A cupcake follow up

A few weeks ago I had the Johnny Cupcakes experience. Remember? It was just that little tiny bitty event that I may have mentioned once or twice. Maybe

:)

When I was there, Just Baked provided the cupcakes for the event. So I was starving and excited that night and I truly didn't taste the cupcake they handed out. I more or less scarfed it down and called it good. As a result I didn't have much commentary (except to say that I thought it was expensive- and later learned that in the cupcake world it was actually pretty cheap)

Welllllllll, today I had the chance to try one again. I went to the mall and finally bit the bullet and bought my new laptop (and also got my iPod fixed! Yippeee!!!)
At the mall I was walking w/ the kiddo's and spied the Just Baked shop and made a beeline towards the counter.





I was suprised to see that the case wasn't full. It was about 11:30 and they had just opened a half hour before... Hm.... Was it just not stocked yet? Or do they just not bake a lot on the weekends? That didn't make sense..
And I was also surprised to see this on the counter:



I didn't know they did celebration cakes too!! It was cute- the colors matched their decor. They also had some cupcake liners for sale although I didn't check out the price tag for those



They had some appetizing options but nothing was jumping out at me, until I saw this:



It was called the Fat Elvis. I'm not an Elvis fan, really. But I think he and I could have had some amazing food binges together. Like in his later, super bloated eat a lot of food days. When I was in Chicago a couple of weeks ago at the Tits N Tats Jamboree (oh, did I tell you about that? Maybe? lol) Natalie made an Elvis Comeback Special cupcake. I think I may have begged her in advance because I love anything involving peanut butter. She kindly did me the favor
Hers were delicious... the buttercream was insane, and she topped them with pretzel M & M's. Have you had those yet?! Buy some today, but beware. They are that good. I won't let myself buy a bag for fear they will take over my life. I still day dream about them. Seriously.
So when I saw Just Baked's version of an Elvis cake, I had to try it.

This is what their description reads: "Our moist banana cake topped with peanut butter-buttercream pillows then hand dipped in our homemade ganache and sprinkled with peanuts"
Basically, a little bit of heaven.

VERDICT: The cake was a faint banana. Not in your face banana, like I like my banana cake. It was also really light and fluffy. It seemed like the focus was on the frosting (which was good) and the ganache and not really the cake.
Given- the cake was moist, it was good. It just wasn't AMAZING. I let Mr. Papers have a bite and he said he liked the cake (BETTER THAN MINE I MIGHT ADD... jerk) so, whatever to each their own.
The frosting and ganache was really really good though. And I liked the addition of chopped peanuts on top.

As I reflect back... I remember why I ate the first "Johnny Cupcake" cupcake so quickly- it was because the cake wasn't dense. It wasn't enough to fill you up, you could eat like 2 MAYBE 3 before you felt you got a good taste.
This is a first in my cupcake experiences. Usually I can eat 2 or 3 BITES of a cupcake and feel like I got a good feel for it.
I wonder if this is intentional... if so, kind of smart.....

Here are some of their other flavor options:
Banana Split, Pineapple Upside Down, S'more, Samoa, Snowball, Orange Creamsicle....

If you ever happen upon one, I'd check it out. Sweet Sandy B gives it a thumbs up. Not way up, but up.

and in other Holy Cow moments... (I can't believe I almost forgot to post this) On Saturday a new person sent me a message on Twitter. She had tasted one of my chocolate chip cookies courtesy of @thehungrypanda who referred by 500th fan on FB.
I smiled as I read her message that said her husband said it was the best of his life. aw, shoot, really? blushing... I got super giddy and replied back to her so quickly she could practically see the drool dripping from my jowels. In my reply to her I mentioned Michael Voltaggio. Don't know him? Good, because that means more for me. To follow it up, I send yet ANOTHER message including his name.
GUESS WHAT? um, he read it and replied to me. twice. And yes you now know of yet another reason why THIS girl is a huge dork.


but seriously? is he not attractive? and he can cook. If he is remotely funny I'm a goner.

Fiddleheads are good, and I'm not even Veg

Talk about pressure. Libby had asked me to make a cake for her sisters wedding vow renewal ceremony/celebration or whatever it's called- a while back. I said sure, yeah OK... and like so many other times when people ask me to make a cake for a certain occassion- I didn't think it would come to fruition. But then it started to get closer and we actually started to PLAN for it- birch tree with ferns/leaves on it. She's such a gem she gave me picture inspirations too!

