Randy's Donuts, Inglewood, CA Review

                                    

I am in Los Angeles waiting to work a red eye to DC this evening and I am looking for ways to keep awake for the flight.  The last red eye flight I worked it took me two days to recover. I am so not a night owl.   I do not have time to recover from this flight as this is the first day of a four day trip, so I am loading up on Rockstar and sugar hoping the sugar rush will last the 5 hours it will take us to get to DC.  Randy's Donuts has the perfect sugar rush solution.  I found Randy's Donuts from my handy dandy little iphone app called TV Food Maps.  Randy's Donuts was only a mile walk from the hotel so I would get a nice little walk in as well.

Randy's Donuts is a no frills donut drive through.   I had Krispy Creme only once. Krispy Creme is way too dangerous for me.  The first time I experienced Krispy Creme my girlfriend and I were driving down the road when she saw the red "fresh" sign turn on and my girlfriend scream "OH MY GOODNESS! THE FRESH SIGN TURNED ON"! She almost got us into a car accident making a uturn into the parking lot.  I was thinking to myself what is the big deal. It's a donut.  Then I ate one, then I ate another, and another.  I ate 4 donuts.  Yes, I am quite embarrassed.  Needless to say, I avoid Krispy Creme donuts like the plague.  I ordered 6 glazed donuts today at Randy's Donuts and one chocolate cake donut .  I was totally thinking to myself that if God won't make me skinny, I will make my fellow flight attendants fat and share the sugary treats. If my fellow flight attendants won't eat them then I will give them to the pilots.  The pilots will eat anything.  I asked the super friendly girl behind the counter (I love super nice and friendly people who you can tell love their jobs), "So, who is better, Krispy Creme or Randy's"? The girl behind the counter smiled and said, "You will be back tomorrow".  I guess Randy's is the winner in her eyes. When I bit into  the chocolate cake donut, I was not impressed. However, when I bit into the glazed donut it melted in my mouth.  I died and went to donut heaven.  Randy's Donuts appear to be bigger than Krispy Creme donuts and they taste just as good as I remembered Krispy Creme to be if not better. 

I have a new place to visit whenever  I layover into LAX.  I am curious to hear everyone else's opinion.  Please comment your preference, Krispy Creme or Randy's Donuts and why.  Thank you for your sweet tooth opinion! 

Magnolia Cafe and Bakery in Webster, TX Review

Sometimes it's not about the cupcake, it's about the cake, and sometimes it's not about the place, it's about the company you keep. 



http://www.facebook.com/magnoliacafeandbakery



My friend David and I went to Magnolias Cafe and Bakery in Webster, TX for coffee and dessert tonite around 7:00pm.  The cafe was fairly empty and you could tell the staff was winding down for the day.  My friend ordered the German Chocolate cake and I ordered a strawberry cake ball and a red velvet cake ball.  I would have ordered the only cupcake they offered, which was a chocolate cupcake, but it resembled the chocolate disaster cupcake I had baked a few years ago (actually looking at this picture, my cupcake looked more appealing). 

http://cupcakesbyapril.blogspot.com/2010/07/looks-can-be-very-deceiving.html

We also ordered coffee but had to wait for a fresh pot.  I was very impressed that they were honest about the age of the coffee.  Most coffee connoisseurs would rather wait for a fresh pot than be mislead with stale coffee out of shear laziness from the staff. 

As we were bantering over next year's potential super bowl champion (I of course picked the only team possible...Hello!  The STEELERS.)

                                    

 I watched my friend eat his German Chocolate cake while I attempted to sawed through my cake balls.   My friend said eating his cake reminded him of when he growing up and remembering what a good cook and baker his mother was and how she always made things from scratch. I would have to say that his German Chocolate cake tasted pretty darn good then.  However, attempting to even see the inside of one of my cake ball reminded me of the time I received a fresh ostrich egg and how I had to use a hammer to crack it open.  (Blonde trivia: Do you know how many chicken eggs equals one ostrich egg? 24! That makes a whole lot of cupcakes.) When I finally broke into the cake balls neither the strawberry nor the red velvet did anything for me. 

If you ever are in the area, I would recommend you only stick with Magnolia's  cakes and before reaching for the coffee ask when it was last brewed.  The cafe itself was somewhat inviting and there is a very large dining area.   

