adventures in cupcakery

While in Nashville a few days ago Laura and I spied Gigi's Cupcakes. We remembered it's location on our way to a yarn store and Ham & Goodys. The Ham & Goodys was no more. Laura said they had awesome lemon cookies, and I'm always up for a cookie caper. Didn't find Ham & Goody's, but got their phone number from the yellow pages at the yarn store and called and learned that the Nashville location closed down. They only do catering now. Drat.

Note Miss Princess cupcake at far right bottom of case

Back to Gigi's. We stopped, hopped out, walked inside, and my eyes lit up. Great, gorgeous cupcakes in their cases. My yen for red velvet cupcakes was not satisfied. It was Friday. They serve Scarlet's Velvet several days a week, including Thursday and Saturday, but not Friday.

We bought four cupcakes each, took them out to the car, and sat and ate them there. I chose the Breast Cancer Awareness Wedding cupcake, Carrot Cake cupcake, Peanut Butter Cup cupcake, and Midnight Magic Chocolate Chip cupcake. Wedding Cupcake was scrumptious, but way too much icing. Carrot Cake was good. I've had worse and better, but theirs is a solid carrot cake recipe that will surely please any carrotcake lover. Peanut Butter Cup was disappointing. Only the icing was peanut flavored; the cake was chocolate. And Midnight Magic was good, if you like chocolate; it's Devil's Food, which I don't eat often enough. Gigi's is the place to go if you love icing, and theirs is perfection. As we sat we watched customers come and go and we commented on the cadre of police officers that entered Gigi's.

Breast Cancer Awareness Wedding Cake from Gigi's

After scarfing down my cupcake, Laura still had half of hers remaining, but I AM eating for two, I returned inside to grab a few napkins for your sticky fingers. One of the police officers guarded the napkin dispenser so I struck up a conversation with him. I asked what his favorite flavor was.

He said, "Miss Princess." With a straight face. Then he went on to tell me how strawberries were his weakness. He, and his fellow officers, always come in on Friday, and he's true to Miss Princess, which is white cake with fresh strawberries and butter cream frosting topped with pink sugar crystals.

And that is the most awesome thing I heard while in Nashville. Well, spoken, that is. The previous night's attendance at the IBMA awards was really something to hear, too.

Laura and I raced against time to return home in time for the baby shower she co-hosted for me later Friday night. I asked, long ago, that she make red velvet cupcakes for my shower, and decorate them like sheep. I spotted sheepy cupcakes at Cupcakes Take the Cake. Decorating them is fairly simple. We called them bloody sheep cupcakes and tried to figure out how to insert a gooey red cream into the center to make it a truly bloody experience.

The clerk at Gigi's mentioned two cupcake shops in Knoxville after we told her how cupcakeless we were in the Tri-Cities. With that in mind, we sought out red velvet cupcakes for the shower, as Laura likely wouldn't have time to mix, bake, ice, and decorate cupcakes for our event later that evening.

Oh, the power of technology. We didn't have a laptop, but I texted three friends who live in Knoxville, one of whom, I was sure would know where the cupcake shops were in town. All three responded with information, and one called and read off addresses and phone numbers to me, and that's how we learned there is a Ham & Goodys in Knoxville. I called them about lemon cookies, and they had some, and closed at 5pm, but we had to skip the lemon cookies and focus on red velvet cupcakes.

Called Magpies to ask if they have RVC cupcakes, and they did. I reserved a dozen and asked for directions to their shop. Kellie's text response indicated they were located in Old City, and I knew getting there was a snap from I-40, but there's a mess of construction and most all traffic is re-routed via I-275.

Arrived at Magpies and learned it was a bakery, not just a cupcake shop. Their interior was delightful, and there were mini cupcake samples that we indulged in, as well. The dozen cupcakes I reserved were actually mini cupcakes. Laura bought them, then saw regular sized red velvet cupcakes and bought a dozen of those as well. I inherited the minis.

The minis are perfect, really. Two bites. That's all. And the amount of icing on Magpie's cupcakes is just right, also. Nowhere near as overwhelming as Gigi's.

Then we hopped back into the car, re-joined the interstate and arrived home shortly past 5 pm. My shower began at 7pm, which gave Laura just enough time to turn a RVC cupcake into a bloody sheep cupcake.

The other two cupcake shops in Knoxville that we didn't explore are: Cities Cupcakes and The Cupcakery.

Comments

[Nikki]

It sounds like you had an adventure on your hands! I've never been to your neck of the woods. Ever. Now I know where to go for cupcakes.

[Anne]

i've always had that problem with chocolate peanut butter cupcakes, too - never enough peanut butter flavor. i've actually found that cupcakes are usually more fun to look at than actually eat, but maybe i'm still just waiting for that special cupcake. anyway, great post!

[dawn houser]

what a perfect place to get inspiration for cupcakes for your
new princess.

happy thanksgiving to you three.

[cupcakequeen]

We're so glad you came in to Magpies! It's always wonderful to hear nice things about our bakery, and a strong desire for red velvet cupcakes is never a bad thing. Please stop in again the next time you're in town.
The girls at Magpies