What goes better with private sales, tanning and blogging than free mini cupcakes? Big cupcakes. Just kidding. Thursday, Chloé and I went to check out the APERopping event (play on words, Apero for apéritif or cocktail, and shopping. Very creative) less for the shopping than for the dégustation by the famed Little Miss Cupcake. LMC prides herself as being the original American cupcake baker in Paris and deservedly so. Trained at the Institute of Culinary Education in Manhattan, she works out of her home in the 17th and boasts virtually the entire expat community as her clients. She has even provided her sweet treats for meetings at Printemps, one of Paris’ largest department stores. Quite a change from her former life as a fast-paced advertising exec in NYC.

LMC Flickr

For the Shopping and Bubbles event at the Tan Center (yes, not only were we privy to scrumptious sweets but a free UV session as well… I passed on the cancer., however), LMC prepared the following cupcakes:

From left to right:
* Chocobutter – chocolate cupcake with peanut butter cream cheese frosting (MY FAVE)
* Chocolat Chaud – chocolate cupcake with chocolate buttercream flavored with a pinch of cayenne + cinnamon
* White Russian – coffe cupcake, drizzled with Bailey’s Irish Cream and topped with Bailey’s buttercream
* Choco Raspberry Berry Berry Good – chocolate cupcake with raspberry buttercream
* Caramel Dolce – vanilla bean cupcake with caramel buttercream

After my disappointing findings from my field research at Berko, I’ve finally tasted authentic American-style cupcakes, with the proper ratio of cake to icing. Bravo! I agree with Chloe who thought that they tasted homemade, not right out of a bakery which is actually a good thing. Warms the soul, that’s for sure. She has been written about by the coveted online Paris guide, My Little Paris, mentioned in Grazia France, L’Express among others.

LMC Flickr

>Much to her dismay, her cupcakes were recently attributed to an LA news story about a dead man mistaken for Halloween decorations, proving that not all press is desired!

My only complaint about the evening is that the organizer, MarieLuvPink, was rather surly with an attitude, overly bobo. After trying to engage her and talk about how she came up with the location for her event and getting terse one-word answers I realized I wasn’t quite her target.

On the upside, the jewelry designer Alice Hubert was extremely welcoming and friendly and her designs were original and fun. I bought a pair of more discreet turquoise earrings, but I can definitely see her Nu Look series (above) appealing to certain friends of mine (Nina??)

Over all, it was worth the trip to the 8th, if only to finally put a face to Little Miss Cupcake!

Follow her on twitter @lttlemisscupcake