Cupcake Weekend

Got some cuppies from Vanilla Bakeshop: passion fruit, chocolate peanut butter, and chocolate raspberry. Also got from BabyCakes: Banana, Red Velvet, and Chocolate. YUM!

Oh, I must have eaten the chocolate peanut butter one before I took this picture.

Cupcakes for a BBQ

I made some cupcakes for the boyfriend's bosses BBQ last weekend and they were a big hit. I opted for the vanilla/vanilla flavor combo because of its general likeability. People really loved them, but I honestly felt they were not as moist as I would have liked. I have to say the most moist cupcakes I have made have been from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World, despite the obvious lack of butter. I used the recipe for cake and frosting from Bakeralla's site.

Also, apologies for my last of posts lately. I've actually been to a lot of restaurants and have made some tasty food lately but I have been so busy during the day with my new full-time job (4 month mile stone in a couple of days, yay for me) that I have not been in the mood to spend much time on the computer when I get home. But, I must try harder.

Cheerio

Happy Easter

Hi! I am re-posting last year's Easter photos because I don't think I am going to be cooking or making treats this year. I made these pretty cupcakes last year. My cupcakes came out too dry, but basically you can make any cupcake you want, then, pipe frosting in a circle around the edge of the cupcake. Color some coconut with green food coloring in a bowl, and then place that in the center. Top with a few tasty candy eggs and you have some lovely little nests! Have a great Easter everyone! = : )

Halloween Cupcakes

Check out these adorable "mummy" cupcakes I made last year. I don't have time to make any this year : ( These mummies are super cute and pretty easy. I used the recipe for pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, but you could really use any cupcake flavor with any white frosting. Get some mini-M&Ms for eyes. Use a flat ribbon piping tip make the mummies wrapping, then place two of the M&M's for eyes on each one. I used a small tube of the stuff you buy to write on cakes, black seemed to work best, and just dotted each M&M with that to make a pupil.

BOO!

Eat Chocolate and Still Look Hot

Like any girl living in LA, I try to keep my weight down. But I love food, and I love chocolate, so sometimes there can be a conflict of interest. I experimented with making some low calorie chocolate cupcakes, but they came out AWFUL-I had to throw them all out. So, I gave up on trying to make something healthy, chocolate and low-cal. Instead, I turn to the goodies shown in the photo above. OK, the cupcakes and brownies have refined sugar and white flour and even some chemicals, but sometimes, it's just necessary. Thankfully, the plain dark chocolate is quite healthy, so you could just stick with that if you want.

1. Trader Joe's 100-calorie 70% Dark Chocolate Bars
   While any dark chocolate is good, these bars are pre-portioned and individually wrapped, so you can't "accidentally" eat too much of it. Plus it's smooth Belgian chocolate, so it tastes awesome. It also says on the package that each portion has more antioxidants than a 1/2 cup of blueberries. Sweet!



2. No Pudge Fudge Brownies
   These have been around for a while for good reason. They're super chewy, chocolaty, and at 120 calories for each good-sized brownie, a good choco-calorie bargain. My boyfriend said they were the best brownies he's ever had. Wow, so that's a win-win.



3. Hostess 100-Calorie Packs Chocolate Cupcakes
   Now, these have artificial stuff and chemicals, but they taste really good. You get three tiny cakes for 100 calories. Sometimes I just pop one of them for 33 calories and that's all I need to make it through the evening.

Cupcakes from Blue Bird Cafe

I had lunch at the Blue Bird Cafe in Culver City and we picked up a couple of cupcakes. The vanilla cake was great! One of the best vanilla's I've had.

Pictures below taken with an i-Phone.. (I can't take credit for them, my new Project Manager took them, artsy, huh?)

Oh, by the way, the food at the Blue Bird is really good too. I like the Turkey Reuben.

Blue Bird Cafe
8572 National Blvd.
Culver City, CA
310-841-0939

What does the "cutest" cupcake look like?

