sweets

Sprinkles Cupcakes Wins Luxist Awards' Editors' Choice Award for Best in Sweets

Filed under: Dining

Sprinkles Cupcakes wins the Luxist Awards' Editors' Choice Award for Best Sweets.

Los Angeles, Ca.-based Sprinkles Cupcakes is the winner of the Luxist Awards' Editors' Choice Award for Best in Sweets.

"The cupcakes are so delicious, they met in your mouth," gushes one fan.
"The best, most delicious cupcakes in America!", says another Sprinkles enthusiast.

Sprinkles cupcakes are handcrafted from the finest ingredients, including sweet cream butter, bittersweet Belgian chocolate, pure Madagascar Bourbon vanilla, fresh bananas and carrots, real strawberries and natural citrus zests. Topped with Sprinkles trademark modern dots, rich chocolate sprinkes from France or seasonal sugar decorations, Sprinkles cupcakes are a sophisticated update on an American classic.

Gallery: More from Sprinkles

Tags: Awards-main, best cupcake, cupcakes, Luxist-Awards, sprinkles, sprinkles cupcakes, sweets, winners-editors-choice, winners-sweets

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Pricey 'Crack Pie' Sweeping the Nation

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

Have you tasted Crack Pie? If you live in NYC and haven't tried it yet you're fast becoming a minority as this simple but apparently addictive little baked good is taking over NYC (and seems to have eyes for the rest of the country too). Available at Momofuku Bakery and Milk Bar in Manhattan, its humble appearance and simple ingredients are deceiving as it carries a whopping price tag of $44 per pie. And no, there's no actual crack in there jacking up the cost. The pie has an oatmeal cookie crust base with a filling that includes egg yolks, sugar, butter and heavy cream. Some have likened it to the Southern favorite, chess pie.

But people are more than willing to pay for this sweet treat. Crack Pie has grown so popular, in part due to recent celebrity endorsements (Anderson Cooper went crazy over it on Regis & Kelly and Martha Stewart featured the bakery and recipe on her show), that the bakery has begun selling the pies online and shipping them via Fed Ex.

So no more excuses for an Iowan like me, I know what I'm putting on the top of my b-day wish list this year!

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Tags: baked goods, BakedGoods, bakery, crack pie, CrackPie, dessert, desserts, nyc, pie, pies, sweets

10 Tips for Baking Perfect Cupcakes

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

Cupcakes are one of the best sweets for bringing to a party or offering guests because not only are they tasty, but they're cute, fun to decorate and personalize, and are conveniently pre-sized in individual servings. And although baking a cupcake is easy enough in principle, baking a perfect cupcake takes a bit of attention to detail.

Use your favorite cake recipe A standard 2-layer cake recipe should make 24 average-sized cupcakes
Use the highest quality ingredients, including fresh eggs and butter instead of margarine
Allow all ingredients to come to room temperature before mixing
Mix thoroughly but don't overmix Over-mixing can cause your cupcakes to taste chewy and flat
Fill the cups 2/3 of the way -- less and they can burn or dry out, more and they might spill, drip, or not cook thoroughly
After filling the cups let them rest for 2-5 minutes to let the batter settle evenly
Know your oven If your oven cooks hotter at the back be sure to rotate the cupcake pan halfway through cooking
Test for doneness after the minimum cooking time to prevent overcooking. A toothpick should come out clean when stuck in the middle.
Allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting or the frosting will melt and look sloppy (and the decorations might even slide off)
Serve and enjoy cupcakes the same day they are made for optimum richness, moistness, and flavor.

Tags: cupcake, cupcakes, desserts, sweets, sweets-pedia

Quilted Chocolate Handbag Cake

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining, Handbags

This would be an especially fun Valentine's Day gift for the fashionista who has everything: a very pretty and stylish edible handbag! This Quilted Chocolate Handbag Cake from Horchow is white chocolate butter cake (mmmm!) filled with chocolate ganache and white chocolate buttercream. No worries of it going out of style, just maybe about how to slice it (I want the piece with the big red rose on it).

Be sure to check out Horchow's two other handbag cake offerings, the Sassy Satchel cake and the Zebra-Striped Handbag cake. $225-$280 each.

Gallery: Horchow Handbag Cakes

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Tags: cake, desserts, gifts, handbag, Handbag Cakes, HandbagCakes, sweets

Bourbon, Now Available In Bar Form

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

Sometimes Twitter can make me hungry, case in point, when news of this candy bar made the rounds this afternoon. The Bourbon Bar from BonBonBar uses George T. Stagg Bourbon infused in chocolate ganache along with chewy caramel, corn wafer, salt, black pepper and a coating of dark chocolate. BonBonBar specializes in using quality brands in their bars. The Scotch bar uses Talisker Distillers Edition Single Malt Scotch to create the chocolate ganache and the coffee bar gets its kick from Blue Bottle coffee beans. Oh yes, please. Boxes of 3 sell for $15 and until Sunday 10 percent of all sales will be donated to the American Red Cross for Haiti.

