cupcake safari

cupcakes at work for V-day!

2012-02-16T07:04:00.000-08:00

My wish came true...

Mariana made cupcakes for us!

Wonderful presentation
Jaya indicates the one he wants

"e-mail me" haha

this one was strawberry

my 2nd (and 3rd!!! - no photo) was red velvet

Thank you Mariana! They were excellent!

Cupcake Event at TAG, June 12

2011-06-12T17:30:00.000-07:00

Cupcake tasting, art raffle and general sugar coma

karolynh checks in

gary brought classic hostess brand

anita brought yummy

karen brought banana

cathy brought peanutbutter

dez brought spice

the ladies that brought the ticings
ticings.com/

strawberry

ticings.com/

Sweet Dreamery Pecan Turtle

www.sweetdreamerydesserts.com/

Cinnamon Apple from Sweet Tooth Cupcakes

www.sweettoothcupcakes.org/index.html

the spread

mmmmmm

cupcake wine from michelle

and the winner is...

aftermath

older cupcake sketches

2011-06-01T05:50:00.001-07:00

I had been telling everyone that my first cupcake sketch was of the ginormous Quack's Lemon Meringue:

not true! an earlier sketch appeared over on my sketch blog that I'd forgotten about, a Yummy Vanilla/Vanilla:

4/26/09 is the first cupcake sketch

Reception and first sale

2011-06-01T05:47:00.000-07:00

The show reception was well attended, despite it being a holiday weekend.

Nestled between the animal crackers and the spa water are some "toxic" cupcakes that I got at Smart & Final. They tasted horrible - I tried one. The kids seemed to like them though! Only one left at the end of the night.

The Red Velvet sketch sold! (Thank you Severo for obtaining the model)
Prints are now available on Society6.

magnolia bakery box lid framed

2011-05-22T20:55:00.000-07:00

yowza.
my framers did an awesome job!

JS Shiah
3080 W Main St
Alhambra, CA 91801

buttercake chocolate/vanilla mini

2011-05-10T09:04:00.001-07:00

buttercake chocolate/vanilla mini
Originally uploaded by anne m bray
Via Flickr:
only 90¢!

buttercake bakery

frosted chocolate/chocolate

2011-05-08T09:08:00.001-07:00

frosted chocolate/chocolate
Originally uploaded by anne m bray

Via Flickr:
finally a chocolate cupcake for all you chocolate lovers

artist and model

2011-05-07T20:08:00.001-07:00

artist and model
Originally uploaded by anne m bray

milk bakeshop red velvet MINI

2011-05-07T20:07:00.001-07:00

milk bakeshop red velvet MINI
Originally uploaded by anne m bray

yummy "happy day"

2011-04-26T15:53:00.001-07:00

yummy "happy day"
Originally uploaded by anne m bray

Via Flickr:
vanilla/vanilla with sprinkles baked into cake

cupcake prints

2011-04-26T07:09:00.000-07:00

My order of various sized cupcake prints came in from Society6 (went with the IDed version)
I set them all up in the studio to contemplate which one to frame and hang in the upcoming show:

the original drawings (in black sleeves) surround the prints

the largest (at left) is frightening, if you ask me --
the cupcakes are WAY larger than life
5" tall and 200% bigger than original
I'm liking the middle size (MEDIUM at Soc6)

Think I'll do a little improvment on this -- going to add larger border
But I guess I'll have to wait until after the show... I'm going to offer them all as "to order" multiples, and the print size would change with larger border.

cupcakes @ work!

2011-04-26T05:03:00.001-07:00

1/4 gone already when I made it to the box
Originally uploaded by anne m bray

Suzanne brought in 3 boxes of cupcakes from Yummy Burbank. Many had an Easter theme. My favorite was the Coconut/Vanilla:

so many pretties to choose from!

the "Happy Day" has sprinkles baked into the cake

don't know what flavor these are...

so much better than donuts!

I snagged the leftovers (red velvet, happy day) to take home to draw.
Once again, I had transport issues (see this post).
The Yummy boxes have a design flaw: holder orifice too shallow.
Sigh.

yummy chocolate covered macaroon

2011-04-10T11:13:00.000-07:00

vanilla frosting topped with toasted coconut and chocolate drizzle
yellow cake with chocolate ganache filling

to ID the cupcakes or not?