Update: Winners have been posted from the Martha Stewart Cutest Cupcake contest. They are gorgeous!

Click to see the winning photos.

This week Martha Stewart launched her "cutest cupcake" competition. At first I was not going to participate because the reward is a "cupcake tree" from the MS collection. I mean, come on, that is straight up cheap. I am thinking a much more suitable reward would be a trip to NYC to be on the show and create the award-winning cupcake for the world. Alas, that is not the case.

I think I actually found the lavish grand prize: here it is. Please!!! Who doesn't already have that thing!

Nonetheless, I discovered that all you have to do to enter is just upload a photo to the MS site. So, because this is so easy to do, I'll give it a shot upload the pumpkin cupcake photo I took a few weeks ago, and a few others, and see what happens.

In the mean time, you can check out:

Cupcake Week: Cupcake of the Day
Cupcake Contest Page
Cupcake Photos Submitted

Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Cupcakes with Cinnamon "Cream Cheese" Icing (Vegan)

It's funny what ends up happening when I run out of milk and therefore can't eat my Kix for breakfast, and can't make any baked good with milk for that matter. Vegan cupcakes to the rescue!

I decided to adapt the pumpkin chocolate chip cupcake recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World to try to make things just a little bit healthier. So, I substituted agave nectar for some of the sugar and whole wheat pastry flour for some of the white flour. Because of the extra liquid in the nectar, I was also able to cut the oil in half. I also used less chocolate. Not too shabby, huh?

Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Cupcakes
Makes 12

• 1 cup pumpkin puree (use the Libby's canned, the Trader Joe's organic canned has a totally different texture)
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup light agave nectar
• 1/4 cup soy milk
• 1 t vanilla
  
  
• 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/2 t ground cinnamon
• 1/4 t salt
• 1/3 cup chocolate chunks, chips, or a cut up chocolate bar

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F and grease or put liners into 12 muffin cups.
   
2. In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the first set of ingredients (all the wet ones).
3. Now, gently stir in the dry ingredients with a fork. Don't over stir and don't use an electric mixer.
4. Fold in the chocolate.
5. Evenly distribute the batter into the muffin cups and bake for 23 minutes.
6. Let cool in the pan for 3 minutes, then take them out and place them on a cooling rack.
   
7. Now, I am supposed to tell you to let them cook completely before frosting but I think a warm, muffiny-like cake such as this dipped into the creamy frosting would be just fine.

Cinnamon "Cream Cheese" Frosting
Frosts 12 cakes generously (could make less)

I've made this basic recipe many times and trust me when I say that it tastes JUST like real cream cheese frosting. I think it actually tastes better. You never even have to tell folks it's vegan.. I usually don't.

• 1/2 cup non-hydrogenated margarine, I use Smart Balance Buttery Sticks
• 1/4 cup vegan cream cheese, I use Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese
• 2 cups confectioners sugar, sifted if lumpy
  
• 1 t vanilla
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1/4 t nutmeg

1. Easiest with a KitchenAid Mixer, cream together the margarine and cream cheese until just combined.
2. Mix in the sugar 1/2 cup at a time until smooth and creamy.
3. Mix in vanilla and spices.
4. Frost as you wish!! Store tightly covered in the fridge.
   

If you want to know how to make the cute little fondant flower.. that's in the next post. : ))

Johnny Cupcakes is Coming to LA!

You might think Johnny Cupcakes sells cupcakes.. they don't. But they do sell wicked cool t-shirts. Johnny's a college drop-out from Boston who decided to make a few funny t-shirts as a joke. That was in 2001 and today the t-shirts are a cult following. First opened on Newbury St. (as close as you can get to a Rodeo drive in Boston) they are now opening a store in May on Melrose near Kid Robot and some of the other fun clothing stores. I'm pretty excited about it.

