LA Cupcake Challenge: And the Winner Is...

Leyna's Kitchen strawberry cupcake wins Best Overall

With all this talk of the LA Cupcake Challenge, I think it's high time we announce some winners!

For more information on the event, including photos of the cupcakes, read my review. Here in this post, I'll just be givin' you the names...


Best Traditional
1st place: Red Velvet from Vanilla Bake Shop [judges' choice]
2nd place: Red Velvet from Yummy Cupcakes
3rd place: Red Velvet from Hotcakes Bakes [public's choice]

Best Original
1st place: "Paradise" from Sugar Jones [judges' choice]
2nd place: Peanut Butter and Jelly from The Oinkster
3rd place: "Blood Orange Fudge" from Essential Chocolate Desserts
Note: public's choice was "Strawberrilicious" from Leyna's Kitchen

Best Overall
1st place: "Strawberrilicious" from Leyna's Kitchen [public's choice]
2nd place: "Paradise" from Sugar Jones [judges' choice]
3rd place: Peanut Butter and Jelly from The Oinkster


Now, I don't know how the calculations were made and what weight was given to the judges' votes vs. the public's so I couldn't tell you anything about these honorable titles. In any case, congrats to Leyna on having the best overall. Her strawberry cupcake really was superb in flavor, aesthetics, and crumb.

Sure Enough, I'm in LA Weekly

As I mentioned in my recap of the LA Cupcake Challenge I attended on Sunday, I was approached by three media outlets because of my shirt: ABC 7, Food Network, and LA Weekly. Well, one of the three has already materialized. I'm in LA Weekly! Here's the famous photo...

Photo by Mark Mauer of LA Weekly

I Attended the L.A. Cupcake Challenge

Wayyyy back in mid April, I wrote a post announcing the L.A. Cupcake Challenge happening in May. Well, that eventful day arrived yesterday, and I was there to see how it all went down.

First, let me say, I loved it. I took a girlfriend and we waited almost no time in line on the Hollywood Blvd. sidewalk outside the Montmartre Lounge to have our names crossed off the list. We climbed the red carpeted stairs to the event, picked up an empty wine glass and a voting sheet, and began the tour de force of cupcake tastings.

Now let me admit, I could have planned better. There were two bakeries stationed at the entrance, then some white leather sofas for lounging, and then a giant room full of booth after booth of cupcake bakeries, displaying their concoctions and handing out mini-versions. I had no idea just how many samples I'd end up eating. So for the first couple of mini-cupcakes, I ate the entire things. I shouldn't have. As the afternoon rolled on, I too felt I would soon be rolling on... I ended up needing to cut back and take single bites of sample cupcakes in order to try as many as possible.

On a side note, as you can see above, I wore my cupcake tee for the occasion. The shirt says Make Cupcakes Not War. And because of that silly shirt, I was approached by three media outlets: LA Weekly, ABC 7, and the Food Network. In the pic below, I'm being interviewed for the Food Network. They made me promise to enter my own cupcakes in next year's L.A. Cupcake Challenge. What did I just get myself into!?


Returning your attention to cupcakes (and away from t-shirts), many of the cupcake flavors were traditional, such as red velvet, chocolate, and vanilla, though there were variations among even those. For example, one red velvet had sugar crystals, another was strictly vegan. Many of the cupcakes were creative, in both presentation, and flavor combinations. I was really pleased with the variety. Here are just a few of the cupcakes I sampled yesterday.

Mandarin orange cupcake with pistachio frosting from Sugar Jones

Chocolate cupcakes with a beer-caramel sauce from Lucky Devils

Lemon cupcakes from BabyCakes Baking Company

Root beer float cupcake complete with straw (so cool!) from Yummy Cupcakes

Peanut butter and jelly cupcake from The Oinkster

Red velvet, Elvis, and another I can't remember from Violet's Cakes

Strawberry cupcake from Leyna's Baby Cakes

Red velvet cupcakes from Hotcakes Bakes

Just some of the remaining scraps

I went home satiated, sick, vowing never to eat another cupcake in my life, and unable to do anything but lie sprawled out on my couch and watch my latest recorded Ugly Betty episode. But I have to tell you, despite all the queasiness post-event, the experience of being in a room filled with bakery booths - and all the sensory and mental happiness that comes with that - was one of the most amazing food experiences I've had.

Oh, and a couple hours after the event, I managed to eat an apple and a small cucumber. Still waiting for my sweet tooth to grow back...


Note: The winners of the L.A. Cupcake Challenge were not announced at the event so that attendees would have the full three hours to cast their vote. Check back later to find out who won!

L.A. Cupcake Challenge

Violet's Cakes

Imagine bringing ten of the best cupcake bakeries under one roof, getting to taste mini-cupcakes from each, vote on your favorite, and crown a winner.

You don't have to imagine!

In just over a month, event company Drink:Eat:Play is putting on this awesome affair in Playa Vista Hollywood and they're aptly calling it the L.A. Cupcake Challenge.

