Most of the time we’re disappointed: The cupcakes taste like muffins, not cake; the chocolate cupcakes lack intensity of chocolate flavor; and the buttercream is too sugary. Let everyone else ooh and aah over such cupcakes: Our palate sets a higher bar.

House Of Cupcakes, a winner of Food Network’s Cupcake Wars program, has just arrived in Manhattan’s West Village.* House of Cupcakes gets it right.

Both chocolate and yellow cakes are excellent: light but full of flavor. The buttercream has just enough sugar, but not an overload. As a result, the cupcakes are spot-on and never cloying, despite the generous amount of frosting. There are also sugar-free and vegan cupcakes.

*It’s locared at 101 Seventh Avenue South at Grove Street (Sheridan Square).

The original House Of Cupcakes opened in Princeton, New Jersey in 2008. The overwhelming success of the store caught the eye of the founder of Party City, who helped the one-shop business develop into multiple locations and franchising.

He also cleverly snapped up licenses for Disney, Nickelodeon and Marvel characters, Barbie, Care Bears, Hot Wheels and professional sports teams including the New York Yankees, New York Mets, New York Giants, New York Jets and more in the works.

The net result: a cake and cupcake with wares that satisfy. Handsome gift boxes in Tiffany blue make a gift of these cupcakes a royal experience.

For more information on House of Cupcakes, visit HouseOfCupcakes.com or become a Facebook fan.

If you’d like your next career move to be a cupcake store, ask about a franchise and tell us when you open: We’ll be by for more cupcakes.
  

Now, returning to the roots, a venerable Italian espresso roaster, Filicori Zecchini, is bringing its beans from Bologna, Italy, to tempt espresso-loving Americans.

The coffee has attracted fine restaurateurs in sophisticated coffee towns from New York to Honolulu. When restaurants pioneer, consumers follow.

So until a Filicori Zecchini café opens near you, you can buy the beans on Amazon. There are seven blends in whole beans and pods. Hopefully, they’ll soon be coming to a retailer near you. The company also sells fine teas, cocoa and other products, including the chocolate and mint sauces used in the recipe below.

So you don’t have to go to Italy for an authentic espresso experience; that experience has come to you. At a recent tasting at Rosemary’s restaurant in New York City, which features the coffee, we couldn’t stop drinking cup after cup of classic espresso and specialty espresso drinks.

As a treat for an espresso-loving friend, family member or colleague, can purchase bags online at Amazon.com, which carries several of the company’s seven blends.

The menu at Filicori Zecchini cafés is packed with tempting coffee drinks, all delicious. We particularly were attracted to this “Cialdino After Eight,” a special ice cream cone filled with espresso, chocolate and mint whipped cream.

Unfortunately, the cialdini—plural of cialdino, for the type of ice cream cone—is not currently sold on Amazon with the company’s other products. But don’t let that stop you from making this delcious drink in a conventional espresso cup or a small glass:

RECIPE: AFTER EIGHT COFFEE

Ingredients Per Drink

A memorable after dinner drink, the After Eight from Filicori Zecchini.

 
Preparation

1. POUR chocolate topping into cup or cone. Follow with espresso.

2. TOP with mint whipped cream.

3. GARNISH with chopped chocolate and mint leaves on the top. Serve with a side of After Eight mints or cookies.

MINT WHIPPED CREAM RECIPE

Ingredients

 
*If adding creme de menthe, substitute vanilla extract.
 
Preparation

1. USE a whipped cream dispenser or whip the cream by hand. To beat by hand…

2. CHILL the bowl, beaters and cream thoroughly before beginning. Using an electric mixer, whip the cream, mint extract and sugar in the chilled bowl until soft peaks form. Makes about 2 cups.

Learn more at FilicoriZecchini.it and follow the brand on Facebook: and Twitter.
 
WHAT IS ESPRESSO

Espresso is not a type of bean; it’s a type of dark roast applied to the raw bean, as well as a method of preparation, the coffee beverage produced by an espresso machine.†
 
Discover more about espresso and espresso drinks in our Espresso Glossary.

†Technically, espresso is a beverage made from 7 grams of finely ground dark roast coffee, that produces 1.5 ounces of extracted beverage under 9 bars of brewing pressure at brewing temperatures of around 190°F to 200°F, over a period of 25 to 30 seconds of brew time.
  

No matter how delicious a dish may be, the presentation needs a hit of color—green, red, yellow—to give it a lift.

That’s the rationale for the ubiquitous sprig of parsley and the red berry and/or mint leaf atop rice pudding and vanilla ice cream.

Much of the food we eat is beige or otherwise earth-toned. So do a color check on everything you serve.

If it’s a sweetened food—from cereal to apple pie—add some color with raspberries or sliced strawberries, or fan a large strawberry to top a piece of pie or pound cake.

RED GARNISHES ROCK

For savory dishes, use cherry tomatoes, sundried tomatoes or diced red bell pepper. Sliced red jalapeño works if you like the heat. All can be marinated first, in a vinaigrette or flavored olive oil. In essence, the garnish becomes a mini salad.

If you buy sundried tomatoes, look for a bright red color and use them up relatively quickly. They oxidize to a blackish red over time.

Other red garnish options: radish slices (or the retro radish rose) or a sprinkling of red spice (paprika, chili flakes, pink peppercorns) along the rim of the plate.

Shredded red cabbage, with or without a vinaigrette, and shredded radicchio leaves are other options. If you’re near a good farmers market, look for amaranth and red chard.

