Cupcakes

A new dessert cafe named the Mallow Bar is now open in Rosedale. The specialty of the house is the Mallow Crunchie. Billed as the "country's first crispy treat cafe," the Mallow Bar is from Nikki Lewis, a familiar face at Baltimore-area farmers markets, who makes her version of the nostalgic Rice Krispies Treat, the Mallow Crunchie, from scratch and tops them with things like dark Belgian chocolate and her own homemade caramel. Flavors include Original Crunch, Dipped Crunch, Caramallow Crunch, Toffee Nut Crunch and Trail Crunch.

If you ever find yourself looking for an excuse to eat more cupcakes, 11-year-old Krissa Hillman has a good one. The fifth-grader from Bollman Bridge Elementary School in Jessup is the creative mastermind behind Cupcakes for Literacy, a business that sells baked goods to benefit local schools, libraries and reading programs. "Literacy is a big part of life. You have to read everything," Hillman said. "So what better way to help people understand than though something everyone likes?"

Martha Daniels of Wake Forest, N.C., was looking for a cupcake recipe called Cocoa-Pink Cuplets. She thought that the recipe might have appeared in a Pillsbury Bake-Off cookbook many years ago. She said these unfrosted cupcakes were simple but delicious. Beryl Benda of Baltimore sent in a recipe she had in her collection for Cocoa-Pink Cuplets taken from a Pillsbury Bake-Off cookbook. It says that the recipe, by Mrs. Robert Hoefer of Brookfield, Wis., for Cocoa-Pink Cuplets was the senior winner in the Pillsbury's 10th Grand National Recipe and Baking Contest.

Historic Savage Mill, a restored two-centuries-old cotton mill, draws another notch in its evolutionary timeline as it welcomes its newest eatery, The Factory Grill and Bakery Too. Owners Karen and Ken Chamberlain had been working in the retail business for 15 years when they decided to open a restaurant. Despite having no professional culinary background, the couple had faith that, with a great entrepreneurial spirit and a little raw talent, they could achieve their dream. “We like food, and I like to cook,” says Karen.

Historic Savage Mill, a restored two-centuries-old cotton mill, draws another notch in its evolutionary timeline as it welcomes its newest eatery, The Factory Grill and Bakery Too. Owners Karen and Ken Chamberlain had been working in the retail business for 15 years when they decided to open a restaurant. Despite having no professional culinary background, the couple had faith that, with a great entrepreneurial spirit and a little raw talent, they could achieve their dream. “We like food, and I like to cook,” says Karen.

During the holiday season, many of us rediscover the pleasure of casual entertaining -- potluck dinners, open-house celebrations, buffet dinners and progressive parties that begin at one house and continue in others. Often friends or relatives stop by for spur-of-the-moment get-togethers.For these occasions a perfect treat to have on hand is homemade cupcakes. Of course, when I say cupcakes I don't mean those tasteless cakes with sugary bright blue frosting showered with colored sprinkles.

Linda Hurd of Baltimore was looking for a recipe for Wellesley Fudge Cupcakes similar to the ones sold at the Hutzler's department store restaurant in Baltimore many years ago. While I did not receive any recipes for the fudge cupcakes Hurd was looking for, I did receive a number of recipes for the classic Wellesley fudge cake, said to have been served in the tearoom at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. The recipe that Elaine Smith of Keizer, Ore., sent in was taken from a Wellesley College alumnae publication and was easily adapted to make cupcakes.

Certain things in life are meant to go together. Peanut butter and jelly. Old Bay and steamed crabs. But what about cupcakes and alcohol? If you thought cupcakes were just for 7-year-olds' birthday parties, then think again. Cooks 'N Cakes, the latest cupcake shop to open in Howard County, is giving the kid-friendly dessert an adult makeover with cocktail cupcakes. Located on Route 40 in Ellicott City, Cooks 'N Cakes sells plenty of traditional cupcakes, but what makes it unique is cupcake happy hour.

I can't imagine how a cupcake could be the least bit healthy. Especially if it actually tastes good. But television talk show host Dr. Oz seems to think so. He likes this recipe for vanilla cupcakes with a raspberry filling and rich chocoloate topping. He borrowed it from Vincent Buzzetta, The Cake Artist INC. The cupcakes are made with coconut palm sugar, a sweetener that doesn't cause the same blood sugar spikes as regular sugar, Dr. Oz says on his website.  Coconut palm is the same amount of calories, but  itprovides a slow energy release - which can curb your appetite and help you lose weight.

Halloween and other holidays used to make me panic because, with young children, I was supposed to turn out clever cupcakes and other treats without a blink. This is why I think so many folks turn to store-bought, because they just don't have a trick (so to speak) up their sleeve for trick-or-treat party food. These cupcakes are as adorable to look at as they are scrumptious to eat. Imagine rich devil's food cake, smeared with butter-cream frosting and topped with a crunchy chocolate treat in the shape of a spider.