2011-04-06T08:26:00.000-07:00

which version is better? or offer both?
(this will be a digital print)

click on image to see bigger

tell me what you think!
buy #1 "Cupcake Specimens"

the elusive yummy vanilla/vanilla

2011-04-05T15:24:00.000-07:00

I tried my best to get a cupcake to sketch.


this green frosted one had a terrible tilt to it -- it was the leaning tower of cupcakedom

I returned to Yummy today and after close scrutiny of the Vanilla/Vanillas, I chose a yellow frosted one that looked relatively upright. Alas, when I opened the box at home, it was flipped upside down halfway on the stabilizer tray.


from any angle, it was unsightly

I think the cupcake gods do not want me to do the sketch.

do cupcakes cause insomnia?

2011-04-04T06:04:00.000-07:00


"lemon tart" from yummy

they sure do when one has bought 4 and then gone to bed without tasting any!
I had the above with a cup of warm milk and well, I DID eventually fall to sleep.
VERY tasty -- lemon frosting, vanilla cake

field trip to yummy (santa monica)

2011-04-04T05:56:00.000-07:00


lemon tart] [chocolate covered macaroon strawberry brown sugar] [vanilla/vanilla

field trip to sprinkles

2011-03-31T07:01:00.000-07:00

success!
(but driving to Beverly Hills is no walk in the park)

here is the flavor calendar:

love the graphics -- probably because of the dots

both cupcakes (Vanilla/Vanilla + Ginger/Lemon) DELICIOUS
Ginger/Lemon is gingerbread with lemon frosting. mmmmmmmm

www.sprinkles.com/

sprinkles vanilla/vanilla

2011-03-30T16:45:00.000-07:00

sprinkles vanilla/vanilla
Originally uploaded by anne m bray
Via Flickr:
oh, so delicious

www.sprinkles.com/

sprinkles ginger/lemon

2011-03-30T16:40:00.000-07:00

sprinkles ginger/lemon
Originally uploaded by anne m bray
Via Flickr:
www.sprinkles.com/

cupcake collection

2011-03-30T11:32:00.001-07:00

cupcake collection
Originally uploaded by anne m bray

While digitally collaging the cupcakes in order to have a cupcake print to sell I realized I have serious gaps in the collection: Sprinkles Vanilla/Vanilla and Yummy Vanilla/Vanilla. Egad! Field trip STAT!

P1010189

2010-09-08T20:21:00.001-07:00

P1010189
Originally uploaded by anne m bray

vanilla/coconut from
Thyme Cafe
1630 Ocean Park Blvd
Santa Monica, CA 90405

thymecafeandmarket.com/

chicago cupcakes!

2010-07-19T06:50:00.001-07:00

chicago cupcakes!
Originally uploaded by anne m bray
cupcake Rx delivered from chicago: the bleeding heart bakery

Lemon Cherry (v)
Ice cream Sundae (an ode to Margie's Candies) Blueberry Pie (v) YUM!
Chocolate Turtle featuring Metropolitan Brewery "Flywheel" Caprese

I'm wearing my BH tee too

IMG_2058

2010-07-12T16:48:00.001-07:00

IMG_2058
Originally uploaded by anne m bray

monkey cupcakes that Jerry got at Whole Foods
(cookies/chocolate/vanilla)
but wait -- look carefully -- the monkey nose + mouth section is also a smiley face
:-)

frosted lemon

2010-05-09T20:26:00.000-07:00

frosted vanilla

2010-05-09T18:13:00.000-07:00

magnolia vanilla vanilla

2010-05-05T19:20:00.000-07:00

my favorite

frosted cupcakery

2010-05-05T17:02:00.000-07:00

we weren't even finished with the magnolia vanilla vanillas and the Enabler brought more cupcakes home

oh, what is the sweet torture this time?

lemon/cream cheese][royal white/vanilla buttercream

royal white/coconut vanilla buttercream][royal white/vanilla buttercream

magnolia vs frosted

can't decide! may I have 2 more?

verdicts

vanilla: the magnolia specimen was six days old at this point, too hard to judge which was better. the cake on the frosted was more eggy, the icing more something, not sure what (besides fresher)

coconut: even better (as a vanilla) than vanilla. I don't really like sprinkles -- distracting. as a coconut, not enough coconutness to it.

lemon: nice and lemony. still like quack's (austin) the best

butter lane: The Gary

2010-05-04T18:55:00.000-07:00

salted caramel buttercream on vanilla, garnished with popcorn

a wonderful description of Butter Lane by Cupcakes Take the Cake lives here

dots: lemon drop

2010-04-25T18:41:00.000-07:00

4.26: I finally ate this, not waiting to share with the Enabler. (He didn't like the lime so why "waste" this on him?). I liked it -- nice and lemony and tart. MUCH better than the lime one. I would get this and the vanilla again.

