Donut is the new Cupcake

Is it donut or doughnut??  I see it both ways.  Personally I prefer donut because I am lazy and it is less letters for me to type.  Anyway...I have always been a fan of donuts.  I'm going to blame this love on my grandfather.  I spent a lot of time at my grandparents house as a child, and my grandfather would always wake up, drive to the local bakery, and come back with a dozen donuts!  I LOVED those donuts and the quality was great.  Much better than the manufactured Dunkin and Tim Hortons we eat today.  Don't get me wrong, if I pass a Tim Hortons I will still stop and get a little box of Tim Bits.

It appears the donut trend is catching on outside of the chains we have grown up with over the years.  Not too long ago a hole-in-the-wall shop popped up in downtown Chicago - Doughnut Vault (http://thedoughnutvault.tumblr.com/).  Located just around the corner from Gilt Bar (love).  I call it hole-in-the-wall because it is just that.  You walk into a hallway where there is one girl a register and a couple bakers racks of donuts - that's it. 

One Friday morning, my friend Justin and I decided to go see what the hype was all about.  We had heard many stories about people waiting in line for an hour so they could get their donut of choice - I'm not kidding.  I didn't want to wait in line for an hour, for a donut, that's absurd.  Doughnut Vault opens at 8:30AM so I figured arriving by 8AM was reasonable.  30 minutes for a donut = not absurd.  I am not great at the whole twitter thing, but I tried following doughnut vault that whole week because they post tweet updates on the line and the inventory.  From my research 8:00 seemed perfectly reasonable.  When we arrived, there was only one other person waiting outside.  We were a bit confused as we expected to be arriving to a line of at least 20.  We quickly pulled out our iPhones and mapped the nearest Starbucks (lemons into lemonade).  There was a bux around the corner, so we went and grapped a cup then headed back to the vault.  By the time we got back there were about 10 people waiting.  This was at 8:20AM.  Not too bad.  They finally opened the doors and the line quickly grew behind us.  As you may know I am incredibly indecisive (read: i had to get one of each flavor).   I decided to bring a dozen back to my team for everyone to try.  I was able to try a piece of each flavor - I had to in order to judge fairly!

I LOVED the simple boxes

Heaven

The "stacks" came in these great little sacks (sack of stacks!)

Perfection

Buttermilk Old Fashioned

Gingerbread

Vanilla Glazed

Chestnut Glazed

Chocolate Glazed

Overall, I loved the doughnut vault and thought they were all delicious.  My favorite was the vanilla glazed and my least favorite was the buttermilk old fashioned.  They also have flavors of the week from time to time so I will have to go check those out.  My guess is that there won't be much of a line once winter actually hits here in Chicago.  I would def reco going and trying each one, but get there early because according to their tweets they are usually sold out of their best flavors by 10AM. 

enjoy!
j

Food Truck Friday

Food trucks are all the rage these days.  I don't know about other cities, but these trucks are buzzing through the streets of Chicago like a swarm of bees.  They come in all shapes and sizes and carry all different types of cuisines.  Being the good friend that I am, I accompanied Matt so he could scope the goods these mobile kitchens had to offer.  It just so happens there was a cupcake truck - Sweetie Cakes - mixed in with the sliders, mac n cheese, and tamales.  Obviously I had to check it out.  I decided on "spice me up"- spiced sweet potato zucchini cake with a brown butter buttercream frosting aka fall in your mouth.

1) The Cake - Similar to a spice cake.  I liked the flavor a lot, but it had more of a muffin consistency.  This makes sense considering the ingredients.  2) icing - good flavor, but VERY sweet.  It works with the cake though.  3) Presentation - so, I didn't get to see the cupcake before purchasing which I didn't love.  Once purchased I thought it looked delish and obvi loved the holder so I could carry it back to my office without smearing the frosting.  4)creativity - very creative.  Can't say that I have come across another sweet potato zucchini cupcake.  5)overall happiness - so happy.  As I mentioned earlier it was like biting into fall.  The combo was perfect together and I absolutely appreciated that they were delivered right to me!

If Sweetie Cakes parks out front again I will be sure to stop by and try another one!

enjoy!

j

City Secrets

When I first moved to Chicago back in December, I was taught a very important piece of information...how to get to the State Street Macy's from my office without taking a step outside.  Some of you may think this isn’t a big deal, but when it is -7 outside and you need a new pair of boots it becomes a huge deal!  This is the Macy's downtown which has the giant Christmas tree in the Walnut Room, an entire floor dedicated to seasonal merchandise (guilty pleasure) AND the food court contains Frontera Grill.  Yea, Frontera Grill as in Rick Bayless' mexican masterpiece.  Kind of makes chik-fil-a look subpar.  Now, this adventure is no walk in the park.  It reminds me of the scene in Elf where Buddy is leaving the North Pole to head to New York City.  He goes through the seven levels of the candy cane forest and through the sea of swirly twirly gum drops.  My walk is not quite as glamorous as I journey through the levels of the Metra station and through the sea of bums, but the fact that I don’t have to step outside makes it totally worth it!

