Over the weekend I celebrated my birthday with a cupcake crawl across the Twin Cities! With fabulously sweet cupcakes from five local bakeries, bakery-hopping was the perfect way to ring in a new birthday and sample a whole bunch of flavors I’d been dying to try. I know food crawls are becoming more and more popular, but I definitely wanted to shake things up and do a cupcake-exclusive crawl. It was a blast!
I visited the following Minnesota bakeries:
Cocoa & Fig, Edina
Cupcake, Mall of America
Gigi’s Cupcakes, Golden Valley
Nadia Cakes, Maple Grove
Sweet Retreat, Edina
I’m still working on finishing off crumbs from my cupcake overload, but so far I loved them all! Who could ask for a better birthday?!
Cocoa & Fig always had the most incredible dessert displays at receptions when I used to shoot weddings, Cupcake is an expanding business known for its variety in flavor, Gigi’s is a chain with the best towered frosting, Nadia Cakes has a beautiful bakery case full of decadent treats in addition to its cupcakes, and Sweet Retreat is crazy creative with its decorating. I was impressed by each and every cupcakery I tried!
In the spirit of cupcake crawls, I thought I’d host a virtual cupcake crawl this sunny Monday morning. I’m the resident cupcake connoisseur in my circle of acquaintances, and I’ve posted several different recipes since beginning Get Sweet Smart. Here are my crown cupcake jewels so far:
Berry Burst Ice Cream Oreo Cupcakes
Double Cookie Dough Oreo Cupcakes
Gingerbread Cheesecake Cookie Cupcakes
S’mores Cupcakes with Toasted Marshmallow Buttercream
Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting
And of course, there’s also The Cupshake.
Not only do I love baking and inventing my own cupcake recipes, but I am constantly on the lookout for creative and unique cupcake recipes from other blogs! Here are a few of my favorites:
Banana Split Cupcakes from Lady Behind the Curtain
Bubble Gum Frosting Cupcakes with Gelatin Bubbles from Sprinkle Bakes
Chubby Hubby Cupcakes from Annie’s Eats
Creme Brulee Cupcakes from Cooking Classy
Dunkaroo Cupcakes from With Sprinkles On Top
Oreo Truffle Stuffed Cupcakes with Cookies and Cream Frosting from Love From the Oven
Take 5 Cupcakes from Your Cup of Cake
Aren’t they all just too cute?! I’m crazy about fun cupcakes like these.
Two final questions for you, my readers:
1) What other crazy cupcake flavor suggestions do you have for me? The more bizarre, the better!
2) Minnesotans: What other bakeries am I missing out on? I’d love to find more local cupcakeries throughout the metro area and state as a whole!