I'm liking how the colored pencils are working for my cupcake portraits. Can't use them on shiny box lids, for that pens seem the best.

dots, pasadena

2010-04-25T15:06:00.000-07:00

While walking to the Apple Store in Pasadena, I spied a cupcakerie with a line out the door (auspicious omen). I decided to visit Dots on my way back to the car.

They have an interesting assortment of full-size and mini cakes. I opted for a selection of minis (descriptions from website):
•coconut lime -- vanilla coconut cake with lime zest and cream cheese frosting loaded with lime and coconut combination (no photo or sketch)

•lemon drop -- tart lemon cake with cream cheese frosting

•vanilla2 -- madascar vanilla cake and vanilla bean buttercream

as you can see, the box design
does not lend itself to my
"sketching on the lid" concept

Opinions

•coconut lime -- description so enticing, alas, a disappointment. Not limy enough. The Enabler said the frosting "tasted chemical" (cream cheese vs buttercream, methinks).

•lemon -- TBD

•vanilla -- YUM! this one gives sprinkles and yummy a run for the money (imho)

tres leches cupcake from Hotcakes

2010-04-13T09:29:00.000-07:00

damaged in transport,

unable to sketch on box (frosting problem)

Chowhound clued me in on this one.
The review made it sound really delicious... the enabler and I even drove over that night after dinner but they were already closed (argh! close @ 7pm). Last night, home from work, I spotted a Hotcakes box and I KNEW what it contained: two tres leches with horchata frosting and mango dusted with chile garnish. Oh, the anticipation!

Well...

I must preface by saying I'm VERY PICKY about tres leches. The one at Cuidad (et al) is my favorite and the one against which all others are judged. Verdict: the cake, tasty and moist - yes, tres lechesy - no. Horchata frosting, however, AMAZING! Spiced mangos worked well too.

I idealized the model in the sketch,

removing the dings in the frosting

(the enabler dropped the box)

Hotcakes Bakes, 4119 South Centinela Avenue, Los Angeles 310-397-2324

tip: get the Cannelé instead

sprinkles box of goodness

2010-04-04T06:48:00.000-07:00

clockwise from upper left:

brown sugar praline | vanilla/vanilla | strawberry | chocolate/chocolate

brown sugar: YUM
vanilla/vanilla: BIG YUM
strawberry: reminded me of... not sure... Sara Lee frozen Orange cake?? (fond memories, would probably hate now)
choc/choc: OK, but I like more bitterness/fudginess (VERY picky on my chocolate)

note: only the brown sugar survived intact long enough for sketching (see previous post)

sprinkles -- brown sugar praline

2010-04-03T09:00:00.001-07:00

"caramel cake with brown sugar frosting, topped with crunchy nut praline"
sprinkles.com

yummy chocolate/coconut

2010-03-17T19:55:00.001-07:00

yummy chocolate/coconut
Originally uploaded by anne m bray
ink, prisma

yummy vanilla/vanilla

2010-03-17T19:54:00.001-07:00

yummy vanilla/vanilla
Originally uploaded by anne m bray
on box lid

prismacolor pencil

eleni's - don't be fooled by the pretty pictures

2010-03-06T10:58:00.000-08:00

WARNING - these cupcakes taste like they came from Safeway.

store link

magnolia vanilla vanilla

2010-03-04T08:18:00.001-08:00

magnolia vanilla vanilla
Originally uploaded by anne m bray
ink on pastry box

cupcakes from buzz (arlington, va)

2009-10-28T06:52:00.001-07:00

www.buzzonslaters.com

allow me to wax poetic about the cupcakes at Buzz... AMAZING! I am a convert! Nancy hand delivered six (plus the above guinness in its own special chinese takeout box, no photo available). Every single one was delicious, an outstanding medley of flavors.

