As I said in my bio (albeit jokingly at the time), I thought my spot with ATC might entice my parents to get into the act.  Sure enough, while visiting them, my mother and I went out on a cupcake expedition.  In Ridgewood, NJ, we found a local cupcakerie with flavors to spare.

Cupcakes by Carousel is on Main St. in Ridgewood, next to the movie theater.

The product line starts with “Classic White/Chocolate with Fudge” and “Red Velvet” and moves on to “Vanilla Dirt Worm” and “Chocolate Pretzel.”  “Pink Marshmallow Snowball” and “Turtle” looked almost too pretty to eat.

The winners in our taste selection included “Key Lime Pie,” which my mother said included candied lime, made by taking lime zest and packing it in sugar (the moisture makes the sugar adhere to begin with until it soaks in).

Dad had the gluten free vanilla cupcake with vanilla icing and gave it a thumbs up.  This is a new product line for Cupcakes by Carousel, and, from pans used only for gluten free to individual cupcake holders for gluten free, it’s just the recipe for those with celiac disease.

I might just be going home to visit my parents again…soon!

Papaya.  I never buy this fruit here in Upstate New York, having convinced myself that to enjoy it, I would need to be somewhere tropical.

Not true, ATC readers! and here are the papaya cupcake recipes to prove it.

Start with Coconut Rice Pudding Stuffed Cupcakes with Ginger Cream Cheese Frosting & Papaya.  A long name for papaya used as a garnish to top off an unusual cupcake.  You’ll also notice that I’m continuing my recent penchant for lime…

Get more adventurous with Papaya Cupcake.  This recipe appears in Spanish, but, if you’re using Google Chrome as your Internet browser, this nifty top bar pops up asking if you want the page translated into English – answer? yes.  The tip on putting a dye tube inside the frosting piping bag to get the beautiful swirls is just OTT.  I discovered La Depensa del Gnomo during my global cupcakes week, and he never fails to impress.

May this inspire you to venture into the land of tropical fruits this summer no matter your climate!

The lemon slices in my iced tea got me started on a recipe quest for lemons and limes.  The raspberries and blackberries were bonuses from the hunt. And remember, I’m out for fresh-picked berries, here in Upstate New York.

In the lemon category, I came across “Lemon-Limoncello Cupcakes.”  Yum.  These tangy delights include lemon zest, lemon juice, and limoncello.  They’re topped with raspberries and lemon slices.

In the lime category, how about “Key Lime Cupcakes with Blackberry Frosting?”  Yowee!  We’re talking lime juice, lime zest, lemon juice, and blackberries.

Now, the only question is whether it’s lemon followed by lime or lime followed by lemon?

"Strawberry Lime Daiquiri"

Ooooh!  About three weeks into blogging for this site, I finally have my Facebook and Twitter sufficiently loaded with cupcakeries that I’ve scored these yummy photographs from the Little Cake Bakery in Atlanta, Georgia.  These were just uploaded into Facebook in a new album titled “Test Kitchen.”

Who wants to report live on location to our cupcake community whether these cupcakes taste as good as they look and sound?

"Chocolate Curry with Coconut"

"Chocolate Ginger Toffee"