Skinnie Piggy

While I do like cupcakes, I did question getting a dozen since I live by myself and had no plans of visiting anyone anytime soon.  I did however have a gift certificate for a dozen cupcakes from Skinnie Piggy that was going to expire so I decided to take the dive.  I was asked, when I mentioned that I had a dozen cupcakes, how I was going to eat them all and I simply replied, "One at a time" which is how I have attacked them.  I actually had to order the cupcakes several days in advance in order to ensure that I was able to get the full variety of cupcakes that they offered for a given day.  While they offer a few standard cupcakes every day, they offer a changing variety three times a week.  When I got there, I was given a couple of boxes with six cupcakes each.  The box contained mostly the regulars (4 regulars and 2 specials) and the second box contained mostly specials (4 regulars and 2 specials).  I thought I would start with the first box whic contained Vanilla, Lemon Drop, Everything Nice, Birthday Cake, Salted Caramel, and Chocolate.  Vanilla and Chocolate were as you might expect:  Vanilla cupcake with vanilla frosting and chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting.  While all cupcakes are good, I found the Vanilla to be the least interesting.  Birthday Cake was simply a vanilla cupcake with rainbow sprinkles and was also pretty boring (for a cupcake).  Salted Caramel was used a vanilla cupcake but with salted caramel frosting it was very definitely elevated.  The Lemon Drop was a lemon cupcake with lemon buttercream and topped with a candied lemon zest.  It was nice and tart and very good.  The most interesting cupcake in this box though was Everything Nice (as in Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice, that's what little girls are made of.  I will guess that it started as a vanilla cupcake but when it was done, it was removed from it's wrapper and rolled in sugar and cinnamon.  It seemed to have a bit of a crust under the sugar and cinnamon.  I am going to guess that it was formed by the sugar melting on the warm cupcake.

While the first box was good, the more adventurous stuff was in the second box.  In it we had Macon, Evil Twin, Red Velvet, Strawberry, Nanners, and Chocolate Express.  Some of the names of the cupcakes in the second box are obvious but there are some that require explanation.  With Macon, I might have also called it an Elvis.  It is a peanut butter cupcake filled with chocolate ganache, topped with brown sugar buttercream frosting and topped with a piece of candied bacon.  Add some marshmallow cream and banana and it would definitely have to be called an Elvis.  In any case, it was good.  The bacon, being sweet, didn't offer a huge contrast to the cupcake but it did contribute positively.  The Evil Twin was probably my favorite cupcake.  It was a chocolate cupcake topped with chocolate chip cheesecake and with cream cheese frosting.  It was sweet and chocolatey but also had a nice tang from the cheesecake and cream cheese frosting.  Red Velvet and Strawberry were what they sounded like although the Strawberry cupcake does have strawberries embedded in the buttercream.  The Nanners, while it did sound good, I wasn't terribly impressed.  It was a banana cupcake with chocolate buttercream frosting.  The frosting was nice but the cake itself was a bit dense.  The Chocolate Express was also a very good cupcake.  It was a chocolate cupcake filled topped with espresso cream with Nutella cream cheese frosting and topped with  hazelnuts.

While Skinnie Piggy does not make the absolute best cupcakes that I have ever had, but they are cupcakes and are good.  I would buy these cupcakes again without thought.  Even if they do have a few cupcakes that I may not choose again, they definitely have many that are very good.  

  

Southport Grocery and Cafe

In the heart of Lakeview, there is a business called Southport Grocery and Cafe.  While it does have some packaged foods for sale, it is not a grocery in the same way that Dominick's, Jewel Osco, or even Standard Market is a grocery.  What they are known for are there baked goods and their brunch.  It is more a bakery and cafe that serves some dry goods.  As far as their grocery is concerned, I would compare it to Provenance Food and Wine, you can get a pretty nice variety of very good gourmet type foods but you probably wouldn't go grocery shopping there.  Besides the grocery and bakery they have a very nice cafe where I convened brunch with a group of friends.  The space is actually kind of crowded with the kitchen in the back, the bakery and cashier along the left wall (as you are walking in), the grocery items are in the middle, and the cafe seating is on the right wall and outside.  We sat inside which has seating for about 20 (the group I was part of was much smaller than that).  Outside has seating for about 20 as well.  Our brunch started with a some Shareables which are essentially Appetizers for brunch.  We had a Grilled Coffee Cake which was a Cinnamon Walnut Sour Cream Cake which was stuffed with Zingerman's Cream Cheese and topped with powdered sugar.  This was insane!  You would think that this would be heavy, especially for a starter, but it was surpringly light.  The cake was light and moist  with crisp edges and was a little spicy from the cinnamon.  The cream cheese was creamy, as one might expect and provided a perfect complement to the coffee cake.  We also had what they called a Savory Muffin with Egg which was an herb muffin with cheese that is stuffed with a hard boiled egg.  It reminded me of what I might imagine a vegetarian Scotch Egg might be like.  A Scotch Egg is a hard boiled egg wrapped in sausage, breaded and deep fried.  Other than the fact that it was missing the sausage and it was shaped like a muffin instead of an egg, this was essentially the same thing and it was pretty good. 

