cake

Common Cupcake Types

Hello passengers, my name is Joie and I'm your tour guide today on our Sugar Safari! We're out to spot some colorful confections today, so keep your seatbelts buckled, your insulin ready, and your peepers peeled! And remember, no flash photography as these desserts are wild and dangerous.

And here's our first cupcake now, just off to your left. Chocolate cakes can come in many shapes and sizes, but this one is especially majestic in that its chocolate icing has been salted! The salt decoration is the meager beginnings of what will become a lovely mating display later this season. Chocolates have some of the highest populations here, and tend to be found grouped up with Vanillas.

Ah! Quick, grab your cameras folks-- this lovely syrup watering hole up ahead has a visiting pack of Strawberries. Look at that one, she's a beaut! Perfectly fluffy white buttercream icing, glossy berries, and a lovely polka dot wrapper. Great specimen, that one!

This area is well known for its citrusy cakes, and this Lime is no different! Its lime crest buried in the cream cheese frosting denotes its rank within the group. This one is especially powerful, and may even be the Alpha. Sir? Sir, I need you to get Little Timmy to pull his arms back inside the vehicle-- we don't want to challenge the KEY Lime in a battle of dominance!

Quiet now, folks. Here we've come upon some cakes hunting. Food is sometimes in high demand without enough to go around, and it appears that the Confettis are closing in on a herd of sprinkles-- which are cakes' favorite prey. Sprinkles are incredibly difficult to catch because of their agility, so a cake pack has to work together seamlessly to feed themselves. Watch the way that the Confettis use their colorful appearance to hide in the tall grass. Waiting. Watching.

Oh gosh, what's this?! A Velvet interloper has entered the scene! Seeing a Velvet on its own is fairly rare; he must've been an old Red that got usurped by a more powerful one and driven away from his pack. He's looking quite lean on sprinkles, which is likely what's driven him to just run at the sprinkle herd without a plan. Desperate times call for desperate measures! The Confettis don't look happy about this at all-- the sprinkles have been alerted to danger and have wisened up. Looks like no one will be getting dinner tonight.

And what's this? Oh, oh my. Here we have the completed the circle of life-- just off to the right. It appears that a juvenile Black Forest cake may have strayed too far from his group. The world is a dangerous place, and rogue Forks can be anywhere! From the stab marks in the ground here, I would guess it was a group of no less than three that found the Forest by himself.

Let's be honest, "Gone" really IS the most common type of cupcake.

Well, that concludes our Sugar Safari for the day, ladies and gentlemen! We are back in the safety of the Visitor Center, so please make sure you have all your belongings before exiting the vehicle. Thank you for going wild cake spotting with me today, and be sure to check out the gift shop on your way out! See you next time!

Petit Fours from Valerie Confectionary

Tiny ovens, anyone?

Tiny ovens, anyone?

If you're an LA local and you haven't visited the Grand Central Market  downtown yet, get thee a Lyft and go. Right now. I'll wait. No, really.

Back yet? Or maybe you're at work and can't leave your desk. Alright fine, I'll just tell you about it instead. The Grand Central Market is a magical wonderland that brings together various LA cuisines and cultures in a delicious way, and each time I go my definition of "YUM" gets redefined.

We went this past Saturday evening, and we happened to catch Valerie Confections when it was open. The first time we went to the market it was closed, and I spent a good 15 minutes trying to lick the chocolates through the display case.

We were able to sample their petit fours in two flavors: Earl Grey and Champagne. I haven't mentioned this yet here on my blog, but my favorite dessert? Cake. And cake dipped in chocolate is an upgrade to an already perfect dessert, especially when said chocolate is named "the best chocolate in LA" by Los Angeles Magazine. So.

The Earl Grey petit four had a very strong bergamot flavor to it, but was light and airy.* The lemon ganache on the outside was extremely complementary, and I was left feeling refreshed. There was a tiny silver fleck on top, and I suspect it may have been silver lustre dust.

The Champagne honestly didn't taste like champagne at all, but I didn't mind. I loved that it had dark, bittersweet chocolate, and the buttery cake inside really broke up the flavor before it became overwhelming. The tiny bit of edible gold on the top was a nice touch.

"But what does gold taste like?" you ask. I... don't think it's meant to have a flavor. But I'm still learning, so maybe it was just too subtle for me to have noticed.

The end verdict: I can't wait to try more from Valerie's. Besides the petit fours they've got chocolates, truffles, toffees, cakes, coffees, and more, so if you like sweet things you're probably covered. Go try it!

*As an aside, I'm a weirdo and have always maintained that bergamot has echoes of a Froot Loops flavor. I am apparently not the only person who has this opinion, but maybe the rest of you may think I'm insane. Doesn't matter, because it's my favorite tea thank you very much.