I saw a few push pop cake pops pop up on party blogs last year and was certain they’d be the next cupcake. Boy, was I wrong. Regardless, I’ve been wanting to make a creative batch of the nostalgic treat since I saw them. With my cookie-loving husband in mind, I opted to bake mini chocolate chip cookies, sandwich them with buttercream, and top them with sprinkles. 
I found my push-pop containers on clearance at Target, but I have also seen them at Michaels, and on Amazon and Etsy.
Have you been there yet? To Sprinkles Ice Cream. I assume you’re familiar with the now nationwide Beverly Hills based cupcake company, but did you know that they recently started opening up ice cream shoppes?
On our last trip to Fort Worth, we squeezed in a trip to the newly opened (Aug. 16) shoppe in Dallas. They had Thomas Jefferson’s Ice Cream Recipe on the wall. I’ll be adding that to my list of recipes to try. I hear the former president was a foodie.
It seemed their most popular offering was their cupcake sundaes, but I had to try a red velvet cone. I wish the red velvet flavor came across more, but the cone was delightfully thin and crisp. I think the fact that they serve “cake and ice cream” really sets them apart from other creameries, and the red velvet cones certainly don’t hurt.
Of course I had to use the cupcake ATM, so Anthony and I split a vanilla hazelnut chocolate cupcake. There’s a 50 cent premium for using the machine versus going in the store, but it functions 24/7.
If you’re lucky enough to live or travel to a city that has Sprinkles Ice Cream, I’d highly suggest going.
You can have your cake, and eat ice cream too.
Related Posts: Homemade Chocolate Hazelnut Ice Cream, Rice Krispie Treat Ice Cream recipe
I am deep into the project phase of my DIY heavy wedding planning. Last week, I hosted a wedding craft night. With the help of my mom, Anthony’s mom, my bridesmaids, and a couple of other close friends, my wedding t0-do list has several new check marks! Having more than a dozen hands made the monotonousness tasks enjoyable and short-lived.
On craft night, cupcakes from the wedding cake baker were a must. So was this crepe lasagna my fiancé told me would be a great recipe to try “with my friends.” As the original recipe is in Italian, I translated it to English, converted it to US measurements and adapted a few things and here’s the recipe I ended up with:
Crepe Lasagna
Serves 8
For the crepes:
1 1/4 cup milk
7/8 cup of flour
2 eggs
1 Tablespoon Parmesan
Salt
Parsley or pesto
For the filling:
10 oz. frozen spinach
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 egg
1 cup Parmesan cheese
Approx. 15 oz. Ricotta
salt, pepper, nutmeg
For the sauce:
14 oz. tomato sauce
oregano, pepper
+ a handful of extra Parmesan
Mix all of the crepe ingredients together, then let the batter sit in the fridge for at least two hours but up to a day. To make the crepes, pour slightly less than 1/4 cup of batter onto a hot skillet or griddle. When the batter starts to bubble, flip it, like you would an ordinary pancake. You should get 6 or 7 8-9 inch crepes.
Saute the spinach with the garlic over medium heat. Mix in the ricotta. Stir in the egg. Add the Parmesan, nutmeg, salt and pepper. This will serve as your filling. Mix the tomato sauce with the oregano and pepper (or other Italian spices of your choice).
Pour a few tablespoons of sauce into the bottom of a 9 inch round pan. I used a glass pie pan. Lay down your first crepe, add filling, and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Repeat until you have used about half of your crepes. Halfway, add only tomato sauce between two crepes, and then continue with the ricotta an Parmesan layers. Your top layer should be a crepe. Pour the tomato sauce on top and bake at 350F for 20 minutes. This is even better a day old!
Between craft night, my stepdad’s work, and the weekend with my fiancé, in the past week mini envelopes have been stuffed, stands welded, shutters painted, favor bags stamped, envelopes embossed, yards and yards of ribbon cut, fabric strips torn, signs glittered and tissue paper ruffled.
Groomsmen suits have been chosen. Groom’s cake toppers have been ordered. I finally began to collect mercury glass pieces. Wine has been tasted and voted on. The officiant has been met with. A timeline has been drafted. Ceremony music has been selected. It’s all coming together…
Sixty-four days and counting!
