Dont be a hater, eat a cupcake (from The Shoppe of course)!!!!

If you are a night owl and you get that craving for a cupcake, or even cereal, then The Shoppe bakery in Denver is just for you!  The spunky urban style bakery serves crazy flavored cupcakes (gluten-free and Vegan options too!) and even cereal!! I went there last night at 10:30pm and was stoked to find them still open, and packed with people enjoying their sugary goodness.

This was the first bakery that had Pat’s and my taste-buds in a battle. We got 2 cupcakes, a chocolate peanut butter cupcake, and a Zucchini Cream Cheese cupcake. 

Pat’s favorite was the chocolate peanut butter cupcake that was dense chocolate cake with a peanut butter buttercream. He devoured this cupcake, when I could only take a bite or two. And vice versa with the Zucchini cupcake; I DEVOURED this one!! The zucchini cupcake was also a very dense zucchini cake with a fluffy mouth-watering cream cheese frosting. I loved this flavor combo, it was not too overpowering, or too “lost”. One thing I did not like about The Shoppe’s cupcakes is there is SO MUCH FROSTING! Half the amount would be perfect! It almost scared me away thinking that they were depending on the buttercream to make the cupcake good…but I was wrong. J For dessert, or for breakfast, or just to hang out with friends, this bakery is rad and delicious!  

Tee & Cakes

Mr. Pat Milbery and I headed to the lovely Boulder, Colorado this weekend and hit up the Pearl Street bakery Tee & Cakes. They have a fun and original assortment of cupcake flavors such as Coca Cola, Cookies and Cream and Chocolate and Bacon!! They also serve cookies, brownies, doughnuts, bagels and coffee. I love the whole feel of this bakery, the counter girls are super rad, the walls are covered with urban art, a great place to even just relax and read a book.

Strawberry Milkshake Cupcake, strawberry cake with a strawberry/cream flavor icing and a cookie “straw”. It really does taste a lot like a strawberry milkshake! The super fluffy cake was had a very light hint of strawberry. The strawberry icing was good, though, tasted a bit artificial.

The Salted Caramel Cupcake is a chocolate cake with a caramel icing sprinkled with sea salt. I don’t like caramel but Pat insisted. It was actually pretty good, the sweet carmel with the salty kick is so tasty and complimentary of each other.! The icing almost had a similar flavor to a Violet Crumble (Aussie candy that is a honey comb covered in chocolate), and if you don’t know, thats a great thing! 

Mr. Pat Milbery with the cake pop and Salted Caramel cupcake!

The Cake Pop was a chocolate covered vanilla cake ball with mixed with mini chocolate chips. I have had a cake ball before, but this one was a very wet, thick consistency, almost like a mushy banana. The chocolate was just blah. This just was NOT my favorite dessert ever.

If you are ever in Boulder, go by this place...devour...and let me know what you think :) 

Mermaids Bakery & Pie House

With a great location, located practically on 16^th street mall in downtown Denver, Mermaids Bakery satisfies the city with cupcakes, cakes (gluten-free options too!) cookies, muffins and lots of pies. Their images in their online gallery and their window display made me so excited to see this Bakery, but when I walked in, the cupcakes looked like they were very sloppily thrown together. The girls in the back were so talking so loud I couldn’t really hear the guy when he was telling me about their flavors. But my god…these cupcakes were delicious!

I got a Tiramisu cupcake, which is vanilla cake filled with espresso cream, topped with cream cheese frosting dusted with cocoa.  The cake part was a bit dry, but when you got a bite of the filling with the cake and frosting…WOW…So good. Tiramisu is by far my favorite dessert ever made, and this would make any tiramisu lover happy. 

 I also got a Strawberry cupcake, which was a strawberry cake with strawberry Swiss buttercream. The cake was light and fluffy with mild strawberry flavor, but the buttercream on top was perfect. It tasted like I bit into a big red perfectly ripe strawberry, and the consistency was perfect. This cupcake was my favorite out of the two. This bakery left me wanting to go try their pies and other treats, as the cupcakes left me happy and completely overly satisfied. But make sure they are open before you head over, because they have extremely weird hours, and you will be sad if you miss this one J

Bummed on Yum-Yum's

I have walked past Yum-Yum’s practically every day since I moved to denver a year and a half ago For some reason I never went in, or when I tried too, they were closed. This morning, on a walk with my boyfriend and pup, I noticed they were….OPEN!!! I was so excited to finally try this place. The inside was everything you could expect from a cupcake shop; whimsical fondant cakes in the windows, colorful stripes covering the walls and glowing cases filled with colorful rows of cupcakes. The flavor combinations had my mouth watering; flavors like banana split, Crème Brulee, and even, Tiramisu (which, in case you didn’t know, is my most favoritest treat ever!) My eye caught their cakes, as I liked how they had a classic and modern twist. 

I chose the White Chocolate Raspberry cupcake and the super nice sales lady chose the Boston Cream for me to devour. The simple and cute decoration, as well as the fun flavors made me excited to dive on in. I tried the White Chocolate Raspberry which at first bite, all I could taste was an over powering raspberry flavor. I then tried just the cake which had a very spongy consistency, and unfortunately, barely tasted of white chocolate. That bummed me out as that was what sold me on the cupcake...im a sucker for white chocolate! 