There are some really good things about Johnny's company: they make everything in the U.S. in small batches and they don't sell to big chain stores. Everything is quality and limited edition. If I had known this before I would have bought the t-shirt I had my eye on .. a cupcake moving through a large intestine, sweet!! For now, we'll have to choose from what they have available.

Cupcake Review: Leda's Bake Shop

With no more great cupcakes left in Santa Monica after Le Cupcake shut down. (Oh, and I investigated the scene myself. The whole mall is shut down for renovation, so it probably wasn't that folks were not enjoying their treats as much as I was.) Anyway, I headed up to Sherman Oaks, CA to Leda's Bakeshop. I had the pleasure of driving past the Sherman Oak's Galleria, which is kind of in the sweet movie Kickin' it Old Skool which you should definately check out if you have not already. Anyway... I really loved Leda's. The staff are so friendly and nice. There are just TONS of samples everywhere.. brownies, cookies, scones... once you pop, you can't stop.

They specialize in mini-cupcakes and they have a wide variety, inluding vegan. I tried the dulce de leche. It had a tasty dollup of real.. leche.. under the buttery frosting and atop the vanilla cake. I also tried the pumpkin, this time with fresh orange, under the frosting. The only thing I would not recommend is eating the cupcakes in the car on the drive home; only because Leda's keep their cuppies in the fridge until you take them home and the cold icing tastes too much like biting into a stick of butter. But, once things warm up a little, you're good to go.


Leda's also has class. Not only do you walk in there and see beautiful displays of mouth-watering treats, but Ledette (the owner) prompty emailed me back when I asked how they go about getting their perfect little fondant decorations. I made some and the fondant is SO much easier than the very difficult gumpaste I have wrestled with in the past. I plan on making some little hearts for V-day.

Did I mention they make the CUTEST cupcakes in town with the prettiest fondant decorations? They also make larger wedding and other cakes which are just as pretty.

Leda's Bake Shop
13722 Ventura Blvd.
Sherman Oaks, CA
818-386-9644

Valentine Cupcake Inspiration

I did not make this cupcake. It was made by BlueEyes24 (on Flickr)

I't's that time again, kids. Time to redirect all the dissapointments of your love life (well, not mine : ) to, you guessed it SUGAR!!! But really, I have a whole new appreciation of holidays since I started making cupcakes. It just brings all the childhood-like fun into everything.

So... we must make Valentine cupcakes, right? But what should they look like? Feast your eyes on the sweet Flickr photo pool to the right and check 'em out ---------->

(Tip: Rollover the photo to scroll to more faster)

Update:
I realize the photos to the right kind of stink..I mean, only a couple are good. I am trying desparately folks to find a way to show more cool photos. In the mean time, go to this link for the most gorgeous Valentine cupcakes you'll ever see:

http://www.flickr.com/search/show/?q=valentine+cupcakes&s=int

Le Cupcake Santa Monica shut down!!

Just a couple of weeks after I posted that Le Cupcake had the best cupcakes in Santa Monica, a friend tells me that she stopped by the mall and Le Cupcake is gone!! That's what I get for leaving that post in draft mode so long..

You can still go to their website . The business is actually based in D.C and I am guessing they are still making cupcakes there. Sorry L.A. folks!!

Le Cupcake: Best Cupcakes in Santa Monica

I said it.

It's true. Don't be fooled by Le Cupcake's less than stellar location: Santa Monica Place (mall). Le Cupcake's frosting is the only one in the area with that real, buttery taste. I especially like the vanilla/vanilla combo with it's very faint taste of almond. The cakes are moist and they do a few (about 8, that's a few here in cupcake land) things right without trying too hard with a ton of crazy flavors. The chocolate/banana is also great.

Also, did I mention there is never a crazy long line like some places (Sprinkles)? AND, their boxes have special cupcake inserts so your $20 worth of cupcakes haven't wiped out by the time you get home, like with some places (Yummy). What's not to like?

