Living the Not So Sweet Life...

I would blame it on a taste bud malfunction or an over happy gag reflex, but I cant lie to myself, let alone all of you out there. I have found yet another, horrible bakery in the Denver Metro area. Pat came home with 3 paper bags, yes another place making you take home your desserts in a freaking paper bag,  from the  Lower Highlands bakery, Living The Sweet Life, located at 1535 Central Street. I hoped I was going to find at least something in the bags filled with $17.00 worth of sugar that didn't taste like sawdust, but I was wrong. 

We first tried the cookies, the sugar cookie in the shape of Michael Jackson's lips, was just extremely blah and this  disaster of a cookie tasted like plaster. The traditional chocolate chip cookie was better than the lips, but it tasted very similar to Otis Spunkmeyer cookies. If it was fresh out of the oven, and cooked by blind grandma, then i would say it was good, but I'm sad to say she didn't bake it. There was also a Mexican Wedding cookie, and growing up surrounded by Mexican bakeries in Carpinteria CA, i know what the best of the best taste like, but this cookie had me choking on the powdered sugar and foulness. 

Next was the Chocolate croissant, which again was a major Oops! The chocolate seemed to only be in one spot of the croissant so half of it had absolutely no chocolate and when you finally got some chocolate you almost passed out from chocolate overload. It tasted as if it had been sitting in the bakery since the morning, as it was crunchy and did have the fluffy airy texture as many croissants do and should have. 

The Cherry Brownie was up next, and seriously, how hard is it to screw up a brownie? The frosting was piled so high and tasted so artificial i almost vomited at first bite. (Oh, and please let me know where they grow hot pink cherries, thanks!)

Now was time for what they are "popular" for, according to the "space cadet" (quoted from Pat) sales girl, a Pecan Caramel Bar. And if this is what they are famous for, they must be related to the Octo-Mom, because this thing was wack! I think i might of lost two of my teeth trying to bite into this thing. 

Finally, and thank god, the last two things; Cake Balls. Frosting, cake and chocolate, where can you go wrong? Well, this bakery surely did these wrong! The Red Velvet was the worst, I don't know how they did it, but it tasted like corn bread!?!? The all chocolate one was just...well I don't know what to say, two of us didn't even come close to finishing these balls, and I'm leaving it at that!

One last thing, what cupcake shop doesn't have any freaking cupcakes to sell?!? Im done, DENIED!

Katherine's French Bakery

            Katherine’s French Bakery is a European style bakery/café with two Denver locations (one in Bonnie Brae and the other in Aurora) that both serve traditional French pastries, quiche, crepes, coffee and much more. The atmosphere of the bakery and what the pastry cases contained didn’t do much for me sight wise, but I decided to give them a chance anyways.I got a traditional Napoleon and aTogolais (I think this was what it was called) pastry that the sales girl recommended, which honestly, I have never heard of in my life.

The napoleon cream was pretty darn tasty, it tasted how a real French napoleon should taste, as many places think whipped cream will do just fine (note to self: IT DOESN’T!).The cream was not too sweet, while not being bland at all. But, the pastry puff pastry was soft and soggy, definitely not a crispy pastry dough like it should be.

The Togolais (I think) was a cookie like base topped with a thick chocolate cream dipped in ganache with coconut patted on the sides. The cookie tasted like a marzipan-based cookie covered with way too much chocolate. It was so rich I only took ONE BITE! I couldn’t take another without feeling sick, and let me tell you, I can handle my sugar extremely well, but this was just too much.

This bakery just didn’t do it for me, in looks or in taste. I would rather of spent the extra the money to fly to France and have a real French pastry then waste the time and calories on this place. 

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.  

The country-wide Gigi's Cupcakes

Gigi’s Cupcakes is a cutesy chain bakery that has 18 locations primarily in the South, as well as in Colorado, Texas and Las Vegas. The Gigi’s I went to devour was the Denver store located on 550 Grant Street, located right next to the delicious Cosmo’s Pizza (The restaurant I worked at in college ( the Boulder location) and where I met Pat!).

 I got a Midnight Magic Chocolate Chip cupcake that was phenomenal! The perfectly moist cake and frosting had a fantastic chocolate taste! The frosting was amazing, it was not too whippy and airy like most bakeries, and it was a perfect consistency and flavor that made your mouth water. (There was just too much frosting! It was falling over it was so top- heavy!) Plus the mini chocolate chips, even though they looked old, they added the perfect “crunch” to the cupcake.  But the decoration on this one was….well…look at it and you know what im thinking, haha!  Pat and I devoured this cupcake, there wasn’t a crumb to spare!