Once the snow melted away and it was actually warm enough to walk outdoors I took the more direct path to Macy's…this consisted of a 5 block walk.  When I first made the outdoor trip I noticed a window display for Sarah’s Pastries.  Obviously this was very exciting to me.  That excitement diminished when I walked in the door and saw zero signs of baked goods.  I figured it was just a poorly executed window display and carried on with my day.  Please note I didn’t really look that hard.

Every time I went back the cakes were still in the window.  I figured this mini bakery was located somewhere inside, but this Macy's has 7 floors.  I have roughly 60 minutes for lunch, so no real time for a cake hunt.

Well...last week I found Sarah’s Pastries!  I was walking to Macy's with my friend Matt, and as we approached the building I told him how I was so frustrated with the window display because I could not find the cakes.  He took me through an entrance on the other side of the building and there it was...right when you walk in the door - exactly where the window is located (behind a Starbucks).  I was mortified.  It was the absolute definition of a dumb blonde move.  Of course, I was with Matt when this happened because he gives me a hard time for EVERYTHING.  This was just handing him material for the next few weeks.  To my defense - this MINI cake stand is located in the middle of the men's underwear section.  I do not regularly stroll through that section so how would I ever know the cakes were there?!?! And really Macy’s? Cakes in the underwear section??  You have 7 floors! On a total side note...some of the items in that section were shocking - i guess neon is also in for mens bottoms!

As I digress…on to the cupcake.  We decided to split the cupcake of the day which was a chocolate cake with a caramel buttercream frosting and some peanut butter crisp thing on top.

Always appreciate a good container

The Chocolate cake was very good.  I really enjoyed the flavor.  The pb crisp thing was also in the bottom of the cake.  I really loved that addition – it definitely added to the texture and was a nice surprise.  The frosting was super light and airy.  I still don’t know if I liked that or not.  On one hand it was nice that it wasn’t too heavy of a cake considering we were eating it at lunch, but on the other hand I felt the cake flavor was so strong that it needed a thicker frosting to compliment.  The presentation was nice, but if I am factoring in the presentation of the “store” it was very tiny/compact and clearly difficult to find.  I wonder how many others pass up the cakes due to location.  I found the cupcake to be pretty creative, especially with the crisp.  Overall I thought the combo was delicious.  My favorite part was the peanut butter crisp since it added such a contrast of texture to the whole cake.  I would definitely go back to Sarah’s now that I know where it is.

Before heading out we browsed the men's section to see if we could find Matt some fall clothes.  I can't believe some of the items we came across.  My favorite....

Perfect for those chilly days

Reverse it if you want to jazz it up!

Enjoy!

J

Suburban Sweets

My friend Dave caught wind of the blog and declared that the best cupcakes were located in the burbs of Chicago.  Since I rarely make it out of the city he surprised me one day by bringing me a dozen cupcakes.  Clearly he wanted to make sure I had enough variety to give a fair review!  Luckily the ones on the right are doubled so I technically only sampled 9.  I will also preface this by saying I did not eat 9 cupcakes in 1 sitting!  I tried a small portion of each over 2 days. 

Don't they look amazing?!

The cupcakes came from Baker Boys (bakerboysbakery.com) in Highland Park.  I love that it is run by 2 dudes because most bakeries have a lady behind the mixer. 

Peanut Butter Cup

My first choice was Peanut Butter Cup - a chocolate cake with peanut butter buttercream frosting.  Cake - good flavor and very moist. Frosting - couldn't taste the peanut butter at all.  If I was blindfolded you could have easily told me that this was just a chocolate cake with plain frosting.  As you can see it was then topped with a peanut butter cup, but I clearly know what that tastes like so I left that part for Dave. 

Banana Chocolate Chip

I then moved on to the banana chocolate chip, which surprisingly has been a favorite flavor over the last couple months.  This was a banana cake with chocolate chips topped with a vanilla/chocolate swirl butter cream frosting.  Cake - AMAZING.  the flavor was great and I loved the chocolate chip banana combo.  Frosting - delish.  They have a great buttercream recipe and I love the vanilla chocolate twist combined with the banana.  I am so glad this one was delicious, because I was slightly nervous after the peanut butter cup. 

