MAHABA TOH SO WARNING. hahhaa!
I’m sure iniisip nyo equality between humans and mutants… keri narin but we will go deeper.
I don’t know if you guys would remember, but I told you na addict ako sa comics. Yes, I love Xmen even before the cartoons and the movies. I have a disc copy from XMEN 1 to…
Sprinkles Cupcakes Founder Shares Her Quick Fixes and Favorite Flavors
Success has been extra sweet for Sprinkles Cupcakes founder Candace Nelson. Left jobless after the dot com bust of the ’90s, she made her way to pastry school. After graduation, she initially worked out of her kitchen creating special occasion cakes, but Candace had bigger ideas—for a smaller product. With a mission to revamp the common cupcake, she opened the nations first ‘cupcakery’ in Beverly Hills in 2005. Now the proud mastermind behind 10 locations across the country, and the judge of Food Network’s Cupcake Wars, Candace’s most recent store just popped up on Friday in NYC—where I was lucky enough to catch both Candace and a cupcake!
What made you choose the cupcake?
The cupcake is of course this beloved American tradition, but really hadn’t been reinvented ever. It was still sort of this thing that you would pick up at the supermarket and who knew what was in the frosting. The bad colored frosting and sprinkles appealed to kids, but not to adults. So I set out to marry the idea of the special occasion cake with the childlike aspect of the cupcake, and that’s where the idea for Sprinkles was born. I felt like, we all have these amazing memories of cupcakes, but why do they have to just be for kids when they can also be elegant enough for adults?
What is your favorite cupcake flavor?
The dark chocolate without sprinkles, that’s my go-to flavor throughout the years. I’ll go for it more often than not, but I do have a slew of other favorite flavors. I love the strawberry and I love the banana. I love the pumpkin and the chocolate marshmallow. The peanut butter is awesome, key lime is coming up and that’s super good, and the German chocolate is incredible. I mean, there are so many to choose from, when I get sick of one, I just kind of rotate on to the others. But dark chocolate is usually the one I’m reaching for.
Green Goddess is a place of wonder. “Healthy” cocktails (the trick is real fruit). Salads that sound sinful. And maybe most impressive: a sun-drenched sidewalk oasis tucked away on an almost silent pedestrian alleyway in the heart of the frenetic French Quarter.
We couldn’t have…
For My Heart’s Salvation and Calm… I Bake!
Although it is common for everyone to experience one or two bad days a week, every one of us has different ways dealing, adjusting and coping with stressful occurrences we are dealt with at our most unguarded day.
I am very thankful and do unabashedly admit that I am proud of myself for having learned to bake at a very young age. I will never be one who sees baking as just a hobby, a means of income or something one performs to satisfy a sweet tooth or a wicked craving for baked carbs. Baking to me is what I do to make myself calm, to regroup, to think more sensibly, to have control of an outcome and to make something that I know will not disappoint not only my palate but also my ego in a way. Because I know that whatever comes out of my oven is good and honest and will pacify the temporary chaos of physical and mental stress I have that moment.
Baking is my retreat, my solace from non-sensible things. It is my rehab activity where I am put in control and is obliged to measure with precision.
At exactly 11:08am today, my bad day showed up and thankfully it only stayed for two hours. I dealt with it the best way I know how… I took out my mixing bowls, wire whisk, spatulas, sifter, measuring cups and heart-shaped cookie cutter, and I made Heart Scones and Devil’s Food Cake with Dark Chocolate Fudge (*photos and recipes tomorrow). I did not only cheered myself up, but I cheered my family as well. So I still win at the end of the day. :)