My first victim was the vanilla "Buzz Bumblebee" -- a lot of vanilla with a chocolate ganache center (a reverse Hostess chocolate, if you will). Yum... did not share...

next came its opposite, the chocolate with vanilla center... again, all mine, no sharing

then I took a break from the cupcake gluttony for a few days and transported the rest to my friend Annie's, where I DID share with her husband David. (Annie doesn't like cake -- can you imagine?). I didn't get to some of them until even more days later (Annie and I got distracted by my chocolate bar collection and then we made apple pie), but they still tasted great!

red velvet

chocolate and espresso buttercream -- OMGpumpkin and spice? (can't remember)

apple with vanilla and caramel bits -- mmmm

Oh, and the guinness? I was skeptical (I despise beer) but happily delighted. A rich moist chocolaty treat with no beer flavor at all. (thank you Sully @ Buzz!) (and thank you Nancy!!!)

lemon meringue from quack's bakery (austin, tx)

2009-10-07T02:55:00.001-07:00

the sketch:
the model:

the link

a cupcake meetup in burbank

2009-09-15T10:25:00.000-07:00

I picked up Ruth and we went to eat some cupcakes @ yummy cupcakes

that's tara, the meetup organizer, in the cap

free samples!

Tiffini Soforenko, Co-Owner/Executive Chef
(holding a tray of bags of bites -- unfrosted baby cupcakes)
tells us about her bakery and products

It was a fun trip, though we both went into sugar comas after all the sampling.

I got some additional cupcakes to take home: the Happy Day (a vanilla/vanilla with sprinkles baked into cake, very festive), the Root Beer Float (root beer icing! odd yet compelling), the Black Out (extremely chocolate) and a vegan coconut (yet to be tasted)

mmmmmm
count me in on the next meetup!
meetup group link

sprinkles truck @ bergamot

2009-09-12T07:42:00.000-07:00

this was the instigator from facebook:

Cupcake alarm rang in my head -- Sprinkles Truck @ SMMoA reception! Emailed Severo (who had never partaken of Sprinkles).

I didn't get home until 8:15 so we rushed over to Bergamot before the 9pm endtime. There was a HUGE mob outside the Museum (it felt like a giant cocktail party) that we wove our way through... NO LINE at the truck!

here are the guys in the truck

We got vanilla/vanilla and chai latte $4 ea. ($3.25 @ bakery)

At first, we were going to devour our prey on site... we went over to Track 16 and sat on their bench... opened the vanilla/vanilla and began dissection... then reason prevailed. Me: "This would be easier at home." Severo: "We should really eat our dinner before the cupcakes." (He had picked up pizza @ Joe Peep's in the valley)

here is a closeup of transport container

chai latte still in box (not for long)

Both cupcakes were delicious. The Sprinkles guys said we'd like these better than Magnolia's -- TRUE! Chai Latte is a "Friday only" flavor -- a wonderful take on spice cake. Severo didn't like the sprinkles on the vanilla, not an issue for me.

Sprinkles link
Mobile truck link

Much to my surprise, the cupcake scout/enabler DROVE from Chicago to his gig in Oshkosh. So "of course" he had to stop in at

2009-09-05T09:41:00.000-07:00

Bleeding Heart Bakery before catching his plane home. Out of his "magic bag" appeared 4 veruca salts, 2 ...Holy Moles, 2 Ginger Rogers, and 2 mystery beige ones topped with walnuts yet to be tasted (hoping they're the Butter Poached Caramel Apple). Relieved he didn't get the The Back To School Special : "starring the Half Acre Beer Company (heavily soak devils food cupcakes with bits of pretzels inside, half acre ganache topped with a pretzel stick)." That sounds gross to me (I hate beer). Sometimes the taste experiments @ Bleeding Heart fail (the blueberry with thyme frosting comes to mind... blech, too medicinal).

