While I mostly review cupcakes, on the odd occasion I do actually make them myself. After one of my friends introduced me to Bake it In a Cake I have been wanting to try this for myself. Finally slightly unambitious I decided rather than making my own mini-pies or cookies to bake in a cupcake, I would instead go for a store bought cookie – I chose the Oreo. My bake it in a cake is a chocolate cupcake with cream-cheese oreo icing and an oreo in the centre.

To make the cupcakes, I started my trimming down individual chocolate wafers and putting them in the bottom of a paper cupcake liner. You could technically do this with half an Oreo, but twisting apart Oreos seems to have too high a risk of failure to me. I then filled up the liner halfway with a chocolate cake batter – I just used a basic, by scratch recipe. Then I put an Oreo into the batter, before topping it off. I followed the baking instructions for chocolate cupcakes, testing them after the initial time. For the icing, I made a cream cheese icing, using half the recommended icing sugar and then put the crumbs from cutting the chocolate wafers into the icing.

The icing was probably my favourite part of this cupcake. I only had whole wheat flour on hand, so the cupcakes were quite dense, but still very tasty.

In the fall, I stopped into the Rosedale Petite Thuet (1162 Yonge St.) while out running errands with my roommate and her boyfriend.  This boulangerie sells a wide variety of canned goods, pre-prepared foods and baked goods.  I had a raspberry and custard danish. Roommate’s boyfriend had the coffee. Keep meaning to go back, but haven’t had the chance yet.

This fall, I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about food. There are three articles I’ve been working on this semester that are related to food or the food system. On the side, I’ve been doing a lot more cooking – and more specifically, a lot more elaborate cooking. I’ve been trying to utilize the wonderful produce that is seasonal in the fall – pumpkins and lots of squash – in my cooking.

College Vegetarian Cooking (Amazon)

This is currently my most used cookbook. The recipes are easy to follow, require ingredients that I can find at my urban grocery stores and have beautiful pictures to go alongside them. I’ve made a lot of the dishes in here, most with great success. This book has lots of healthy recipes in them that are great for the vegetarian diet – they often have either faux-meat products or beans for protein. What I’ve made so far and what I think of the recipes:

• Spinach-mushroom crepes – I don’t have a crepe pan in Toronto, but I used my mom’s when I was home this summer. I’d never made crepes before, and I found it so simple to make them following this recipe. I’ll definitely be taking advantage of the crepe pan when I’m back in Calgary at Christmas.
• Penne with pan-roasted tomatoes and white beans – very simple recipe with few ingredients. I love fresh basil, which is the main seasoning in this dish.
• Butternut squash soup – This recipe was the first time I’d ever cut a squash. I had to look it up, because I had no idea – this is the one instruction I wish they had in the book.
• Oven-fried zucchini sticks with honey mustard sauce – this was one of my favourite things to make this summer. I could probably drink the sauce that goes with these.
• Butternut squash risotto – I made this earlier in the week and it. is. to. die. for. seriously. It is one of the best things I have ever made. My main issue with the recipe is that it calls for “small butternut squash” – and then gives a measurement in pounds. I don’t have a kitchen scale, and I have no idea what a constitutes a small squash. I ended up doubling the amount of risotto and water/broth in this recipe – I’m glad I did so I can enjoy the dish longer.
• Vegan chocolate pudding – This was another keeper recipe, unfortunately I had the heat on too high and burnt a bit on the bottom of the pot. While there was no noticeable change in taste, it did make for a lot of scrubbing.

In making this list I realized I haven’t made as many things from this book as I’d thought. Overall I’ve been pretty impressed with most recipes – since they’re so simple it’s pretty easy to make adjustments based on my own preferences or what I have in the fridge.

Since I’ve been back in Calgary, I’ve been watching a lot of Food Network as I’d been on withdrawal for the last 8 months.  One new (to me anyways) host caught my eye.  Two of my favourite things are fashion and food – combine together and I instantly swoon.  When I discovered that one of the Food Network hosts whips up meals while wearing Betsey Johnson AND stilettos, well, be still my heart!   Starting as an online show, Bitchin’ Kitchen is now a late night favourite on the Food Network.

Nadia G, the master chef on Bitchin’ Kitchen makes me want to cook in style, so don’t be surprised if you see my cooking up a storm in heels and a gorgeous dress in the fall!  All I need is the perfect apron to protect my beloved dresses.  While I think I might try and make my own, there are many different styles on Etsy for those who cannot sew (or do not have mother’s that they hope will help them!) My favourites are the cupcake and hedgehog aprons from Annie’s Attic, or the cupcake one by Baked With Love Aprons.

Image from Bitchin’ Kitchen.

