Bay Area Chocolates

If you have ever visited San Francisco, you might have caught site of the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company. They are the manufacturer of premium chocolate products and one of the few companies in America that controls the entire chocolate manufacturing process, starting with the cocoa beans to the finish product. This means that they have intensive quality assurance in selection of cocoa beans. It is not uncommon for the company to reject as many as 40% of the beans presented to them.

Scharffen Berger! (Gesundheit!)

Scharffen Berger chocolate is one of the best chocolates available to me. It has a higher cocoa butter content in comparison to Hershey's or Nestle cocoa powder. These are unsweetened non-alkalized cocoa powder. Scharffen Berger chocolate is processed in way that is nut free and dairy free. And all their chocolates are gluten-free.

Shcarffen Berger is a first-tier chocolate manufacturer, which means that they execute every step of the processing. The history of the company is quite interesting. Their first chocolate was made with a coffee grinder, mortar, electric mixer and hair dryer. I know that doesn't sound too delicious, but they've come along way from that.

Scharffen Berger unsweetened cocoa powder can be found in a 6 oz. can from $8.00 - $12.00.

Asian Persuasion!

The Imperial Cupcake - Lychee flavored. The cake is made using homemade Pink Lady apple sauce with chopped bits of lychee baked right in. The cake is tender, sweet and has slight tartness to it. Pink lychee whipped frosting is used to complete the taste and to top it of, a green tea wafer.

(Seasonal: market price applied, final price may vary).

*Inspiration derived from the history of Lychee.

Lychee

Origin - According to wikipedia, the origin of Lychee comes from China. In fact, there is a historical reference linking this fruit to the imperial palace. It is said that an Emperor from the Tang Dynasty had this fruit delivered by messenger "fast-horse" to his most favored concubine.


The Look - Usually with light red shells to darker red shells. The shells are hard and spiky. Flesh is thick and sweet.

Taste - The taste is crisp and sweet, similar to honey.

Lychee has been seen in imported candies, smoothies, specialty supermarkets, martinis, and dessert.

Pink Lady Apples

Pink Lady apples comes from Australia and is a "blush" apple. It is a cross between the Golden Delicious and Lady Williams. The flavor of this apple is tangy & sweet. In my opinion, it has a bit tartness to the taste as well. In some of my recipes, I use the Pink Lady apples to make apple sauce. The cake comes out tender, moist, and carries the sweet apple taste with it. The tartness of the apple is a great compliment for any fruit based recipe.

Mickey-Mouse Club

1 dozen: Dirt
------------Chocolate Whip Frosting
------------Drizzled Oreo Crumbs
------------Topped with a Rainer Cherry (seasonal)
-------------($3.00 per cupcake)

1 dozen: Very Cherry
------------Cherry Whipped Frosting
------------Mickey Mouse Design:
----------------(Large Chocolate Chips)
----------------(Reg. Chocolate morsels)
------------($3.00 per cupcake)

1/2 dozen: Very Cherry
------------Cherry Whipped Frosting
------------Mickey Mouse Design Sprinkles
------------($3.00 per cupcake)





Mickey Mouse is a trademark of Disney.

Who is Mickey Mouse?

Disney's Mickey Mouse first appeared in the "Steamboat Willie" on November 18, 1928. The original drawings for Mickey Mouse made use of circles for his head, body and ears. Through the years, animators attempted to give Mickey Mouse more complexity. But nothing can beat the original. The Mickey Mouse seen today is very similar to that of the early days. The only exception is probably his costume. The original voice for Mickey Mouse was Walt Disney. Today, Wayne Allwine provides Mickey's distinctive voice.