They have a pretty good selection of cupcake bakeries in attendance, though a couple of important-in-my-book bakeries will be MIA. Of those coming, I have personal taste bud experience with Violet's Cakes, Yummy Cupcakes, Milk, and Hotcakes Bakes, all great. They'll also have Vanilla Bake Shop, My Little Cupcake, Essential Chocolate Desserts, BabyCakes, Lucky Devils, Famous Cupcakes, and Lark Silver Lake Cake Shop.


In addition to dining on mini-cupcakes, you can also sip from a dozen wines. Please don't drink and vote, though. We want a fair crowning of the Best Cupcake in Los Angeles and wine may impair your judgment!


Fast Facts
What: L.A. Cupcake Challenge
When: Sunday, May 18th at 1p.m.
Where: Playa Vista Center Point Club LOCATION CHANGE! Montmartre Lounge, 6757 Hollywood Blvd. in Hollywood
Price: $60 through Drink:Eat:Play or $40 through Goldstar


And for sheer amusement, can you find the hidden cupcake in this Highlights image?

Motor Muffins and Cupcake Cars

Something I saw on Boing Boing this morning...

This is pure genius! I think I once had a dream that my vehicle was a monster cupcake. Then I woke up and realized I could only eat them. Till now!

[source: Make Magazine]

And check out these cars in action!!!!

Cupcake Frenzy: From Portland to Los Angeles

A friend sent me a link to a list of MSN City Guide's top cupcake bakeries in the United States. I was shocked to find that not a single Los Angeles bakery made the cut. A Portland bakery did, however. Fortunately, the friend who sent me the link is engaged to a friend who just happened to be traveling to Portland last weekend. What are the chances! Better yet, she brought back a box of these scrumptious cupcakes. The Portland bakery is Saint Cupcake and I have to admit, they're among the best I've ever had.

Here's the box that made it safely from Portland to Los Angeles. The cupcake in the upper left (and featured solo at the top of the post) is The Fat Elvis, a banana chocolate chip cake with chocolate peanut butter frosting and a fried banana chip at the peak.

And here's the other Fat Elvis:

From Portland to Los Angeles
Los Angeles Cupcake Bakery Google Map

I do think L.A. got snubbed because there are some excellent cupcake bakeries here. To remedy that, I have a mission for you. A mission you should enjoy. Take advantage of a little anthology the LA Times put together. They made a Google map of all the cupcake bakeries in greater Los Angeles. Go on a hunt for your favorite.

Here's a screenshot of the map. So cool! We'll make up our own list of the top cupcake bakeries and we won't leave L.A. by the wayside. Are you with me!?!?!?!?

The Mother of All Cupcakes

Today is my cousin Jessica's 28th birthday. Happy Birthday, Jess! Translate that to: Another excuse to bake! W00t! (please tell me you know that very 21st century word...it was named 2007's Word of the Year by Merriam-Webster Online)

My mom recently gave me a giant cupcake pan and all kinds of fun accessories to dress up the final product. Today, it was time to premiere it. What's cool about this pan is, you've got your top and you've got your bottom. Slather a little frosting between the two parts, assemble, frost the top, and voila! The mother of all cupcakes!

A couple of tips: Be sure to grease and flour your pan well, or you might end up with a headless horseman of a cupcake, or a bottomless one. Neither is a good scenario. Also, you'll probably need to use a bread knife and cut off the rounded top of each of the two parts so you have flat surfaces. You need the spiral top to lie snug on the bottom. Finally, be sure to select a cake recipe that is sturdy enough to withstand so much weight. Having a top resting on a bottom requires a firmer cake. I had to forgo the chocolate cake I usually make for birthdays for fear it would sink when I placed the spiral top on it. I opted for a devil's food cake by Lori Longbotham. Her Luscious Chocolate Desserts cookbook is one of my all-time favorites. I am working my way through the entire thing.


Divine Devil's Food Cake
Recipe by Lori Longbotham in Luscious Chocolate Desserts
Serves 8.

Cake:
2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
2/3 cup natural cocoa powder
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup water
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Frosting:
7 1/2 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup heavy (whipping) cream
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9x2 inch round cake pans, line the bottoms with aluminum foil, and butter the foil.

To make the cake: Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Stir together the buttermilk and water in a small bowl.

Beat the butter with an electric mixer on medium-high speed in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat for 3 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Reduce the speed to low and add the cocoa mixture alternately with the buttermilk mixture in 3 batches, beating just until well blended. Transfer the batter to the pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula.

Bake for 35 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool the cakes in the pans on wire racks for 5 minutes. Carefully invert onto the racks, turn right-side up, and let cool completely. Remove the foil.

To make the frosting: Melt the chocolate with the cream in a heatproof medium deep bowl set over a saucepan of about 1 1/2 inches of nearly simmering water, whisking until smooth. Add the butter and whisk until smooth. Let cool to room temperature, then refrigerate, covered, for 15 minutes.

Beat the frosting with an electric mixer on medium-high speed for about 8 minutes, until thick enough to spread.

To assemble the cake: Place 1 cake layer on a serving plate. Spread about 1 cup of the frosting evenly over the layer. Top with the remaining cake layer and frost the top and sides with the remaining frosting. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, until the frosting sets.

Serve cut into wedges.