oh christmas tree ... the cupcakes and cocktails edition

It's Saturday, so today's ornament collection shall focus on two of my favorite things to share with friends on fun nights out -- cocktails and cupcakes!

A group of my gal pals and I used to actually go out to dinner for each other's birthdays and share cupcakes for dessert after every meal. (The restaurants we took our own boxes of Sprinkles, Martino's and Big Sugar cupcakes to LOVED us! ;). I'm pretty sure at least one of the ornaments below (if not more!) came from that fun group.

Cheers!

New twinsy (almost) cupcake ornaments I just bought on Monday at a cute gift shop packed with ornaments near my office -- Ivy Glen Gift Shop

I think this is from a Club Cupcaker :)

This one might be from Club Cupcake too.
It's a Cakespy cupcake. 

I only have two alcoholic beverage glasses on the tree... hmmm.

baking-palooza 2012 - day 3

Today's "Baking-palooza 2012" session was a short one... just one item on the agenda: adding frosting to the cupcakes I baked last night. (And thank goodness.... I'm kinda baked out ;) 

My friend Diana came over with her cake decorating gadgets, specifically her coupler and decorating tips, and made me realize I've been really stupid frosting cupcakes with a knife or spatula all these years. Stuffing frosting into a decorating bag and squeezing it out into pretty, fluffy designs not only looks better as a finished product, but it's faster, easier and more fun that spreading frosting the old-school way. 

During today's decorating lesson, we used one decorating tip for all the cupcakes and I made two different designs -- the swirl (left below) and what I shall call stars (or from the angle of the photo below on the right, Hershey's kisses ;)

"The Swirl" 

Stars (or Hershey's kisses)

Decorating two dozen cupcakes with frosting and then holiday spinkles took a grand total of about nine minutes. I shall never frost with a spatula again... and I can't wait until Christmas Eve when I make my big Christmas cake! Gotta buy my own coupler before then ;)

Cupcakes - After Photo, with sprinkles

things i love: crumbs cupcakes

I love cupcakes! And more and more I'm starting to like Crumbs Bake Shop cupcakes. Mainly for three reasons:

1. They are big (like muffin-sized). You buy one for $4.00 and, as long as you have some semblance of self-control, can get two or three desserts out of it. (For more info on this, ask me about my poker group's long-standing tradition of slivering up desserts into "Barbie Dream Slices.") 
2. Crumbs usually packs your cupcakes in lovely cupcake containers for safe traveling, ensuring no sprinkles or frosting are misplaced or smushed if you take your cupcake to-go.
3. They come in fun, ever-updating flavors. Although, there is also a downside to this as sometimes your favorite flavor, like my beloved Cotton Candy Cupcake, is not always available. The upside of that downside, however, is you get to try new flavors, which is exactly what I did recently upon two separate visits to two different Crumbs Bake Shops.

Visit 1: Crumbs @ Hollywood & Highland

Cupcake Flavor: Grasshopper

Cupcake Commentary:

I'd been thinking about trying this flavor for a long time, because it looks like one of my fave ice cream flavors, mint chocolate chip. But I always got distracted by my beloved Cotton Candy cupcake. However, H&H did not have my beloved Cotton Candy cupcake, so I went for it. The frosting was indeed mint-chippy. And the cake was very chocolate. Sadly, this cupcake made me realize I don't really love chocolate cake that much. And, double sadly, this shop did not put my cupcake in the cool cupcake to-go container. Boo!

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Visit 2: Crumbs in Larchmont Village

Cupcake Flavor: Raspberry Swirl

Cupcake Commentary:

Again, there was no Cotton Candy Cupcake to be seen. I'm now thinking that's just a summer flavor. Boo. Oh well. This time as my flavor experiment, I went back to white cake. Wise choice. This cupcake was delish, with a creamy white frosting and a swirl of raspberry jelly on top, plus -- spoiler alert -- in the middle of the cake. Yummy! This might just be my new go-to to-go cupcake, especially since the Larchmont shop uses proper packing (which also doubles as a storage container for your remaining "Barbie Dream Slices" :)

cupcakes and tea parties: two of my favorite things!

For those who don't know, I love cupcakes!

So back in May, when my friend Diana invited me to join her at a cupcake-themed garden party hosted by our friend Daryl's boss, Dame Barbara Hay, at the British Consul-General's residence in Hancock Park -- also known as the house where Prince William and the Duchess formerly-known as Kate Middleton stayed last summer when they visited Los Angeles -- I jumped at the chance! A fancy tea party where I get to wear a fancy hat AND eat cupcakes... hello!