Lecupcake.com

Peppermint Cupcakes

Since it's the holidays and all, and I LOOVE peppermint, especially when it's around chocolate, I decided to make two different minty-inspired cupcakes: candy cane cupcakes and peppermint cookies and cream cupcakes (the latter won for best cupcake at the LA Cupcake Meetup.) You can make either of these vegan as well! I actually used the cupcake recipes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World for both cakes.. even though I used butter frosting on the cookies and cream cakes. I did this because the vegan recipes are just easy to make.. and a little cheaper, since you don't have to buy all that expensive butter. I don't like to reprint recipes from folks' books, but, all you really need to do is use your favorite vanilla recipe for the candy-cane cakes and your favorite chocolate for the cookies and cream cakes.

Peppermint Cookies and Cream Cupcakes

Start with your favorite recipe for 12 chocolate cupcakes.

• For the cakes and garnish, you will need about 16 of Trader Joe's Candy Cane Joe-Joe's cookies. If you can't get these, regular Oreos will be OK. For vegans, you can use Newman's Own vegan cookies. You'll need more cookies for the frosting if you can't find the cookie crumbs.
  
• For the frosting, you'll need 1/2 cup of chocolate cookie crumbs. I think the crumbs you buy in the baking section would be best, but I couldn't find those, so I scraped the cream out of some more cookies and crushed them with a rolling pin.


• A few candy canes, crushed up, for garnish
• Real peppermint extract and real vanilla extract

1. Coarsely chop/crush 10 cookies and stir this into the batter before baking.
2. Stir the 1/2 cup of the crumbs into your favorite butter or vegan frosting, along with 1/2 t of vanilla extract and 1/2 t of peppermint extract.
3. Frost generously when the cakes are completely cooled.
4. Top each cake with 1/2 a cookie (from the remaining 6) and then sprinkle each with the candy cane crumbs.

Candy Cane Cupcakes

For these, I just used vanilla cupcakes and took a small portion of he batter and colored it red. Then, I swirled this onto each cake before I baked them.

Then, I mixed 1/2 teaspoon of peppermint extract into the frosting and sprinkled the top with crushed candy canes.

Mixed Review for Yummy Cupcakes

Yummy Cupcakes on Wilshire Blvd in Santa Monica is one of two locations, the other in Burbank, CA. First off, I like the name... Yummy.. you might have guessed that. Since the shop opened, I have tried a bunch of different flavors: vanilla/vanilla, chocolate/chocolate, mocha, cookies & cream, chocolate mint, brown-sugar cinnamon, peanut butter & jelly, Elvis, Lemon Tart (although I swear it was topped with whipped cream and not buttercream) and probably some others I can't remember. What makes Yummy different from other cupperies is it's unique and creative flavors.

The verdict? Very mixed!! I love the Lemon Tart and Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes. The flavors taste real (as in real peanut butter, real lemon). But, in other cakes, the taste was different. The banana cake in the Elvis cupcake tasted more like flavoring than real banana. Also, the freshness has been spotty. The vanilla/vanilla cupcake I swear was at least day-old. In general, the plain cupcakes like chocolate and vanilla aren't very good. I know the website says they use the best ingredients, but there is just something about the frosting that just tastes.. fake. I would recommend getting one of the more creative variations because I think the added flavors mask the quality issue.

Finally, they NEED some better packaging. If you get one cupcake, it isn't in an appropriately sized wax bag like Sprinkles, it's in a brown paper lunch bag that immediately starts to absorb frosting causing those greasy spots all over the outside of the too-small bag. You can't get your cake out of it without messing it all up. Also, the boxes have no stability. They put two or three cakes in a box and they all just fall everywhere (see my bottom pic, my poor boyfriend presented me with that yesterday). They should take a hint from Le Cupcake and put inserts into their boxes.

