vanilla

St. Cupcake Offers Bespoke Mail Order Cupcakes - Yum!

Sometimes things that qualify as a luxury item are big and obvious; they are encrusted with diamonds, have a well known name and an expensive price tag. Other times luxury can be defined as something small that you do for yourself or a friend. A small Portland, Oregon bakery called St. Cupcake falls into this category of small personal luxuries.

This local bakery has started an online delivery service for their incredibly popular cupcakes. The luxury for the consumer lies both in the incredible wide range of flavor choices and in the fact that you can have home baked taste delivered to your door without lifting a finger. The inspiration for the mail order cupcake business came to owner Jami Curl after customers themselves mentioned trying to ship her delicious baked goodies to friends to taste. Jami thought that "we could develop some packaging and a technique that would allow us to ship the cupcakes so they arrive on the recipient's door step fresh and perfect."

Hence the wonderful and unique online cupcake builder was born. Customers can choose their cake flavors, their icings and their sprinkle colors creating a truly bespoke cupcake. Often this allows for even greater freedom as customers have come up with unique combinations never anticipated by the owners and not sold in the bakery. The cupcakes come in three possible package combinations of 3, 6 or 12 cupcakes. Flavors of cupcakes include the basic vanilla and chocolate as well as more esoteric flavors such as pumpkin spice, carrot and vanilla toffee. A true west coast shop there are even vegan selections for those with dietary restrictions. The buttercream frosting selections include unusual flavors such as mint and fudge while the sprinkle choices vary from standard jimmies to rainbow nonpareil and toasted coconut. It seems that the shopping ends up being as much fun as the receiving.

The cupcakes arrive in an adorable kit with an icing wand and decorating tips. A perfect gift idea for a birthday or even to send to your own family when you are too busy to make home made treats for your children. A simple little luxury ranging in price from $10.00 for three cupcakes to $35.00 for a package of twelve.

Gallery: Bespoke Cupcakes

Tags: birthday, chocolate, cup cakes, CupCakes, mail order, MailOrder, online shopping, OnlineShopping, St. Cupcake, St.Cupcake, vanilla

LAVANILA Vanilla Fragrances

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Cosmetics and Fragrance

LAVANILA is a fragrance line with the unusual claim of being a healthy fragrance. The products are made with essential oils, natural botanicals and have "super antioxidant technology" that is supposed to help your skin stay young and rejuvenated, unlike the alcohols in other perfumes. Only at Sephora, the line has three fragrances: Vanilla, Vanilla Blossom and Vanilla Grapefruit. All retail for $56 for 1.7-oz.

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Tags: natural, perfume, vanilla

Kajmir Vanilla Liqueur

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Spirits

As in desserts, vanilla in liquor is often desirable simply because it is so versatile. I've seen plenty of vanilla vodkas but the new liqueur Kajmir is a combination of vodka, brandy and vanilla which should be a great addition to holiday cocktails. I haven't tested it out yet but it definitely seems like more of a mixer than a sipper. It retails for around $20.

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Tags: brandy, kajmir, liqueur, vanilla, vodka

Black and Whites from Dean and Deluca

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

High on the list of things missed most by New Yorkers when they take up residence in another state is the Black and White Cookie. The cake-like consistency of the cookie and the smooth, sweet chocolate and vanilla icing combine to make one of the ultimate treats. As a gift for your favorite ex-New Yorker, or perhaps for yourself, consider getting a box of Dean & DeLuca's Black and Whites. Black and Whites tend to be huge, since New Yorker's like things big, but the Dean and Deluca cookies are normal sized and packed in a box that fits two dozen. The cookies are a perfect version of the New York classic - tasty as well as beautiful to look at. If you can't eat them all at once, they freeze beautifully, but if you invite a friend over to share them, you might not have any leftover. Price: $30.