CTTC friend and foodie, Valerie Amedee, traveling through Thailand, sent in this review and the accompanying photos. Thanks, Val!
(edited for length)
"... I met Khun (Thai for Miss, Mrs., Ms., and Mr.) Pui, who makes cupcakes. Her bakery is called “Pii and Pii Cupcake.” Here’s the text from the box:
พีแอนด์พีคัพเค้ก
ตัวแทนจำหน่าย ทั้งปลีกและส่ง
(cell phone 089-784-6060; land line 045-724-399; the country code for Thailand is 66, so the land line is 66-45-724-399. The cell phone probably can’t be reached from outside of Thailand)
Khun Pui.I think the text roughly translates as:
“P and P Cupcakeself-representing sales, independent, with delivery”
(The text, word for word, reads:
“Pii and Pii Cupcake
self represent sell/distribute
whole separate and deliver”)
I have only seen Khun Pui there once. But her cupcakes looked fun and tasty. They were colorful and artistic, and I knew I had to write to CTTC about them. And at 10 baht each – 3 for a dollar! – I had to try some.
They were individually baked in parchment-paper cups, and Pui gave little plastic spoons to each customer. This was necessary, because the parchment was pretty heavy-duty and would not have peeled off without destroying the cupcake. The frosting was rich, the kind of fancy buttercream frosting that pastry artists sometimes practically sculpt with. Pui told me not to refrigerate the cupcakes; I think this had to do with the frosting. They were a delight to look at. I almost didn’t want to dig into them.
I tried coffee, orange, strawberry, and chocolate. The little balls were crispy, like little miniature cookies or meringues, and flavored for the cupcake. The frosting was very rich. The cake itself was rather dry, and not especially sweet. Most of the strong flavor was in the frosting and decoration.
When I’ve had Asian pastries, I’ve noticed that they tend to not be as sweet as American pastries. That was certainly true in this case. But have you ever had a cupcake that was so sweet that it made you feel a little sick? What was nice about the cake being a little dry and not so sweet was that it didn’t sit in my stomach like a rock. I got to eat a tasty, artistic cupcake, but I didn’t feel heavy afterward. And here, in the tropics, that’s important. I once had a soda here and the sugar gave me a splitting headache. It’s easy to get dehydrated, and too much sugar on top of that isn’t a good idea. So I got the experience of a cupcake that was obviously made with love, but the cake itself acted like a “chaser,” absorbing the sugar from the frosting once I had eaten it. So I didn’t get a sugar rush or feel sick from too much sugar.
Yasothon is not a tourist destination. Which is a shame, because the people here are so nice. If you are ever in Thailand, it is worth an eight-hour bus ride to come to the northeast and just chill out for a few days. Seriously, do it. The people are really that awesome. And there are good cupcakes, if you’re willing to look for them."
Written by Valerie Amedee for Cupcakes Take the Cake.
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