Wednesday, November 11, 2009

I think I've formed a bad habit!

Today after class I treated myself to some more Cake cupcakes....again :o) I feel it's important for me to taste Peace O' Cake's competition, right?!....so I got S'mores and Strawberry. Both were unsurprisingly delicious!

Let me share my experience:




Thursday, November 5, 2009

Cake by distinctive details


Peace O' Cake now has legit competition! Cake (by distinctive details) is now opened on the south side of town of Lubbock.


It's in a corner location, but made use of their space by making the counter in the center when you walk in, to the right has their logo merchandise, and to the left is a sprinkles bar to further decorate your little treats. They serve 7 flavors a day, with usually 5 staying the same. Today I couldn't go until 4, but I got their just in time to get 2 of the last ones! They had their signature chocolate, the diner, orange blossom, snickerdoodle, black forest, and velvet elvis left. I got the last snickerdoodle, the last orange blossom, and a signature chocolate. I should have just gotten a fourth one...probably the velvet elvis, but I guess I'll just have to go back another time!

All three were delicious! As I was taking pictures and eating a few bites of each, it was hard to choose my favorite. The signature chocolate is a dark chocolate cake, chocolate chips on the bottom, a small amount of chocolate buttercream, and topped with dark chocolate ganache ~ a chocolate lover's heaven!! The cake was moist and of course all the chocolates were perfect.

The orange blossom was a light, white cake with a hint of orange flavor, filled with raspberry jam like filling. It was topped with buttercream and a smear of the same raspberry on top. Not because it's a cupcake... but this could be a dessert after a heavy meal. It was so light and I felt like I could easily eat the entire thing without feeling gross.

The final lucky cupcake was the snickerdoodle. I love them as cookies, but never get them, I just always think of my mom - When we were little and at the mall with her, me and my younger sister Madison always got the treat of getting an American Cookie Company cookie, and my mom always always always got their snickerdoodle. So I just had to choose that one since I haven't seen her in weeks. It was worth it! It was a moist cinnamon cake topped with cream cheese icing and topped with a layer of cinnamon and sugar. By the time I tried it tonight, the sugar had hardened on top, so their was a great grainy texture when I ate the icing.

Now for pictures??


Signature Chocolate

Orange Blossom

Snickerdoodle

End result - After thinking long and hard, I have to say my favorite of these 3 was the orange blossom. Now as much as I love chocolate, the signature was good, but almost just like any other chocolate cake or cupcake you and find. The snickerdoodle was also delicious, and unique to me, but for some reason the orange blossom is what I'm still tasting and thinking about!

Goodnight and sweet cupcake dreams, Taylor

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Happy Halloween...a little late

A day late I know, but Halloween is always a fun topic...especially Halloween cupcakes! After work Friday morning (Peace O' Cake) I got to bring home a few extra cupcakes - Chocolate chocolate chip!



After eating one of POC's, I was in the mood to make some Spice cupcakes for Halloween...I didn't even have to go to the store to buy anything and this is how they turned out!

The cake is delicious but the cream cheese icing recipe I used will not be used again. It was too runny, and still a day later the texture is strange, it tastes delicious I just don't like how it's too runny. But they still made for good pirate/Halloween pictures!




Best of Lubbock


Over the past 3 years here in Lubbock, I feel like I've tried most local restaurants in town...however, now that I'm working in a locally owned cupcake store, I was wrong about what I thought. There are so much more restaurants in Lubbock that are just not known around campus. So in spite of this reality, here are my top 5 favorite restaurants (before trying more local places) and then 5 that I will try before graduating!


Jazz - originally from Lubbock

A whole-in-the-wall sized restaurant with the most delicious cajun food! My favorite is their stuffed zucchini which is actually an appetizer but is so filling. It's a fulled size zucchini filled with spicy, cajun flavors like shrimp, crawfish then fried - There's no way to describe it and even come close to getting it justice!



