Allison Cafe

Babycakes NYC Chocolate Cupcake and Chocolate Frosting

Babycakes NYC Cookbook (More than just cupcakes!)

Well after months of experimenting with the recipes from the new Babycakes NYC cookbook, (which by the way would make an excellent holiday gift for any baker in your life) I have finally successfully made the famed frosting! The frosting is gluten-free and vegan, so the only ingredients include soy milk, coconut oil, vanilla and a few other ingredients. It is the most unusual frosting I have ever made. For starters it only involves a blender and refrigeration to make the frosting.

I called this my Goldilocks frosting attempt because the first time I made it, the frosting was too runny. The next time I made it, the frosting was too thick. And the third time I made it, the frosting was just right! If you are new to vegan baking, the ingredients can be hard to find. The first time I made the frosting I could not locate the dry powdered soy milk which the recipe called for, so I substituted powdered goat’s milk. Hence the sub-par results in texture. It tasted good, but it didn’t set up right no matter my efforts to follow Erin‘s tips. I think the goat’s milk must not have the same properties as the soy milk perhaps. I’m not sure, I unfortunately wasn’t into the science of it, I just wanted it to work!

I finally found dry powdered soy milk at Whole Foods, although it was not my first time looking there. I found it in a display by the produce and at a different location than the La Jolla store that I usually frequent. I found it across town, in Hillcrest (San Diego). Anyway, with the excitement of my find at Whole Foods, I hurried home to make the frosting again. This time the frosting was too thick. No matter how long I left it at room temperature, it never became smooth enough to use as frosting. I’m not sure what I did wrong this time, my only guess is that I might not have used the correct measurements. You see, I have a bad habit of loosely measuring items when baking. So I put the soy milk aside and didn’t think about frosting for awhile until I had a birthday in the family and a request for vegan cupcakes. As I started setting the ingredients on the counter I remembered my past lessons. I was obsessive this time about measuring accurately. And guess what? It worked! The frosting turned out just right.

It has a creamy texture and distinct coconut flavor. It does not have butter, but it does use coconut oil so it is not completely fat free. But I like to think it is a healthy version of frosting, or at least a safe option for mixed diets. The best part is that it tastes delicious! A little warning though, you do need to store the frosted cupcakes in the fridge until about 15-20 minutes before you plan to serve them. Otherwise the frosting might melt as it comes to room temperature. That is the only thing that makes this frosting a bit of a challenge. The best plan is to make the frosting the day prior and bake the cupcakes the morning of your event. Allow them to cool completely. And then frost just before serving. This way the cupcake does not become dry from being refrigerated.

P.S.

Babycakes NYC is getting closer to opening their LA location, stay tuned to their blog for updates!

Thanksgiving day has come to mean so many things to Americans. Eating turkey, watching football, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, consuming way too many calories in one day and the start of our holiday shopping season the day after Thanksgiving. But what is Thanksgiving Day really meant to celebrate? Have we gotten lost in all the sports watching and pumpkin pie eating to really appreciate the true meaning?

The origin of Thanksgiving as an American holiday dates back to 1621 when the Plymouth colonists and the Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn feast in celebration of the harvest. The early celebrations are thought to be a feast in thanksgiving for the harvest and an early cooperation between the two peoples. The harvest part would explain why the holiday has become so heavily expressed through food consumption. But at the heart of it is the word thanksgiving. And it is that aspect of the holiday that leads us all to stop and have a moment of gratitude. Well, we should anyway somewhere in between the turkey and the pumpkin pie.

Somehow turkey seems to have waddled into our history books and staked a steady claim on the holiday. According to one figure in a 2007 survey conducted by the National Turkey Federation, nearly 88 percent of Americans said they ate turkey at Thanksgiving that year. And since the average weight of turkeys purchased for Thanksgiving is 15 pounds, that means some 690 million pounds of turkey were consumed in the U.S. during Thanksgiving in 2007. But when did it become all about one bird? At the first Thanksgiving feast they are believed to have served many types of meat, and possibly no turkey at all. So why the turkey now? One theory is that wild turkey was native to northern Mexico and the eastern United States, and thus more readily available than the geese that the English were used to eating back home. Somehow it became the bird of choice for the holiday.

