Results tagged “sweets”

It's just about Halloween, so why not have a four-day fall open house with different free samples each day? That's what Valerie Confections on West 1st Street (Beverly/Virgil) is doing, starting with their famous version of Coffee Crunch Cake from Blum's Bakery today from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. They'll also be sampling Blum’s Lemon Crunch Cake. The full schedule of treats can be found here.

          

Yesterday not only marked the last day of September, but also the last event at a vegan festival (of sorts) called 30 Days of Celebrating Being Vegan. Bakers and those with a sweet tooth gathered at 2 Headed Horse Production/Art Studio on Glendale Boulevard for the event last night, which benefited Compassion Over Killing.

For Emily Zaiden, her popsicle business started with how all delicious things should begin: with an undaunting passion for the food she loves, in this case, desserts. "I've always been a frozen dessert fanatic," the Echo Park resident, Laurel Canyon native, explained over the phone from her company kitchen. "In elementary school for the inventions convention, I invented an ice cream flavor," she said with a laugh.

      

Think a churro is just something you buy off a cart at a festival or theme park? The folks at Xooro invite you to think again. With one store open in Santa Monica, and a second area location poised to open in Hollywood next week, Xooro offers an impressive selection of "Spanish Fritters" in cylindrical form in many enticing flavor combinations.

              

Although her weight gain and amazing loss has been grabbing tabloid headlines as of late, the real news about Melissa Joan Hart is her new sweets shop that just celebrated its grand opening on Saturday in Sherman Oaks. Meet Sweetharts, a whimsically decorated frozen yogurt, gelato, cake, cupcake, hard and soft candy store.

Rejoice! The Valley will soon have a dedicated vegan ice cream shop. Spotted on Cahuenga Blvd. at Regal Place, Nice Cream is a few storefronts down from recent vegan newcomer, SunPower Natural Cafe, which is from local veteran Chef Rawsheed.

Fans of cupcakes, rejoice! Next Sunday, you can bask in the glory of your favorite baked goodies as many of Los Angeles' top cupcake-makers gather at the Nesquik Cupcake Challenge.

       

Like most places, sales have been sluggish at Cold Stone storefronts across the nation in the current economy. Loyal customers who visit the store 2.3 times a month on average are coming in less. And although they have closed 100 stores, they are opening new ones and are now adding new items to hopefully boost sales.

Leave it to our friends to the north of us in San Francisco to come up with a confection that might leave some of you gobsmacked, and the rest of you drooling. If your life revolves around all things bacon, you might have to put your order in for Lollyphile's Maple-Bacon lollipop. They say:

While we admit that it's pretty far from the norm (it's definitely not kosher!), once you make that initial leap of faith and try it out, we're positive that you'll love it. The salty chunks of bacon make a delicious and unique counterpoint to the subtle sweetness of the maple, and oh, yeah- you'll be eating an oh-my-god bacon lollipop!

Can't be hassled with slaving over an oven to make treats for all those holiday parties you're gonna hit up? L.A. has many wonderful dessert shops to save the day. Take your pick. Will it be cute peppermint cupcakes, a personalized gingerbread house or how's about a Yule log cake?

With the holiday season right around the corner, it's time to start thinking about gatherings, celebrations, indulgences, and treats. Of course, sometimes we get in a holiday rut; the same old-same old cookies, cupcakes, and pies. LAist recently got tuned into a truly delicious alternative, the Los Angeles based Sweet Square, who make really scrumptious squares and bars available by order. We were lucky to sample some of their four-cornered fare, including the Oatmeal Fruit Squares, the S'mores, their fudgy Brownie, and, our favorite of the bunch, the Peanut Butter and Jelly.

Let's face it. Ever since Sprinkles Cupcakes in Beverly Hills first filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Famous Cupcakes in Valley Village over the use of a modern circle, people had to give the competitor a try. What happened? Business went up for the Valley Village storefront, according to employees, as many cupcake fans discovered they liked Famous better (us included).

There have been bake sales and Dem versus Rep chocolates, and now Echo Park's Delilah Bakery is putting the frosting on the upcoming election, so to speak, with her free mini-cupcakes in patriotic red-white-and-blue. Head over this weekend to get a bite for yourself!

Next week's election presents a tough choice for some, although others have known for sometime which option is more suited to their taste. Here the dilemma gets a sweeter treatment, in the form of McCain/Palin and Obama/Biden chocolates for your choosing, as caught by LAist Featured Photos contributor C-Monster. These confection candidates were found in Laguna Niguel at Downey's Chocolates--we don't know which one is more delicious, but we did get to sample their nonpartisan--but artisan--chocolates a few weeks ago at the Luxury Chocolate Salon.

Are you so over cupcakes? Too sweet for you? You may want to give bundt cakes a try. Stop laughing. We tried them at the newish bakery, Kiss My Bundt, in Midcity and were pleasantly surprised because 1) they are available in teeny tiny cupcake-size bundts rather than not-so-cute bundt cake slices, 2) they aren't uber sweet, making them a perfect coffee complement and 3) the small bundts are pleasantly cheaper than most cupcakes out there.

       

On Sunday, there was a big community Bake for Barack event in Silver Lake. Their goal? $10,000. We're not sure if they made it, but the goods sure do look good (thanks to Tom Andrews for taking these photos). In fact, we wish we had some of those Cupcakes for Change as we watch (and hack) tonight's Presidential Debate.

Sunday brings the 2nd annual TasteTV Luxury Chocolate Salon to Los Angeles, and chocoholics and the sweet-toothed can score discounted advanced tickets until 6 p.m. today online to the indulgent event.

      

After a successful visit last year, TasteTV's Luxury Chocolate Salon is returning to the area next weekend. If you are a fan of chocolate, it's your chance to taste and experience the finest in artisan, gourmet, and premium chocolate in our great culinary metropolis.

After all the salt consumed by eating tons of deep fried foods like avocado and Oreos and a huge brick of cheese fries leaves one desiring sugar. The easy answer is Dr. Bob's in the farming area of the fair. When National Geographic released their 10 Best of Everything guide for travelers, Dr. Bob's Handcrafted Ice Creams came out at number two on the list.

Submitted and Written By Dan Collins

In the earlier days of the frozen yogurt craze, Yogurtland sprung up in Fullerton in February 2006. It was a success and so more stores opened in Hollywood, Long Beach, Little Tokyo, Sherman Oaks and many other Southern California locations and one in Cupertino up north. They even opened a location in Greenwich Village in New York City with plans for Vegas, Hawaii and Texas.

The line. For cupcakes.

Santa Monica seems to be the epicenter of cupcakes these days, now that there are not one just one (Yummy Cupcakes one block closer to the Promenade) but two cupcake places there -- four on the Westside, if you count Susie Cakes in Brentwood and Butter Cake Bakery on Pico. Vanilla Bake Shop is dessert caterers Amy and Jeremy Berman's first bakery, and it's very charming. A lot of people in this town are...