SPOTLIGHT ON: Whole Foods Bakery

Whole Foods in Union Square, NYC

RATING:YYY(3 out of 5 hearts!)

Whole Foods Bakery oftentimes stocks a variety of vegan baked goods. It's a great option for picking up something quick to serve to bring to a party or serve to a group of friends. It's also an easy place to go to get a freshly baked cookie or cake rather than something packaged and shipped from afar. However, I do Here's what I would and wouldn't recommend.

WOULD
Cookies - Their cookies are always amazing. They are soft and chewy, large and a little bit on the greasy side but I love love love them. Plain 'ol chocolate chip cookies are my fave.
Cupcakes - The packaged cupcakes from the bakery are spongy, moist and last a long time post-purchase. The frosting is kind of boring but it's a good cupcake overall.

WOULD NOT
Chocolate Cake - you'd have to order this behind the counter and I think it takes some time to make. The cake is pretty dry and the frosting is not exciting. I mean, it serves as your basic sheet cake. I was never a fan of sheet cake, so vegan sheet cake doesn't do it for me either. It's good if you need to pick up a birthday cake and have no where else to go... but I wouldn't recommend purchsing it for fun.
Chocolate Chip Vegan Scone - It's kind of boring. Just not worth it.

That's all I've tried here.. I believe they have muffins too, but have I left anything else off? What do you think of Whole Foods bakery? Post in the comments!

SPOTLIGHT: Etsy Vegan BakeShops

Cream Bakery Cupcake Cookies (Credit: Cream Bakery)

I discovered Etsy around the holidays last year when I was looking to purchase gifts for friends. Most of the items are handmade and one-of-a-kind so I thought it would be really rad to purchase gifts solely from these shops. My friends loved the gifts and the originality of it. Some vegan companies got the idea to sell their wares on Etsy too. I noticed that several shops specialize in vegan cupcakes, cakes, TWINKIES, cookies and all sorts of goodies. I am just starting to realize how amazing the possibilities are, it’s the world’s vegan bakery right at your finger-tips. Here are some of the shops I’m loving…

Cream Bakery

Sweet Fritsy

The Cupcake Mint

Tanlayens

Vegan Propamanda

KT's Kitchen

Clover & Clutch

A Vegan Bakery

Sugarplum Vegan

Some of these mail out and some will even deliver to your home as long as you are within their radius (up to 25 miles!) My only issue here is that I don’t really have a reason to order a dozen twinkies besides the fact that I want to eat them all… I’m going to space out my ordering and try all these shops for you guys!

Do you have an Etsy Bakeshop and I left you out? Did you order from any of these shops in the past? Post in the comments!!

Babycakes cookbook: It's coming!

WATCH!

BabyCakes, the Book of Recipes: It's Here (Almost)! from BabyCakes NYC on Vimeo.

How cute is this? This video makes me want to work at Babycakes and dance with them. I can't wait for this cookbook to come out so I can make my own banana bread MMM

Babycakes: Frosted Chocolate Chip Banana Bread and Lemon Blueberry Cupcake

Babycakes cupcake party!

RATING:YYYY(4 out of 5 hearts!)
As the spring begins to bloom in New York City, I am more apt to take lunch breaks. Recently on a bright, sunny day, my co-worker and I took a walk over to Babycakes for lunch. I picked up the frosted chocolate chip banana bread and the lemon blueberry cupcake. I’ve never seen either of these products there before so I was glad to go. I love that Babycakes always has some mainstays but otherwise will often have new things popping up on the menu.

The frosted chocolate chip banana bread was quite delicious – very moist, with chunks of banana and sweet chocolate chips dispersed. The creamy vanilla frosting on top was the same frosting that is typically used on the cupcakes (that people buy shots of for $1.50 – yes it is that good). I probably could have eaten a whole loaf of this. The lemon blueberry cupcake was interesting, I don’t know how I feel about it. The lemon frosting on top of the cupcake was amazing! But the blueberries on top of the frosting were kind of weird. I love blueberries but I just don’t know if I enjoyed the consistency of these raw on top. I’m sure that it’s somebody’s cup-of-tea because it was executed well, just not mine so much.

I hope I spend more spring & summer lunch breaks at Babycakes, it's the best pick-me-up that could be!

DC VISIT: Hello Cupcake!

