Spring has sprung at The Crown, which means … they are back!  The butterfly cupcakes have returned to the Crown Supermarket.  These are our seasonal Spring “kids” cupcakes, although suitable for the kid in all of us.  We made these colorful butterflies for the first time last year and our customers really seemed to enjoy them.  Each butterfly wing is a cookie, dusted with pink and purple sugars.  I pipe the body with pink buttercream and add red licorice antennae.  (All Kosher Parve, of course!)  These signs of Spring retail for $1.69 and are available all season.

These rose cupcakes are a new standard in the store.  We started the cupcakes around Valentines Day -  thinking some people may like to gift an edible rose, instead of the traditional version.  They’ve been selling ever since.  A simple yellow or chocolate cupcake is topped with a buttercream rose and leaves.  The rose is piped directly onto the cupcake using a large rose tip.

We recently had a large order of these cupcakes (this is just half the order) and I just thought they looked so striking all lined up together.  It certainly warrented a picture.

Scott keeps advising (as a member of the wiskthis.com board) that I should write about what I do all day at work.   (I am the pastry chef at The Crown Market in West Hartford, CT)  So, I thought I would share with you a new cake that we are offering at the store.  This Charlotte is comprised of a layer of yellow cake, topped with a layer of fresh blackberries, filled with a fresh orange mouse and then wrapped with delicate lady fingers.  An orange ribbon adds the finishing touch.  I was very happy with the way the cake turned out and look forward to creating other seasonal varieties as new fruits come into season.  Because we are still technically in winter, I wanted to utilize the great citrus available…I find that the slightly tart blackberries make a great compliment to the silky, sweet orange mousse.  The 7″ cake retails for $14.99