daily dessert

Oh, hello beautiful little cupcake.

Buttercup Bakeshop has a location sorta near my office. It’s a several block hike to get there, and on a hot day like yesterday, I started to regret my decision to trek over there about half way through. But I’m glad I pushed on because this cupcake, a chocolate cupcake with vanilla buttercream frosting, was delicious. I also picked up a red velvet cupcake, which I’ve saved for another day. Perhaps it was a little silly to buy two cupcakes, but I did walk all the way over there…I figured I might as well make the trip worth my while. (At least I didn’t eat them both in one sitting.)

The frosting is really what made this cupcake so incredible. The cake part wasn’t the best thing I’ve ever eaten, though it certainly played an important role as a vehicle for the delicious blue frosting. Even the sprinkles added a little pizazz.

I’ve only ever had a sweet treat from Buttercup one other time– it was a very yummy piece of carrot cake that my improv teammate Pat bought to share one night during rehearsal. So I’d never actually been inside a Buttercup location before yesterday. I was overwhelmed (in a good way) by the many different flavors and varieties of cupcakes available – lemon, sour cream spice, flavors with fancy names, a flavor called “devil dog,” I think. I stuck to what I knew, but I have a feeling I’ll be visiting Buttercup again soon to branch out a bit and sample some of the more exotic flavors. And of course, I can’t wait to enjoy the red velvet cupcake that’s waiting for me in its little white paper bag. It spent the night under my desk at work and I can only imagine it didn’t care for the solitude.

Buttercup Bakeshop is owned by a woman named Jennifer Appel, who had an entirely different career before venturing into baking. (This is something I’ve found to be true for SO MANY of the men and women I’ve read about or met who own successful bakeries.) Since Jennifer always had a passion for cooking and baking, she eventually left her career as a clinical psychologist to open Magnolia Bakery with her business partner. Three years later, the two parted professional ways and Jennifer struck out to open her own bakery.

I love the atmosphere inside Buttercup. It’s homey, bright, girlie and reminds me of my Aunt Dot’s kitchen when I was a kid. Aunt Dot always gave me Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls. But that was only because we didn’t have a Buttercup around the corner.

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