It is National Grilled Cheese Day, and I thought that a fun way to spread the cheesy goodness would be to share a pretty awesome recipe… Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese Cupcakes.  You read that correctly, Grilled Cheese CUPCAKES.  This is totally up my alley… but something is missing…… BEER!  I thought it’d be fun to share some tips on pairing your beer with cheese:

• Match the strength of the cheese with the strength of the beer. Pair delicate beers with delicate cheeses and big beers with big cheeses. You wouldn’t want to pair a double IPA with a fresh mozzarella cheese. The beer would completely overpower the cheese. Instead, pair the IPA with a very strong, stinky blue cheese, such as a Stilton, and the mozzarella with a hefeweizen.
• Highlight the flavors & characteristics of the cheese with those of the beer. If you are serving a sweeter cheese with caramel notes, pair it with a malty beer like a dopplebock. If you are serving a cheese that traditionally goes well with fruit (like brie) try pairing it with a cherry lambic or other sweet, fruity beer. If you are dishing up an earthy goat cheese, put it alongside an earthy saison.
• Start with the cheese, and then choose the beer. When setting up a beer and cheese pairing, I find it is a lot easier to start by picking the cheese (or having a surprise assortment of cheese delivered to me) and then picking the beers. I like to research the cheese, learning about its flavor profile, strength, etc. This often comes in the form of info cards from my cheese monger and internet research. I then try a small piece of the cheese (very important step!) and pick my pairings based off all that info. I like to make a list of the major flavors in the cheese and choose a beer with similar flavors and characteristics.
• Don’t stress about finding the perfect pairing. If this seems a bit daunting, just remember that at the end of the day, you are going to end up with a pile of cheese and beer. Even if all your pairings are really, really off (which they won’t be) you are still in for a great evening. It’s beer and cheese!

Have a Happy National Grilled Cheese Day, whether you enjoy a Grilled Cheese Cupcake, an awesome Grilled Cheese Sandwich, or even some Locally Brewed Craft Beer… because well, why not???

Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese Cupcake
Recipe courtesy of Brady Breese, Urban Cookies & OllieCake, 2011
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 large eggs
1/4 cup diced canned tomatoes, strained
1 cup creamy tomato soup
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
3/4 teaspoon ground pink pepper corns
1/3 cup almond meal
1 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup cold water
Parmesan crisps and candied tomatoes, recipes follow
Mascarpone honey frosting, recipe follows

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Line a muffin pan with 12 regular-size cupcake liners. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer with paddle attachment or a standard hand held mixer and large mixing bowl, mix oil, sugar, and salt on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add both eggs and continue mixing on medium speed for 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula and mix again on medium speed for 10 seconds. Next, add the tomatoes, tomato soup, thyme, and pepper and mix on medium speed until incorporated. Now, add the almond meal and mix until incorporated. In a medium bowl, sift flour, baking powder and baking soda and add to wet ingredient mixture. Mix on low speed until incorporated. Finally, add cold water and mix on medium speed for 5 seconds. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl one last time to be sure all ingredients are fully incorporated.
Fill the 12 cupcake liners 2/3-full with batter and bake for 18-20 minutes. Rotate pan 180
degrees after 9 minutes of baking. Oven heat and times may vary so bake until tops are no longer wet and spring back upon touching. Cool cupcakes completely.
Keep oven heated at 350 degrees F for baking cupcake toppings below.
Yield: 12 cupcakes

Parmesan Crisps:
1/2 cup shaved Parmesan Reggiano cheese

Candied Tomatoes:
3 ounces Sugar Plum tomatoes, (36 small tomatoes, each less than 1-inch)
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil 1 tablespoon sugar

On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, spread shaved cheese evenly, but allow the shavings to lay close together so that when they bake, they melt together to create one large, flat crisp. Set baking sheet with cheese aside. In a medium bowl, toss tomatoes, olive oil, and sugar until tomatoes are fully coated. On a separate baking sheet lined with parchment paper, spread tomato mixture evenly and be sure tomatoes are not touching.

