Starbucks - "The Gary" Drink

If you're a fan of Brad Goreski and his husband Gary Janetti like I am, you probably have seen a million photos of an iced Starbucks drink on social media linked to the two of them, haha.  Brad recently posted a montage of Gary ordering the same drink at Starbucks at a bunch of locations while on vacation, and some versions of the drink seemed to fare better than others based on Gary's reaction.  Of course I wasn't the only one that went out and tried "The Gary" shortly after seeing these posts!

Based on the videos, "The Gary" is:
- Starbucks Grande Iced Mocha
- 2 pumps of Mocha
- Almond Milk
- No whipped cream

I got the Tall version of "The Gary" and I loved it!  I like almond milk to begin with and I think it adds a little extra flavor to the drink as well.  I love that this fun and silly social media post got so many people to try Gary's Starbucks drink of choice :o)  I also posted on Instagram that I wondered if my pre-order of Gary's book (Do You Mind if I Cancel?) would come with "The Gary", and he replied that it sadly does not, haha!

Georgetown Cupcake - Vanilla and Buttercream Cupcake

This may look like the regular Vanilla Squared cupcake from Georgetown Cupcake - but the difference in in the frosting!  This free secret flavor has the classic vanilla cake base, but instead of a cream cheese based frosting, this one is all vanilla buttercream.  Many people may associate buttercream frosting with wedding cakes or maybe grocery store cakes, but this buttercream frosting is rich without being cloying or overly thick.  Be sure to try this out if you like classic vanilla flavors! 

Georgetown Cupcake - Chocolate-dipped Chocolate Toffee Crunch Cupcake

Before I talk about this cupcake, I want to mention how much I've loved the change to these cute patterned bags at Georgetown Cupcake - very festive! 

This Chocolate-dipped Chocolate Toffee Crunch cupcake has a very long name, first of all, haha.  But the many components made for a delicious secret flavor cupcake! The chocolate cake had little bits of toffee throughout, with a thick chocolate ganache on top.  This was perfect with my soy latte at Starbucks, and a very decadently chocolate-y way to start off my day :o)

Starbucks - Pumpkin Spice Latte Sleeve

Everyone that knows me knows my love of pumpkin foods, especially Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice Latte!  When I saw online that Starbucks was running a promotion on Twitter for a PSL coffee cup sleeve, I was all over it immediately!

I wasn't exactly sure what to expect, but I was very pleasantly surprised to see this nice little box in the mail...

...with this awesomely cheesy and wonderful celebration of Pumpkin Spice Lattes inside! The knit sleeve is a bright orange color and says "TEAM PSL", and it's the perfect way to declare my love of the Pumpkin Spice Latte, haha.  Thank you to Starbucks for having such a great promotion! 

Georgetown Cupcake - Chocolate-dipped Butterscotch Chip Cupcake

This recent secret flavor at Georgetown Cupcake was available when my friends Nothing Mundane made a stop in DC on their tour of the country - it's always nice to have visitors, especially when free cupcakes are involved :o)  Be sure to check out their blog to follow along on their RV journey! 

You can't really tell in the photo, but the cake had a LOT of little butterscotch chips throughout, which added lots of concentrated butterscotch flavor in every bite.  With the sweetness of butterscotch in general, I'm glad they stuck with the thin chocolate ganache as the topping for this one - it may have been a little overwhelming with a standard frosting swirl.  It was a fun weekend with friends in town, capped off by this delicious free cupcake! 

Georgetown Cupcake - Chocolate Sundae Cupcake

This festive little cupcake from Georgetown Cupcake is a variation of the popular Banana Split cupcake.  This version has a rich and delicious chocolate cake base to make it a Chocolate Sundae cupcake.  I love the colorful tiny sprinkles and of course the swirls of chocolate fudge on top.  It's no surprise that little kids love this flavor because it's so fun to look at, and even adults can feel like a kid again with this cupcake :o) 

Georgetown Cupcake - Chocolate Mint Ganache Cupcake

In line with yesterday's Chocolate Mint Crunch cupcake, this free secret flavor from Georgetown Cupcake has a different type of mint chocolate combination.  

