Vanilla Bake Shop

After months and months of hearing about Vanilla Bake Shop in Santa Monica, I finally went to try it out. They didn't have too many things to chose from, but everything they did have was really cute, and tasty.


The first things that caught my eye was the Icebox shots. They looked cuter than they tasted, but I was still impressed. Its a nice alternative from what you usually see in a bakery. The flavors were Southern Banana Pudding, Meyer Lemon Raspberry, Dirt Cake and Turtle Pie. These would be great for a party.


I wanted to try the cupcakes so I went with the minis - Vanilla Bean, Toasted Coconut, Bittersweet Dark Chocolate, Mocha Chocolate, Mint Chocolate and Old Fashioned. I liked the Vanilla bean best, which surprisingly had a chocolate cake. The icing reminded me of vanilla Jell-O pudding, I loved that.


Any place that has samples is amazing. They had brownie samples at the front, which was great because I probably would have overlooked them. I really love this brownie, super dark and rich, almost with a mocha flavor. This might be one of my favorites in LA!

Homemade Double Chocolate Cake

I've never made a homemade cake before, and for a first try, this one came out really well! Meg and I used Ina Garten's recipe which was pretty great.


The cake part itself was really gooey and dark, due to the cup of coffee that was added into the mix. Ina likes to use freshly brewed coffee to bring out the taste of the chocolate, and as much as I liked it I think next time I would only use a half cup. The coffee flavor almost overwhelmed the chocolate.


The frosting, however, was amazing! I never knew buttercream was so easy to make. I don't think I'll ever used store bought frosting again. It was SO light and fluffy but rich in taste, and we didn't even have and electric mixer to use. Overall this was a great success, and I'm excited to make another one soon!

Say Cheese!

I know this is not a dessert related topic...but I had to share this. Last weekend I went to the Grilled Cheese Invitational, which was basically a big cheese festival!


There was a grilled cheese competition, a bunch of grilled cheese trucks, and best of all, free samples!! We chose The Grilled Cheese Truck and the sandwiches we got were totally worth the long lines. The TBM one below was maybe the best sandwich I've ever had, seriously.


Tomato Basil Mozzeralla Grilled Cheese


Brie and Pear Grilled Cheese on Raisin Bread


Some people really like their cheese...

Cool Haus Ice Cream

Who doesn't love a good pun?! The architecturally inspired ice cream sandwich truck, Cool Haus, was brought to my attention through another blog so I started to follow them on Twitter. I was so excited to hear they were going to be at Coachella so the search was on! We found them in the back of the VIP section with a long list of predetermined options (usually its a build your own kind of thing). We tried two:


The Oatmeal Cooke with Cinnamon Ice Cream (my favorite of the two we chose)


Chocolate Chip Cookie with Maple Bacon Ice Cream

I definitely want to find the actual truck again and build my own...YUM.

The Griddle

We went to The Griddle Cafe for breakfast since it has a reputation of having great pancakes. The menu alone for pancakes and french toast was somewhat overwhelming as there were a million choices, but one in particular called to me: Peanut Bubba Crunchy French Toast.

It is explained on the menu as "Our Mom's French Toast dipped in a peanut butter crunch, then grilled to perfection...topped with powdered sugar and whipped cream". It was really great - sweet and salty. The bread itself was super thick and warm, and the topping tasted like a gourmet Butterfinger. I could do without the mounds of whipped cream, but I would definitely order this one again!

Peanut Butter Brownie Cupcakes

This was inspired by Giada De Laurentiis, they looked so good I had to try and replicate this myself. They were amazing! Chocolate chunk brownie as the cupcake with a peanut butter cream cheese frosting. The brownie part was so soft and dense, and the chocolate chips inside added an amazing texture. The frosting was super dense and rich, that a little went a long way. This was the first time I piped anything, and it was just as easy as it looks on TV! Thanks Food Network!

Easter Cupcakes

For today Meg and I made Pillsbury Funfetti cupcakes since they are our favorite. They turned out great! We colored the vanilla frosting in pastels, dyed coconut green to look like grass and used Jelly Belly's for eggs, but of course some of them needed chocolate frosting.

We also made a batch of mini ones, because they are so cute.


Happy Easter!

Ladurée

Oh boy. Jimmy went to Paris and brought these back for me from the famous Ladurée patisserie, and it was the best gift ever! I'm not exaggerating when I say these macaroons are the most delicious, flavorful, amazing things I've had in a really long time. Even with the traveling they came so fresh, with a crumbly outside and super gooey inside fillings.


The flavors included: chocolate, vanilla, raspberry, caramel, coffee and pistachio. I seriously had trouble picking a favorite, I took a little bite of each one then kept rotating which was my favorite. When it came down to it it was a classic struggle over vanilla vs. chocolate and for the first time I think ever, I chose vanilla to be my favorite!




The fillings they use are like no other. The raspberry is actually jam, the chocolate was a rich ganache, the vanilla was like a dense vanilla bean creme, the caramel was thick and gooey, I was seriously overwhelmed with how amazing these are. I heard a rumor that a La Duree would be opening in Beverly Hills, and if this is true I will be there everyday.

Sprinkles Goes Kosher for Passover!