[via BBQ and Bourbon]

Tags: bonbon bar, BonbonBar, bourbon bar, BourbonBar, candy, chocolate, sweets

China Builds A Chocolate Great Wall

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

China is taking on another of the West's habits, the love of chocolate and extreme candy displays. A "chocolate wonderland" is opening in Beijing this week near the Olympic stadium. It will include elaborate chocolate displays including chocolate versions of China's famous terracotta warriors and a slice of the Great Wall of China done in chocolate bricks with white chocolate mortar. The display will include demonstrations and tastings and will last for three months until the weather gets a bit too warm. The chocolate items will be displayed at five temperature-controlled indoor areas and two outdoor sites with names like the World's Chocolate Hall, Wonderland Theme Hall, Sweet Experience Hall and Sweet Shopping Street.

Gallery: China's Chocolate Wonderland

Tags: china, chocolate, chocolate great wall, ChocolateGreatWall, sweets

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Harrods Makes Whoopie (Pies)

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

Coming soon to Harrods' already divine line-up of fine dining delicacies will be the Whoopie Pie. Whoopies are little cake-like cookie sandwiches filled with buttercream that started in New England and have now spread to the famous European food hall. Their skilled pastry chefs have crafted four flavors of Whoopie, all featuring fluffy cake "pillows" filled with delectable vanilla buttercream and topped with darling (and beautiful) edible designs.

There's Gingerbread (spices, vanilla, and chocolate w/polka dots), Pistachio (pistachio, green fondant icing, and edible glitter), the Classic (chocolate, vanilla, and sparkles), and Red Velvet (chocolate, peanut butter cream, and little candy hearts).

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Tags: cake, cakes, dessert, desserts, dining, harrods, sweets, whoopie, whoopie pie, whoopie pies, WhoopiePie, WhoopiePies

Too Many Sweets Will Impair Your Immunity

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

It doesn't matter what time of year it is, sugar and sweets always seem to be in abundance. Cookies, cakes, pies, candy, ice cream -- it's a never-ending temptation that we all fight (and all too often lose) on a daily basis. But in this time of concern over illness and viruses like H1N1, you might want to rethink your sugar habit and get your sweet tooth under control.

Sugar is not necessarily evil, however. In small amounts sugars (in the form of carbohydrates) are necessary for life. The problem comes when refined, processed sugars are eaten in large quantities. Too much sugar can affect your weight, your mood, your energy level, and perhaps most worrying of all: your immunity.

According to Dr. Sears ingesting 8 tbsp of sugar (or the equivalent of just two and a half 12 oz sodas) can impair the effectiveness of your body's white blood cells by as much as 40%. Sadly, most of us probably do ingest that much sugar at least a few times a week (if not daily) in the form of a soda habit, donuts, chocolate, or eating too many non-sweet processed foods that have high fructose corn syrup hiding in them (like ketchup, peanut butter, and even wheat bread). All those little sugar doses add up.

So next time you're about to reach for another bear claw or find yourself heading to the vending machine for a Mt Dew stop and think: is it worth the risk of getting sick?

Tags: flu, germs, h1n1, health, immunity, sugar, sweets, sweets-pedia

How to Store Fine Chocolate

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

It can be seriously disappointing to unwrap a chocolate candy only to find it covered in gray spots and gone past its prime. Thankfully, though, chocolate will stay fresh and flavorful for quite awhile if you store it properly.

The best place to store chocolate is in a cool, dry, dark place -- like a pantry in the basement. You want it cool enough not to soften the chocolate but not so cold (like in the refrigerator) that condensation will form when you take it out. Condensation dehydrates chocolate and downgrades the texture and flavor, and it can also cause "sugar bloom," the unsightly white or grayish spots caused when the sugar rises to the chocolate's surface.

Also, chocolate will absorb the smells and flavors of the foods stored with it, so although it doesn't normally have to be kept in an airtight container you might want to seal it up if you'll be keeping it in a pantry with something pungent, like onions.

As a general rule, fine chocolates (especially those with fillings) should be eaten within a few weeks to a month for the best flavor and texture. When stored properly, however, milk chocolate can last up to a year and dark, unsweetened chocolate slightly longer.