Truthfully, I kept sliding it to the back of my mind because I was a little scared. A cake that a lot of people would see and eat that weren't my family or close friends... They could give me awful reviews and I wouldn't be there to shame them into saying nice things even if they didn't mean it.

So, when it came time to REALLY plan for it, Libby was specific about flavors even. Lemon, lemon and lemon. Crap. I've never made lemon cake before... or lemon frosting! My mid goes into overdrive as I scour the internet for recipes and went to the grocery store to buy an absurd amount of lemons so I could practice making this cake.

And here it is:






This was actually shot before I added the finishing touches. I wanted Libby to see it before I made it "birch tree"-like and added the initials.
You can go see the FINAL product on my Facebook Page- Sweet Sandy B

DO IT, do it NOW and become my 'fan' :) please?
k, thanks

Long Ago, in a Galaxy far FAR away...

Two weeks ago I was asked to make a Star Wars cake by a co-worker. I was freaked OUT. People are usually very passionate about these movies- the characters, the light sabers, the Luke I am your father.... and every cake decorating show has at least one episode devoted to a Star Wars cake. Super intense, full of drama and an incredible amount of detail. It seems you aren't a cake decorator until you have made a Star Wars cake.

With a ton of anxiety I said OK and started to sketch out some ideas. I came up with this:



Thankfully I got approval and awaited a prototype of R2D2. I searched and searched online to find what the back of his head looked like and couldn't find anything.

Here is how my little cake turned out:





Since I'm still at work for the next 2 weeks I can only do the baking and decorating at night. I've started to plan out my week in advance and assign myself tasks each night so that I'm not going crazy the night before something is due.

I knew that tonight would be insane... well, last night (its 2 in the morning), but I thought I had prepared well enough to complete two cakes tonight and go to bed by midnight. Clearly that didn't happen. It was kind of due to this:



I had an order for a Carrot Cake for one of my FB fans. She and I had never met and she asked if I could make something for her anniversary with her husband (aw!) Super rad that strangers are finding me and I'm baking for them. Of course I said yes. I grated the carrots the night before, chopped the pecans the night before... Thought I could just throw it all together, bake it and frost it while I was waiting for the Star Wars cake to set up. Well... When I remove the cake from the pan it wouldn't budge. SERIOUSLY!? WTF?! I have been using Bakers Secret lately (thanks to PW who uses on her cakes) and it has worked like a charm. I didn't even stop to think I would have issue w/ this one. I've made this carrot cake so many times by now.

I had to make another one. And that added to the kitchen mayhem. Well, that and the chatting I was doing w/ a friend on my phone... sigh... :)

Either way, I have this fail of a cake on my hands. But I did have some extra frosting so





I just ate it....

Dumped... again...

Thankfully, I'm not dating. And there really is no dumping going on... Unless you count my tattoo artist who doesn't speak to me anymore because his Baby Mama might wail on his behind if he does. Dang...

anyhow I was trolling on Bakerella looking for something creative this week. There were some 'ailments' in my house so I have been home w/ the kiddies up at all odd hours of the day and night w/ them. And then I can't get back to sleep and then I'm on the internet. I figure baking sites are better than FB stalking or some such nonsense.

and I found this nice surprise... a prettier and fancier version of the Dump Cake. Courtesy of Bakerella- although she doesn't like the sound of Dump Cake so she came up w/ a prettier name. Hey- it is what it is. Wear it!
Lets go:


You will need: 2 cans of sliced peaches, 1/2 cup to 1 cup of diced nuts (I used Pecans), 1 box cake mix- Yellow or White is fine, 1 stick of butter (or a little more if your PHAT like me), 1 cup of brown sugar.

Pre-heat oven to 350

Then we start the dumping..


Peaches, in you go. (this is a live and learn comment. take it from me. Use the liquid from only ONE of the cans. Dump the juice from the other can OUT)

Then dump the cake mix on top and spread it out evenly.


Next comes butter, cut into little pieces (sound familiar? we've done this already..)


Here is where the rubber meets the road. Dump the cup of brown sugar on top of the butter. I LOVE brown sugar. Brown sugar and butter... It makes me want to do the ice cream and cake dance.


Then, top THAT with the chopped up nuts and spread about.


Finally we throw in the oven for at least 40 minutes. If you use the juice from 2 cans and use 1 1/4 sticks of butter it will take longer. Trust me.. So, be a good reader and use only the juice of one can and 1 stick of butter.

Then you can get started on this.....



Yup, I went and did it. I made HOMEMADE ice cream. FROM SCRATCH. WITHOUT A MACHINE.
I felt so Oregon Trail... and am kind of proud (really proud) of myself. Plus I used y egg yolks up... genius.

