Today, I stopped by Auspicious Bakery to check out their new location here in Savannah, and I bought a funfetti cupcake.
According the Numlock News (it's a substack that I read), sales of baking ingredients rose last year.
Last year, interest in baking exploded on a level never seen before, with sales of baking mixes and ingredients surging 25 percent in the U.S. to $8.3 billion. This year, sales of baking ingredients are projected to decline 6 percent to $7.8 billion, but that'd still be 17 percent higher than the level notched in 2019 as novice bakers keep up with the newfound hobby. It's an enduring win for millers: King Arthur Baking Co. sold 156 million pounds of flour last year, but in the first two months of 2021, sales were still 47 percent over the same pre-pandemic period of 2020.
Easter is coming up soon. This year Easter will be April 4th. I still get press releases relating to candy and desserts, so I had to share this one.
For a LIMITED 40-piece run, the folks at Sugar Plum are finally able to offer something that has been requested so many times they’ve literally lost count; a complete set that includes both a Chocolate Zombie Easter Bunny and his bloodied and headless victim! Retails: $40. Sugar Plum is based in Kingston, PA.
Pro-Cupcake, Anti-Racist Merchandise Seattle’s Trophy Cupcakes is selling tote bags and t-shirts and proceeds will go to the NAACP in Seattle. Their new collaboration merch is available online NOW, while supplies last! Buy a T-shirt, hoodie, or tote in the month of February and 100% of proceeds will be donated directly to the Seattle King County chapter of the NAACP.
Today I spotted another job posting on a Facebook Group. I had not heard of Red Velvet NYC, but they make baking kits.
is hiring! We make gourmet DIY Baking kits. If you like baking, having experience with food, or love details, we're the right place for you! We pre-measure 100+ ingredients, assemble them into kits, and ship beautiful boxes nationwide. We operate in BedStuy in a facility that allows for social distancing and safe practices, M-F from 9-5. If you're interested in joining our team, please email me with a resume: agathe AT redvelvetnyc.com. Thank you!
I am a member of a Women in Hospitality Facebook Group and I wanted to share this posting:
Fany Gerson is seeking a pastry sous chef for my doughnut shop in Fan-fan doughnuts in Brooklyn. Must have experience in management and appreciate any leads.
On October 14, 2020, Patty’s Cakes & Desserts celebrates 35 years in business and ten years at its storefront in Fullerton, California. In addition to its regular menu of fresh-baked offerings, the award-winning bakery debuts a full lineup of gluten-free and vegan cupcakes available daily. They recently introduced new flavors like Very Berry Strawberry, Snickerdoodle, Blueberry Pancake, S’mores, and Chocolate Caramel Salty. With nearly 100 flavors of iced-to-order cupcakes available daily, Patty’s Cakes & Desserts offers one of the largest and most comprehensive cupcake menus in the country.
In 1985, Patty Gomez started her business as a single mother from her home kitchen. Her passion for baking and cake artistry began as a home-spun hobby and has since grown into one of Orange County's most established and respected bakeries. Her expertise has earned her bakery national recognition as a nine-time recipient for both The Knot’s Best of Weddings Award (2012-2020) and WeddingWire’s Couples’ Choice Award (2012-2020). Before its brick-and-mortar location, Patty’s Cakes & Desserts held an exclusive dessert cake contract for Disneyland’s prestigious Club 33 for four years.
“It’s amazing to look back and see how far this company has come in 35 years,” comments founder, Patty Gomez, who was honored as the Fullerton Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business of the Year in 2015. “I’m so grateful for our growing community who’s supported us through this journey and has trusted us to make their celebrations special.”
With the help of her son Philip Gomez, Patty opened her brick-and-mortar location in Fullerton in 2010 and expanded her offerings to include iced-to-order cupcakes and fresh-baked cookies and cake balls, as well as elegant multi-tiered cakes. Today, Patty’s Cakes & Desserts offers nearly 100 varieties of cupcakes, including 50 regular, 21 vegan, and 20 gluten-free flavors, all of which are available daily for takeout and delivery.
The Fullerton-based bakery has also launched its own delivery fleet in response to a 350% increase in delivery requests due to the COVID-19 stay-at-home order.
Sometimes I browse Reddit and today I spotted this photo.
Unicorn cupcakes 🦄 from r/cupcakes
Some people have so much disdain for cake mixes, but that is how I first learn to bake. I had an Easy Bake Oven when I was a little girl. Later, I would make cakes on the weekend just for fun when I was in high school. It didn't make if it Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker. On Epicurious.com, a mom does a review of Miss Jones Baking Co. organic cake mix. Her daughter has taken the cake mix to new heights.