Normally, when I go out for brunch, I will go savory for my main course.  As we were at a place that is famed for it's baked goods, I figured I would switch things up and check outside the sweet side of things.
I got Stuffed French Toast which was topped with Fresh Blueberries and Preserved Lemon, and stuffed with more Cream Cheese.  This was also very good.  Blueberries are among my favorite fruits and as you can see it had a lot of blueberries.  It was crisp, moist, and chewy, the fruit provided sweetness and tartness, and the cream cheese provided a texture contrast and complemented the tartness of the fruit.

After the very good coffee cake and French toast, I had to have a cupcake which is one of the things that Southport Grocery and Cafe is most well known for.  I got a Red Velvet Cupcake which had Sour Cream Frosting.  While it was simple in appearance, it looked very good in its simplicity and I actually forgot to take a picture of it before I ate it.

I really enjoyed my brunch here.  It was actually kind of difficult to choose what I wanted so I will definitely have to be back.  In addition to breakfast foods, they also have a nice selection of sandwiches.  While the place is a little crowded, the service is very good and the food is excellent.

Gourmet Cupcake Shoppe

For several years people have been saying that the cupcake trend is done and then I go to my friend Carrie Fisher's shop, The Gourmet Cupcake Shoppe in Midland, MI and I have to laugh. Open since 1997, they are extremely popular and are growing like crazy. They are incredibly popular in Midland, have recently moved into a new larger shop and have future plans for world domination. Even with the new shop with a bigger kitchen there have still been days when supply couldn't keep up with demand and they have sold out. They make very good cupcakes that are very popular and I predict that they will do well wherever they happen to expand to.

On a daily basis they will make a dozen different flavors, 10 that are regular and 2 that rotate. Some of the regulars will rotate on a seasonal basis but there is generally a core that will remain constant from day to day. My favorite cupcake, Maple Bacon Blueberry, is one of the flavors that rotates. Unfortunately, it wasn't featured the last time I was there. It is the best cupcake with bacon that I have ever had. They also make mini cupcake truffles, chocolate covered pretzels, cookies, cakes, cheesecakes, and the last time I was there, chocolate covered cherry mice. While I am sure that all of this is good, when I go to a cupcake shop, I want cupcakes. Having said that, I went a little crazy the last time I went and got almost one of everything with a couple of repeaters. We actually ended up with 13 cupcakes and a mouse. The cupcakes we got were Detroit Bumpy - a chocolate cupcake with a bumpy chocolate ganache topping, Fleur de Sel - a chocolate cupcake with a salted chocolate caramel topping, Lemon Drop - a lemon cupcake with lemon frosting, Peanut Butter Mousse Cake - a chocolate cupcake with a chocolate peanut butter frosting, Ice Cream Sundae - a chocolate cupcake with a white chocolate ganache frosting topped with a cherry, Grandma's Chocolate Cake - a chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting and sprinkles, Strawberry White Chocolate - a vanilla cupcake with strawberry frosting and white chocolate sprinkles, Red Velvet- a red velvet cupcake with a cream cheese frosting, and Chocolate Mint - a chocolate cupcake with a mint frosting and an Andes Mint to top it off. All of the cupcakes were good but it may not have been such a great idea on my part to try to sample 10 different cupcakes in one sitting. While I did get some help, let us say that I was a bit uncomfortable at the end. I was uncomfortable but it was fun getting there. Some of the favorites included the Fleur de Sel, the Lemon Drop, Grandma's Chocolate Cake, and the Chocolate Mint.

The Gourmet Cupcake Shoppe makes the best cupcakes in Michigan and could give any other cupcake maker I have tried a run for their money. They are a point of pride in Midland and I am glad that they are so easy for me to visit. Hopefully, my next visit will coincide with the next coming of the Maple Bacon Blueberry Cupcake.

Phoebe's Cupcakes

If you ask someone in Chicago about cupcake places, the first places that will probably be named will be More, Sprinkles, Swirlz, or possibly Flirty Cupcakes. They are all very good in their own way and most (More, Sprinkles, and Flirty) have cupcake trucks to expand their exposure and to sell more cupcakes. However, if you are in East Lakeview you must try Phoebe's Cupcakes. Their space is small and the area that they are located is full of places that will easily draw you in if you are not making a dedicated trip but you should really make a dedicated trip. Their menu contains over 200 flavors but they only make about 12 to 15 flavors in any given week. They will make a flavor that is not on the weekly menu by special order. Most of the flavors that were on the weekly menu when I went in looked pretty good but I did limit myself to 6 and they were all at least pretty good.

