Category Archives: Cupcakes

The Perfect Number of Cupcakes

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When four cupcakes is all you need.
When four cupcakes is all you need.

We love cupcakes.

We also like to bake them.

But often, we are faced with a cupcake conundrum: recipes that produce 12, 18 or 24, when all we really want are a few of them.

Thank goodness for America’s Test Kitchen.

While other small-batch cookbooks come at you with recipes for modest amounts of cookies, doughnuts or tartlets, its new “Baking for Two” actually has a recipe for “Vanilla Cupcakes” that makes four of them. Yes, perfect for a family of four, a couple who wants to indulge in seconds, or a close-group of besties to share together.

The cookbook has more than 200 recipes for bakers who want to indulge their passion but don’t want to bake themselves into a frenzy.

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Three Things to Enliven Shelter in Place, Part 4

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New Crispy Tofo Sando at Gott’s Roadside

The new crispy tofu sandwich at Gott's. (Photo by Briana Marie Photography)
The new crispy tofu sandwich at Gott’s. (Photo by Briana Marie Photography)

Gott’s Roadside locations has joined forces with Oakland’s Hodo to create a new crispy tofu sandwich for a limited time only.

The $12.99 sando features 24-hour brined Hodo tofu that’s dipped in buttermilk, and dredged twice for an extra crisp coating. It’s fried to order, of course. It gets slide between a butter toasted egg bun with dill pickle slices, green cabbage, cilantro slaw, red onions, and house-made charred jalapeno mayo.

The artisan tofu is organic, non-GMO, and boasts as much protein, ounce for ounce, as chicken, pork, beef or the Impossible Burger.

Enjoy the new tofu sandwich at Gott’s locations in St. Helena, Napa, San Francisco, Palo Alto, Walnut Creek, and Marin through March 25.

Savion’s Sweets Opens in San Francisco

In this challenging time when so many businesses are shuttering, it’s a welcome sight to see a new one open, especially when it involves cupcakes.

Savion’s Sweets debuts today on the lower concourse level of the Westfield San Francisco Centre.

Strawberry shortcake cupcakes by Savion's Sweets. (Photo courtesy of Savion's Sweets)
Strawberry shortcake cupcakes by Savion’s Sweets. (Photo courtesy of Savion’s Sweets)

Le Cordon Bleu-trained Pastry Chef Athena Harven specializes in cupcakes ($4.25 each), offering up a slew of flavors, including some for an additional charge that are gluten-free, dairy-free, eggless or vegan.

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On Kids’ Cooking, Feel-Good Desserts and the Future of Literacy

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Kids can learn how to decorate their own cookies and cupcakes. (Photo courtesy of The Village Bakery)

Kids can learn how to decorate their own cookies and cupcakes. (Photo courtesy of The Village Bakery)

Kids’ Cupcake and Cookie Decorating Class

The little ones will be in sugar heaven at this “Kids Cupcake and Cookie Decorating Class,” 2 p.m. April 28 at The Village Bakery in Woodside.

Executive Pastry Chef Janina O’Leary will guide kids through this hands-on class that will take them through glazing, frosting, piping and sprinkling.

The kids will take home their sweet creations, as well as a surprise gift from O’Leary.

The class is designed for kids 5 years and older. Kids are asked to arrive at 1:45 p.m. Parents can hang out there or drop off the little ones, then make a reservation to dine at the Village Bakery dining room next door.

Tickets to the class are $45.

Tapestry Suppers Presents An Afternoon with Sam Shem

Tapestry Suppers, which celebrates the myriad of immigrant cuisines in Silicon Valley, will host an intimate gathering, “Dream of the Other,” 12:30 p.m. April 28 in Palo Alto.

The brainchild of South Bay photographer Danielle Tsi, Tapestry Suppers brings people together to share authentic food and stories from all over the globe.

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A Sweet Visit to Batch Pastries

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Owner and baker Emily Buysse hard at work in the kitchen of her Batch Pastries.

Owner and baker Emily Buysse hard at work in the kitchen of her Batch Pastries.

 

Emily Buysse is an avowed cookie monster.

So much so that when she was working for an IT company in Berkeley, and couldn’t find a decent cookie to nibble on during her breaks, she took matters into her own hand. She started baking, baking, and baking.

In fact, it snowballed into a sweet new career, launching her first into her own wholesale baking business before she decided to take over Montclair Baking in Oakland two years ago and rechristening it Batch Pastries.

A perfect spot to take a load off with something sweet.

A perfect spot to take a load off with something sweet.

This would almost make me take up running again.

This would almost make me take up running again.

Situated in a small strip mall atop a hill, it’s a bakery small in space but big in heart. Regulars gather on sunny days to relax with coffee and a cookie, which she considers the perfect treat because it’s the ideal size to satisfy without overwhelming.

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Kara’s Cupcakes Now to Offer Full-Sized Cakes, La Boulange PRIDE Macarons & More

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Kara's "Safari'' cake. (Photo courtesy of Kara's Cupcakes)

Kara’s “Safari” cake. (Photo courtesy of Kara’s Cupcakes)

Kara’s Cupcakes Bakes Up Full-Sized Cakes

If you are a fan of Kara’s Cupcakes, now there’s even more to love — in the form of full-sized cakes.

Six- and nine-inch artisan cakes are now available in Kara’s signature cupcake flavors, as well as two exclusive ones made only in the cake format: Paradise and Chocolate Eclipse.

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