with a red M&M

Soooo good. Nuff said. Really moist and flavorful, and the frosting was amazing. Really creamy, and that perfect balance between frosting and cake. It tasted like a (really well made) homemade cupcakes. So good. These will definitely be making an appearance at the wedding.

#2: Carrot Cupcake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

I definitely wanted to have this type of cake because Mike and I both love it, and it is also the favorite of my favorite Dad! He almost always gets carrot cake if it is an option, and enjoyed it at a few of his major celebrations, such as his 50th birthday not too long ago ;)

I had this for lunch today, and it was chalk full of scrumptious goodness. It had shreds of coconut, pieces of apple and big pieces of carrot as well. So they are healthy. Get your fruits AND veggies here, folks. The cinnamon on the frosting was just enough to give it that extra something, but not so much that it overpowered the other (more important flavors)

#3: Chocolate Cupcake with Peppermint Frosting

How refreshing does this sound! Mmm Mmm MMMMMM! The peppermint frosting was really light and airy - it also had crystalized sprinkles on there for a bit of extra pizazz. When I ask Mike to describe it he said, "It was good." Nuff said.

#4: Lemon Cupcake with Cream Cheese frosting topped with lemon zest

This one will be perfect for a hot San Jose day. It is light and refreshing, and everything you want a summertime cupcake to be. It is perfect for sitting on the porch at dusk, or partying till dawn at the Grujii wedding.

#5: Chocolate Cupcake with German Chocolate Frosting

By the time I got to this one, it was a bit dry, but the frosting was DERICIOUS!! It had glazed over a bit, and looked kind of like a glazed donut. It has chunks of walnuts, huge pieces of coconut, and was topped with a milk chocolate disk of yumminess. It was sweet, and rich, and was a little slice of Heaven!

Tasting the food is most definitely one of the favorite parts of wedding planning so far. We have loved sharing the food and experiences with our friends and family.

Our next wedding related event will be my shopping for a wedding gown this Friday. My mom, sister and maid of honor will be joining me. I probably chose the WRONG weekend to be trying cupcakes out...

After that will be our trip down to Santa Barbara with our wonderful friends, Emily and Nick. We will be taking our engagement photos in a place that is more special to us than anywhere in the world. The place where I was born, where we both went to college, where we both had our first jobs, where we met, had our first apartment, got engaged...SB here we come!