This Chocolate Mint Ganache cupcake looks like a regular Chocolate Ganache cupcake at first glance, but the secret is in the minty green frosting core.  I loved the little surprise frosting core and it added a nice pop of color to the chocolate cupcake!  Anyone that likes Andes mints would love this cupcake :o)

Georgetown Cupcake - Banana Hazelnut Cupcake

This Banana Hazelnut cupcake from Georgetown Cupcake isn't exactly a combination that I would've thought of for a cupcake - but somehow it works out really well, haha.  

The banana cake base is covered in a thin layer of chocolate ganache, and then rolled in plenty of chopped candied hazelnuts.  All together, it tastes like a Nutella banana bread with plenty of crunch, aka delicious! As you can see it's fully covered with the chopped hazelnuts, which provide an excellent crunch in every bite.  Anyone that likes banana bread will love this variation! 

Georgetown Cupcake - Chocolate-Dipped Mocha Chocolate Chip Cupcake

Chocolate + coffee is always a fantastic combination, and this Chocolate-dipped Mocha Chocolate Chip cupcake from Georgetown Cupcake is a great example of that.  This free secret flavor that was offered recently was so delicious, and perfect for anyone that loves those two flavors.  A mocha cupcake is studded liberally with mini chocolate chips, then dipped in their glossy chocolate ganache.  As it turns out, this cupcake also pairs nicely with a cup of real coffee, haha.  I really hope they bring this back again, it was delicious! 

Georgetown Cupcake - American Birthday Cupcake

A few days late, but I just had to share this super festive Georgetown Cupcake cupcake from the recent holiday weekend.  This is the American Birthday cupcake which was offered as the free secret flavor on the 4th of July.  It's a Vanilla Squared cupcake with a pretty red and blue swirl on the frosting, and a gigantic red, white, and fondant star. While the flavor wasn't necessarily anything new, I love how they took a classic cupcake flavor and went all out with the decorations.  I loved how bright the fondant star and swirls on the frosting were - so patriotic!

Georgetown Cupcake - Caramel Sundae Cupcake

Georgetown Cupcake has offered a few different variations of their Sundae cupcake, and this Caramel Sundae version was a great one!  The main difference is the caramel cake as the base for the vanilla frosting, chocolate fudge, chopped nuts, and sprinkles.  I love Georgetown Cupcake's caramel cake, and it went perfectly with the other "sundae" ingredients.  I hope they offer this as a free secret flavor again sometime! 

Georgetown Cupcake - Raspberry Peach Cupcake

This recent free secret flavor was a fun variation on Georgetown Cupcake's regular fruit-based cupcakes! This consists of a raspberry cake topped with peach frosting.  As you can see, there's plenty of fruit throughout, especially in the peach frosting with the little orange-ish bits.  The combination of raspberry and peach reminded me of both fruit iced tea and Popsicles, haha.  The flavors work really well together, and since it's fruit-based this is totally healthy, right? 

Georgetown Cupcake - Banana Caramel Cupcake

Bananas and caramel might not seem like a natural match at first, but of course the good folks at Georgetown Cupcake manage to make it work, haha.  

This free secret flavor consisted of their delicious banana cake topped with a generous amount of caramel frosting.  Thinking about it now, I've seen recipes online before for banana bread with caramel glaze, so it probably isn't too much of a stretch to put the two together.  This worked really well as a cupcake flavor, with the banana and caramel flavors balancing each other out nicely.  This was a fun flavor to try out! 