Chocolate Cupcake with Strawberry Frosting

RATING:YYYY(4 out of 5 hearts!)

Hello Cupcake! Is a cute cupcake shop located near Dupont Circle in DC. What’s cool about this place is that it serves a diverse crowd, from young to old, hip to frat, it’s kind of fun to see an older man indulging in a cupcake. Though this shop is not 100% vegan, they always have gluten-free and vegan offerings. Unfortunately the vegan selection is pretty limited, when I stopped in I could only choose from a chocolate cake with either chocolate, vanilla or strawberry frosting. However, it was kind of refreshing to have a simple cupcake rather than something over-done.

I chose the strawberry and it was perfect. It wasn’t overly sweet & sugary – the strawberry flavor was just right. The cupcake itself was moist and soft. I really enjoyed this little bite! If I lived in DC I would frequent this place .

Happy Birthday to Me!

Babycakes Cupcakes in my Bag!

Here's what I got myself for my Birthday this past Thursday... Babycakes Cupcakes! I'll do a whole profile on this place another day but this is one of my favorite cupcake places... definitely my favorite in New York City. Cute store, amazing sign out front, adorable staff and awesome selection of cupcakes, brownies, breads, scones, ICE CREAM CHIPWICHES, etc. Tend to allergies, use agave nectar instead of sugar. It's a pretty magical place.

I got myself the chocolate mint brownie cupcake and a plain vanilla spelt cupcake. love.

Sweet Avenue Bakeshop Cupcakes

Sweet Avenue Raspberry Swirl and Mocha Madness Cupcakes

RATING:YYYYY(5 out of 5 hearts!)

This place shares the name with my favorite Jets to Brazil song, so I knew that I would love it before I arrived. Located among victorian houses in the quaint town of Rutherford, New Jersey, Sweet Avenue bakeshop is one of the cutest places I have ever stepped in. Much of the store is pink and a case full of beautiful, colorful cupcakes are the first thing one sees when one walks in. Since it is close to Easter there is a domokun dressed in a bunny costume on top of the register... it's adorable.

What's interesting is that they don't sell themselves as a vegan place. There isn't a huge sign on the outside saying "HEY VEGAN HERE". It's more like, "AWESOME CUPCAKES HERE"... and oh, they happen to be vegan.

So this place has a rotating menu with different cupcakes each day and new ones on the spur of the moment. For example, they had Spumoni cupcakes last Friday that was available for the day. In addition they have a cupcake of the month, for April it is Cotton Candy. It's really fun to be surprised like that and for there to be such variety in the menu.

Here's what I tried:

Raspberry Swirl, which is a chocolate cake with raspberry frosting filled with Raspberry Preserves. This would be perfect so someone who likes very sweet cupcakes because it is super sugary.

Mocha Madness, which is a chocolate cake with mocha frosting topped with a chocolate covered espresso bean. OMG it was heaven. I love coffee flavored things so it might be biased but it was a strong, rich taste.

Cinnamon Sticky Bun, which is a cinnamon cake with a creamy glaze. This was my favorite. It tasted like a cinnamon sticky bun - need I say more!

Lavender Lemon, is a lemon cake filled with lemon curd and topped with lavender frosting (and flowers too!). It tasted like lavendar flowers! It was kind of weird at first but still really good. I liked the lemon curd in the middle.

Lemon Raspberry, is a lemon cake filled with raspberry preserves topped with lemon frosting and a raspberry. This one was also sweet but not overpowering. I loved the lemon flavor.

Snowball, is a chocolate cake topped with coconut frosting and shredded coconut. I love me some shredded coconut so this "classic" cupcake on the menu was very enjoyable.

The most amazing thing about these cupcakes is that the frosting does not melt!! This is the best vegan frosting I have ever had. I am in awe of it's consistency. It's what frosting should be - whipped, creamy yet hardened on the outside, and super sugary. I didn't have to refrigerate these! I put them on my kitchen counter and the frosting stayed exactly the same! This makes me so happy.

The second most amazing thing is the cake itself - it's moist and light and fluffy! sigh... I want more.

These cupcakes were so good. It makes me sad that I can't try a different one every day. If I lived in Jersey I would be there all the time. I guess I'll have to make it a trip I reward myself with. Sweet Avenue - distribute in New York City!!