Cozy, Delicious

I love the way the house smells just as cupcakes are ready to come out of the oven.  It fills every nook and cranny so that even the closets smell warm and sweet and so dangerous.  This is the smell that compels me to eat cupcakes for dinner, and love every bite.

It is also the smell that overwhelms the senses the moment you enter The Bakery Boutique, my absolute, hands-down favorite bake shop anywhere.  (Which, conveniently, isn’t just anywhere, but is conveniently pretty close by in Rhode Island).  Deana Cimorelli and her husband Ryan have the ability to shoot in the foot even the most disciplined of diets.  And I love them for it.

Our friends are still talking about the almond cupcakes Deana and Ryan made for our wedding in July, and I won’t deny that they were fabulous. But what I will always remember is the tiny red velvet cake that Deana baked just for me and Jeff – and the fluffy icing that Jeff smeared all over my nose.  So for Valentine’s day in our house, it has to be red velvet.  This year, and every year.

For my column this month in the Dedham Transcript, Deana generously shared her recipe for her incomparable red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing.  The icing is really the key here – Deana herself admits it.  So please, please don’t use pre-made icing from the grocery store shelf, since you’d probably give Deana a coronary. Check out the recipe for the cupcake and the icing in my column here.  And if your cupcakes, like mine, don’t looks quite as perfect as those from the Bakery Boutique, I promise you that they will still be the best red velvet cupcakes you have ever tasted.