Last week, Prohibition Bakery headed off to the Apella events center to partake in City Harvest’s annual fundraiser entitled, “A mid-winter escape.”  City Harvest is one of our favorite NYC organizations, as they rescue good food (that would otherwise be thrown away) and re-distribute it back to the city’s hungry.  It’s a truly brilliant concept that combats both hunger and food waste at the same time. 

This year’s fundraiser had a Mexican flair to it, so there were tacos and avocados and pulled pork galore!  Naturally, we donated Margarita boozy cupcakes, because what else would we give to a Cinco De Mayo themed event in March?

Now, it’s been a while since Leslie and I have both manned a table at some sort of classy event.  Normally, if we are to attend an event, one of us will go and the other will stay and hold down the fort shop. This time, we both wanted to go and couldn’t agree on who would stay.  So, we did the financially logical thing and shut down 9 Clinton Street at 4:30 so we could both attend.  

The food porn occuring at this event was truly outstanding.  We happened to be set up right next to Dinosaur Barbeque, which kept throwing beautiful shoulders of perfect pork down on the cutting board not 10 feet from us.  I’m pretty sure I broke fundraiser proto call and snagged a sandwich from them before any of the guests.  Oops.

Anywho, the thing about these events is that boozy cupcakes don’t take much work post-assembly.  We’re usually set up and out of things to do before the first guest even walks through the door.  But, we like to be there to answer questions and whatnot. Also, open bars.  

See, look how pretty and prepared we are. 

Leslie was really racking in the points on this evening.  She got propositioned by no less than two men over the age of 60, one of whom offered to put on her dress.  More importantly, she spent some quality time with the band, Nine Days.  I know what you’re thinking, “That sounds sort of familiar? I feel like I saw them in a Korean Karaoke book the last time I was drunk, I mean totally sober, in Koreatown.”

You’re pretty close.  Nine Days wrote “Absolutely (The Story of A Girl); the song that defined a tween generation in 2000.  You know how it goes, “This is the story of a girl, who cried a river and drowned the whole world, and while she looked so sad and lonely there, I absolutely love her. When she smiiiiiiiiiilles.”  I for one, spent many a night belting that out with other like minded 13 year old girls during sleepovers.  But, seeing as it’s been 13 years since Absolutely’s debut, we didn’t recognize the band…sorry guys.  

What we thought was just some NYC cover band started jamming right before the doors opened.  I remember thinking to myself, “I wonder what it actually takes for a band like that to get signed and become recognizable.” (Again, sorry guys.)  And then, the band suddenly stopped and an 80s mix tape came over the sound system, blaring out “Like a Virgin” and the Sir Mix A Lot big butts song.  We heard the band blew out the power.  Curious. 

A little later, Leslie was wandering around and ran into the lead singer of the band.  Now, I only heard this story second hand from Leslie, but this is how I imagine the conversation went: 

Leslie:  Hey dude, what happened to the music?

Lead Singer:  Huh?

Leslie:  It stopped.    

Lead Singer: (silence…)

Leslie: You were playing…then you weren’t playing any more… I heard you blew out the power…so they put the music on…

Lead Singer:  Yeah, that’s called a sound check.  (Walks away.)

We didn’t find out that it was Nine Days until after this conversation went down.  10 points to Feinberg.  

And then we finished up the nights when someone insisted we have a shot of Don Julio.  We were reluctant until we dragged 8 other strangers into it as well.  Bad drinking decisions always seem better when more people are going to suffer in the morning as well.  For the last time, sorry guys.  

And of course, most importantly, City Harvest raised tens of thousands of dollars to help feed the hungry.  Yay! 

—Brooke

Working on new flavors for spring…

There is nothing more fun for us than custom orders. It gives us the opportunity to mess around with new flavors, liquors, and techniques, while allowing us to reach a whole new audience.

Last week, we got a call from one of my favorite whiskeys in the whole wide world- Jameson. No great surprise, but it turns out Jameson (or their umbrella corporation, Pernod), is a fantastic place to work. Not only do you have a great opening line at any bar, ready access to lots of delicious liquor, and a perfect excuse for weeknight drinking (researching the competitors, naturally), but every so often your bosses decide to throw a company Happy Hour including booze, merriment, and yep, you guessed it- alcoholic cupcakes. 

For this particular party, Jameson wanted our take on the classic Jameson and Gingerale. After a few attempts that just weren’t quite ginger-y enough, we finally ended up with these beauties. Ginger cake, Jameson and gingerale filling, and Jameson frosting, with lime to garnish. Now whatever will we do with the last of the Jameson?

—Leslie

Prohibition Bakery cupcakes.