I also got a Hunka Chunka Banana Love that just did not compare. I LOVE the chocolate and banana combo, but this one tasted like a banana bread, and a bad banana bread at that! Unlike the cupcake on the brochure, this cupcake had fudge frosting instead of the banana buttercream dipped in ganache. The fudge unfortunately was just extremely artificial tasting, made us not even finish the cupcake. The banana chip and chocolate heart on top was cute, but couldn’t make up for the taste.

 Gigi’s cupcakes were a hit or a complete miss. I would love to go back and try some of their other cupcake flavors! Just a warning, if you ever go to a Gigi’s, stay with the classic cake flavors!

<3

Shoe Shine Cake..Here I Come!

I am stoked to say i am getting a pretty cool opportunity to bake and decorate a 3D Nike Dunk Shoe cake for the 5th annual Shoe Shine Sneaker exhibit. Come by 

this Saturday, October 23rd to City Hall Event Center to see some custom sneaker and basketball backboard art from many rad local artists. 

Check out the site for more info....and see ya there!

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=156071491079003&ref=ts

<3 

One Love 

"We make the impossible delicious"

If you have ever been to Watercourse Foods or City O’City in Denver, and been lucky enough to try one of their bakery goods, you will know exactly where this review is going. Watercourse Bakery is a 100% Vegan and gluten free bakery that really does make the impossible delicious!

I went to dinner with my friends Kat (Jessica) and Loki at City O’ City for my first time. I have been to watercourse more times than I could ever imagine counting, and their food and baked treats really are some of the best meals I have ever had! 

We got the most amazing cupcake on the planet, (the one I get every time I go to one of the restaurants) the Ho-Ho cupcake. This cupcake truly tastes like a Hostess Ho-Ho cupcake, minus the chemicals. The chocolate cake is filled with a vanilla creamy frosting, and topped with a layer of the vanilla frosting and then dipped into a vegan chocolate ganache. This cupcake is one of the best cupcakes I have ever had in Denver, and the fact that its vegan and gluten free…makes it that much more amazing. This is one of those desserts where when its all gone, you catch yourself with your tongue glued to the plate trying to find the last crumb! 

We also got a Strawberry Mango cupcake (also G.F. and Vegan). This was my first time ever ordering this one, and this one just didn’t do it for me. It was a white cake that had a hint of banana, with a tiny bit of strawberry filling, and a mango buttercream. The flavor of the combination was…as weird as it sounds, it tastes like the Hello Kitty store. It tasted very artificial, and the flavor combo was just…wrong. I was so bummed, but they all can’t be winners J.

Kat and our glorious cupcakes 

I have had their cookies, cakes and pies as well, and trust me, you cant go wrong (well except for the strawberry mango cupcake)! If you are ever in the downtown area, be sure to check out Watercourse (837 E 17th Ave) or City O’ City (206  E. 13^th street), the bakery is right next door to City O’City! 

Pat Milbery's Birthday!!!!

On October 2nd,Patrick Macklin Milbery turned another year older. 

And the cake I did for his celebration...coconut, oreo mousse...mmmmm

Another amazing year of life lived to the fullest by the most creative, upbeat, positive, most amazing pro snowboarder I have ever seen, loving, rad, old man, Pat Milbery! Hope the next year is even better than the last. 

One Love <3

Cake Crumbs....in my mouth :)

Today I was driving across town and came across a little shopping area I didn’t even know existed. And there it was…Cake Crumbs. They were the first bakery in Denver to have a food truck that blesses the Denver Metro Area with cupcakes in random spots, such as Downtown and the Denver Tech area. Hearing only good things about their cupcakes I was so happy I stumbled across their store front. 

They didn’t have a crazy selection, so I got basically got everything they had left. I got cupucakes of all sizes; a Chai Cupcake with Cream Cheese Frosting, a the classics Chocolate on Chocolate, Vanilla on Vanilla, Chocolate on Vanilla and Vanilla on Chooclate in the mini size. 

Oh the Cream Cheese frosting…how I love you with every single tastebud on my tounge. But then again, I have never met a Cream Cheese Frosting I haven’t liked. J The chai cake was a moist cake with the perfect amount of exploding spice flavor. The Red Velvet (Which in case you didn’t know…I HATE red velvet cake(I think people are only in love with it because it is called Velvet…anyways…) was actually very good! 

The Chocolate on chocolate was so mouthwatering. It was a soft chocolate cake with a fudge-like rich chocolate frosting. This cupcake in the mini size is perfect, a standard size might be too much, because of the richness.

The Vanilla on Vanilla was a super light and fluffy (and not too sweet!!) buttercream swirled on top of a traditional vanilla cupcake. Not my favorite but still good.

