Love and ingredients

I happen to think that there are two fundamental elements that make prepared food taste extra good:

1. Exceptional ingredients
2. LOVE

Okay, I did make these baby cupcakes with love (and who doesn't love to devour a good cupcake?), but there was a special ingredient that made these chocolate cupcakes extra special: a dark red cocoa powder from Soma gifted to me by my thoughtful and lovely roomie, Bo. The end result? A scrumptious, glossy, almost black chocolate cupcake that was moist, light as a cloud, and had the deepest dark chocolatey flavour that you just can't get from a can of Hershey's or Fry's. I made the frosting with the Soma cocoa as well, and you guessed it- fantastic. Unfortunately, I was in such a rush to take these babies to their final destination that I didn't get a pic of them in their final frosted splendour, but I'm sure you're drooling checking out the pre-frosting pics. Oh, and I know you'll be wanting to make these yourself very soon, so here's the best and easiest chocolate (cup)cake recipe ever.

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Happy Valentine's Day!

These Valentine treats (iced sugar cookie & vanilla cupcake with pink vanilla butter cream frosting) are store bought goodness from one of my favorite spots in the neighborhood, Sarah's Candies & Pastries.  

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Be Mine...ALL Mine

Valentine's Day came early for me yesterday.  I had a Zipcar reserved for an interview in the suburbs, but at the last minute or so my interview was rescheduled for Monday.  That left me with a car for most of yesterday afternoon.  So, the car magically drove itself to Sweet Mandy B's to check out the assortment of Valentine's Day sweets they had ready.  Cookies, cakes, bars, pies...everything...even cupcakes.  

Still need more sweets to stare at?  My friend getting married this fall (reception full of firemen) sent me this link. Enjoy!

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more, more, more

A new cupcake shop opened in my neighborhood, more cupcakes.  It's a neighbor to two of my favorite spots in the Gold Coast:  Goddess & Grocer and Cru Cafe & Wine Bar.  It just makes the block of Delaware between Rush & State Streets, even better.  I stopped on the way home from work and picked up the beauty above.  It's the more cupcake.  The cupcake is a take on the Hostess cupcake, chocolate cake, with a marshmallow filling and chocolate icing on top. I kindly took a bite out of the cupcake so you could see the marshmallow middle.  I'm so considerate. They have a variety of flavors and offer FLIGHTS of cupcakes! I KNOW!  There's a chocolate flight and a crazy bacon flight. Bacon?  They offer three bacon cupcakes in the flight: Bacon Brown Sugar Maple, Bacon Apple Cinnamon and BLT.  

Sweet Mandy B's is still my favorite cupcake in Chicago, but that more cupcake...is a very close second.

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milk & honey mini yum

One of my favorite places for brunch in the Wicker Park/Ukrainian Village neighborhood is Milk & Honey on Division.  They also have sweet treats and coffee available all day, every day of the week.  This was the perfect post Boundary lunch treat on Tuesday.  A mini chocolate cupcake with butter cream frosting and PINK sugar!  How could anyone resist this mini morsel?

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dessert dessert dessert

These pics are from the last dinner I was ambitious enough to make *3*, count 'em, *3* aprés dinner treats. I think it was because C was back from Italy and I wanted to impress him. And you know what they say- "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach". hah! So here you have a chocolate raspberry tart, lemon yogurt loaf, and way in the corner, the mini pecan pie "cupcakes"- larger photo below.

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