 
MORE GARNISH IDEAS

There are dozens and dozens of everyday ingredients that can be used to garnish. Check out our article, Garnish Glamour.

And beyond nutrition, color is another reason to add brightly colored vegetables to your meals.

May 9th is National Butterscotch Brownie Day, also called a blonde brownie or blondie. Blondies have their own holiday: January 22nd.

The difference between a brownie and a butterscotch brownie / blondie is a yellow (blonde) batter: flour, brown sugar, butter, eggs, baking powder and vanilla. A brownie is made from a chocolate brownie batter, which adds cocoa powder or melted chocolate.

A butterscotch brownie (a.k.a. blondie) has a butterscotch flavor, from the brown sugar. Some might call it a caramel flavor.

There can be a slight difference between butterscotch brownies and blondies. Blondies typically include chocolate chips and nuts. Butterscotch brownies add butterscotch chips (chocolate chips and nuts are an option). Some recipes use toffee bits instead of butterscotch chips.

The recipe and history of butterscotch brownies follow.

Elsewhere on The Nibble:

> The year’s 44 cookie holidays.

> The 10 different styles of cookies (blondies and brownies are bar cookies).

> The different types of cookies: a photo glossary.

> The history of brownies.

> The history of cookies.
 
 
BUTTERSCOTCH BROWNIES HISTORY

According to Food Timeline, blonde brownies predate the chocolate version by about 10 years.

Around 1896, a molasses-flavored bar cookie (no chocolate, cocoa or chocolate chips) called a brownie appeared. The name honored the elfin characters featured in popular books, stories, cartoons and verses of the time by Palmer Cox (the Eastman Kodak Brownie camera was also named after these elves).

After the later introduction and popularity of chocolate brownies, the bar became known as a butterscotch brownie (history of the brownie).

The name “Blondie” surfaces in the 1980s. It was not named for Dagwood Bumstead’s wife.
 
 
RECIPE: CHEWY, CHUNKY BUTTERSCOTCH BROWNIES

In this recipe, cookbook author Dorie Greenspan uses toffee bits instead of butterscotch chips. She also adds some coconut, which you can keep or omit.

The recipe is from Dorie’s book, Baking: From My Home To Yours. It makes you want to get an invitation to Dorie’s home, ASAP.

Ingredients

 
*You can chop up any toffee you have on hand.
 
Preparation

1. CENTER a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F. Butter a 9×13-inch baking pan and put it on a baking sheet. Prepare a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or a hand mixer and a large bowl.

2. WHISK together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

3. BEAT the butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add both sugars and beat for another 3 minutes, or until well incorporated.

4. ADD the eggs one by one, beating for 1 minute after each addition; then beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing just until they disappear into the batter.

5. STIR in the chips, nuts and coconut, using a rubber spatula. Scrape the batter into the buttered pan and use the spatula to even the top as best you can.

6. BAKE for 40 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the blondies comes out clean. The blondies should pull away from the sides of the pan a little and the top should be a nice honey brown color.

7. TRANSFER the pan to a rack and cool for about 15 minutes before turning the blondies out onto another rack. Invert onto a rack right side up and cool the blondies to room temperature. Cut into 32 bars, each roughly 2-1/4 x 1-1/2 inches.
 
 
FOOD 101: THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BUTTERSCOTCH & TOFFEE

Both start with sugar, butter and water. Then, it’s a question of the heat and any added ingredients.

Here’s the scoop.

[1] A classic butterscotch brownie / blondie. The recipe is below (photo © Dorie Greenspan | Lovin In The Oven).

[2] We prefer ours with lots of chocolate chips (photo © King Arthur Flour).

[3] Yes, please: chocolate chips (photo © Bella Baker).

[4] Want nuts? We think that pecans taste best in a butterscotch brownie / blondie (photo © American Pecans).

[5] The recipe is from Dorie Greenspan’s book, Baking: From My Home To Yours (photo courtesy Houghton Mifflin Harcourt).

CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

You can celebrate May 9th, National Moscato Day, with a glass of Moscato: the slightly sweet white wine pairs well wherever an Alsatian Gewürtztraminer or Riesling would be at home (see the food pairings below).

But for National Moscato Day, we present two cocktail recipes, courtesy of Gallo Family Vineyards, one of our favorite Moscato makers.

MOSCATO DAY CELEBRATION PUNCH

Serves 6-8 people.

Ingredients

Try a Moscato-Tequila punch. Photo courtesy Gallo.

Preparation

1. COMBINE all ingredients in a punch bowl or large pitcher filled with ice.

2. GARNISH and serve.

MOSCATO GIMLET

Ingredients Per Drink

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE ingredients in a cocktail shaker. Shake and strain into a coupe glass.

2. GARNISH with lime wedge and serve.

ABOUT MOSCATO

Moscato is a lighter-style white wine, lower in alcohol (5%-8% ABV, about half the alcohol of other wines). It is popular with brunch, dessert or as an apéritif. It is grown around the world. The Italian bottlings, from Italy’s Piedmont region, are called Moscato d’Asti: named after the grape, Moscato, and the Italian town of Asti, the center of production. Asti Spumante is sparkling Moscato.

Straw-colored Moscato is known for its fruit (often peaches and tangerines, depending on region), its floral fragrance fragrance and its subtle sweetness.

PAIRING MOSCATO WITH FOOD

Don’t store Moscato: It’s meant to be drunk fresh and vibrant in the year it is vinified. Serve it with:

 
SEE ALL THE AMERICAN FOOD HOLIDAYS.