I love me some chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream, so this one was probally my favorite mini classical flavored cupcake I got.

I would definitely go back to Cake Crumbs someday, I would love to try their cake, and all the pastries they had too....*drool*…now I just need to hit their cupcake truck J

Gateaux....

Gateaux is a little pastry shop in downtown Denver that sells beautifully decorated cakes, cupcakes, cookies, breakfast pastries and tarts. Almost every dessert in the bakery has a very colorful, fun and funky creative touch, whether it’s a whimsical chocolate piece or a fondant bow. Their customized cakes are really great; they could pretty much do whatever kind of decoration you could ever want.

 The White Chocolate Peach Torte…of course…was calling my name. As a sucker for white chocolate, as well as fresh fruit, I had to jump mouth first into this pastry. This was so good; the white chocolate was a perfect match for the juicy chunks of peach in the middle. I would wish for a bit more of the actual cake part, as it was a bit much with all the creamy filling for me. If you are a frosting inhaler, this is what you need to devour!!

I also got a…uh…coconut petit four?!!? Haha, I can’t remember the name of this one, but the sales girl picked it out for me. It tasted like a Girl Scout Samoa cookie. It was a coconut covered chocolate cake brownie thing with a coconut filling, I think. It was pretty darn good I must say, whatever it was.

I also got a cookie in the shape of a cupcake. It was so cute and their cookies would be perfect for a party! It tasted all right, not my favorite treat of the night. The “frosting” part of the cupcake cookie was dipped in chocolate, which was actually really good, but the bottom half of it was just the cookie, which was not impressing my sugar craving.

The only bad thing about their customer service was it took the girl almost 10 minutes to realize I was there; I had to yell back in the kitchen to get her attention! But their stuff is surely yummy, and I would LOVE to sit for hours and look at their books of decorated cakes! 

Dont be a hater, eat a cupcake (from The Shoppe of course)!!!!

If you are a night owl and you get that craving for a cupcake, or even cereal, then The Shoppe bakery in Denver is just for you!  The spunky urban style bakery serves crazy flavored cupcakes (gluten-free and Vegan options too!) and even cereal!! I went there last night at 10:30pm and was stoked to find them still open, and packed with people enjoying their sugary goodness.

This was the first bakery that had Pat’s and my taste-buds in a battle. We got 2 cupcakes, a chocolate peanut butter cupcake, and a Zucchini Cream Cheese cupcake. 

Pat’s favorite was the chocolate peanut butter cupcake that was dense chocolate cake with a peanut butter buttercream. He devoured this cupcake, when I could only take a bite or two. And vice versa with the Zucchini cupcake; I DEVOURED this one!! The zucchini cupcake was also a very dense zucchini cake with a fluffy mouth-watering cream cheese frosting. I loved this flavor combo, it was not too overpowering, or too “lost”. One thing I did not like about The Shoppe’s cupcakes is there is SO MUCH FROSTING! Half the amount would be perfect! It almost scared me away thinking that they were depending on the buttercream to make the cupcake good…but I was wrong. J For dessert, or for breakfast, or just to hang out with friends, this bakery is rad and delicious!  

Mermaids Bakery & Pie House

With a great location, located practically on 16^th street mall in downtown Denver, Mermaids Bakery satisfies the city with cupcakes, cakes (gluten-free options too!) cookies, muffins and lots of pies. Their images in their online gallery and their window display made me so excited to see this Bakery, but when I walked in, the cupcakes looked like they were very sloppily thrown together. The girls in the back were so talking so loud I couldn’t really hear the guy when he was telling me about their flavors. But my god…these cupcakes were delicious!

I got a Tiramisu cupcake, which is vanilla cake filled with espresso cream, topped with cream cheese frosting dusted with cocoa.  The cake part was a bit dry, but when you got a bite of the filling with the cake and frosting…WOW…So good. Tiramisu is by far my favorite dessert ever made, and this would make any tiramisu lover happy. 

 I also got a Strawberry cupcake, which was a strawberry cake with strawberry Swiss buttercream. The cake was light and fluffy with mild strawberry flavor, but the buttercream on top was perfect. It tasted like I bit into a big red perfectly ripe strawberry, and the consistency was perfect. This cupcake was my favorite out of the two. This bakery left me wanting to go try their pies and other treats, as the cupcakes left me happy and completely overly satisfied. But make sure they are open before you head over, because they have extremely weird hours, and you will be sad if you miss this one J

Bummed on Yum-Yum's

I have walked past Yum-Yum’s practically every day since I moved to denver a year and a half ago For some reason I never went in, or when I tried too, they were closed. This morning, on a walk with my boyfriend and pup, I noticed they were….OPEN!!! I was so excited to finally try this place. The inside was everything you could expect from a cupcake shop; whimsical fondant cakes in the windows, colorful stripes covering the walls and glowing cases filled with colorful rows of cupcakes. The flavor combinations had my mouth watering; flavors like banana split, Crème Brulee, and even, Tiramisu (which, in case you didn’t know, is my most favoritest treat ever!) My eye caught their cakes, as I liked how they had a classic and modern twist. 

