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.

Milk Jar Cookies, Los Angeles

Desserts have been on my mind more than usual lately (which means I've been thinking about them A LOT).
My gallery, TAG Gallery, had to move out of Bergamot Station (goodbye most excellent brownies and mint lemonade from the Bergamot Cafe) due to an impossible rent increase. It has relocated to the "Miracle Mile" district at 5458 Wilshire.

Milk Jar Cookies is two doors west, at 5466.
The cookies are REALLY GOOD.
Severo got me hooked, when he obtained the Lemon Blueberry and Chocolate Caramel Pecan the night of my latest reception [#mycommute, which is up until 8/5/17, btw].

I brought home this haul with the intention of sketching them.
Ha.

Cinnamon Sugar, Oatmeal Raisin, Chocolate Chip,
Lemon Blueberry, Chocolate Caramel Pecan, Banana.

Only managed to get the Chocolate Caramel Pecan done [and I fear that it looks kind of, um, unsavory].

Looks like I'll have to get more Lemon Blueberry and Banana (my favorites)!
What a shame.

And WHY are desserts on my mind?
January 2 - 27, 2018 will be my next exhibition at TAG -- dessert themed! NOPE, didn't happen.
Sometime...

Magnolia Bakery Still Rules the Cupcake World

I'm doing one of those "Post 5 Artworks..." challenges on Facebook [find mine here], and I thought I'd make it more complicated for myself by making blog posts with the art. Each day a different blog. [Yes, I have 5+ blogs. Ack!]

Blog #4 is Dessert Safari [originally Cupcake Safari] created in June 2009. Not sure exactly what compelled me to have this subject split off from The Glutton's Progress -- an art exhibition perhaps? I circle around the concept of a dessert safari as an art project every so often. What does that mean? It's a secret!

For now, have a virtual cupcake:

Anne M Bray, Magnolia Vanilla/Vanilla, Prismacolor pencil on paper, 8x8", ©2010 

Severo recently brought home one of these sweeties and they still taste great. I'm SO glad there is now a branch here in LA at 8389 W 3rd Street x Orlando. In 2010, he'd schlep home a dozen in Tupperware from NYC whenever he had a gig nearby.

OK, now I want a cupcake.

It's Cupcake O'Clock, 24/7

This had to happen when Society6 added clocks to their printed items:

available here on Society6

Recomposited 12 of the cupcake sketches from 2010 + 11.

Individual cupcake sketches can be seen on my art website here.

older cupcake sketches

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

magnolia bakery box lid framed

yowza.
my framers did an awesome job!

JS Shiah
3080 W Main St
Alhambra, CA 91801

buttercake chocolate/vanilla mini

buttercake chocolate/vanilla mini

Originally uploaded by anne m bray

Via Flickr:

only 90¢!

buttercake bakery [closed]

yummy chocolate covered macaroon

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

to ID the cupcakes or not?

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"

sprinkles vanilla/vanilla

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

www.sprinkles.com/

sprinkles ginger/lemon

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

frosted lemon

frosted vanilla

magnolia vanilla vanilla

my favorite

butter lane: The Gary

salted caramel buttercream on vanilla, garnished with popcorn

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

dots: lemon drop

 

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

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

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 -- brown sugar praline

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