Orlando's Italian Restaurant

Other than Italian food being my favorite (or what I crave the most!) this is one of my favorite Italian places anywhere. Each of the locations in Lubbock are always busy, but once you sit down you feel like you are there forever and eating for hours on end! My favorite appetizer to get is the Garlic-Parmesan bread with the spaghetti meat sauce...another meal in itself! Everything else is also just as delicious - you can't go wrong ordering.



Gardski's Loft

Always the go-to place when everywhere else is crowded or doesn't sound good. It used to be a house, and is still a two story, open concept environment. They serve mainly comfort food (chicken fried steak, burgers, wraps) but my favorites are their California Chicken, chicken with avacados and pepperjack cheese, and Grilled Tilapia with fresh veggies. Fish is something I love but have been picky about it since I'm more than 500 miles away from the ocean, but this tilapia is delicious every time! This is also where I always go the Sunday I take anyone to the airport to leave Lubbock - me and my dad have probably been there 4 or 5 times just on Sundays



Spanky's

Good ole' Spanky's - One of the best burger you can find. Any burger guru needs to visit Lubbock just for Spanky's! Besides their burgers, they also have huge sandwiches and the best fried cheese you can find! Each piece is cut in a block, and probably equals about 5 of the regular sized fried cheese you would think of, and it's fried in something other than the usual dark crumbs...everything about this place is delcious!




Las Brisas Southwest Steakhouse

The place to eat at when some money has been saved up :) In the nice part of Lubbock, this steakhouse has everything a normal steakhouse does, but also a few southwestern type meals too. (fajitas and enchiladas). Their steak is one of the best I've had, and it's served with asparagus and cheesy mashed potatoes. I will be visiting Las Brisas any time I come back to Lubbock since I will hopefully have money to spend on a great meak!



Now I know you might not be visiting Lubbock anytime soon, but if you ever get the urge then these are the top 5 places I would first recommend....but then I could keep going on with every other place I love here - Stella's, One Guy From Italy, Triple J's, Skyviews, Abuelo's....


And now the 5 places I will try before leaving in December:

La Diosa

Lujan's Mexican

Cafe J

Thai Pepper

82nd Street Cafe


As of Friday I had 50 days in Lubbock until graduation so I better get to trying all these placea! Until then, goodnight and I'll update you on more Lubbock's best soon!

Thursday, October 29, 2009

New favorite snack

Nature Valley - who doesn't love this brand of granola snacks? Well if you thought you did, or don't know, or hate them, then wait until you try their new Granola Nut Clusters (specifically Honey Roasted Peanut, yum!)

They are the perfect bite sized snack to pop in your mouth for a sweet and salty flavor - peanuts, cashews, granola, honey, salt...perfect. The serving size is 7 pieces, which doesn't seem like much, but since it's nuts then I get filled up faster and still have a satisfied sweet tooth. Again, who doesn't love this brand and their delicious snacks, I know you want to go try these now!


Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Happy National Chocolate Day!

Yep, today's the day when you don't have to feel bad about eating too many pieces of your favorite chocolate bar or taking the larger chocolate cake piece! Treat yourself to a little more and don't feel guilty - Happy Chocolate Day!

I treated myself to mini cupcakes from Peace O' Cake today - Black and White and Cookies and Cream. Black and white is a dark chocolate cake with a cream cheese filling - my favorite!! And cookies and cream tasted just like the ice cream or a delicious shake. If you want to make something yourself, here are a few ideas to get the chocolate melting http://www.slashfood.com/2009/10/28/its-national-chocolate-day/

Thinking about chocolate and all the ways I love it, I have to say this:

Type - Dark


Preparation - chocolate covered fruit



Memory - the chocolate river from Willy Wonka


Chocolate Bar - Take 5 and Reese's



Find yourself some delicious chocolate and remember it's not always bad for you :o)

Enjoy and stay sweet!

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Stay sweet,
Taylor