Passion Fruit cupcake from Kara's Cupcakes

If you didn't already know, this week is Valentine's week and today is February 14th AKA Valentine's Day. 

Kara's Cupcakes on Scott Street in SF 

photo by Nikki DeMartini

Pink and red packaged candy for the "Hallmark holiday" has lined store shelves for weeks now, as it does every new year. It's not surprising that cupcake places cash in on this with Valentine's Day themed cupcakes and Kara's Cupcakes in SF is one of those places. 

Kara's Cupcakes not only has cupcakes that are Valentine's Day ready, they also have heart shaped cookies and candies. As tempting as all of the sweets at Kara's were, I stuck with what I went there to get, a Valentine's Day cupcake. 

The store on Scott Street had just opened and the display cases were filled with all of the flavors. I had no idea what flavor I wanted, all I knew was that it had to had a heart on it. I'm a sucker for flourless chocolate cake but chocolate is everywhere on V-Day. The Raspberry sounded good and appropriate with it's pink and white frosting. The s'mores cupcake sounded good too even though the only thing tying it to Valentines Day was the pink heart that sat on it's toasted marshmallow topping. That and the fact you can say things like, love s'more. 

Really though, who was I  kidding?  All of Kara's cupcakes sounded and looked good. Plus, the place smelled like freshly baked cupcakes which didn't make it any easier to choose one. 

Kara's Cupcakes on Scott Street in SF 

photo by Nikki DeMartini

Valentine's Day is all about love, right? What about passion? 

Someone's passion is their love. 

You passionately kiss your lover. 

You share a hot, passionate night with someone. 

You get a Passion Fruit cupcake from Kara's Cupcakes for Valentine's Day. 

They packed my pick in a cute, custom Kara's Cupcakes, single cupcake box and at just under $4.00 it was the perfect little Valentine treat to treat myself to. 

It's been a while since I've had a Kara's cupcake. I'm not sure when they started calling themselves the San Francisco sweet, but I love it and was tickled when I saw it on the inside of the box when I went to eat my Passion Fruit cupcake. 

Passion Fruit cupcake from Kara's Cupcakes 

photo by Nikki DeMartini

I love frosting so I had a little lick of that first. It was so creamy and smooth and sweet, it's unmistakably a buttercream frosting.  The frosting didn't taste like Passion Fruit or any fruit for that matter so I took a bite of cupcake. The cake was just moist enough with the right amount of buttery goodness and together the cake and frosting were a comforting vanilla. The filling that's listed on the tag in the store must be the Passion Fruit, I thought, so my next bite was a big one. 

Passion Fruit cupcake from Kara's Cupcakes 

photo by Nikki DeMartini

Low and behold, in the center of it is the flavor that gives this cupcake it's name.
It's a  touch of a tart, sweet, custard like filling. The combination of simple vanilla and exotic passion fruit is a good example of how opposites attract, each flavor accentuated the other perfectly. The only other cake combination that might work with a passion fruit filling that I can think of is lemon, maybe. 

More reasons to love Kara's Cupcakes: they use local, sustainable and organic producers (whenever possible) and their cupcakes are baked in small batches daily. These are all qualities that you can taste! For example the red fondant heart on my Passion Fruit cupcake was so soft it practically melted in my mouth and it had a hint of sweetness!

Whatever you find yourself doing today, I hope you do it with fulfilling passion. 

Love yourself, love each other and spread that love. 

Happy Valentine's Day! 

Passion Fruit Cupcake from Kara's Cupcakes 

photo by Nikki DeMartini