WARNING: this took an extremely long time. Like, up all night anyhow w/ sick kids and what the heck, since I'm up may as well check on this ice cream EVERY HALF HOUR for SEVEN HOURS. not kidding. wish I was.

Here is what you need:
FIRST- a fresh out of the oven Peach Cobbler Dump Cake-


yum, huh?

Then you need these ingredients:


2 cups heavy cream, 1 1/4 cup sugar, 2 cups buttermilk, pinch of salt (1/8 tsp), 2 tsps vanilla, 6-12 egg yolks (depending on how many you have around)

Scald the heavy cream and 1 cup sugar. Meanwhile, mix up the egg yolks and 1/4 cup sugar.


Then, sloooooooooowly add the cream to the egg mixture. Once combined and hopefully you havent scrambled the yolks, pour back into the sauce pan and heat on low until you can coat the back of the spoon. (will someone PLEASE give me an estimate of how long this should take? I swear I sit there stirring for at least a half hour)



OK, once you have that spoon coated, pour the mixture through a fine sieve into a metal bowl in an ice bath. Give it a good mix w/ your kitchen aid w/ a whisk attachment, then put in the freezer for 45 minutes.



Whisk it up and then put back in the freezer for another 30 minutes. You are going to keep doing this until the ice cream sets up. I thought this would take 2 MAYBE 3 hours. Not seven. I don't know if it's because I used the Kitchen Aid bowl and it's deep... But seriously it was a mission.


Once you are either fed up or feel like the ice cream is hard enough- take it out, scoop some out and enjoy! Put on top of your favorite Dump Cake, eat it alone, or with some caramel sauce... oh, like that sauce from that Peanut Butter Chocolate Caramel cake! oh wait... I didn't show you that one, did I? next time, next time...

So, will I make ice cream from scratch again? yeah, BUT WITH A MACHINE. This took way too much babysitting. I felt like I had a newborn again and had to feed it every half hour.
But the taste...oh the taste. It was delightful. I wasn't sure about using buttermilk- but it gave it that little tang and for sure tasted homemade. Next time I'm adding different flavors. Strawberry seems to be high on the list today. Strawberries and cream.

I'm off to my friends wedding, hopefully I am feeling better tomorrow and the kids are in tip top shape w/o me for a couple of days.
Have fun w/ this recipe and if you have any other ideas for Dump Cake or ice cream recipes, hook a girl up.

and the hits keep coming...

The following ladies are just ONE reason why my weekend rocked



Just wanted to let you know that my dreams are coming true right in front of my eyes.
This weekend I had plans to go to Chicago for an old college roommates 30th birthday party and since I was going to be there, I made a thousand plans to do other things in the span of 48 hours.
Usually, this never works and you barely even get to do the FIRST thing you had planned to do.

But, apparently I have super human strengths (even though the cloning hasn't yet worked and damn, the teletransporting is not quite up to speed yet) and I was able to do IT ALL.
Some things I can't talk about yet because it's still super secret.
Other things… well, Yeah I'm gonna share because I brain dump on here and it involves sugar and bakeries and I have to tell you everything.

(BTW, I promise I'm putting up a new recipe here shortly.. and this might be short because I'm doing this after driving home for 4.5 hours)

Agenda:
Friday- lisa, Lisa and MORE LISA. food.
Saturday- meet a guy named Aaron for some secret stuff, go on a bakery tour, bake cookies, EAT dinner and talk shop at the first annual Tits N Tats Sweet and Savory Jamboree and meet new friends, Alissa's bday party, crash
Sunday- EAT, toy store, meet Aaron again, new shoes, home.

So, Friday- I meet Lisa (@thebutcherbaker… my NY friend- you know her, I talk about her) for dinner. She is a night owl to the 10th degree... I am a mom therefore AM NOT. I tried to rally and stay up with her but passed out (I gave it a good go- I think I was up 'til like TWO. I know, I party hard. But first we watched Cupcake Wars which features Natalie (@bakeanddestroy), the lady that owns Sweet Lady Janes and the woman that owns Sprinkles. I knew I was going to meet Natalie and taste one of her confections the next night and I had already tasted the goods of the other two women, so I was feeling pretty awesome. Like- dude, check me out- hobnobbing w/ the 'big people'.
and guess what. Lis has a TON of these:



(these are mine actually. well, mine because she GIFTED all but 2 of them to me. she loves me. but i think it's because I give her cookies)