Starting with cake mix doesn’t mean you’re bound to the standard recipe, though. There’s plenty of room to doctor up these mixes. And I’d argue that the results are better than the original. The two best desserts we have come up with using Miss Jones’ products are a chocolate-coffee-cardamom snack cake, because cardamom is my favorite spice, and a blood-orange-poppy-seed loaf cake (tips for both are below). The former has a moist and decadent texture—without much more time, effort, or ingredients than the box’s instructions require. The latter is rich and dense (in a good way) because of the inclusion of Greek yogurt and makes for a perfect breakfast. (Should you not have blood oranges, any citrus will do. That said, their juice turns everything a very pleasant pink.)
The blog, Cake Wrecks, is a pioneer in showcasing ugly cakes. You can often see many cake fails on Reddit or the Netflix tv show, 'Nailed It'.
Bettina Makalintal writes for Vice about the ugly cakes on Instagram.
This is the appeal of the Instagram cakes heaped with globs of garish frosting, photographed with a harsh shine—at times, unsettlingly zoomed in. Welcome to the lurid side of cake Instagram, where there are no blankets of fondant, no buttercream spackled into submission, and no faux marble surface for naturally lit flatlays. This is the part of Instagram where food gets weird.
A lot of people use yellow cake and white cake interchangebly, but they are not one and the same. A recent post on Chowhound spells out the difference between yellow and white cake. The two main differences are eggs and flour. For yellow cakes, most recipes call for whole eggs, and for white cakes only egg whites are used. Another difference is flour. For white cakes, a cake flour is often used whereas all purpose flour can be used for yellow cake.
BAKERY OWNERS: How have you changed your business due to COVID-19? Do you do more delivery? takeout? catering? Is your business on Door Dash or Uber Eats? Are you shipping cupcakes across the country? I have been seeing more delivery and takeout but I wonder if it has been enough to keep businesses afloat. Please leave a comment below. I will be doing a round-up on this blog in a couple of weeks.
Using cake mix as opposed to scratch baking is nothing new. However, since the Covid pandemic, finding baking ingredients has been a struggle. Baking sourdough bread is a food trend that has taken off. Anyway, cake mix hacks have a found a new home on TikTok. Karly Stoddard (IG is @mrskarlystoddard) posted a cake mix hack to bake cupcakes that has over 1M views so far. Buzzfeed wrote about it, so I am sharing it here as well.
My Dad loves it when I make banana pudding. Banana pudding is traditional southern dessert. It's relatively easy and inexpensive to make but the Nilla wafers are about $5/box. Today I found these banana pudding cupcakes on Reddit.
Banana Pudding Cupcakes - vanilla cupcake with banana cream pudding filling, whipped cream icing, nilla wafer and banana chip from r/cupcakes
Dough Doughnuts has also used their Frontline Sweet Support to recently create Doughnut & Coffee Breaks, partnering with Kids for Kids NYC, NY Loves Coffee, Noshes for Nurses, Jill Zarin, Ally Shapiro, and Owyn to bring doughnut and coffee breaks to some of the hardest hit hospitals. With the joint efforts were able to bring hundreds of items to hundreds of doctors and nurses for a quick coffee and sweets break during hard days.
“Food may be for the body, but desserts feed your soul.” By fueling the frontline, Frontline Sweet Support has created a way for people to spread compassion and kindness and say thank you when you physically cannot. Starting with the staff at Lenox Hill hospital, they created a way to make a huge impact by mobilizing their efforts to deliver NYC’s favorite sweets to the workers of the tri state area. They are thrilled to be sending hugs, good vibes and smiles through their services.
This is a guest post by Carrie McIlveen of cupcake wrapper company Bella Cupcake Couture, offering a huge discount for our readers who want to decorate their cupcakes. See below for examples of their cupcake wrappers.
Bringing Bella Cupcake Couture to life is one of the greatest joys I’ve had in my life. It‘s been a fantastic journey; from special events and features with Martha Stewart and Ellen DeGeneres to celebrating Mickey Mouse‘s 90th birthday and hosting Seattle Cupcake Camp three years in a row.
We’ve made amazing friends with the folks at Cupcakes Take the Cake, Cakespy, Bakerella, Java Cupcake and too many cupcake shops to name.
But sometimes life changes and some changes have to be made with it. So, we are having a going out of business sale with considerable discounts for all.
Enter the code CTTC2019 to receive 50% off your order on our site at https://www.cupcakewrap.com
Also, if you are interested in purchasing the company and would like more information, please contact the owner Carrie via email at carriemcilveen@outlook.com
Renato Poliafito, who co-founded Baked, is opening up a new cafe in Brooklyn. It will open up in Prospect Heights and featured classic desserts. Support his Kickstarter!
Swirlz Cupcakes in Chicago will be selling Baileys Irish Cream cupcakes for St. Patrick's Day this Friday and Saturday, March 15-16, or for pre-order. Via their Facebook page. They will also be selling mint chocolate chip cupcakes. Visit their website at swirlzcupcakesshop.com for more details.