Las Vegas Bakery Randoms....

Here are some random photos from my recent trip to Las Vegas....

mmm...chocolate

Jelly Bean Statue of Liberty

Sugar High....

Sin City's Retro Bakery!

Las Vegas is the home of casinos, Elvis impersonators, hookers and the addicting Retro Bakery. For my Frank Sinatra obsessed father’s 60^th birthday, my family headed to Sin City for a weekend of delicious food, the new Sinatra Show, and as much relaxation as Vegas will allow. And what is a birthday without some sugary sweet cake!?! So, without a doubt, my dad’s birthday dessert was going to be coming from Retro Bakery. Retro Bakery is located at 7785 N. Durango Dr. #130 in Las Vegas and is owned by Kari and Brian Haskell, who were the nicest and easiest people to work with! (With our party on a Sunday, a day they are closed, and Brian still baked us our cupcakes fresh and delivered on his day off!!! Thanks a million!!)

I ordered a dozen mixed flavored “Sinatra Themed” cupcakes that were so perfectly decorated I couldn’t believe my eyes when they came out! They each had a fondant circle on the top with music notes and Frank’s Signature on them in black and white. The detail in his signature was right on point! I could not of been happier!!!

Me Devouring some  Retro Goodness

Now the best part…the way they tasted! I ordered some Vanilla loves Vanilla, Salted Caramel, HopScotch (Vanilla dipped in Butterscotch), Pucker-Up (raspberry with lemon), Maple Bacon, and two vegan cupcakes for my mom. Each one was so uniquely delicious, and we all had such a good time trying all the different flavors. My mom was so stoked to finally have a dessert her little vegan self can enjoy, so Thank you Retro!! Everyone was going ga-ga over the cupcakes, and especially the Maple Bacon cupcake that was a vanilla cupcake with bacon pieces and maple syrup baked into the cake with maple buttercream. “It tastes like breakfast in a dessert! As weird as it sounds to have bacon in a cupcake, its absolutely fantastic!”.

Pro Snowboarder Pat Milbery, and my Dad @ the Encore's Sinatras eating some dessert!

My favorite thing about these cupcakes was that they were actually filling! They weren’t some overly fluffy cupcake that leaves you still starving; these cupcakes are a meal in themselves. The cake was perfectly dense, as well as being moist at the same time. And the buttercream….oh the buttercream…it was thick and fluffy with the ability to make you drool just at the sight of it! These cupcakes were fantastically amazing!

My Uncle and Aunt on their 2nd round (They live in Vegas and now my aunt in addicted to the Maple Bacon!) 

These cupcakes were so worth every bite, and would make me almost want to move to Vegas just so I could eat them whenever I please! I cant wait to go back, just so I can try more of their truly unique flavors. My Dad (as would of been Frank Sintra, as it was his 95^th birthday on the same day!!) was so stoked about the cupcakes; he had the biggest smile on his face as he shoved cupcake after cupcake in his mouth! 

 Thank you so much Retro Bakery for all your help and for taking the time to play a part in such a special birthday for my dad!! 

Cupcakes Galore & More...Please NO!!

I was so stoked to finally find a bakery in Golden, Colorado….but now I take that back, cause they were the worst cupcakes I have EVER had! Cupcakes Galore & More is a brand new bakery that opened up in late November at 2575 Youngfield Street. I got 3 different cupcakes, Red Velvet, Pumpkin and Cream Cheese and a Gluten Free Cookies and Cream, and she gave me an extra one (unfortunately!!).

The Red Velvet was so artificially dyed red, it looked like they melted a crayon into the batter. I could not taste the cocoa in the cake, which is the main flavor!! The Cream Cheese Frosting was so…wrong; it tasted like artificial flavoring was dumped in by the gallon. The pumpkin cake tasted like boxed spice cake, topped off with some more of the disastrous cream cheese frosting. The actual cake itself was so undercooked it was still “wet”! (And this is the one she gave me two of…one mini and one regular). The regular size one had MAYBE an inch of actual cake… and for $2.75 WTF!!!

Last but not least is the Gluten Free Cookies and Cream cupcake, I had to keep myself from spitting this one back up. 

The cake was so dry, and if I didn’t know it was suppose to be cookies and cream, I would have had no clue that it was suppose to be that flavor. The cake almost had a sour nutty taste, that no one, gluten intolerant or not, should ever taste. The buttercream was a over whippy frosting that tasted more like a shortening base than a butter one. This cupcake is a cruel joke! This has had to be the absolute worst cupcake I have ever had in my life!!

And the fact that it looked like a 3 year old with two left hands made them made them even less appetizing!

Sorry to be the deliverer of bad news, but PLEASE don’t waste your money, calories or sanity on this place!!

Seattle's Cupcake Royale

Nothing is better than a gift of cupcakes… especially ones you have never tried, from a bakery it would take over a day to drive too. Pat brought me home a box of cupcakes from Seattle’s Cupcake Royale.

 4 cupcakes were enclosed in a small pink and brown box that was as much fun as a box of Froot Loops. All over the box had things to read while you indulge in their sugary goodness, such as the anatomy of a cupcake….and info about the local ingredients they use.