Place both cheese and tomato baking sheets in the oven on separate racks and bake for 10-12 minutes or until the cheese is no longer bubbling and tomatoes look deflated. Crisp should be yellow, golden brown. Let tomatoes and cheese cool. To remove cheese crisp, gently peel the parchment away from the crisp and break large crisp into smaller, 2×2 inch pieces.

Mascarpone Honey Frosting:
16 ounces Mascarpone cheese, chilled
2 tablespoons honey
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon tapioca flour
In the bowl of an electric stand mixer with paddle attachment or a standard hand held mixer and medium mixing bowl, whip Mascarpone cheese and honey on medium speed for 10 seconds. In a small bowl, sift powdered sugar and tapioca flour. Add this dry mixture to the wet ingredients and mix on medium speed until fully incorporated. Finally, scrape sides and bottom of the bowl one last time to be sure all ingredients are fully incorporated.

Yield: approximately 2 cups
To Assemble:
Place frosting in a piping bag with a round tip or in a gallon-size plastic baggy. Snip a 1/2-inch off of the corner of the plastic baggy and begin piping frosting onto each cake. You may also frost by simply using a butter knife and spread frosting evenly over each cake. Next, using your fingers, gently place a 2×2-inch piece of Parmesan crisp on each cupcake standing upright.

Finally, creatively place three candied tomatoes on each cupcake.
Prep Time: 60 minutes
Cook Time: 32 minutes
Ease of Preparation: intermediate

I am really excited to have been asked to participate in a wedding show unlike the others you may have been to (or just assume they are all like). The Modern Love Show takes an alternative approach to the standard bridal show, and will showcase vendors who welcome nontraditional and LGBT couples. And nontraditional can honestly mean that you want something different at your wedding… something no one else is doing.  Attendees can tour the Lafayette Hotel, sample sweet treats, meet creative and innovative vendors, and enter to win raffle prizes.

The grand prize package is a free wedding, which includes your ceremony and reception site, wedding planning services, photography, flowers, dessert, and a DJ. Honestly, I wish I was getting married so that I could enter in this raffle. – Because I know all of the vendors participating, and I would want them to do my wedding.

I am really excited about the mock-wedding set up that I am doing with a group of very talented vendors.  And I am in fact going to build a cupcake display tower. If anything, you should come to see that. But I am very excited to be working with The Bee and The Bobbin, Nic.Roc. Designs, Tangerine Tree Photography, and Hall Wedding & Events.

Oh, and so I don’t forget, here is the link to the event page.  See you there!!

On our homepage, we announced that the PubCakes shop as you know it will be closing January 31st. To wish you all well, and to say goodbye, we will be having a Farewell Beer Garden on Saturday February 2nd… we will not be opening another shop.

If you have attended one of our previous beer gardens, then you know how they work. If not, you’re in for a treat! Here is a link to our Facebook event.

Simply spend $3.00 at PubCakes or Treehouse Coffee Co and you will get a ticket into the beer garden and one 4oz taste. Additional tastes are only $1.00 for four 4oz tastes (bring cash). We are partnering up with the charity Hidden Treasures again, so remember, if you bring a donation of clothing you get a FREE extra taste! Purchases of additional tastes will all go directly to the charity, so drink up! It’s for a good cause.

Because this will be our final day with a retail storefront, cupcake purchases will be limited to four cupcakes per person (standard size only).

We are still working out all of the little extra details that we are going to provide… but it is definitely going to be an event to remember. Please come by and say goodbye, we are going to miss you!

The first ever Societe and PubCake pairing event will be this Saturday Next Door! Be sure to come by and check out this amazing pairing event. We had to beg and plead to get some of this Butcher for you… it’s that good. We’ll be pairing it with the Vegan Butcher cupcake you voted for… which is a chocolate “bacon” cake, chocolate frosting, and “bacon” bits. It’s going to be a decadent event for sure. Be sure to join let us know you’re in on the Event page!

And by the way… wear your most dapper hat and get 10% off your beer and cupcake pairing! Bowler hats, top hats, and feathers are highly encouraged.

When: Saturday Dec 8th from 6:00-9:00PM

Where: Next Door
7235 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115

See you there!!!