butter lane (nyc) vanillas

2009-09-02T08:06:00.001-07:00

butter lane (nyc) vanillas
Originally uploaded by anne m bray
the cupcake scout found another great bakery.
he brought home a sampling of their two types of vanilla/vanilla cupcakes for a mini taste testing. the "french vanilla" has a 7-minute frosting with flecks of vanilla bean, the "american vanilla" is frosted with buttercream less sugary than magnolia's. since most cupcakes sport buttercream, the french icing was a nice change of pace.
www.butterlane.com/

magnolia cupcakes

2009-09-01T07:20:00.001-07:00

magnolia cupcakes
Originally uploaded by anne m bray

sugar coma: the enabler brought home a dozen from nyc

DSCN7063

2009-08-16T09:46:00.001-07:00

DSCN7063
Originally uploaded by anne m bray

the most obscure cupcake topper ever -- can YOU tell what it is? eggplant? sock? smurf?

DSCN7062

2009-08-16T09:41:00.001-07:00

DSCN7062
Originally uploaded by anne m bray

the pink ones

7-09

2009-07-07T08:43:00.001-07:00

7-09
Originally uploaded by anne m bray

mockup of calendar page that I'll be hand printing...

cupcake will be laser cut in wood, then printed
calendar part will be silkscreened

plus recipes on backs

this will be a 2010 calendar
hand printed edition of ? @ $120
will do digital version too @ $12

first print project

2009-06-24T10:06:00.000-07:00

silkscreen (cupcake) and letterpress

following crumbs to a new beginning

2009-06-23T05:52:00.000-07:00

oh dear...
blog #4
(seems easier for me to divide up the subjects/projects)

This cupcake notion gets bigger and bigger...

The last Otis class I took (2004), I started gathering materials to make a "Dessert Safari" calendar. (One of the projects was making a calendar). It was going to feature my favorite desserts to be found in the greater LA area, including maps, recipes and ephemera. That got too complicated for the amount of time that I had so I set it aside.
I'm now taking another class, involving letterpress and silkscreen. We are supposed to make a multiple edition in book format for the class project. For my first typesetting practice, I set Dessert Safari. Then, during the week, I thought... how about "Cupcake Safari"? My first class silkscreen, to be added to the text, is a cupcake. One of my classmates very kindly shared her screen (I found my old screens, but they all have old stencils on them which are not water soluble... need acetone or something equally lethal to remove... or maybe even stretch new silk... no time to deal with it yet) and let me add my cupcake image. Tonight we print!

I'm back on the calendar idea for my "book". I'll do an edition of twelve (twelve months) hand pulled and also make a digital $12 version. I'm going to have some sort of cupcake event (probably @ TAG, my gallery) to promote this... maybe the cupcake tasting party I've been contemplating?

cupcake safari

cupcakes at work for V-day!

Cupcake Event at TAG, June 12

the ladies that brought the ticingsticings.com/

ticings.com/

Sweet Dreamery Pecan Turtle

Cinnamon Apple from Sweet Tooth Cupcakes

older cupcake sketches

Reception and first sale

magnolia bakery box lid framed

buttercake chocolate/vanilla mini

frosted chocolate/chocolate

artist and model

milk bakeshop red velvet MINI

yummy "happy day"

cupcake prints

cupcakes @ work!

yummy chocolate covered macaroon

to ID the cupcakes or not?

the elusive yummy vanilla/vanilla

do cupcakes cause insomnia?

field trip to yummy (santa monica)

field trip to sprinkles

sprinkles vanilla/vanilla

sprinkles ginger/lemon

cupcake collection

P1010189

chicago cupcakes!

IMG_2058

frosted lemon

frosted vanilla

magnolia vanilla vanilla

frosted cupcakery

butter lane: The Gary

dots: lemon drop

dots, pasadena

tres leches cupcake from Hotcakes

sprinkles box of goodness

sprinkles -- brown sugar praline

yummy chocolate/coconut

yummy vanilla/vanilla

eleni's - don't be fooled by the pretty pictures

magnolia vanilla vanilla

cupcakes from buzz (arlington, va)

lemon meringue from quack's bakery (austin, tx)

a cupcake meetup in burbank

sprinkles truck @ bergamot

Much to my surprise, the cupcake scout/enabler DROVE from Chicago to his gig in Oshkosh. So "of course" he had to stop in at

butter lane (nyc) vanillas

magnolia cupcakes

DSCN7063

DSCN7062

7-09

first print project

following crumbs to a new beginning

the ladies that brought the ticings
ticings.com/