 I moved on to the Boston Cream cupacke, in hope of a different outcome. I really wanted it to prove the first cupcake wrong. As badly as I wanted it to be good, I’m sad to say it wasn’t.  The cake was moister than the first, but still did not have that “made from scratch” taste, which is what I want for a $3 cupcake. I was excited to find the surprise Bavarian cream center, but it tasted like artificial flavoring and had a very gummy consistancy. The frosting was a chocolate that was just very…un-chocolatey, with the oddest texture!!

When my boyfriend and I were done trying them out, we both felt bummed and unsatisfied. I’m really sad that I did not like it; I really wanted to. Maybe their cheescakes or muffins are better?!?!  

Flash back to Mulberries

Driving down Colfax you cannot pass by without your head turning to catch a glance at Mulberries Cake Shop. The colorful walls, amazing window displays and adorable sweets make you feel as you are stepping back into your childhood. Mulberries is a Denver based cake shop owned by Kathleen and Kip Karr, that sells colorful and fun cupcakes, cakes, cookies and other treats. Each decorated in their own unique way. No cheesy grocery store style cakes found here!! (Thank god for that!) Their adorable polka dotted cakes have a whimsical style that you could pick out of a crowd. Plus, it doesn't crush your bank like most other cupcake shops!!!

 

Cupcake Cake!!

My two favorite cupcakes from Mulberries would have to be the Butter Pecan cake with fudge, and the Strawberry cake with cream cheese icing. ! They have a super moist and fluffy cake with a light and creamy buttercream. While biting into their cake and cupcakes, memories from being a kid flash before your tastebuds. They taste similar to a homemade birthday cake from your childhood…Pure comfort!   

Much Love 

All Organic Lovely Confections

Lovely Confections is an all-scratch bakery made with local and organic ingredients, located in Denver, Colorado. This bakery has been on my list of bakeries to attack since I moved here, and after trying both the Chocolate and the Bee’s Knees Cupcakes, I am pretty bummed I haven’t made it there sooner.  Make sure you keep your eyes peeled when driving down Colfax as it would be easy to miss if you aren’t looking carefully, and trust me, you don’t want to miss it. Upon walking in, I was hit in the nose with the sweet smell of cupcakes in the air. The owner, Porche and an employee were busy at work behind the counter, icing and baking their sugary treats. The bakery was very open with tables for people to enjoy their cupcakes, drink some hot coffee and take advantage of the free wi-fi. 

The first scrumptious treat I devoured was the Chocolate cupcake with Chocolate Buttercream. At first bite, the words “Brownie Batter” was all I could think of to describe it. And those are some great words to be hearing from my mouth, as Brownie Batter is one of my most favorite things on the planet. On top of the perfect moistness of chocolate cake was a gooey chocolate buttercream that was covered in little tiny chocolate sprinkles. The cupcake was super rich, while also being light at the same time…if that is even possible! 

But the Bee’s Knee’s Cupcake….oh where to begin. The cupcake consisted of a lavender cake with a Honey Lemon Buttercream. The refreshing lemon flavor with a hint of honey Buttercream was to die for; it had a grainy texture that melted in my mouth. It was swirled on top of the cake that had a hint of lavender (my taste buds wished it was a bit more lavender-ie) that again, was the perfect consistency, not too moist but not one bit dry either. This cupcake was my favorite in taste, and decoration, but the chocolate was not far behind in taste! Both were totally worth $3 (each), completely reasonable for the yummy happiness they gave my belly. 

Make sure you don’t miss this bakery when in the mile high city!!

P.S. If you are Gluten-Free, don’t worry…call ahead and you can devour some of their yummy treats too!

Time to Devour...

       I am on a mission to find the bakeries that offer it all- mouth-watering treats that also look more amazing than they taste. I believe that if a first bite takes your tastebuds on a thrill ride, then every single crumb is guilt-free and everyone needs to know about it. One day in Berkeley, California while waiting with my mom and older sister in a long line for a cupcake truck (not even knowing if the cupcakes were actually any good!!) I told them; “I am going to devour some tasty thing at bakeries throughout the world. And I’m gonna let everyone know which bakeries they should not pass up, and which ones they should not even waste their time with.” Because nothing is more disappointing than biting into a $4 cupcake and having it taste more dry and bland than Saltine Crackers. So, to save everyone the pain, I will let you know about which bakeries I would skip or which ones you have try, no matter how far away from you that bakery may be.

       Some of my earliest memories are about baking; watching the ingredients of chocolate chip cookies mix together in a white KitchenAid mixer with my dad by my side, jumping for joy upon receiving baking classes for my birthday from my Aunt, and getting to lick the batter covered wisk with my older sister when our mom was done making some sweet concoction. I grew up in Northern California, and in highschool, I fell in love with art; drawing, painting, photography, you name it, I loved it. I went to college at the University of Colorado, Boulder and majored in painting. The day I realized I could take my art and put it directly on something that tasted great too…well, I knew what I wanted to do with my life from that day forward. I am now 23 years old and live in Denver, Colorado. I have worked at different bakeries in Colorado, decorating cakes, pastries, and cupcakes, as well as being the Wedding Coordinator at a Denver bakery. I currently decorate at a bakery in Arvada, Colorado, and do freelance baking/decorating and specialize in vegan, gluten and sugar free yummy treats. My most devoured product is my Vegan Chocolate Chip Banana Bread …soon to offered sugar free!!

Vegan Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

 Devouring Magnolias Cupcakes with my Mom 

One of my Cakes.... 

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