Note: If you must store chocolate in the refrigerator (i.e. you live in a very hot and humid climate) then keep it in an airtight container and let it come to room temperature before opening or unwrapping it (to help prevent condensation).

Tags: chocolate, chocolates, main-pedia, storage, sweets, sweets-pedia

What is a Sweet Tooth, Really?

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

When someone claims to have a sweet tooth we all know they aren't referring to an actual physical tooth that's sweet. But do you know what a sweet tooth is, really?

The simplest definition of a sweet tooth is that it's a craving or desire for something sugary or sweet. Although the reasons behind the how and why of a sweet tooth are based in science, in many ways they still aren't totally understood. In studies rats were shown to develop addictive behaviors when fed a diet rich in sugar, and they experienced withdrawal symptoms when the sugar was abruptly taken away. Based on this scientists discovered that sugar stimulates the brain to release dopamine, a 'feel good' brain chemical that gives us a natural high. It seems that it's that natural high that makes sugar so appealing. Theories are that the brain gets accustomed to the raised dopamine levels and that natural high is what the body is really after when a 'sweet tooth' starts acting up.

That's not to say that sometimes you don't just want something for the pure flavor and enjoyment of it, because of course that happens too. And I think some of our cravings are based in our lifestyles and upbringing -- sometimes you crave something for the 'warm fuzzies' and comfort it brings based on childhood memories and old habits. And of course sugar isn't all bad -- having it in moderation is not only not harmful but some sugar is necessary to life.

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Tags: main-pedia, sweet tooth, sweets, sweets-pedia, SweetTooth

Chocomize Custom Chocolate Bars

by Lisa Palladino (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining, Services

Chocolate-lovers, brace yourselves: Chocomize lets you create custom chocolate treats. You pick the chocolate (dark, milk, or white, all premium Belgian), then select from more than 80 ingredients (nuts, fruit, herbs and spices, candies such as Gummies and marshmallows, decorations such as edible gold, or "other" -- try bacon!), then select one of three charities, to which Chocomize will donate a portion of its profits. Gift certificates are available, or you can join the Chocolate of the Month Club, and even order in bulk for weddings and parties. Check out their fun blog, too.

Tags: candy, chocolate, Chocomize, gifts, sweets

A Delicious Spring Bonnet at Bouchon

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

Nearly too cute to eat, this Spring Bonnet Cake is a Mother's Day offering being sold at Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bakery in New York City. The bonnet cake comes in two flavors lemon cake with fresh blueberry compote and almond Streusel and a vanilla angel cake with fruits of the forest and almond Streusel. Individual cakes are $9 each.

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Tags: bouchon bakery, BouchonBakery, cake, mothers day, MothersDay, sweets, thomas keller, ThomasKeller

Life of the Snowman

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Decor

This very simple, very classic looking Life of the Snowman sugar dish could make either the perfect addition to your holiday table or the perfect gift for that friend who loves to cook or hostess but already seems to have everything she needs. Cute and simple, the only complaint I can possible come up with (not that I spend time trying to complain) is that the smooth clear glass design will quickly show every fingerprint and smudge! But what's a few smudges compared to all the adoring compliments? $53

Via Design Mind

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Tags: holidash, holiday, holidays, Life of a Snowman, LifeOfASnowman, snowman, sugar, sweet, sweets, table, tabletop

$130,000 Platinum Cake

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

Earlier this month I thought the Apple Crate Cake was pricey at $185, but that suddenly seems like chump change when compared to this Platinum Cake designed by a Japanese pastry chef worth $130,000. It's a white cake draped in platinum necklaces, pins, pendants, and even edible platinum foils. The creator's name is Nobue Ikara, and the cake has been dedicated to several famous Japanese women (including actress Rinko Kikuchi) in an effort to encourage more women to wear platinum jewelry.

So is it doin' it for ya? Have a hankering for a platinum necklace?

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Tags: cake, cakes, dessert, desserts, expire-images:2008-9-13, jewellry, jewelry, platinum, sweet, sweets, white

Dean & DeLuca Apple Crate Cake

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

Nothing says fall like warm cake and a crate full of apples, and this is both treats wrapped into one. This Apple Crate Cake, created especially for Dean & Deluca, features carefully crafted marzipan apples nestled into a bed of white chocolate "straw," all sitting in a "crate" of chocolate cake. And it's not only decorate but every bit is edible, although it must be hard to take the first slice and ruin the illusion! Perfect for fall entertaining, the cake measures 6"x5.5" and usually ships within 48 hours, $185.

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Tags: cake, chocolate, dean and deluca, DeanAndDeluca, dessert, edible, food, marzipan, sweet, sweets