The early settlers at the first Thanksgiving are thought to have served more protein than vegetables and possibly no sweets at all. They also had a very active lifestyle and required that extra protein in their diet. Today we really pack on the calories at holiday meals, maybe even twice our 2,000 daily calorie limit. And some of us are not exactly very active that day. So what can we do to enjoy the day and not feel guilty? Well it has a lot to do with the choices we make about what we put on our plate, than it does with quantity. That slice of pumpkin pie might only be 180 calories, but when we start adding whipped cream and ice cream it can start to add up. So enjoy the day but maybe do without some of the extras if you are watching the numbers. And take time to go for a walk that day, walking at a brisk pace can actually burn a lot of calories. Try visiting a calorie calculator from a website such as Sparkpeople.com to calculate how many calories you will burn while walking based on your weight and how far you walk. For example, if you weigh 150 pounds and you walk 2 miles at a 3mph pace (about a 20 minute mile) you can burn 160-180 calories, that equals one piece of pie! (Now that is tasty math!)

Whether eat you eat your turkey roasted, grilled or fried, or if you even eat turkey at all, I hope that this holiday you take a moment to consider the true intent of the holiday. To give thanks for the blessings that have been bestowed on our lives. Because after all the turkey is gone and the last piece of pumpkin pie is consumed, the real craziness of the holiday season begins with black Friday, the Friday after Thanksgiving which is typically a day when our holiday shopping begins. Gobble, gobble!

Update: These offers expired, so I took them down.

With the push by retailers to stimulate holiday shopping starting even earlier this year, I started doing some online research today to gather ideas for holiday gift giving. I stumbled upon some great offers that expire soon, so I wanted to share these with you quickly:

Girls Day In San Diego

This past weekend I attended the inaugural Girl’s Day In San Diego event at the Lafayette Hotel in North Park. The event appeared to be a great success. There were about 4o vendors there and an estimated 300-350 attendees, a great turnout for a first time, local event.

The Girl’s Day In is an independently created Women’s Expo and Lifestyle Show created and hosted by Synecdoche Communications. The show was among the first local independent business-promoting women’s expos and lifestyle shows held in San Diego and served as an “indie shopping mall” for the day. The event also featured a fashion show with the inspired works of local designers, as well as raffle drawings throughout the day for prizes donated by participating vendors. The first 25 attendees also received an unbelievably cool “goodie” bag filled with swag from some of the exhibitors. The bags themselves were handmade by a talented local artist and exhibitor at the event, Happy Find.

The Happy Find bags, made from pillow cases!

I found so many unique and handmade gifts from creative artists such as Happy Find, Made With Luv, Domestic Nest, Jen’s Designs, So Fun Fabrics and Bibiquity. I started making a mental wish list for myself while I was there, but also more importantly got some great gift ideas for friends and family.

I think the event was a mixed success for the vendors, most seemed thrilled with the event and the traffic it brought to their tables but a few others seemed less than happy with their sales for the day. I think a lot of it probably had to do with it being a first time event. I’m sure as the event grows there will be more vendors added and maybe even further entertainment. A special thanks to the Domestic Nest for inviting me to the show and a big thank you to the event’s organizers for creating a fantastic and unique event.

Here are a few things I noted about successfully exhibiting at trade-shows:

• Location, location, location. Just like with a storefront business, your location at an expo counts, no matter how large or small the event. Try to work with the event planner before the event to get visual of how guests will enter the event and what direction the traffic will most likely flow in. Each event is laid out so differently, it’s hard to give a universal recommendation for your location, but basically you want to avoid being stuck in the corner or in an area with poor lighting, or next to a vendor that either doesn’t compliment your business or worse is selling the same things you are.
• Keep your display simple and true to your brand. Your guests should be able to walk up and easily interpret your display. Make yourself available for any questions they may have. If you are trying to encourage custom orders, create a simple sign that advertises that offering. Sometimes seeing the words can plant ideas in your guests head that they had not thought of yet.
• Have plenty of business cards on hand with your contact information on them. Many visitors these days may not make a purchase while at your booth.
• Create a simple sign-up sheet at your booth to collect email addresses or even simply product suggestions.
• Consider having a product giveaway during the event by allowing visitors to your booth to drop a business card into a fish bowl for a prize drawing at a designated time during the event. This can encourage people to come back to the booth if they need to be present to win.
• Consider having a show promotion to encourage visitors to buy today. For example, offer a discount or added bonus item if they purchase at the show. This will encourage sales at the show versus having them leave and possibly remember to buy from your website later. (By the way, this also brings up the sometimes uncomfortable issue of “haggling”, if you have visitors ask for bigger discounts, find your stopping point for negotiations and politely stick your guns. You will only be frustrated with yourself later if you give in to every low ball offer. Of course modest discounts that still allow you to make a profit could be ok, and could allow your guests to feel as though they got a great deal, that’s a win-win!)
• Be approachable. Try to get plenty of sleep the night before an event and drink plenty of water during the event to stay hydrated. The better mood you are in, the more approachable you will be. Greet every visitor to your booth with a smile and a welcome message. You want visitors to feel “at home” in your booth.
• If you can, try to have a man and a woman working in your booth. Some visitors like to approach one sex versus the other. It also helps to have more than one person working so that you each can take breaks when you need to. This also helps you to avoid eating at your booth, which can make you less desirable to visit for your guests stopping by your booth.
• Leave the money on the table while making change. This is a great tip I learned at the show last weekend (thanks Summer!). When accepting cash from a customer, leave the bills on the table in front of you while you make change from the cash box. That way if you are ever questioned by the customer, you can easily show them what bill they handed you.
• Say Thank You. This applies not only at the event, but after as well. Take the time to say “thank you” to everyone who stops by your booth. And after the event, email everyone who signed up for email updates at your booth a simple thank you for stopping by message the day following the event.