This Saturday’s cupcake is perfectly refreshing for the weather we’ve had lately.  It’s a root beer cupcake!!!  We made the cake using Iron Fist Dubbel Fisted and added some tasty root beer spices.  Next we filled it with the Jim Beam vanilla bean frosting from the KS 22nd Anniversary cupcake and topped it all off with a root beer meringue frosting.  Not to be confused with merengue… yeah, I had to spell check that one.

So I’ve fallen a bit behind on blogging… but instead Ive got this awesome new website up! We are still tweaking bits of it, so please bear with us a little bit.

There are a few updates going on with the business as well. Have you seen our new super awesome logo? I think it rocks.

Also, if you bring your own box or container for your cupcakes, you get $.25 off your order! Help save a tree – reuse your boxes!!!

Something else we are working on is kindness… mostly the random kind. And right now, that is in the form of an amazing girl named Loki. Loki Darling is a 25 year old living right here in San Diego, CA. In October of last year, she was diagnosed with Keratoconus. Keratoconus is a degenerative disorder of the eye which without surgery, in Loki’s case, she will be blind within a matter of years. We are aiming o raise $16,000 to fund Loki’s surgery to save her eyesight.

You can click here to donate directly, or at PubCakes you can opt to round up your purchase, all of the dollars and cents will go directly to help save Loki’s eyes. Because seriously, what is $.25 to you could be the world to someone else.

Anyway… don’t want to get too preachy on you. But I am excited for everything going abouts at PubCakes. See you soon!!!

I know I’m bad with the short notice, but for all of you who hate how far east our shop is, there is hope!!! Starting TODAY, PubCakes will be at the Mission Hills Farmers Market every Wednesday from 3pm – 7pm at Falcon Street and Washington. You can also call the shop at 619-741-0530 to place your standard pre-ordered cupcakes, but instead of driving out to College Area, you can pick them up at the Mission Hills Market.  How great is that??? (Pre-orders for Wednesday pick up must be placed by the Sunday prior and require pre-payment)

We are also having a pretty awesome event at Monkey Paw Pub & Brewery this Friday at 5:00PM.  We will be at Monkey Paw slinging the Rich Man’s PB&J cupcakes and they will have a cask of the Rick Man’s IIPA! We will be getting to the bar around 5:00 PM to start selling cupcakes. We’ve heard rumors that the cask may be tapped a little early, but there will be plenty for the side-by-side cupcake pairing!

VIDEO!!! This is the beginning o something great. Kindness and Sweetness are so unexpected these days, that here at PubCakes, we want to make a point to be kind to others. So here is our first venture in that direction…. just another day in Balboa Park, San Diego, CA.
Who knows, maybe you’ll be hanging out at the next sweet location.

Unfortunately, our pledge drive gamble doesn’t really seem like it’s going to work out – it ends on May 31st, and we have yet to reach $10,000.

But that doesn’t mean we’re giving up!

Thanks to a program sponsored by Chase and LivingSocial called Mission: Small Business, your support could translate into a $250,000 grant for PubCakes. It’s simple! Just click here, log in with your facebook account, search for PubCakes, and VOTE! No cost to you, and only 30 seconds of your time. I know, I know… I sound like an infomercial, but I promise your help is exponential to our success. THe Tricky part is that we need at least 250 votes at www.missionsmallbusiness.com.

So please VOTE and share the link with your friends!! Be sure to check out our Facebook page for updates!

Please watch our lovely little video, because this sums up everything much nicer than I can type it all out (it takes less than 3 minutes).
We are hosting a Crowd-Funding Pledge Drive to raise the funds for PubCakes to open its own storefront. We will be having events all over San Diego to promote it, and raise more funds. We are trying to raise $50,000.00 by May 31st. EEP! So we need your help!!! Click here to pledge!

Our first event will be PubCakes BINGO at Bottlecraft!!!
When: Thursday, March 15th from 8:00-10:00PM
Where: Bottlecraft
2161 India St, San Diego, CA 92101
What: BINGO! Cards are $5.00 each, and you can win a half dozen cupcakes ($21.00 value). There will be three rounds total.
Why: Because all of the BINGO card sales go to help raise funds for our pledge drive!
How: Attend as many of our events as possible!!!