A Sweet Treat!

8:21 AM Edit This 0 Comments »


As many of you may know, I am a cupcake fanatic. I love them- love to eat them, love to bake them, love to decorate them and love to give them to friends and family. There is nothing like the sweet nostalgia a cupcake can bring. Not to mention they are one of the most fun desserts to eat!


A little cupcake history for your enjoyment:


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The cupcake evolved in the United States in the 19th century, and it was revolutionary because of the amount of time it saved in the kitchen. There was a shift from weighing out ingredients when baking to measuring out ingredients. According to the Food Timeline Web, food historians have yet to pinpoint exactly where the name of the cupcake originated. There are two theories: one, the cakes were originall cooked in cups and two, the ingredients used to make the cupcakes were measured out by the cup.


In the beginning, cupcakes were sometimes called "number" cakes, because they were easy to remember by the measurements of ingredients it took to create them: One cup of butter, two cups of sugar, three cups of flour, four eggs, one cup of milk, and one spoonful of soda. Clearly, cupcakes today have expaned to a wide variety of ingredients, measurements, shapes, and decorations - but this was one of the first recipes for making what we know today as cupcakes.


Cupcakes were convenient because they cooked much quicker than larger cakes. When baking was down in hearth ovens, it would take a long time to bake a cake, and the final product would often be burned. Muffin tins, also called gem pans, were popular around the turn of the 20th century, so people started created cupcakes in tins.

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Now that you know where they came from, let me show you where our cupcake-loving culture has taken them: (drum roll please)


TA-DA! The famous and fabulous Sprinkles Cupcakes Bakery! Sprinkles embraced the cupcake craze by creating a high-end cupcake bakery in Beverly Hills. From there they grew rapidly and are now opening bakeries all over the country. Sprinkles has made the cupcake experience just a little bit sweeter. This West Coast based company has taken off, thanks to it's style and delicious "menu" below


They come in 20 different flavors, ranging from ginger lemon to chai latte . Each one is decorated in simplicity and elegance. With much excitement, I made sure to attend the Sprinkles in Scottsdale, AZ. Oh what a treat!




If you ever get the opportunity to visit any of the Sprinkles bakeries... I suggest you do! And take some extra cupcakes home to share! Enojy!




A One Day Road Trip

11:43 PM Edit This 0 Comments »

The conference ended Thursday so we decided to see the sights before our midnight red eye flight on Friday night. It was pretty humorous as we schlepped our luggage into the city bus (hey, $1.25 is way cheaper than a $30 car ride!!) to the airport where we rented a red Dodge Caliber for the day.

We had spent the night before mapping out our [shopping] routes around Phoenix, Tempe and Scottsdale. Before we got more than a mile outside the airport, I spotted a Carl's Jr. burger. For all you East Coasters, that is the Western equivalent to a Hardee's. Paris Hilton used to be in their ads washing cars (for a burger? yea I don't know either...) and I actually did a campaign on them for my portfolio. Needless to say, we stopped in for a juicy, messy, guacamole-bacon burger. Mmm

In route to our next destination- we see a wedding decorator~ Can't seem to escape it, even on your day off.


Below: just a little shout out to my girl ;)


And then.... ooooooooh the shopping! Don't be deceived by the picture, I didn't get any Tiffany's- but we went in and looked around! and also in Anthropologie, and Aldo, and Banana, and Besty Johnson, and Nine West, and Bebe, and Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo... it was a great afternoon for the shopaholic in me.


Seeing that we were driving right past, we took a detour to look at the Arizona State University campus. Aside from building that came straight out of the 70's, it was pretty nice. Lots of students and great local bars/restaurants close by. Their stadium was build into a mountain! So cool, but I wonder if there team is any good...? :)





There was one more final stop before we headed back to the airport but it was SO AWESOMELY AMAZING that I will keep you in suspense for a day or so.... ;)
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