Cookies N Cream

Next was Cookies N Cream.  Chocolate cake, filled with pastry cream, topped with a vanilla buttercream frosting and crushed cookies.  Cake - good.  Same as the peanut butter, so not much surprise there.  The custard filling was just ok - not my favorite.  I loved the vanilla buttercream and cookie topping.  Overall I liked it but could have done w/o the filling. 

Peach Cobbler

I followed that with the peach cobbler.  Yellow cake, peaches in the middle, vanilla buttercream, cinnamon crumble topping, and a little dulce de leche on top.  Cake - perfect.  This was a delicious yellow cake and I LOVED the peaches in the center.  Icing - the buttercream combined with the cinnamon crumbles and dulce de leche was outstanding.  The overall combination of this cupcake was perfect.  I had a very difficult time not finishing it off.  

Lemon Meringue

Staying within the fruit category I moved over to the Lemon Meringue.  A vanilla cake filled with lemon curd and topped with a meringue frosting.  Cake - so, for some reason I didn't love the vanilla cake on this one.  I am assuming it is the same recipe used for the Peach Cobbler, but it wasn't as good.  Don't get me wrong, it wasn't terrible - just not great.  I enjoyed the lemon curd filling.  It had a good flavor and pulled the whole cake together.  Icing - super fluffy.  I personally think meringues are quite tricky, but this was done right.  Overall I liked all of the flavors mixed together.

Red Velvet

I then moved over to the classics starting with Red Velvet.  It had been awhile since I had a red velvet so I was pretty excited.  Cake - spot on.  The consistency and flavor were great.  People tend to add too much cocoa to red velvet, but these guys know what they are doing.  The cream cheese icing was also really good.  It was the perfect thickness to top this cake. 

Chocolate Chocolate

Cake - had a good flavor, but was slightly dry.  I did have this one on the second day, so I bet it would have been a little better if I tried it right away.  Icing - a little too rich for my personal preference.  This statement might come as a shock, but I am not a huge chocolate lover.  I really don't like dark chocolate and I only like milk chocolate in small doses.  So I would never personally order a choc/choc cupcake but I am glad I had the opportunity to try it.  Now, someone like my father who could eat straight chocolate all day every day would probably love this one. 

Vanilla Vanilla

Last but not least - the vanilla/vanilla.  Cake - Again, it was dry, but that is my fault for the delay in tasting.  It did have a nice buttery flavor that I enjoyed.  Icing - The vanilla buttercream was so good.  It wasn't too sweet which is important when pairing it with the vanilla cake. 

If you are still paying attention that was only 8 cupcakes.  There was also a turtle cupcake in the box, but I hate nuts.  I temporarily let go of my inner selfishness and let my friend Matt have the turtle.  His thoughts "half cupcake, half gooey goodness in the middle".  I will take that as a positive review. 

On a side note I should mention that Dave was intently watching as I took each bite.  I felt as if I was under so much pressure to love each one.  Overall I really enjoyed Baker Boys (good thing or he might have slapped me)!  After looking at the website I am bummed I did not get to try some of their other specialty flavors (apple pie, blueberry pancake, peanut butter & jelly, and pumpkin pie).  Unfortunately, I don't make it out to the suburbs often, so Dave when you read this please bring a second batch (wink). 

If you are in the Chicago area I would absolutely recommend a trip out to Highland Park for these cupcakes.  My top 3 picks are the Peach Cobbler, Banana Chocolate Chip, and Red Velvet.

Cupcakes and Baseball!

One of my very best friends, Ms. Erin Butt, came up to visit.  When she asked about my favorite cupcakes in the city I immediately took her to Sweet Mandy B's!

She loves to have a good time!

Walking into Sweet Mandy B's is the toughest part of the journey because you are faced with so many tough choices.  I mean look at this spread...

They just so happened to have a special that I had never seen before..Lemon Raspberry! mmm.  This was perfect because it was a steamy day in Chicago and lemon raspberry seemed quite refreshing.

This cupcake not only looks amazing, but it also tasted amazing!  Per usual the cake had a perfect consistency.  I would have preferred a smidge more lemon flavor.  The icing was a raspberry buttercream.  It was light and fluffy and the flavor was spot on.  I absolutely love Sweet Mandy B's and they knocked it out of the park with this summer flavor.

To make this weekend even better my beloved Reds were in town to play the Cubs!  Erin and I were able to score some great last minute tickets.  Unfortunately, it was a very sad showing and they lost big time.  Even though they didn't get the W it was SO great to be able to watch them play live!

Finally closed out the weekend with this delish turkey burger topped with a corn/avocado/cucumber salsa! So simple and perfect for summer.


Enjoy!
j

Cupcakes & Baseball!

Ah, two of my favorite things!  I am lucky enough to live in very close proximity to Wrigley Field making it quite easy to watch a ball game.  To be clear I am NOT a Cubs fan.  Not even close, but I am a huge fan of the game so I will watch regardless of the teams.  


