Dessert Adventure: Famous Cupcakes! in Beverly Hills

Famous Cupcakes have to be THE best so far.

Kind of a bold statement, since I haven't tried EVERY single place..BUT, out of the most of the popular places for this famous dessert craze, this is the best.  Red Velvet is a must have, the chocolate flavor in it is much more pungent then others!  They also offer coffee and other desserts, but what I found interesting was the "take home" in the tube cupcake mixes.  These cupcake are fairly large, when you compare to the others. Amazing ratios when you eat the the cream cheese frosting, not too sweet. If your around that area, it's definitely worth a try!! Also, the taste reminds me of Georgetown Cupcake in DC, except they're larger :)

168 South Beverly Drive

Beverly Hills, CA 90212-3003

(310) 248-2727

Dessert Adventure: Mini Caramel Apples! (..but chocolate covered..)

My auntie decided to have a ‘Birthday Bash Costume Party’ for her two little boys, and I made these super amazing mini caramel apples for their party.The original recipe called for butterscotch and peanut butter, but the butterscotch didn’t melt nicely, so we went with chocolate.

Ingredients:

Apples (red or green)

Melon baller

Lollipop sticks

Chocolate (bittersweet or milk, no white chocolate, ours failed dramatically)

LOTS of sprinkles!

1. MELON BALL the apples and insert lollipop stick.

2.  Pat the apples dry to insure maximum stickery. Meanwhile melt the chocolate in a double boiler (a metal boil over a small pot filled with water)  you can also melt it in the microwave.

3. Dip the balled apple in the chocolate and cover in SPRINKLE’S!!

MY FAVORITE, stars!

We also covered it with crushed peanuts (one of the best ones)!

mmm nom nom nom

yay!

4. Do forget to serve them!  Or you can keep them all for yourself  :)

Cupcake Pops!!! ::Dessert Adventures w/ErikasJewels!::

Lately the greatest invention in the baking world has been these cake pops!  Of course 100% of the credit goes to baking genius Bakerella at bakerella.com.  The pops are 'popping' up everywhere! Many coffee shops are including them in there food section, and I was surprised to see them at Starbucks!  My sister and I decided to make these amazing cute cupcake shaped ones!!

Here is the recipe adapted from Bakerella using redvelevet cake and mini chocolate chips.

Cake Ingredients:

1 box red velvet cake mix (cook as directed on box for 13 X 9 cake) & 1 can cream cheese frosting (16 oz.) 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips

Cake Pop ingredients:

Pink Candy Melts
Chocolate/Brown Candy Melts
Lollipop Sticks
M&Ms
Rainbow Sprinkles
Wax paper or plastic wrap (for easy clean up!!) 

Bite!!Yummery Goodness.

1.  First you bake the cake as directed.  After the cake is baked, cool the cake down and crumble the cake in a large bowl then mix in a 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips.
2.  Add 3/4 of the frosting and mix well.  If the mixture is not 'bunching up' from the frosting you can add a bit more.

    
3.  Roll the mixture into large ball, about the size of a mini cupcake.  We didn't have a cookie cutter to shape the bottom of the cake so we just shaped the ball into a 'cupcake' like shape.  Then we placed the cake in the refrigerator for two hours to harden.

4. After the cake has harden, then dip the smaller side of the cake into the melted chocolate melts.  After you dip the chocolate half way then insert the lollipop stick. It might help to dip the tip of lollipop stick first then insert it for maximum security!!

5.  After the chocolate has hardened, melt the pink candy melts and dip the other end of the cake so it covers the rest of the cake.

6.  Quickly place an M&M in the middle and sprinkle on the sprinkles!!  Insert the lollipop stick into a styrofoam block so the cake pop can air dry. 

Wrap in candy plastic to make it look AMAZING!!

Erikasjewels.etsy.com

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Sprinkles Cupcakes!

This was my second visit to Sprinkles.  The first time was a couple of years ago, when the cupcake craze was just starting up, and  Sprinkles is known to be the one bakery who started it. I must say the craze is still going on strong..at this location in Newport Beach the line was out the door and almost to the street!!!!! I probably waited 15 to 20 minutes to grab my three cupcakes, but it’s worth the wait to try it (for the second time).

They are not as large as famous cupcakes, but I must say, the cupcake to frosting ratio was well balanced.

The cupcake with the green and orange sprinkle was a seasonal pumpkin flavored one and the other two are red velvet.  The red velvet, is of course the most popular.  It had strong red velvet flavor with a hint of chocolate.  But, the downside was that it was a bit dry.  The pumpkin on the other hand, didn’t have enough pumpkin!  I admit, I can be kind of a pumpkin/nutmeg/anything pertaining to fall(y) spices snob. But it was just not enough.

Here in Los Angeles, Sprinkles is a great ‘stopper by’ bakery; if you’ve never tried it before, but I feel like it’s fame has gone to it’s head alittle.

Sprinkles Cupcakes

Corona del mar plaza,

944 Avocado Avenue

949. 760 0003

www.sprinkles.com