Cake Byte: Threadcakes Contest!

When awesome t-shirt designs meet cake, the result is awesome deliciousness!

Yup: it's time for the second Annual Threadcakes Amazing Cake Contest, in which you can enter a cake design inspired by an awesome Threadless tee, and you might just win some amazing prizes!

It's bound to be good, what with judges from the Ace of Cakes, Baking Bites,  Bake or Break and Cake Journal (just to name a few!).

For full details and to enter, visit their official entry page!

Cake Byte: Layer Cake Shop Opens!

Update: Based on reader responses to this post I have followed up here--please weigh in!

It's a funny thing about baking supply shops. They always feel so cramped and dark to me--rarely do they seem as bright and happy as the cakes the supplies are used to make.

So it was a delightful surprise to receive an email announcing a new online retailer, Layer Cake Shop, which specializes in all manner of supplies for making sweets, from specialty cupcake cups to cookie cutters; a dazzling spectrum of food colorings and sprinkles and other decorations; they even have a respectable selection of packaging supplies, and even cute little DIY kits which make great gifts. Everything is beautifully and brightly displayed in this online boutique; it's definitely one to bookmark.

Yup: the internet just got even sweeter!

Layer Cake Shop, online at layercakeshop.com.

Update: Based on reader responses to this post I have followed up here--please weigh in!

Cinema and Sugar: Movies To Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth

Sometimes, simply eating baked goods isn't enough. You just want to live, breathe and exist in a warm shell of pastry or cake. But not, you know, in a creepy way.

How better to feed your obsession than by enjoying movies which prominently feature sweet treats? Grab your milk duds, dim the lights and dig in:

(Note: This list is not necessarily comprehensive; feel free to leave a comment with any movies that you think should be added!)

American Pie: Of course, this one features what is probably the most infamous pie scene in cinema.

Animal House: As one CakeSpy reader put it, "I love the food fight scene. Watching Bluto load his tray up with donuts and jello..."

Babette's Feast: Who cares what else they eat, "the grand finale dessert is 'Savarin au Rhum avec des Figues et Fruit Glacée' (rum sponge cake with figs and glacéed fruits). Numerous rare wines, including Clos de Vougeot, along with various champagnes and spirits, complete the menu."

The Bakery Girl of Monceau: A film in which the hero engages in "pastries and flirting with the salesgirl, a law student (Barbet Schroeder) surrenders to his appetites as he hangs out at a bakery."

Because I Said So: Featuring Mandy Moore as a baker who is secure in the kitchen but unsure about love.
Big Night: This movie mainly features savory foods, but the timpano is carbohydratey enought to warrant a mention.

Blood & Donuts: In which a vampire falls for a woman working in a donut shop. 
Buffalo 66: A heart-shaped cookie figures into the plot in this movie.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: In oh, so many ways.
Chocolat: If chocolate is your dessert weapon of choice, you simply must see this movie. In fact, I can't believe you haven't already.
Dear Lemon Lima: A brand-new film which just made its debut at the LA Film Festival, which prominently features cupcake artwork...by CakeSpy!

The Devil Wears Prada: No, food isn't in the foreground of this film, but Anne Hathaway's character does try to make nice with that dreamy Adrian Grenier by bringing him a cupcake.
Down To You: Not sure how dessert figures into this one, but I heard a rumor that it does.
Fried Green Tomatoes: What is your favorite book, movie and food? Fried Green Tomatoes may be the answer to all three, but I'll take some chocolate or a southern layer cake (but please, keep the saran wrap away) any day. But as a side note, can you believe this recipe for caramel fried green tomatoes and ice cream?
The Gingerbread Man: As buddy Megan says, "It's a terrible, terrible movie. But entertaining!"
The Great New Wonderful: According to one sweet CakeSpy reader, this one "had Edie Falco and Maggie Gylenhaal as cake designers but they weren't very happy..."
The Godfather: "Leave the gun. Take the cannoli". Beautiful!
Hoodwinked: This one was suggested by Mary--that Goody Bandit must be captured!
The Ice Cream Man: OK, so the ice cream man in question is a serial killer. He does drive the right truck! And he's Ron Howard's brother!
Just Desserts: In which a cake (and its baker) are completely enchanting to the protagonist.

Like Water For Chocolate: The wedding cake made with character Tita's tears was delicious, but made people cry over loves long lost.

Manhattan: This one is worth watching for so many reasons, but as one CakeSpy reader pointed out, dessert (milkshakes, to be exact) is a big reason!
Marie Antoinette: Cake porn, featuring sweets by French legend Laduree. Enough said.

