Amazing Cupcakes!

Last Sunday, I had the wonderful opportunity of joining my fellow members of the Atlanta Food Blogger's Alliance at the lovely Chocolate Pink. Chocolate Pink began 5 years ago as the brainchild of Pastry Chef Christian Balbierer and Michael Goodrich. They were driven to create a dessert shop of quality, hand-made, from scratch pastry available to the general public. They have definitely succeeded.
The AFBA was invited to participate in the first ever Chocolate Pink Cupcake Tasting Contest. Everyone present was able to taste 8 amazingly inventive cupcake flavors: Chocolate Fudge, Sweet Potato with Brown Butter, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Chocolate Nutella, Dulce de Leche, Pumpkin Maple with Bacon, Strawberry Pop-Tart, and Cookies 'n Cream. Incredibly enough, they offer even more cupcake flavors on their everyday menu!
Of the eight flavors, I thought Strawberry Pop-Tart was outstandingly original, and it tasted just like a Pop-Tart's sophisticated city cousin. The icing was light and airy, but creamy and buttery, as well, because Chocolate Pink uses a Swiss Meringue Buttercream (which I have to learn to make!) The strawberry jam swirled beneath the icing evoked just the right amount of tartness, and the cookie on top added a great crunch. Another favorite was the Chocolate Peanut Butter, which tasted just like a certain peanut butter filled cup. There was a layer of creamy peanut butter buttercream, with a layer of chocolate ganache below and a roasted peanut on top. The textures were fantastic together, and this cupcake won the vote for Best Overall Cupcake. My other two favorites, while the flavors may seem odd, were Sweet Potato and Pumpkin Maple, which I loved more than the Chocolate Peanut Butter!
Another cool thing about Chocolate Pink Cupcakes are the variety of icing and cake base combinations. There are 7-8 different types of cake bases used. These are not your grocer's boxed cupcake mix!
So...enough waxing on about all those cupcake flavors. I have good things to share! I am posting a coupon below for one free cupcake, no purchase required, with an additional 25% off anything else you might like to purchase in the store AND the recipe for the amazing Chocolate Pink Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcake! They were so generous to share this with us and I hope that you will enjoy this in your own home!