Sugardarlings

A couple of months ago I saw an ad in our local community newspaper for a new "ice cream" shop in our town, just a few miles from our house. I say "ice cream" because although she started out selling primarily ice cream with a few of her homemade cupcakes on the side, she is now best known all over the Tampa area for her cupcakes. When I saw that she offered a variety of gourmet cupcakes I was sold. I'm a fan. A huge fan. That night we made a trip to Sugardarlings, and it's become our favorite snack, dessert, don't-need-a-reason-to-eat place to go. With a menu of over 100 varieties of cupcakes, and more flavors added by request or when she thinks them up, there is never a shortage of options. Our favorites so far include pumpkin with cream cheese icing, blueberry, chocolate peanut butter, red velvet and lemon. We've had about 15 different flavors so far, but we're far from ending our taste tests.

The owner, Jessica, also has a Facebook page for the shop, and I've been a fan for a couple of months. Each day she posts the flavors of the day, deals, and special events. This morning I logged into Facebook and saw an announcement from her stating that today is National Peanut Butter Lover's Day. Naturally I knew that we had to go (any excuse, right), so I texted Sean and his good friend, Jamie (a HUGE peanut butter lover) during school and told them that we would be heading to Sugardarlings right after they were finished for the day. I picked them up and we made the five minute drive to our sweet destination. Just a few of the varieties that were available today are shown below, but we were set on celebrating National Peanut Butter Lover's Day and stuck to the peanut butter and chocolate peanut butter cupcakes for our before dinner treats.

Chocolate peanut butter

Peanut butter

Cappuccino

Red velvet

Spumoni (left) and key lime (right)

Two types of peanut butter

Girl Scout Cookies Thin Mints

If you live in the Tampa area and haven't been to Sugardarlings yet you are truly missing out. These are the most moist, flavorful, delicious cupcakes you can find, and the variety will make it difficult for you to get just one (trust me, I know). Check out Jessica's website here and then go!