Cupcakes in Vegas Baby!

I was scheduled a 10 hour layover in Las Vegas landing around 7:30 PM.  I frantically googled cupcakes within walking distance from our hotel and found Jean-Philippe Chocolates and Pastries at the Bellagio.

                                         

I introduced my cupcaking world to Lorena, one of the other flight attendants working with me, and invited her to make the short trek to the Bellagio. In the two blocks we walked, we passed vagrants, stray dogs, a vagrant with a pet cat (that's a new site for me), limos, limos with people sitting out the window screaming  and many street performers.  I had been to Vegas briefly two times before on the way to Hawaii, but I never seen the street performers.  I had an epiphany! Wouldn't it be cool if I got my picture taken with Bumblebee from the transformers.  I handed my camera to Lorena and said take a pic.  I walked up to the bumblebee dude and he literally stepped away from me and said "I work for money".   At that moment, I was totally mortified! I can be so small town sometimes! I had no idea that you had to pay people to get your picture taken with them.  I could understand paying street performers, ya know the kind that play the saxophone beautifully, or the dancers that are so awesome they make it on the show "So You Think You Can Dance", but he was just standing there! At least street performers have a tip jar so you know they want money! So anyway Lorena and I walked away with no picture of Bumblebee.  When we arrived at the Jean-Philippe Chocolates at the Bellagio, there was a crowd of people at the entrance taking pictures of a huge display. The display was the worlds largest chocolate fountain. The fountain stands 27 feet high and circulates 2,100 pounds of chocolate (120 quarts) a minute. It's quite impressive.

Everything at Jean-Philippe Patisserie looked wonderfully delicious! There were even little mini wedding cakes just in case you had one of those quickie Vegas weddings for $20 bucks a pop.

Photo by foodspotting.com

We looked at all the delicious desserts and finally came upon the cupcake section. There were only 3 to choose from but I had a feeling no matter which one we picked, they were going to be fabulous. I, of course, picked the Triple Chocolate cupcake and Lorena picked a Red Velvet cupcake. 

Our cupcakes were so pretty we didn't want to eat them.  Both our cupcakes were super fabulous.  I had never tasted a cupcake quite like it.  The frosting on each cupcake was more like a rich chocolate mousse and the cake was just so incredibly moist. Next time I am in Vegas I am going to try this little set up called a Sweet Trio. It has a rose macaroon, a mini creme brulee, and a peanut cake pop. 

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Photo by vanfoods.com

                                             

Somethin Sweet Review in Deer Park, TX

http://www.somethingsweetdp.com/

It's been a long time coming.  Although blogging about cupcakes has been out sight, it has not been out of mind.  I wanted to bake Snickerdoodle cupcakes for my new inflight friend Tyler, but I couldn't find the time this week when I was home.  If there was a way to bake cupcakes in a hotel room in the microwave and it was edible, I would be the microwave cupcake master.   Fear not girlfriend! before the month is out there will be a cute little cupcake box on top of your V file filled with your Snickerdoodle cupcakes.

On our way home from the airport I begged Toby my roommate to stop by a cupcake shop.  Any shop! It didn't matter.  I just needed a cupcake fix.  Something Sweet in Deep Park, TX was what we narrowed our search down to based on their location and yelp reviews.   Something Sweet is location on a corner lot off of a main road with easy access in and out of their shop.  When we entered Something Sweet the smell was just overwhelmingly wonderful.  If you were not in the mood for cupcakes before you entered the store, I can guarantee you were after taking one whiff of those freshly baked cupcakes. They have at least 10 different cupcakes available daily.  They all looked beautiful! There were two teenager boys (forgive me I forgot your names) behind the counter who were upbeat and friendly.  As we were trying to pick just a few cupcakes a woman was waiting behind us.  We let her go in front of us.  She knew right away which cupcakes she wanted.  She asked us if it was our first time at Something Sweet and we said "yes".  She said, "You are in for a treat.  I usually never make it out of this shop with just two cupcakes". Toby and I narrowed our cupcake pickins to Peanut Butter Bliss,  Italian Creme Cake,  and Cookies 'N Cream.