I chose the White Chocolate Raspberry cupcake and the super nice sales lady chose the Boston Cream for me to devour. The simple and cute decoration, as well as the fun flavors made me excited to dive on in. I tried the White Chocolate Raspberry which at first bite, all I could taste was an over powering raspberry flavor. I then tried just the cake which had a very spongy consistency, and unfortunately, barely tasted of white chocolate. That bummed me out as that was what sold me on the cupcake...im a sucker for white chocolate! 

 I moved on to the Boston Cream cupacke, in hope of a different outcome. I really wanted it to prove the first cupcake wrong. As badly as I wanted it to be good, I’m sad to say it wasn’t.  The cake was moister than the first, but still did not have that “made from scratch” taste, which is what I want for a $3 cupcake. I was excited to find the surprise Bavarian cream center, but it tasted like artificial flavoring and had a very gummy consistancy. The frosting was a chocolate that was just very…un-chocolatey, with the oddest texture!!

When my boyfriend and I were done trying them out, we both felt bummed and unsatisfied. I’m really sad that I did not like it; I really wanted to. Maybe their cheescakes or muffins are better?!?!  

Flash back to Mulberries

Driving down Colfax you cannot pass by without your head turning to catch a glance at Mulberries Cake Shop. The colorful walls, amazing window displays and adorable sweets make you feel as you are stepping back into your childhood. Mulberries is a Denver based cake shop owned by Kathleen and Kip Karr, that sells colorful and fun cupcakes, cakes, cookies and other treats. Each decorated in their own unique way. No cheesy grocery store style cakes found here!! (Thank god for that!) Their adorable polka dotted cakes have a whimsical style that you could pick out of a crowd. Plus, it doesn't crush your bank like most other cupcake shops!!!

 

Cupcake Cake!!

My two favorite cupcakes from Mulberries would have to be the Butter Pecan cake with fudge, and the Strawberry cake with cream cheese icing. ! They have a super moist and fluffy cake with a light and creamy buttercream. While biting into their cake and cupcakes, memories from being a kid flash before your tastebuds. They taste similar to a homemade birthday cake from your childhood…Pure comfort!   

Much Love 

All Organic Lovely Confections

Lovely Confections is an all-scratch bakery made with local and organic ingredients, located in Denver, Colorado. This bakery has been on my list of bakeries to attack since I moved here, and after trying both the Chocolate and the Bee’s Knees Cupcakes, I am pretty bummed I haven’t made it there sooner.  Make sure you keep your eyes peeled when driving down Colfax as it would be easy to miss if you aren’t looking carefully, and trust me, you don’t want to miss it. Upon walking in, I was hit in the nose with the sweet smell of cupcakes in the air. The owner, Porche and an employee were busy at work behind the counter, icing and baking their sugary treats. The bakery was very open with tables for people to enjoy their cupcakes, drink some hot coffee and take advantage of the free wi-fi. 

The first scrumptious treat I devoured was the Chocolate cupcake with Chocolate Buttercream. At first bite, the words “Brownie Batter” was all I could think of to describe it. And those are some great words to be hearing from my mouth, as Brownie Batter is one of my most favorite things on the planet. On top of the perfect moistness of chocolate cake was a gooey chocolate buttercream that was covered in little tiny chocolate sprinkles. The cupcake was super rich, while also being light at the same time…if that is even possible! 

But the Bee’s Knee’s Cupcake….oh where to begin. The cupcake consisted of a lavender cake with a Honey Lemon Buttercream. The refreshing lemon flavor with a hint of honey Buttercream was to die for; it had a grainy texture that melted in my mouth. It was swirled on top of the cake that had a hint of lavender (my taste buds wished it was a bit more lavender-ie) that again, was the perfect consistency, not too moist but not one bit dry either. This cupcake was my favorite in taste, and decoration, but the chocolate was not far behind in taste! Both were totally worth $3 (each), completely reasonable for the yummy happiness they gave my belly. 

Make sure you don’t miss this bakery when in the mile high city!!

P.S. If you are Gluten-Free, don’t worry…call ahead and you can devour some of their yummy treats too!