I saw these online and had to go try them: flourless chocolate cupcakes with vanilla bean glaze frosting. They are AMAZING! They taste nothing like a regular Sprinkles cupcake, and look completely different - much more casual, like your little sister made them for her class. But they are super dense and rich, just how I like it. I really needed a glass of milk while eating this, they are intense. Plus, how cute are the stars?! (They taste horrible, do not eat). I kind of wish they had this as a year round option.

Passover Mousse

It's usually hard to enjoy desserts over Passover since you can't use flour, however Tyla's famous mousse makes you forget all of that. This flourless kosher-chocolate mousse is amazing, so light and fluffy yet rich in taste. Despite eating an enormous amount of food at the seder, I had two cups of this mousse. Yum.

The Hall at Palihouse

Sunday night I had dinner with three girls from highschool at The Hall Courtyard Brasserie at Palihouse. We ordered two desserts - the Chocolate Banana Muffin and the Blackberry Tarte. I was hesitant to order the muffin, because who wants a muffin for dessert? But since it was the only chocolate on the menu, we had to, and I'm so glad we did. This was no muffin at all, maybe muffin batter... It was like a hot gooey chocolate pudding topped with sauteed bananas an caramelized/candied walnuts. It was unreal.

The tarte was good too, I'm not a huge blackberry fan but topped with vanilla ice cream, it complimented the heavy chocolate of the "muffin" well. It was very pretty too!

Cake Bakeshop

Lauren brought these back from Cake Bakeshop in Manhattan Beach last weekend: one vanilla with chocolate buttercream, one red velvet with cream cheese frosting. They were pretty good, the cake was average but the icing was great, super fluffy and flavorful. The chocolate buttercream almost had a mocha taste and the cream cheese had similar to the giant cupcake from La Provence.

TART

I went to Tart on Fairfax the other night for dinner, and the food was great. Usually a restaurant with a lot of fattening foods on the menu has good dessert. This was the case.

While the decision was hard to make, I went with the Skillet Cookie Sunday. It was great: a piping hot skillet of gooey chocolate chip cookie currently cooking in it as vanilla ice cream and whipped cream melted on top. I have to go back and try the S'Mores Ice Cream Pie or the Brownie Sundae.

Chocoholics

I stumbled upon this little chocolate store on Larchmont over the weekend. Not only did I love the name of it, Chocoholics, but the main photo hanging in the store was of Lucy and Ethel at the chocolate factory. Their chocolates were so pretty I wanted to get a lot but they are not cheap, so I picked three.


A vanilla creme, a hazelnut praline (topped with lavender) and a passion fruit heart. They were all good, but the passion fruit was by far the most exciting one. Yum.

Barefoot Contessa's Chunky Cookies

As much as I love a roll of Tollhouse cookie dough, there is no homemade cookie better than Ina Garten's box mix. Her "Chocolate Chunk Cookie" mix comes with the dry ingredients and chocolate chips that are so good it's hard not to eat them during the baking process. The recipe suggests adding walnuts, but I like to take it a step further and add shredded coconut as well. They remind me a lot of Levain cookies, they are SO good.

Ina has a bunch of other box mixes, the "Outrageous Brownie" is amazing too. Can't wait to try more! Check them out HERE

Dole Whip

I've always seen these at DisneyLand and never would have gone for it, but since we were waiting outside the Tiki Tiki Room, we all got one to share. It was pretty good! It's a cup full of pineapple juice with pineapple frozen yogurt, an of course topped with a maraschino cherry.

It's no Mickey ice cream bar, but it's good. I would not recommend sharing though...backwash, ew.

Valentines Day Heart Cake

La Provence has done it again! This is actually the best thing in the world - it needs to be on their regular menu of desserts. Its the thickest richest flowerless chocolate cake that basically just tastes like a fudge bar. It is frosted with the same ganache as their cupcakes I love, and topped with some gold dust. I can't explain how much this is my favorite dessert ever.

The Ivy

Part two of my birthday cake eating happened when my office got me cake from The Ivy. It is one of the best red velvet cakes, up to par with the La Provence. The icing is a little sweeter, and is pink! It was so good, definitely dangerous to have this cake live so close to our office.

Birthday Cakes!

All I wanted for my birthday was to try a bunch of the cakes I had seen around town, so that's just what we did...


The first was the famous Red Velvet Cupcake Cake from La Provence:


Not only was this the cutest cake, but it was actually amazing. Both the cake part and the icing were fantastic, and the center had a surprise filling of cream cheese frosting! It may have beaten Sprinkles for best red velvet. I think most people said this one was their favorite.


The second is the famous Berry Cake from Sweet Lady Jane:


I was happy to have one light and fluffy fruit styled cake to balance out the other two rich ones. It was great, nothing to rave over, but I would definitely eat it again. The whipped cream was great and the fruit design on the top was beautiful.

The third was the Seven Layer Chocolate Cake, also from Sweet Lady Jane:


This one was my favorite, obviously. Seven layers of yellow cake stuffed with seven layers of chocolate butter cream. The outside frosting was a thick ganache. I died.

While this last one is not a cake, it was by far the most unique treat! My cousin sent me this from NY and not only did it not break in the mail, but it stayed SO tasty. It was like a freshly made cone.. with chocolate on it. And of course, came with a great fortune inside!