One of the four was the “Royale with Cheese”, which was a dark chocolate cake with the most delicious Cream Cheese Frosting, and chocolate shavings. I loved this cream cheese frosting, it was not over powering and the flavor was still very present. And, really, can you go wrong with chocolate and cream cheese? I think not. I also got a “Kate” that is a chocolate cake with a pink vanilla buttercream. Again, they killlllled it with the buttercream, so good that I caught myself eating all the butterceream off the cake. 

They gave Pat the “Salted Caramel”  which was a Chocolate cake with a rich caramel buttercream with salt crystals. The buttercream had a delicious rich caramel flavor, but their was wayyyyy too much salt on the buttercream, it made me cringe with one tiny bite. And lastly, I got the “Triple Threat” that was a Chocolate buttercream swirled on top of a chocolate cake with chocolate shavings. It would be a good “time of the month” cupcake for sure, but it did not do it for me; way too rich! The chocolate cake, on all the cupcakes was good. Not dry in the least bit, and a good chocolate cake, but not mind blowing. I do wish that one of the cupcakes would have been their white cupcake….oh well, next time I guess. Their frosting is what did it for me, I would love a bucket of their buttercream to just sit and eat with a spoon.

 My suprise....with a half eaten salted caramel cupcake haha!

  

Cupcake Royale has 5 locations in Seattle, Washington, so whenever you are in Seattle you have no excuse to not try their cupcakes out for yourself!

Thats one Big Fat Cupcake!!

 Big Fat Cupcake….uh…this place had me feeling like I might be in need of some maternity pants when I’m done with this place. And that is the last thing  I want to be thinking of when I shove sugary goodness down my throat. But when I walked into the bakery’s door my eyes were instantly shushed to the glass in shock of the size of these colorful monstrosities. These cupcakes were ginormous (I know its not a word, but I like to believe it is), like the size of coconut (kinda). Big Fat Cupcake has the largest daily selection of mouthwatering flavors of any bakery in Colorado I have devoured so far. 

The cases were lined with vibrant cupcakes, and offered way too many flavors that I couldn’t just pick two, so I just had the owner pick out two of her favorites.

I walked out with a Strawberries N’ Cream cupcake that is a fresh strawberry cake topped with some cream cheese frosting.  Oh how I love this flavor combination! The cream cheese frosting was not overly fluffy, and really had had some “umph” in the flavor. The strawberry cake was the perfect texture, but really needed some more strawberry-ness to it. I don’t want to have to search to figure out the flavor of the cake, im lazy and just want to stuff my face.

I also was blessed with a Cookies N’ Cream cupcake that is a chocolate cupcake frosted with Oreo buttercream and smothered in Oreo Cookies. The cupcake as a whole was…good. The buttercream tasted like I was eating Cookies N’ Cream ice cream that was not cold. The texture was fantastic, and the flavor was orgasmic. The rolled on Oreo crumbs didn’t do it for me, they actually took away from the buttercream itself. The chocolate cake was…chocolate cake. It was nothing special in my mind when separated from the buttercream. But this one made me sad when I realized I needed to stop before I ate the whole thing and became a big fat cupcake myself.

Overall, I wanted to propose to their buttercream and marry it on the spot,  and with all the crazy flavors, you can always be trying a new concoction! but the cake’s flavor was good, but nothing special.  Big Fat Cupcake is located in the hoity-toity Cherry Creek area of Denver at 129 Adams Street. Or now you can stalk their cupcake truck and see if they will be dusting your neighborhood in sugar any time soon (facebook or twitter@bigfatcupcake).

My 24th Birthday @ D-Bar in Denver!!!

On November 10th 1986 I popped out into this world,  and to celebrate this year, I went to D-Bar in Denver, Colorado to indulge in some delicious birthday food. D-Bar Desserts is owned by Mr. Keegan Gerhard, who is one of the nations top 10 pastry Chefs, as well as being the emcee & host of the Food Network Challenge. 

From the Coffee, to the main meal to the desserts, everything makes you satisfied beyond belief. The pastry cases in the front of the store contain some of the most beautiful pastrys I have seen in Denver. Making a choice on something to take home is the hardest decision you will ever face. 

For our dessert we got the Poufflé! which is a passion fruit soufflé, mascarpone beignets with banana passion sorbet. Every dessert I have ever gotten here has been down right amazing, and this was no exception. The passion fruit soufflé was made to perfection, the passion fruit flavor was a perfect compliment for the soufflé. The mascarpone beignets, were my favorite thing on the plate. They were fantastic, they were made better than any beignet I have ever devoured. The sorbet was so refreshing and flavorful, just the smell made my mouth water. 

D-Bar "was designed to be a favorite gateway to those who love dessert, food, wine and living life." And I am in love with all 4 of those things...so if your mind and belly are in need of some lovin', head to 1475 E. 17th Ave, in downtown Denver.  

My Banana Bread in 5280 last year.....:)

 When I worked at the deliciously lovely Mulberries Cake Shop in Denver last year, I was lucky to be able to sell my baked goods at the shop. A lady from 5280 (local magazine) came in to do a review on Mulberries, and she mentioned my Vegan Banana Bread (she said scones...but whatev).

Check it out!!

one love

<3

Thanks Kathleen for the opportunity to sell my stuff!! :)