The Cupcake Diaries

I asked last week if there were any guesses about which book from this year's Sisters Book Challenge I chose to read first. 

I've been on a kick of reading books about food so The Cupcake Diaries: Recipes and Memories from the Sisters of Georgetown Cupcakeby Katherine Kallinis and Sophie Kallinis LaMontagne was the natural next step. The book is by the sisters who star in the TLC show, DC Cupcakes.  It is a peek into the cupcake bakery they own and operate in Washington, D.C.  

The book is a fun, super-quick read, a peek into their memories of growing up in Canada as part of a Greek family and learning to bake with their grandmother after school.   They also share details of how they started their business and a few behind the scenes insights that don't appear on the show. We live so close, I'm thinking we might need to add a visit to this bakery to our to-go list!

After reading and salivating my way through a book stuffed with recipes, last Saturday afternoon, I pulled together my ingredients to make the Gingerbread Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting.

The book gives directions on how to replicate the Signature Swirl, the bakery's decorative method of applying frosting.  I swirled and piped and fought my way through over a dozen cupcakes and this was I best I got. It truly looks nothing like the Signature Swirl, but it is pretty.  The rest of the cupcakes got a dollop of frosting spread with a knife!

The cupcakes were wintery and delicious!  The recipe said that it yielded 12, but I ended up with 20 cupcakes so after sharing them for Sunday dessert, we brought the rest home for a special Monday dessert, too!