Recently I started digging deeper into the history of chili. I wanted to use our new Dutch oven that we received as a wedding gift last year to make a rich soup for fall. Immediately I thought of chili. But then what recipe to make? As I began searching through my many cookbooks and online resources, I was surprised to learn of just how many variations there are of the dish. Hundreds!

Chili seems to have originated in the southwestern United States, specifically along the “Texas Trail” back in the days of cowboys and cattle drives across the western U.S. I say “seems” because no one really knows when the first bowl of chili was actually served. And although the recipe can vary, it usually consists of a few basic ingredients: meat (although there are now vegetarian versions as well), beans, peppers and spices with no ingredient dominating the mix, but rather creating a blend of flavors.

To get the full scoop on chili, I (more…)

Stones Into Schools

If you haven’t noticed, I try to keep my blog updated with my latest books that I have read. Unemployment has been great for “sharpening the saw” as Franklin Covey would say. I have read a variety of books over the last few months, but one of the most interesting and influential was Three Cups of Tea. (click here to read my book review) You can imagine my excitement today as I learned that not only is the author, Greg Mortenson, about to release another book where the first one left off; he is also going to be in San Diego to speak and sign copies of his new book.

His latest book, Stones Into Schools, will be released on December 1st, 2009. You can purchase an advance copy of the book from our local bookstore, Warwicks, which will also include 2 tickets to a book signing event on December 10th, 2009 in San Diego. Visit Warwick’s website here to learn more about the event.

You can also purchase the book from our Amazon store as well, here.(I know its a shameless plug of my own site, but hey the small commissions help pay for this little blogging hobby of mine!) Plus if you don’t live in San Diego and don’t need the tickets to the event, the Amazon price is a little cheaper.

Happy reading!

I always have my eye out for creative charitable promotions. And since I also have a sweet tooth for cupcakes, this one really got my attention!

What could be better than a delicious cupcake? Cupcakes for charity! And even better, since these cupcakes are imaginary, they have zero calories, no fat and no guilt!

The talented folks over at Operation NICE and Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale have teamed up to create a bakeless bake sale to end child hunger. Take just a moment to visit the “bake sale” today.

A national campaign that mobilizes Americans to end childhood hunger by holding bake sales in their communities.

Interested in holding your own actual bake sale to support the cause? Good news, it’s easy as 1, 2, 3! Sign-up on their website here, and they will give you all the tools to help you get started. Or simply visit their site to learn more about childhood hunger, their charity, and how you can help.

Cups of La Jolla Opening Soon

It’s finally here, La Jolla’s first cupcake lounge! Yesterday we walked by the Pillage the Village event at Cups, an organic cupcake bakery opening soon on Girard Ave in La Jolla. The Cups crew, all decked out in their Halloween attire, handed out some of the tastist cupcake samples we have ever tried. I can’t wait for them to open soon!

The bakery promises to offer not only tasty treats made from local and sustainable organic ingredients, but they also will serve up other sensory treats like live music in their lounge as well.

Living in the village we have noticed the promotional efforts that the new store owners are putting forth lately. They definitely are doing a good job of creating buzz in the community before the doors officially open. With everything from the free tastings yesterday to recent press and charity events as well, Cups is doing a good job of getting the word out about their new location.

I can’t wait for them to open so I can try more flavors. And they even will offer Pup Cups too, so Hayley can take part in the cupcake fun too!

You can visit them at www.cupslj.com to learn more and to sign-up for their email alerts for news and events.