Then Saturday. I wake up to have a true-to-life LEGIT BOMBSHELL , dark haired Jessica Rabbit walking in my living room. My hair is a mess, I have morning breath and here is Shannon (@slashanddine) looking every bit as glamorous as she does on the internet, with PILES OF FOOD. By piles I mean tray after tray AFTER TRAY of bite sized appetizers. WTF? dude, I was just planning on doing cookies for that nights festivities. I felt inept. I felt mom-ish. I needed to brush my teeth.

fast forward to the bakery tour..
Here is a little taste- one of the places I visited...THREE TIMES



At this point in the day I believe I'm super human and also find out that I'm slightly awesome. To at least one person. UNA LAMARCHE. ok, ok… not me, my cookies. But whatever- I made them so that makes me kind of awesome too. (BTW, I'm doing the Chicago bakery tour on another post, so hold your horses. Like you care, really. just wait a day or so. I love you)

GO HERE NOW and read:
http://volcanicensemble.blogspot.com/2010/05/punky-reviewster-sweet-sandy-b.html

I stopped in the middle of a street GIGGLING like a certified insane asylum escapee. I'd like to say I stopped traffic with my good looks, but really cars were honking at me because I wouldn't move. I was transfixed on my Crackberry in my hands reading her blog in teeny tiny print (yes, I got a new Crackberry on Friday because the other one officially died).

When I realized I was in a death like situation, I showed them THIS and they stopped honking, because I get respect:


(this is my brass knuckes zipper pull thing from KidRobot I spoke about before. isn't this awesome? told you you would want one)

My day continued to get better, as did my night.. Here is me eating totally vegetarian food and ENJOYING it. I had 'not chicken and waffles'. I had fakin' wrapped figs. I had PRETZEL M&M's. (side note- if you knew about these delightful candies and you didn't tell me about them, we aren't friends as of Saturday night).



as did TODAY. Great weekend.
I even had time to buy THESE



and I feel so official...

a better zebra...

My beautiful Libby asked me to make a cake for her sister-in-laws 18th birthday. She was so on it- gave me the color scheme and even gave me some sample ideas. It helped A LOT. I put a few different ideas together and drew this cake for her:



She approved and off I went....






I didn't do the fondant ribbon on the bottom as I had hoped I would (per my initial sketch) because it just didn't look good. I went w/ my old stand-by of the dotted border. I also just used the buttercream as the outside frosting on both layers. Initially I was thinking of covering the 2nd tier w/ fondant, but I was able to get the buttercream really smooth and didn't need to use fondant.

another fun cake, a BETTER way to do zebra stripes than when I did the cake for my friend O.G.'s 30th bday cake. I liked the color scheme and was pleased with the outcome.

I have a few cakes coming up in the next few weeks...actually, SIX cake orders in the next 3 weeks! wow... I'm going to be a busy girl...so I better get some rest. Good Night!

The Cupcake Fiasco

Agenda:
Run
Shower/Dress
Drive to LA
cupcakes, cake, treats, macarons, eat eat EAT

First Stop: Sweet Lady Janes
www.sweetladyjane.com

This spot is on Melrose. The (unofficial) Cupcake Tour was to begin at 10:30 a.m w/ breakfast at Sweet Lady Janes so that I could hit Johnny Cupcakes at 11 a.m. when they opened. But, I left late (after NOT running) and there was L.A. traffic on a Saturday a.m. wtf... So, I was late. And this store is tucked away and kind of hard to find- you could walk right by it and never know it's there.
Let see... The decor = ok. The service= ok to bad. The food= hm... Well the tiramisu was piled high in this coffee cup. It was not 'pretty' by any means, but it was tasty. Could completely taste the espresso. My friends chocolate cake was HUGE. It was served really cold so the ganache was not at all creamy. It was good, but not great. I also got a red velvet cupcake which I didn't taste until later and it was dry.
SO, overall the BEST thing I liked was the sticker on the cupcake to-go box. I like their logo.



Next, walked to Johnny Cupcakes (www.johnnycupcakes.com). Let me take the time here to say it was the most beautiful day. Perfect temperature, not a cloud in the sky. Slight breeze and the best weather for a white dress.
Here is the shop:


The store was smaller than I thought. And it was right next door to Agent Provocateur. So, got to check out some racy items as I walked past. As I had anticipated, the decor was awesome and the staff VERY friendly. The same girl from the Suitcase Tour was working and she was actually talking about the tour to another employee. She had just returned 2 days prior and said she was still wiped.