Both Toby and I picked a Peanut Butter Bliss cupcake. Who doesn't love peanut butter!! This cupcake is a chocolate cupcake with butterscotch and peanut butter chips topped with a fluffy peanut butter buttercream.  We arrived at the store around 5:30 PM.  I can tell you from previous visits to other cupcakeries most are dried out by the end of the day.  I have to say I was pleasantly surprised at how moist these cupcakes were.  The peanut butter buttercream was a bit sweet but you can definitely taste the peanut butter in it. 

I ordered the Italian Cream Cake cupcake.  I have great memories of the most wonderful tasting cream cake from an Italian Bakery in South Carolina.  This cupcake had a wonderful cake texture.  As I am typing this review I read the description from their website  http://www.somethinsweetdp.com/menu and it describes it as filled with fresh coconut and walnuts.  I had no idea Italian cream cake had coconut in it. I did not taste any coconut in the cupcake but I did taste many walnuts.  The cupcake cake was delicious even if I couldn't taste any coconut.  The cream cheese buttercream was wonderful as well.  I did not taste any cream cheese though.  It also was not as sweet as the peanut butter bliss buttercream.  Again, this cupcake was just wonderfully fresh and tasty.  I will be coming back to try the Chocolate Chip Cheesecake which was suggested by one of the teenage boys and I am curious about as the key lime. 

Toby ordered the Cookies N' Cream based on the suggestion of one of the teenage boys.  He said his cupcake was great.  I can only assume he was speaking the truth becuase he didn't even let me have a bite. Just to make it fair, I didn't share my Italian Cream Cake with him so we are even!

I would definately reccommend this shop to anyone needing a cupcake fix.  The prices are very reasonable at $ 2.75 a piece.

Apple Shaped Cake Pops

Well its that time of year again.  The kids are heading back to school and to after school sporting activities and back on a full weekly schedule.  Some Moms cry happy tears because they finally get a relief from summer entertaining while some other moms cry tears of sadness because they miss their babies. I am the mom that BAKES! I will bake for teachers, the football team, the cheerleading team, anybody that wants or needs sweets. I am the mom for that.  This year my baby is starting high school and knowing she loves my cupcake pops I told her I was going to be making apple cupcake pops to pass out to her teachers.  If you have a teenager, you can imagine the horrific look on my daughters face when I said that.  Because she is my baby, I already knew what her reaction was going to be.  I did get my laugh for the day.  I made the apple cupcake pops  but instead of passing them out to her teachers we gave them to the cheerleaders.  

These pops were so easy to make. The only hard part was finding the leaves to place on top. We eventually decided to use green Mike and Ikes.  I thought they worked pretty well.

1 box of cake mix - any flavor (I used vanilla.  I wanted it to look like the inside of an apple)
¾ tub of ready made frosting - any flavor (I used vanilla)
24 lollipop sticks
1 bag of red candy melts
Styrofoam block or 2x4 with holes drilled in it to hold the dipped cake balls
24 chocolate dipped pretzel sticks
24 green Mike and Ike

1. Make and bake cake according to box directions.  
2. When cake is completely cooled crumble the entire cake into a bowl.  
3. Mix ¾ tub of ready made frosting into the crumbled cake (you might just have to roll your sleeves up and dig in with your hands).  Most recipes call for the entire tub, but I think it is too moist.    
4. When cake and frosting is moist and mixed, shape into 1 inch balls.  
5. Place cake balls on a greased cookie sheet. 
6. Put a lollipop stick in each cake ball and place in refrigerator until firm.  
7. Once cake balls are firm, lightly pinch the bottom of the cake ball where the stick is attached to form the shape of an apple.   
8. Indent the top of the ball to form the shape of where the stem will be going.  
9. If cake balls have gotten soft, place back in refrigerator until firm again. 
10. Melt the candy melts in a double boiler.  
11. When the cake balls are firm dip them in the melted candy melts.  
12. Shake excess off and place in the Styrofoam or wooden holder.  
13. Take a chocolate dipped pretzel and place in the top indention.  
14. Take a Mike and Ike and place it crooked next to the pretzel stick on the top of the apple. 
15. Stand back and Say “AWWWW”. 
16. Repeat dipping process until all the cake balls are dipped and decorated.  
17. I had a stem and leaf helper during the dipping process because it can get pretty messy.