Anyway, overall, mixed. Try them for yourself : )

Yummy Cupcakes
313 Wilshire Blvd
Santa Monica, CA 90401
310-393-8283
www.yummycupcakes.com

Blue Rose Cupcake

I am recovering from surgery so my dear friend Katharine gave me this adorable cupcake. I love the way the whole top is one big rose. It was almost like getting a flower as well. It tasted awesome! Like a white birthday cake.

Thanks, darling!!

Cupcake Ban!?!

I've been reading some of the news articles Google has been posting to my blog in the right-side column. Essentially, school districts in New Jersey, Arizona and elsewhere are banning cupcakes brought to school to celebrate kids' birthdays. I agree with this article which points out that this is totally F$%*-ed up!

We all know cupcakes aren't good for you. Ok, maybe they are straight up bad for you in many cases. But, there is actually room for food that is bad for you in all of our diets. Reality dictates this. Who eats healthy food all the time? NO one! The time to eat these unhealthy foods are days when we treat ourselves, when there is a celebration, when we remember that life is about guilty pleasure sometimes. As long as it's in moderation, it is OK. Teaching kids they shouldn't celebrate a birthday with cake just sends the wrong message about when treats are supposed to be eaten. If not on a birthday, then when?

I was involved in the Big Sister program back in Boston. My little sister, who was 10, would tell me she had 2 Cokes at school that day. 2 Cokes??? I didn't have soda until I could buy it at the store at age 12. Why are these available in school to begin with? School lunch when I was young was portion controlled food with MAYBE a small cookie for dessert and MILK. Now, kids eat buffet style and pick whatever it is they want, including soda. They have vending machines full of crap available to them all day long. THIS is what needs to change. I am one of those gals who will run a tight ship when I have a family. Elementary school is when we should be teaching our kids what to eat and building good habits with what we serve, not giving them the choice to eat all that crap. Kids are too young to make healthy choices at that age. But, we shouldn't start with birthday cupcakes. It's not about birthdays, it's about every day, healthy eating.

Vegan Anise Agave Cupcakes

Let me explain the inspiration for these cupcakes:

I am 10 years old and I've just walked into the local Italian bakery in East Boston, Massachusetts. The smell is of anise, sesame, rum, blueberries and sugar. I look at the strawberry cheesecakes, reserved only for birthdays in my family. These cheesecake are softer than the New York kind, almost fluffy, and covered in fresh strawberries and gooey strawberry glaze...pretty much the best thing about birthdays when you're 10 years old.

The girl behind the counter slices the scali bread in the big metal slicer, and then hands slices of room-temperature Sicilian pizza to the kids for lunch. The cheese is one solidified layer over a cooled tomato sauce. The Neapolitan pastries are so pretty, with their vanilla and chocolate ribbons intertwined over layers of flaky pastry and boiled custard cream. One of my favorites, the half-moons, beckon me from their case. Otherwise known as "black and whites", these soft, cake-like cookies are frosted with chocolate icing on one half and vanilla on the other, giving them their lunar name.

I'm probably in the bakery because we're buying pastry to take to my grandmother's house, or maybe my dad feels like treating us on a Sunday. At any rate, getting a pastry is a special occasion. Then, I see them, the bags of snowball-shaped cookies covered in thin white icing and rainbow sprinkles. Some are flavored with lemon or vanilla, but my favorite is anise. They sit next to towers of similarly flavored pizzelles: flat, waffle-like cookies that crumble to your touch.

I pick up the bag of anise snowball cookies and smell it. Inhaling the sweet, licorice aroma is pure heaven. My dad sees my joy and takes the bag from me, bringing it to the cash register. As we leave the shop I spring out into the sunshine and run through the parking lot. I can't wait to get home and eat my cookies. It's going to be a great day.