What it is: A sweet 4-in-1 app that's a treat to play. Kids can bake, decorate and “eat” cupcakes, whoopie pies, mini cupcakes and cake pops from scratch or from a box. Your little pastry chef can choose from more than 30 cupcake flavors, 70 different types of frosting and 100 different types of candy and nut toppings. The interface is intuitive enough for a toddler, but could easily keep a tween in the “kitchen” for quite a while, too. Why it's fun: This app replicates the entire baking process, so kids don't just decorate - they slice the butter, sift the flour and pour in the vanilla, too. After cupcakes come out of the oven and get their one-of-a-kind makeover, complete the presentation by selecting a color-coordinating plate.

Did someone say free cupcakes? Free FAMOUS cupcakes? The women behind TLC's show "DC Cupcakes" will be in Baltimore tonight, signing copies of their new book and, yes, giving out samples of the treats they've made a name on. It will be all of the baked goods, but none of the drama. Or so we're assuming. Katherine Kallinis Berman and Sophie Kallinis LaMontagne will be showing off their book "Sweet Celebrations" from 7:15 to 9 p.m. tonight at Costas Inn, 4100 Northpoint Blvd.

Mixing popular summer cocktails and cupcakes was the ingenious brainchild for one of the delicious desserts from Flavor Cupcakery in Bel Air. Located near Harford Mall, the cupcakery is known for its unique flavors made with the finest ingredients. “We always wanted to have great recipes and commit to using high-quality ingredients,” says Shelley Stannard, owner of Flavor Cupcakery. “And we like to research interesting combinations.” The Margarita cupcake is only one such combination.

Clean out your basement then shop for cool stuff and save lives in the process. The Humane Society of Harford County hosts a two-day yard sale, Aug. 31 and Sept. 1 benefiting the adorable animals in its shelter, including Louis the rabbit (she's a girl) and Queenie a sweet 2-year-old kitty.   There are many ways to get involved. Here, the most obvious: 1. You can make donations for the sale. Bring your household items, pet supplies, holiday decor, games, books and what-have-you to the shelter.  (No clothing, TVs or computers)

We rank Baltimore's best meals on wheels, from Korean BBQ pulled pork tacos to salty caramel cupcakes. View the photo gallery

Nora Ephron was really all about the food. An acerbic observer of life whose wit translated so easily to the big screen, she was often as interested in the menu as she was in the script, and her appetite for moviemaking and crab cakes brought her to Baltimore in the early 1990s for the filming of "Sleepless in Seattle. " Ephron, who died Tuesday after a battle with leukemia, was called in to doctor a screenplay about a long-distance love affair between an architect in Seattle (Tom Hanks)

The Republicans held their national convention in New York last week without help from Tracy Rice. Although Rice, a thirtysomething who lives in Locust Point, helped organize the 1996 and 2000 GOP conventions, this year she had more important things to do. She was baking cupcakes. Rice, along with Shannon Mitchell of White Hall, recently opened the Baltimore Cupcake Co., occupying a pink building on Fort Avenue and specializing in cupcakes, cookies, decorated cakes and brownies. For 13 years, Rice worked for the Republican Party, raising money for various groups and events.

Cupcakes take the cake. They can be served so many more ways than regular cake, are so much more portable, so much more attractive than a wedge of cake that I don't know why we don't make them more often.I was reminded of them recently leafing through a new book, "Cholesterol-free Cakes and Cookies" by Mabel Cavaini (Henry Holt). She not only lauds cupcakes but explains they can be made from regular cake batter. Ingredients for a 9-inch cake will make a dozen cupcakes; a 9-by-13-inch cake makes 24.But this doesn't mean much if the little cakes are stuffed with fat. Ms. Cavaini's are not. She's developed batches with acceptable cholesterol and calories, but managed to keep the flavor and texture.

I can't imagine how a cupcake could be the least bit healthy. Especially if it actually tastes good. But television talk show host Dr. Oz seems to think so. He likes this recipe for vanilla cupcakes with a raspberry filling and rich chocoloate topping. He borrowed it from Vincent Buzzetta, The Cake Artist INC. The cupcakes are made with coconut palm sugar, a sweetener that doesn't cause the same blood sugar spikes as regular sugar, Dr. Oz says on his website.  Coconut palm is the same amount of calories, but  itprovides a slow energy release - which can curb your appetite and help you lose weight.

It was an embarrassment of riches for me this Mother's Day, I'm not going to lie. All I really wanted was to spend time with my husband and our sons -- and to get a picture of me with the boys. I take the vast majority of the pictures in our household, but I don't appear in that many of them. I got all of that and more, including waffles for breakfast, my favorite Thai food for dinner, farmer's market cupcakes for dessert, a card on whose envelope my 3-year-old wrote "Mommy" all by himself.