While I say that most of the cupcakes looked pretty good, there were a few that were a foregone conclusion for buying. The first was called the Breakfast Cupcake. It is a maple-soaked, buttermilk cupcake with maple butter frosting and a strip of bacon to top it off. While the buttermilk cake and the maple flavoring evoke breakfast, the bacon brings it all together (Everything is better with bacon). Admittedly, it isn't the best cupcake with bacon that I have ever had but it is still very good. Next we have Death By Chocolate which was a thick and dense chocolate cake with fudgy chocolate frosting and topped with chocolate chips. There is no such thing as too much chocolate so this was very good as well. The last of the cupcakes that I had to have was the Salted Caramel. It is a vanilla cupcake soaked in housemade caramel with a caramel buttercream frosting topped with Himalayan sea salt. There is really something to be said about how well the sweet, salty, and buttery flavors of the caramel and salt combine.

The next cupcakes looked good, sounded interesting, and all tasted pretty good. The first of these was the Raspberry Latte, an espresso cake with a raspberry buttercream and topped with a chocolate covered espresso bean. While I liked this cupcake, the coffee flavor is pretty strong and isn't for everyone even with the raspberry frosting cutting some of the bitterness. Next was the Peanut Butter Fudgy Brownie. This is a chocolate cupcake with a cream cheese top and peanut butter butter cream frosting topped with chocolate chips. While I liked it, I am not sure if it was really that clear as to what it was aiming for. It seemed like a combination Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, a chocolate cheesecake, and seemed to have some bitterness to it. It was good but I can't say it was great. The last cupcake was probably my favorite of the second tier. It was the Blue Moon Cupcake and as you can see from the picture, it's pretty blue. The cupcake is pineapple and Blue Curaçao flavored, uses blue buttercream frosting, and tastes just like Blue Moon ice cream.

Even if Phoebe's isn't one of the more well known cupcake shops in Chicago, they still make very good cupcakes and are a good place to remember if you are in the neighborhood. Their flavor combinations are very creative and they use quality ingredients. They also do shipping through UPS. While I don't travel to that neighborhood often, I now have something that makes it worth the trip.

Sprinkles Cupcakes

Anytime is a good time for cupcakes and free is just a bonus. Chicago, luckily, has several very good cupcake shops not to mention the trucks, independent or associated with a bakery. I had heard great things about Sprinkles Cupcakes, despite the fact that they are a chain, but I had never been to their shop. And while I had seen their truck, it has always been at a time when I couldn't stop. I came close to getting a Sprinkles Cupcake last week when they were parked outside Pitchfork Music Festival giving away free cupcakes but I was volunteering at the gate and I couldn't get free long enough to get out to their truck. There were several people at the gate that were able to get some cupcakes but I was not one of them. My luck changed yesterday when I was selling beer tickets at the Sheffield Garden Walk. They were parked outside the gate early and I had time to get away and grab a free cupcake. They were giving away their first 500 cupcakes for free so I ran out and grabbed a free cupcake. They were offering Ginger Lemon, Vanilla, Red Velvet, and Carrot Cake. I had had Vanilla, Red Velvet, and Carrot Cake cupcakes at other places but I had never had ginger lemon and it sounded interesting so that's the way I went. It was very good and actually reminded me of a very soft gingerbread. The frosting was cream cheese and the decoration on the top actually is used as an identifier. It was nice to hear one of the truck operators comment on the fact that it was nice to have so many adventurous eaters.

Sprinkles Cupcakes are very good their truck uses Twitter to indicate where they will be. I may have to follow them to make sure that I can actually stop when I see them.

Bleeding Heart Bakery

There have been many words written about Bleeding Heart Bakery, the punk rock organic bakery located in Roscoe Village. The bakery is very colorful as are many of their wares using a lot of graffiti and tattoo designs like the owner/proprietors Vinny and Michelle Garcia. The bakers are well known, having been featured on Food Network Challenge several times. They are also fiercely defensive of their creations. While they have some great looking cakes and cupcakes, I came specifically for their lemon bars and their cake balls and ended up buying much more than that. Unfortunately, because of the road trip that I made with them, they did get a little mushed but luckily the flavor wasn't degraded. I ended up buying two lemon bars, two key lime bars, a peanut butter bar, an espresso bar, an espresso brownie (eaten before the picture was taken), and some chocolate covered bacon (also eaten), as well as four cake balls: blueberry lavender, berry almond, peanut butter, and chocolate. Everything was very good, but some things were better than others. I will always go back for a cake ball and the lemon bars are fantastic but I probably should have gone for a little more variety and not gotten two espresso flavored items. Next time will be more cake balls, another brownie, and a great looking cupcake if I'm not going anywhere.