I wish Fort Worth had a bona fide patisserie, complete with cupcakes and French macarons, tarts and cookies. I dream of red velvet cheesecake from New York’s Magnolia Bakery and peanut and caramel chocolate tarts from New Orleans’ Sucre. I have yet to find a true patisserie here, but I have found an abundance of adorable bakeries with cupcake lined pastry cases. Over the past few months, I’ve made it my unofficial mission to try each of these sweet Cowtown cupcake shops on my lunch breaks.
The Cupcakery is what spawned my interest in the Fort Worth sweet shops, as it opened just a few blocks from my office downtown. I’ve found that most of the bakeries I have visited close late in the afternoon or as soon as they sell out. One perk of The Cupcakery is that they are open late, so you can stop in after work, after dinner, or while enjoying a night out on the town. They also offer miniature cupcakes in case you want just a sweet bite or would rather taste a couple than eat just one. The cupcakes at this bakery are pretty, but sometimes dry. You can tell when they are fresh and when they have been sitting there awhile. My favorite cupcake from The Cupcakery was the Harry Potter inspired, butterscotch flavored, Butterbeer cupcake. Other notables were the carrot cake and the chocolate peanut butter. While pretty in pink, beware of the strawberry – don’t judge a cupcake by its color.
J. Rae’s is a sweet boutique on Foch Street in the West 7th district. The first thing I noticed was that most, if not all, of their cupcakes were decorated with edible glitter. I chose the shimmery German chocolate to satisfy my sweet tooth. Moist, flavorful, and glitzy: What more could one want from a cupcake? J. Rae’s also makes iced cookies and cake balls.
La Bella Cupcakes is off of North Main near the Stockyards. They have simple daily offerings; three different cakes: red velvet, chocolate and vanilla, and four icings: strawberry, cream cheese, vanilla, and chocolate. The cake is light and airy and each cupcake is topped with a small sugar flower. I tried the chocolate cupcake with strawberry frosting. I’d be interested in trying their tiramisu cupcake or some of the other “Top Shelf Flavor”s that are listed on their website.
Leah’s Sweet Treats is a fairly new bakery on Camp Bowie. I found this place by accident two weeks after they opened. The woman I presumed to be Leah told me she had to stop taking orders more than a month out within the first week of full-time operation! I bit into the cupcake I bought and instantly knew why. They might take the moistest cupcake in town award. They also have unique flavors like chocolate covered cherry and cookies and cream. Because of my wonderful first experience, I went back again to pick up a few cupcakes for a friend’s birthday. The second time around, the moistness and the flavor were still superb, but I was less than impressed with the presentation.
One evening I was having some girlfriends over to share some wine and decided to pick up some cupcakes from the Cupcake Cottage for the small gathering. I opted for a dozen mini cupcakes because there was such a variety to choose from including banana, wedding cake, and chocolate. My girlfriends thought the cupcakes were a great addition to the night. The small house-turned-bakery builds their daily menu around custom orders so their flavor offerings vary from day-to-day. I’d advise going early in the day as the selection is slim by lunchtime.
Auntie Am’s Sweet Stop is a mobile bakery in Fort Worth’s newest food truck park, Cowtown Chow Down. They offer “create your own cupcakes” where you choose the cake flavor, a filling, and a frosting. Plus, everything is made on site! While the cupcakes are the largest I’ve encountered, the presentation was about what you’d expect from a truck. However, I went on day two of Auntie Am’s new business venture, so I look forward to going back to find out if the buttercream is a bit less melty. After finding out the truck was owned by a former co-worker’s friend, I exchanged the “work” of hand writing their menu on the truck’s window for a delicious creation of my own: a red velvet cupcake with chocolate frosting.
Stir Crazy Baked Goods is set to be open sometime this month off of South Main. Currently you can find their goods at Avoca Coffee Shop on Magnolia. Look for an update once it opens!
What’s your favorite bakery? Know of any patisseries I may have missed in the Fort Worth area? Leave a comment!
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