Georgetown Cupcake - "I Love Mom" Chocolate Ganache Cupcake

Yesterday was Mother's Day, and while my mom and I celebrated last week when she came to visit, I was able to enjoy this cupcake on her behalf, haha.  This free secret flavor is Georgetown Cupcake's classic chocolate cake with chocolate ganache frosting, topped off with a Mom fondant heart.  It was a super cute cupcake, and rich with chocolate flavor.  I hope other moms everywhere celebrated with cupcakes, or another equally sweet dessert on Sunday! 

Georgetown Cupcake - Chocolate Chip Cupcake

A classic flavor is always a good idea, and this Chocolate Chip cupcake from Georgetown Cupcake is no exception.  As you can see, the cake portion is filled to the brim with lots of mini chocolate chips - yum! The thick chocolate frosting was very decadent and added an extra punch of chocolate goodness to the cake.  This cupcake was perfect with a tall glass of milk!  Georgetown Cupcake should definitely consider making this flavor part of the regular menu - I think it would be a big hit! 

Georgetown Cupcake - Vanilla M&M Cupcake

What a perfect signature swirl!  

This colorful secret flavor from Georgetown Cupcake is the Vanilla M&M cupcake.  It consisted of vanilla cake with M&Ms baked in, and a swirl of orange colored vanilla frosting.  I loved the bright orange frosting, and how the you could see the M&Ms through the cupcake wrapper.  I hope they bring this one back again, it was delicious! 

Georgetown Cupcake - Chocolate-covered Raspberry Cupcake

This free Chocolate-covered Raspberry cupcake was another one of the "chocolate-covered" series that Georgetown Cupcake was offering for a while, with lots of different cake flavors.  

As you can sort of see through the wrapper, there are little bits of fresh raspberry in the vanilla cake, which adds flavor and texture to the cake portion.  The thick chocolate ganache glaze is also delicious, and really makes it taste like you're eating fruit that's been dipped in one of those chocolate fountains, haha! 

Georgetown Cupcake - Mocha Fudge Cupcake

I got to try out the Mocha Fudge cupcake from Georgetown Cupcake a few times- as a free secret flavor, and as a menu purchase.  I love the way this particular cupcake flavor looks, hence the two different photos, haha.

The Mocha Fudge cupcake consists of a Valrhona chocolate cupcake filled with rich fudge and topped with mocha-infused frosting, a fudge star drizzle, and a chocolate espresso bean.

I LOVE the mocha frosting, it is definitely my favorite part of this cupcake.  It's like eating coffee ice cream (also one of my favorites) in frosting form, yum.  The other chocolate components go really well with the mocha frosting, and this really is like a Mocha in cupcake form - so good! 

Ben & Jerry's - The Tonight Dough

What a fun package to come home to!  Soon after I heard about this new Jimmy Fallon Tonight Show-themed ice cream flavor, I was lucky enough to win a pint from Ben & Jerry's directly, via a Twitter contest.  

The Tonight Dough consists of caramel & chocolate ice creams with chocolate cookie swirls & gobs of chocolate chip cookie dough & gobs of peanut butter cookie dough.  I love that it makes multiple references to "gobs", we should really be using that word more often, haha.  

As you can see, there's a lot going on in this pint!  It's like cookie dough and peanut butter ice cream mixed with caramel - so so good!  The chocolate cookie swirls reminded me of my favorite flavor, Milk & Cookies, and are always welcome in my book.  This new flavor is awesome for just about anyone that likes ice cream! 

Georgetown Cupcake - Chocolate-dipped Maple Chocolate Chip Cupcake

Chocolate-dipped AND chocolate chips? Count me in!

This chocolate-filled treat from Georgetown Cupcake is a Chocolate-Dipped Maple Chocolate Chip cupcake.  I love that the cake tastes like chocolate chip pancakes, thanks to the extra maple flavor in each bite.  The little chocolate chips add the perfect amount of texture to the cake.  Anything chocolate-dipped is delicious, and this has a thick coating of chocolate ganache to make it extra decadent.  A must-try if you love chocolate!