When you read my story, you understand my thoughts behind these cupcakes. The agave cupcakes in VCTOTW are golden and full-flavored, yet receptive to any additional flavors to be layered into them. Light agave nectar is a wonderful sugar alternative and is healthier than refined, white sugar. It's natural, but doesn't have the same effect on the body as white sugar, so it's better for diabetics and those on low-glycemic index diets like South Beach, the Zone, etc. I did use confectioner's sugar in the icing, but the amount of icing is so small, it is a much lower-calorie alternative than other frosted cupcakes, and to me, taste amazing.

For those who haven't tried anise, it comes from the seed of the star anise plant. Although it tastes similar to licorice, fennel or Zambuca, I believe it's taste is unique. I say this because I don't like licorice, fennel, or Zanbuca, but I love anise. Buy it in extract form. The only place I was able to find it on the west side is the Italian market inside the Bay Cities Italian Deli and Bakery. This is the only place that has the stuff I'm used to getting back home in East Boston and the North End: olives, parmigiana reggiano, frozen ravioli, Nutella, etc.

The recipe? You'll have to buy VCTOTW to get the agave nectar cupcake recipe. [Don't fret chicklets! You can make these adjustments to any vanilla cupcake recipe with awesome results!! ]Instead of 1.5 teaspoons of vanilla and .5 teaspoons of almond, I used .5 of vanilla extract and .5 of anise extract for 12 cupcakes. The MOST important part is the icing: Take a bunch of powdered sugar, add a little soy milk and a little anise extract. Stir it all up. It should be the texture of Elmers glue (my icing is too thin in the photo above). Drizzle in the middle of each cooled cupcake and let it spread out. While the icing is still wet, sprinkle on the rainbow sprinkles, the tiny round kind, not the jimmies. Prego!!!!

This guy can really make cupcakes

I just learned about this guy, William Sledd, on Yahoo today. Apparently he has a very funny Youtube channel mostly about fashion.. so I checked it out. .. it's 9:30 am and I haven't started working yet (well, I could consider this work because I am an "Internet Professional" and this is kind of like research, anyway) because I just want to watch more of his videos! So funny!! He also has a couple of baking videos, so check out this one.. haha:



His Youtube channel is at: http://www.youtube.com/user/WilliamSledd

Vegan Cupcakes!!

Vegan cupcakes rock!! There are so many reasons for this. Here are six:

1 is that they don't affect animals in any way, which is pretty cool. Although I am not a vegan, I love animals, and I sometimes get vegan-envy.

2: they taste awesome. I've only tasted the vegan cupcakes I have made, but I can honestly say that they taste better than many of their non-vegan counterparts. So far they have been light yet moist enough, and flavorful. They don't give you that "wow, that was rich" feeling that some buttery cupcakes do. Although I like that feeling, it is nice to lighten things up, especially in the summer. While the frosting does have more of a bakery taste than a homemade taste because shortening is used instead of butter, it also has a guilty-pleasure feeling because it reminds you of a Twinkie or a birthday cake with oodles of white fluffy bakery frosting.

3: They are simple to make. Because most of the recipes don't require the creaming of butter, just mixing up the flour, oil, and other ingredients is a relatively simple task.

4: They are healthier than non-vegan cakes. In the recipes I have used, the cakes are made with healthy canola oil and the icing made with non-hydrogenated shortening, which are better fats than butter.

5: Vegans tend to be cool. For example, if you read the bible of vegan cupcakes: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, you'll know what I mean. The authors, like their cupcakes, are full of flavor.

6. Vegan cupcakea are so loved, there is even a Flickr photo pool just for them.

These are my six reasons for loving vegan cupcakes. As I make more of these, you'll see this list grow. Above are two photos of vegan cupcakes I have made from the VCTOTW book. At the top is are the vanilla cupcakes with vanilla "buttercream" frosting. MMMMMMMM.....Next is a crimson velveteen cupcake, the vegan version of red velvet, with "cream cheese" frosting. I think this frosting, made with soy cream cheese actually tastes better than real cream cheese. So, get the book, try them out, and eat more vegan cupcakes : )