Matilda: Basically the cake-eating scene is the sweet equivalent to the egg-eating scene in Cool Hand Luke.

Mermaids: This one got an Oscar, and I'm pretty sure it was for the marshmallow kebabs prominently featured during the movie.

Million Dollar Baby: The real money shot was at the end, when Clint Eastwood's character eats pie in the final scene.

Mostly Martha: Although you'll have to wait til the credits for the sweet stuff, says Viv, it's worth the wait.

No Reservations: According to a CakeSpy reader, the US version of Mostly Martha definitely has some good looking tiramisu featured on-screen.
The Perfect Man: According to one CakeSpy reader, this film with Heather Locklear is "awful, but she decorates cakes."
Run Fatboy Run: In this one, according to Carrie, the "love interest is a bakery sweet shoppe owner".

Serendipity: A sweet romantic comedy which has scenes in the NY Sweets-shop from which the film takes its name.

Simply Irresistible: In which a witchy Sarah Michelle Gellar enchants the dessert (and the rest of the food too).

Simpsons Movie: Of course, Homer is never far from his beloved pink frosted and festively sprinkled donuts.

Stand By Me: This one features a pie-eating contest.
Steel Magnolias: That armadillo cake did more for Red Velvet than it could ever know!
Stranger Than Fiction: If Will Ferrell's character presenting Maggie Gyllenhaal's renegade baker with a bouquet of "flours" doesn't make you melt like buttercream in sunshine, then you're probably dead.
Sweeney Todd: They make pies, but you probably don't want to eat them. Way too savory.
True Grit: In which "corn something or other Rooster Cogburn was eating on the trail"
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me: The prelude to Dale Cooper and all that damn fine pie.

Varsity Blues: The cheerleader tries to be all sexy by dressing up like an ice cream sundae! That's priceless!
Waitress: Pie, pie, and more pie!

Wayne's World: I wish I could hang out with Wayne and Garth at Stan Mikita Donuts.

When Harry Met Sally: The most famous food scene is at Katz's in this movie, but there are many other sweet cinematic nuggets including conversations about (and over) pie.

Got one to add? Leave a comment!

Rosemary's Babka: Devilishly Delicious Mini Chocolate Babka in Seattle

The other day while wandering around Ballard, I happened to walk into Great Harvest Bread and in doing so, unwittingly submitted to my destiny: The Mini Chocolate Babka.

Baked in a muffin tin, this two-pronged treat is a mini monstrosity, so ugly it's sort of cute. Because of its small size, the chocolate-to-pastry ratio is upped dramatically, making it amazingly buttery and rich; in spite of said richness, it's amazingly how quickly and easily it manages to get in your belly.

As the sign in the shop said, this mini version of a classic holiday bread is "too good to save for once a year"--and I tend to agree. Even if it is the devil in disguise.

Mini Chocolate Babka (call for availability!) from Great Harvest Bread Company, 2218 NW Market Street, Seattle, (206) 706-3434; online at greatharvestsea.com.

Not in Seattle? No need to panic. This recipe for chocolate babka sounds like just about the most delicious thing ever, and I bet it could be divided into muffin cups for mini portions.

Waffle House: Delicious French Waffles at Scandinavian Bakery, Seattle

Upon walking into the Scandinavian Bakery in Ballard, Seattle, you'll notice a few things.

Certainly you'll notice how it looks--sweetly retro--but not in a contrived way, more in a "it's been this way since the day it opened, years ago" sort of way.

And you'll probably notice how it smells: of sugar, yeast, warm bread and various other wonderful things.

But once you've gotten beyond these surface charms, you may notice a small anomaly in their bakery case: the French Waffle. On the one hand, this seems strange--what business do French Waffles have with the cardamom buns and marzipan cakes? But once you taste them, all is forgiven. Crispy with brown sugar and spices on the outside, they're ever-so-slightly soft on the inside, and filled with a sweet dab of frosting that perfectly offsets the texture of the cookies.

It seems that these filled waferlike sandwich cookies truly are a sort of lovely mixture of cultures: where they vaguely resemble these French Waffle cookies, the sugar-and-spice coating ultimately does have a Nordic feel. 

So though they may waffle between cultural identities, but regardless of their origins, these little waffles are definitely delicious.

Do you know more about these sweet treats and their origins? If so, please comment!

French Waffles can be found (call first for availability) at Scandinavian Bakery, 8537 15th Ave. NW, Seattle (206)784-6616.