I bought the dark grey hoodie I've been eyeing, a shirt for #1 and some stickers. Happy girl... Then, we went to KidRobot (www.kidrobot.com). That was the toy store I talked about in the earlier post. Loved!! And I want to get more of those mini-Dunny's and some zipper pulls. In case anyone wants to buy some for me. ;)

Next, drive over to Beverly Hills. There was an art fair going on right off Santa Monica so there was MAD traffic. BUT- as I was driving by out of the corner of my eye I see this grouping of paintings. My heart skipped a beat. I yelled out in glee- I LOVE THOSE PAINTINGS!!! I had seen 2 of them at a gallery in San Diego last summer. They were gorgeous- huge canvas paintings of these womens faces with this deep dark black hair... Oh my... Breathtaking. I WISH I knew who the artist was. ..
ok- back on track- Valet Park the car right off Rodeo (lol, the cheapest car by far) and walked to Crumbs www.crumbs.com :


They have some charity cuppies for Oprah and Tony Hawk. I have a similar idea for a cupcake- but that will wait until later ;) They also had a sampler pack so we got that and one GIANT cupcake and saddled up outside for a taste test.



Liked the sign outside a lot- didn't like the mini cupcakes. Again, they were really dry and the frosting was overpowering. The ding dong cupcake was particularly disappointing because we thought that it would have a cream filling. It didnt :(

Then, walked down the street to Sprinkles (www.sprinkles.com). We were warned that there would be a line. Seriously? Yeah, serious. We waited in line for about a half hour to get in.



I loved the clean lines of the store and they do an EXCELLENT job of branding. I mean, their forks and knives had their logo heat pressed in! insane... So were the prices. $4/cupcake. BUT, they did taste good. Better than Crumbs.



Off we went with bags of cupcakes and headed towards the Regent Beverly Wilshire and Paulette (www.paulettemacarons.com). Paulette was the only place I found in the area that was selling Macarons ONLY. I don't think the trend has taken off in LA yet.
It was tucked away on a little side street right off of Beverly.



The Macarons were beautifully displayed and I had a hard time choosing which ones to buy for the 'rents. I also got a salted caramel one to taste myself. I have to preface the taste test by saying I haven't had many Macarons in my time. So I'm not expert. But this one tasted just OK. I wasn't blown away.

As we were walking back to car, an unfortunate accident occurred. I spied Famous Cupcakes right across the street! How did I not find this in my google searches?? Hm.. Well, we had to try it out. Famous Cupcakes uses the Kardashians to hoc their goods. (www.famouscupcakes.com)


The store was VERY bright and airy. But empty. No customers. It had the most seating of any bakery we had been to thus far, and it had the ability to be great. But it just fell short. Seriously it was almost painful to even think about ingesting ANOTHER cupcake, but we had to. So we ordered one- the plain vanilla.

From what I recall, it was good, but not great. The frosting had SO MUCH powdered sugar in it. It was too much. But I got a lot of great ideas for displaying cupcakes and I REALLY liked the super bright colors of the frosting. Although I didn't want to even imagine what it would do to your teeth.



Last 2 stops were in Santa Monica. I was about done here. I was tired, didn't want to sit in traffic and really didn't want to eat any more cupcakes. But, I had the most anticipated store left- Vanilla (www.vanillabakeshop.com).

I love their website and their whole motif. I'm a sucker for the damask I guess and the color scheme... it's so elegant and chic. The store didn't fail me:



At first, I was somewhat let down that there wasn't a huge selection of pastry/cupcakes available. Then I realized it was about 3pm and that there SHOULDN'T be a selection at this point.
They had some cakes on display- nothing huge and fancy like on their website, but you could get their jist. We got 3 mini cupcakes and ate 2. They were definitely good. Right amount of frosting, not too sweet and the cake was still moist. The carrot cake was MUCH better than the carrot cake at Crumbs. This shop got my thumbs up FOR SURE.


We rolled ourselves out of the store and called it a day. I was beyond full and so sugared out.
Final verdicts:
Vanilla had the best tasting cupcakes overall. Sprinkles was also REALLY good. The cake was moist, the frosting a bit much- but I loved their branding. All the other places- not really worth the $4/cupcake.

Wow... reliving it is exhausting! Especially after being baking NINE cakes tonight, along with a dozen cupcakes, 4 batches of cookie dough and one batch of Creme Anglaise. I'm BEAT.

So now you know- Sweet Sandy B's Cupcake Tour of LA is done and I saved you all the leg work. I hear that Orange County has some awesome bakeries too. We'll see if I'm up for it next time I'm home.... but right now, the thought is disgusting