Lady Di

Lady Di, in Valencia, CA, makes delicious cupcakes!
We found this bakery because I had my first two rounds of COVID vaccinations at Magic Mountain.
Severo was the designated Food Locater, and Yelp did not disappoint!

Boston Cream Pie Cupcake (artwork link)

The Enabler

The Goods

Susie Cakes

 I've been uploading my old cupcake sketches to my art website and the latest one is from Susie Cakes, a bakery with several locations in California and Texas. 

Susie Cakes Vanilla/ Vanilla, 2018, Prisma pencil and graphite on paper
link

We like to go to the Marina Del Rey branch.

Bovella's Pastry Shoppe

A new-to-us Italian cookie source in New Jersey:
Bovella's Pastry Shoppe

The first boxful:
raspberry bar, pignole macaroon, walnut macaroon
lemon drop blueberry, lemon drop raspberry, almond S macaroon, almond crescent macaroon
raspberry italian cookie

Five days later, the second boxful:
lemon drop, pignole macaroon, almond S macaroon

And don't forget about the Large Macaroon Almond Horns!

Sfogliatelle Adventure with Karen

Karen and I had a meet-up in her new refurbished kitchen and Karen suggested that we make Sfogliatelle, apparently the symbolic dessert of Naples, Italy.

We used this recipe from Nonna Box [the same ingredients show up on most Google recipe searches].
Some of the instructions were vague, and I'll add my comments in the photo essay that follows.

The Dough.

Dough, before kneading.

Karen kneaded
and kneaded
and kneaded.
"Then gradually add water," says the recipe
We added too little too slowly.

After 1.5 hours (WAY too long), we were finally happy with the dough's texture.
We were mistaken!

First strip of dough after running it through the pasta attachment on the Kitchenaid. 

Four strips completed.

Rolling up the dough "sausage shape" [burrito].

The dough had to rest in the fridge for 1-2 hours. We ate snacks and then made the filling.

The Filling.

We substituted chopped dried apricots for the candied orange peel.

The Assembly.

Cross sections of "burrito"

Slicing into 1cm rounds

"Use your fingers, greased with lard or butter, to make an impression on the center to create a cone shape." 

What does this mean? We did the best that we could. We had no Nonna to boss us around.

Our best guesses.

The Baking.

"...bake the pastries for about 30 minutes"
Are they done yet? I don't think so, what do you think?

15 minutes later...

The Finale.

Embellishing with powdered sugar.
They looked OK.
Alas, the taste was underwhelming -- after all that work, we wanted spectacular!

We tried dousing them with glazed strawberries.
It didn't help.

The Verdict.
The filling was great. The dough came out too tough and had a blah flavor.
Will reuse the filling recipe and put it in something less labor-intensive. Like mini pastry cups.

Yesterday, I found this recipe on Epicurious (not quite same ingredients) that goes into more detail on the process. Don't think I'll bother trying it!

The best part was hanging out with Karen. We're going to go for something savory next time.

Eagle Rock Italian Bakery

All hail the Eagle Rock Italian Bakery Almond Cookie! 

Loads of delicious Italian cookies to be found here:

We got Almond Cookies, Pistachio Cookies, and Pignoli Cookies -- all delicious.

Severo shops.

The colossal 10 pound Chocolate Egg, for Easter gluttons.

Severo also got some cake slices -- he couldn't resist!
(Just give me the Almond Cookies and I'll be happy).

Eagle Rock Italian Bakery
1726 Colorado Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90041
Tel: 323-255-8224

OPEN DAILY
Monday - Saturday . 8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Sunday . 9:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Refer to enticing photos on Yelp!

Linking with Catherine's #SaturdayShareLinkup

Republic of Pie

Return visit!
The Republic of Pie serves used to serve THE best pecan pie I have ever had!
What makes it so good? A hint of orange zest. [update. They stopped with the zest. Sad face].

(from an earlier visit)

After our Oaxacan feast (read about it on The Glutton), we still had room for dessert.
Oh yeah!
We got Pecan, Blueberry Peach (YUM!) and Chocolate Banana Bread Pudding (behemoth serving!).

(in case you didn't click to the Glutton post)

Kim, my second cousin, in town from Boston for a business trip, was elated? horrified? to discover that RoP is across the street from her company's HQ. I don't know how she resisted going until we met her the last night of her stay. And I doubt she'll wait when she next visits!

Republic of Pie, 11118 Magnolia Blvd, North Hollywood, CA, 91601

Hey there, dessert lover...

I'm too busy eating cupcakes and other sweet things to post here often.
Nah, just distracted.

SOME DAY, I'll get back to working on my Dessert Safari project.

Meanwhile,

[Not my art -- available on Etsy]