Tuesday, February 05, 2008

A little slice of heaven

Here in Seattle, cupcakes are all the rage. There at least two cupcake stores (one with three locations) in the area. And man, these little babies are excellent quality at both stores. Cleverly, the stores offer multiple flavors and frostings to choose from, (naturally these change with holidays and seasons), and the cupcakes are made fresh once or twice a day. You can get yours to go or sit down at one of the comfy tables and enjoy your treat with great coffee, tea or cocoa. The stores even offer wireless internet. And the wait staff! Cute, young and friendly men and women. It’s not hard to figure out why every one of the stores is generally crowded.

For the second year in a row, the store with three locations has made a special chocolate confection just for Valentine’s Day. The ingredients are the highest-quality, including organic chocolate made at Theo, a local chocolate factory recently featured in O! Magazine. I have toured this factory twice. Fascinating, and they offer lots of free samples of their delectable product. (Are you salivating yet? I am!)

But I digress... Back to the Valentine’s Day cupcake. After reading an article about the aptly named Deathcake Royale, offered only from February1-14, I had to try the stuff now. I bought two, one for me and one for my hubby. At $6 each for a smallish cupcake (actually it looks like a tiny rectangular cake covered in rich ganache), this is quite the pricey treat. The woman behind the counter assured me that one Deathcake was enough for two people. But as a true chocoholic, I wanted a whole one just for me.

I hurried home, gave my hubby his, and eagerly opened mine. Mouth watering, I put it on a plate, grabbed a fork, and sat down. Let me tell you, it was a little slice of pure heaven. Without a doubt the best chocolate cupcake I have ever eaten. I ate it slowly, groaning each time I forked a new bite. About 2/3 of the way through, I was sated. But I simply could not stop until every bite was gone. Amazingly, I didn’t even feel sick when I finished. (Actually, I felt terrific.) Maybe there’s something to be said for the petite portion.

The big question of the day is, how many times will I go back between now and February 14? Or, not wanting to burst out of my jeans, will I rein in my cravings and wait until next year? Time will tell. ☺

Anyone out there with a chocolate story to share? I’m already licking my lips, waiting to hear it.


Until later,
Ann
www.annroth.net
The Pilot's Wife, March 2008, a Romantic Times top pick!

12 comments:

Jennifer Shirk said...

Mmm. You made me hungry reading your post. LOL!
I could totally get into eating cupcakes. I wish it'd get popular on the east coast.

Anonymous said...

Well, Jennifer... You could always open the first show. :-)

Anonymous said...

Er, shop.

Jennifer Faye said...

Ann, you made me sooo hungry for chocolate. I think I have a box of ghirandelli (sp?) brownies in the cabinet, I might have to make it now. LOL.

Cupcakes aren't that much of a big deal around here but I have a friend who had a cupcake cake for her wedding. It was made up of hundreds of cupcakes on layered trays. It was really neat and original.

Anonymous said...

Jennifer- I can just picture that cupcake wedding cake. Yum!

As for those brownies, I wish I could stop by and taste test one. :-)

Estella said...

I live in a small town, so will probably never get a cupcake store anywhere close.

Danny said...

I could totally go for one of those cupcakes right about now (or just about any time, I think, really). They sound so good!

My city definitely needs to get on it and have a cupcake shop...

Anonymous said...

Estella and Danny, google Cupcake Royale and Trophy Cupcakes. Both are scrumptious and doing amazingly well.

EllenToo said...

We don't have either of the two you mentioned Ann but we do have one that is really good. You can get large or tiny. They have one that is made with 4 different types of chocolate (cake batter, pudding, chips, and frosting) that will cause a chocolate overload.

Sarita Leone said...

I love cupcakes! And your post made me hungry for chocolate. Um, who am I kidding? I'm always hungry for chocolate! *G*

Anonymous said...

Ellen- Cool that you have a cupcake store too. Where do you live?

Sarita- I'm with you on the chocolate thing. :-)

jayedee said...

*sighs* i just took a cheesecake (made in my heart shaped springform pan) out of the oven and now i'm gonna have to find a death by chocolate recipe and dig the heart shaped cuppie tin out too! LOL
c'est la vie, i guess. valentine's day is for excess, right?