Cupcake and Coffee from The Magnolia Bakery

I recently took a little trip to New York City, so of course I had to try a cupcake from the world famous, Magnolia Bakery.  With three locations in Manhattan, I went to the location in the West Village, right across from the Marc by Marc Jacobs store. This is the bakery’s original location, since it opened in 1996.  This bakery has been credited with the “cupcake craze” that emerged in the late 90s.  It is also a stop on the “Sex and the City” tour, as in one episode Carrie and Miranda sample their cupcakes.  I was almost hesitant to try the cupcakes as I’d heard mixed opinions about the bakery’s most popular item.  As they also offered up many tasty looking mini-cheesecakes, I was tempted not to try a cupcake.  However, my inner cupcake connoisseur knew I had to be able to compare all other cupcakes to the one that started the craze.

Vanilla Cupcake from Magnolia Bakery (Leah Wong)

Flavour: Vanilla with Vanilla Buttercream
Cake: 4/5
Icing: 4/5
Presentation: 5/5
Flavour Selection: 4/5
Location: 5/5
Total: 22/25

Initially I found the icing on the cupcake a little too sweet, and considering I have a major sweet tooth, that’s saying something.  The more I ate, the better it got.  For once, I was happy not to have the cupcake towered high with icing, as it was super sweet.  There were quite a few flavours to choose from, but they were all pretty standard.  The cake was good, but not anything special.  Overall, the cupcake was worth it, though I can’t see standing in hours for a good, but standard cupcake.  As I went first thing in the morning on a Thursday, there was no line up, but I’d been warned by friends that I should be prepared to stand in line.  I adore the location of the West Village location, it was right across from Marc by Marc Jacobs, down the street from James Perse, and a few blocks from a major sale at Olive & Bette’s.  While it wasn’t the best cupcake I’ve ever had, it’s easy to tell how they are the basis of a craze, which other bakers have built upon and improved.

Japanese Ginger Cupcake from For the Love of Cake (Leah Wong)

This post is a long time coming, I went to For the Love of Cake back in March, but never got around to posting my review.  I first heard about For the Love of Cake because of their Mancakes - you read right – a cupcake made for the men in your life.  These decadent cakes use “man-worthy” ingredients; the flavours range from Maple Bacon to Guinness Chocolate. The other specialty at For the Love of Cake, is the 4-dimensional cupcake, made up of cake, icing, garnish and filing.

On my trip to For the Love of Cake, I made it not too long before closing, meaning I was faced with end of day selection.  The only two flavours offered up were Japanese Ginger and Maple Bacon – being a vegetarian I obviously chose the former.  According to their website the Japanese Ginger is “A tangy ginger cupcake filled with a plum sake reduction and topped with cream cheese frosting and a plum slice covered in a sake glaze.” Needless to say I was intrigued by the complex list of ingredients.

Cupcake Filling (Leah Wong)

Icing: 5/5
Cake: 5/5
Presentation: 5/5
Location: 2.5/5
Selection: 5/5
Total: 22.5/25

While there were only two flavours available when I went into the store, at the beginning of each day, the bakery tweets (@4theloveofcake) the selection for the day.  At the beginning of the day there are around nine flavours available, so if you want to have full pick, go early in the day!

As I tried the cupcake a while ago, and do not remember the specifics, I can’t go into detail about it.  I would however, recommend going to For the Love of Cake to try their cupcakes for yourself.  The flavours are complex, while there was minimal icing, with the filling I did not desire more.

Currently, Liberty Village seems quite the trek for a cupcake, as the area is not fully developed.  I think as the area grows, it will become a much more desirable area to check out.  Right now, there is a cute boutique located next to the shop, which I would recommend to any fashionista.

Macaron from Frangipane Bakery (Leah Wong)

I have a huge sweet tooth, and not just for cupcakes. One other of my many, many dessert loves is the macaron. A Macaron is the French version of a macaroon – made of egg whites, almond flour and sugar. They are light, sweet and come in a variety of flavours, depending on where you buy them. I first became intrigued with macarons while watching Sophia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette. The scenes in this movie are my idea of heaven – desserts and outrageously extravagant outfits enjoyed with tea.  Frangipane Patisserie (215 Madison Ave) is where I found these macarons – they were very yummy and I would highly recommend trying some! I tried raspberry and salted French caramel macarons.

I hope everyone is enjoying their Christmas.  I am spending the day with my family, finished off with a big feast.  While I usually just opt out of eating turkey, this year I decided I wanted my own Christmas dinner so I am making portobello mushrooms with chestnut stuffing.  Hope it turns out! My family has done our first round of gift opening.  My immediate family had a very minimal gift exchange which we all prefer.  I received a very cute cupcake holder which I will be using to cart cupcakes around to review.  Anyways back to the kitchen for me, have a Happy Christmas!