On the way to Wrigley my friend Katie and I decided to stop for a cupcake at Phoebe's Cupcakes (chicagocupcakes.com).  Not my first choice, but it was convenient.  They had a decent selection to choose from so after a solid five minutes of back and forth I went with salted caramel and Katie chose Peanut Butter Fudgy Brownie.  

Salted Caramel:  Caramel soaked vanilla cake with caramel butter cream icing topped with sea salt.  1) the cake - awesome.  It had an amazing texture and loved the flavor 2) the icing - so delicious.  Just the right amount and it had a perfect hint of sea salt so that the cake overall was not too sweet which can easily happen with caramel 3)presentation - simple, fine.  4)creativity - not the first salted caramel i have seen, but the sea salt topping was a nice touch 5)overall happiness - unfortunately delighted.  For personal reasons I really did not want to like these cupcakes, but of course they were delicious.  

Peanut Butter Fudgy Brownie:  I almost don't need to rate a cake with that title because you know it will be amazing.  peanut butter. fudgy. brownie. duh.  This was a brownie cheesecake topped with peanut butter italian buttercream.  1)the cake - the actual chocolate cake portion was not my favorite, but added with the cheesecake brought it back to amazingness.  2)PB icing - great!  Some bakeries struggle with a peanut butter icing, but this one was alright in my book.  It was very smooth and not overwhelming.  3) presentation - simple like the caramel - i like that.  4)creativity - pb chocolate is not that creative, but I have yet to see a cheesecake version.  I think it was a nice touch 5) Overall happiness - hate to love it.

Well, Phoebe's gets an official thumbs up from me.  If you are ever in boystown it is recommend.  The flavor we are holding above is Spumoni which is a pistachio cake.  This gets serious creative points, but I am not a fan of nuts so passed on this flavor.  

2 additional touches I enjoyed: dog cupcakes (can't forget about our furry friends) and self serve sprinkles.  

Wrigley Night Game

Enjoy, 
J

Another Truck

The other day I was headed out for a run but when I got to the bottom of my building a cupcake truck was parked on my corner.  I went through a long moral debate on if I should just go run OR skip the run, go upstairs, get my wallet, and try the cupcake.  Well, I decided to run and I am so happy I made that choice.  The very same truck was parked outside of my office this week.  I grabbed some friends and went to see what they had to offer.  They had minimal flavors of large cupcakes, a box of 3 mini cupcakes, whoopie pies, cake pops, and their special of the day was banana pudding.  My friend Justin and I decided to split the 3 minis and a banana pudding.  David went with the pudding and Nicole went with the box of minis. 

The 3 minis were vanilla bean, red velvet, and sweet potato. 

Vanilla Bean – 1)the cake – so so so dry, blah terrible.  It was heavy and like cornbread.  The worst!  2) the icing was vanilla bean butter cream - it was watery - not the texture but the taste.  Vanilla is so amazing and this was so blan. 

Red Velvet - 1)the cake - so dry.  not as dry as the vanilla, but not good at all!  Also way too much cocoa in the mix.  Red Velvet is supposed to be chocolatey, but not an overwhelming chocolate taste. 2)the icing was mediocre.  It wasn't thick enough to hold the true consistency of a cream cheese frosting. 

Sweet Potato - 1)the cake was semi dry, but not nearly as bad as the other 2.  I did like the flavor.  2)the icing was the same as the red velvet - just okay.  The cake was topped with sprinkles, which looked nice, but there were too many.  They were so crunchy and distracting.

3)presentation - I liked the box of three and the cute little saying "two for me, one for you".  4)creativity - the first 2 were standard, but the sweet potato was creative.  I haven't seen that before.  David had a great idea to use a marshmallow icing on top and possibly some brown sugar so it would be like a sweet potato casserole!  Very clever - that might be one of my next attempts.  5) overall happiness.  terribly unhappy!  so so bad.  I know I can be a tough judge but these were just all around not good.  Justin and I split 3 minis and we did not fully finish a single one that's how bad they were.  Nicole saved them to take home, I can only imagine how dry they were by the time she ate them. 

A little redemption for the truck:

So David had a banana pudding and Justin and I also split one.  The chick at the truck said it would change our lives.  I don't know about life changing, but I thought it was pretty good.  Justin said it was "excellent" and David agreed with the lady in the truck that it was life changing.  It had actual bananas in it which I appreciated.  The boys think it could have had another layer of vanilla wafers and possibly a dallop of whipped cream on top.  Then it would have been perfect.

All in all this was a HUGE disappointment.  I will not stop at this truck again - even if they have the banana pudding.  I am mad at them for producing such crappy cupcakes that I don't want to give them any business.