The party was in celebration of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and was being filmed as part of a Cupcake Wars episode that is finally airing tonight at 8pm ET/PT on Food Network. The four contestants, all English bakers, competed prior to the party to have their cupcake creation featured at the party and Dame Barbara had been one of the final judges.

When we arrived at the Residence, the cupcakes were set up in the center of the backyard on a giant tiered table (which I'm told by my Cupcake Wars-afficionado friends, was not one of the show's most impressive displays). All four cupcakes created were present, and I'm still not sure who the actual winner was. Show producers were explaining to people who signed releases to be on camera which cupcake was which, and asking them to taste test. Diana signed up and might be on TV tonight.

I just picked the cupcake that looked yummiest to me... a chocolate cake with pink raspberry frosting and a giant chocolate diamond on top. I also sampled strawberries, tarts and tea cakes, as well as yummy cucumber and egg sandwiches, because this was a tea party after all!

British/American red, white and blue flower arrangements were on each table. And being a friend of the host's right hand man, I got to take one home after the party :) All in all, it was a lovely, very British afternoon.  

cotton candy + cupcake = mmm

I love cupcakes. I shouldn't (they're not exactly health food), but I do. A few friends of mine and I even started a club (called "Club Cupcake"... duh!) and always celebrate our birthdays and Christmas with cupcakes. We take our favorite flavors from our fave cupcake meccas to restaurants for dessert and then make the wait staff bring us plates to display them on before we dig in. (Yes, we're "those people" ;)

Anyhoo, long ago, I decided to start a list of my favorite cupcake places in LA on Yelp, via the reviews I'd write. I got as far as writing a review for my #1 fave place, Martino's in Burbank. The reason I haven't gotten any farther is because I'm having a hard time deciding on my #2 fave cupcake in LA. You'd probably be surprised to know Sprinkles is not even in the running. I hate those. The cake is dry and the frosting is too sweet. Nope, my #2 and #3 is a toss-up between Big Sugar Bakeshop in Studio City, and Crumbs Bake Shop in Larchmont. 

I haven't had Crumbs in a while, so Saturday night after going to Village Pizzeria, we headed into Crumbs. I bought a blueberry muffin for my Sunday pre-LA Kings game #4 breakfast, and then sat there trying to decide on which cupcake I wanted. 

They had vanilla with chocolate and sprinkles, which is my classic, go-to cupcake. 

They also had something that looked like mint chocolate chip ice cream frozen in time on top of a cupcake. (The website calls it the "Grasshopper.")

But in the end, I went with the Cotton Candy cupcake cuz it looked so pretty :)

I was a little scared when one of my friends asked what was in it after mine was already wrapped up and the Crumbs dude said cream cheese frosting (I HATE cream cheese). But luckily, all the sugar and pink food coloring masked those potentially ill tasting chalky cream cheese effects. I have to say this is one of the most yummy cupcakes I've ever had... great moist cake, sweet (but not too sweet), soft frosting and sprinkles! And the thing about Crumbs that might give it the edge over Big Sugar is their cupcakes are super-sized, which doesn't help in the diet department, but does make it worth the $3-$4 they cost.  

PS: The blueberry muffin was also delish. Super moist with juicy blueberries :)

my "suite" birthday confluence of friends

Since late 1999 when the Los Angeles Kings moved into Staples Center, I have always wanted to watch a game from one of the luxury suites... it's actually an item on my bucket list -- or as a friend suggests I should call it to be more upbeat, my "Leap List." 

So... on Saturday, February 18, 2012, in celebration of me becoming officially old, some of my oldest and dearest friends met in Luxury Suite E-8 as the LA Kings attempted to score at least one goal against the Calgary Flames... and failed miserably. (They lost 0-1... again.) But we still had a blast!

The night was extremely special to me because each year, I do small birthday things with my different groups of friends... all separately. A dinner here, drinks there. But this year, I decided to go big and have everyone -- all the distinct groups -- together in one spot, for one night of fun. Thanks to everyone who attended for making my birthday so special!

When you splurge for a suite, you get to go into Staples Center two hours before game-time, before the common-folk are allowed in. It's super-cool (literally and figuratively) and kind of spooky quiet.

My Poker Peeps surprised me with a champagne delivery and toast during the first intermission! Thank you guys!

My pal Diana not only bribed someone at Staples to let her bring in dessert (vs pay THEM for dessert), but she also slaved away all afternoon to bake and decorate these delish chocolate and vanilla sprinkled cupcakes that we ate during the second intermission. I love the boxes they came in. So cute!! (Diana also brought me a purple-jeweled tiara to wear all night that I love!)

Cupcakes (and the cute purple box) get their close-up!