Cake Byte: Stanley CupCakes!

Here's some sweet news for lovers of cupcakes and sports:

Detroit’s Cupcake Station and Pittsburgh’s CoCo’s Cupcake Café Compete for the Stanley Cup(cake)!

The Cupcake Station in Birmingham is in their own Stanley Cup(cake) competition with Pittsburgh-based CoCo’s Cupcake Café to see who has the most cupcake loving fans in hockey.

For every Wings or Pens cupcake purchased, a goal is added to the Goals Chalkboard located in each store. At the end of the series, one cupcake bakery will be able to claim the highest scoring, most d edicated, cupcake loving fans in hockey, and will be the rightful winner of The Stanley Cup(cake). Each location will be updating the “opposing” team’s score daily. Plus, the Cupcake Station will be donating a portion of their proceeds to a Red Wings charity!

From now until the end of the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Cupcake Station will be offering special Red Wing cupcakes. Choose from an Octopus cupcake, a “Go Red Wings” cupcake or one in the team colors of Red and White. Why not score a hat trick and try all three?!

CoCo’s custo mers can choose between black and gold cupcakes, ones that spell out “Let’s Go Pens,” or those that show their support for a favorite player.

For more information, check out cupcakestation.com or call 248-593-1903 in Detroit; in Pittsburgh, please visit cocoscupcakecafe.com or 412-361-2625.

Baker's Dozen: A Batch of Mobile Bakeries and Sweet Food Carts!

This week we're going mobile--by pointing out some of the coolest food carts offering sweet stuff across the nation. Some stay put, but some are constantly on the move, traced only by twitter updates. This baker's dozen has captured our attention--catch them if you can (and if you've got a cool one in your town, let us know!):

Cupcake Stop takes the cake in New York City, with mini and regular sized cupcakes. They can be tracked via twitter.

Cupcake Truck in New Haven, CT prides itself on serving cupcakes made from only the finest ingredients; see where they are today on their blog.

Crème Brûlée Cart is cracking down on sweetness in San Francisco! They can be tracked via twitter.

Dessert Truck in NYC serves up fancy desserts (a recent menu includes pavlova and bread pudding!) from their mobile bakery at reasonable prices. 

HeartsChallenger is a mobile ice cream truck that can be hired in LA, Miami and New York, and any ice cream truck that features unicorns and hearts is right up there on the Spy list!

Hey, Cupcake is taking Austin by storm with sweet cupcakes served out of airstream trailers (and one location sans wheels). The locations are fixed, but still have a mobile charm.

Icycle Tricycle in Los Angeles has not only delicious icy treats, but they come at you with a mission.

Parfait Ice Cream will be bringing gourmet ice cream to the masses--on wheels--later this summer in Seattle.

Perfect Cupcakes is making Baltimore (and the world!) a sweeter place with a mobile cupcake delivery unit.

Skillet Street Food in Seattle is a mobile operation which mainly focuses on serving meals, but they also always have a great dessert option or two--a recent menu included lavender shortbread with lemon curd and crème fraiche.  Keep up with their daily goings-on via twitter.

Fresher Than Fresh in Kansas City, MO is serving up some super sweet sno-cones; find where they are now via twitter!

Treats Truck in NYC is a CakeSpy favorite for their creative menu and sweet proprietress (read the CakeSpy interview here!). 

Wafels & Dinges in NYC serves up Belgian waffles with a tantalizing variety of sweet (and savory, if you're into that) toppings; they can be tracked online.

What's your favorite mobile bakery or street cart?

Triple Threat: The Cookie Cake Pie

Cookies, Cakes and Pies are basically the holy trinity of baked goods.

Separately, each is wonderful in its own way. Cookies and milk after school. Birthday cake. Pie at Thanksgiving.

But what if--just what if--all of this awesome could be combined into one singular sensation?

It's time to break out a seriously sweet triple play: the Cookie Cake Pie.

I wish I had a more clever moniker for you, but really, the name does say it all: it's a cookie and a cake within a pie. This treat embraces the idea that if some is good, more is wonderful; it weighs more than any I've ever held in my arms, and it packs much more of a sugary punch. Excessive? Perhaps. But everyone who tried it all but licked the plate clean.

Want one of your very own? Here's what you need to do.

Cookie Cake Pie

You'll need:

• A batch of cookie dough
• A single batch of cake batter (I'll be honest--I used Rainbow Chip)
• A single pie crust
• Enough frosting for a birthday cake

First, prepare one batch of chocolate chip cookie dough. You can leave this in the fridge or to the side while you prepare the rest.

Next, prepare a single pie crust and line it into a pie plate. I considered blind-baking it, but ultimately did not, and I thought it turned out fine.

Place the cookie dough inside of the pie crust and using your fingers or a spoon, spread it so that it evenly coats the bottom of the crust. Mine was about an inch thick; I had enough cookie dough leftover to make about three big cookies, or one massive cookie dough snack.

At this point, you might want to pre-heat the oven. I considered each of the three recipes (pie, cookie and cake) and chose an average of 350 degrees.

Let the cookie-filled pie crust rest for a bit while you mix up some birthday cake. If I'm to be completely honest here, I used Rainbow Chip cake. Yes, from a mix. It just felt right, and it added such a nice color contrast. Don't judge me.

Pour cake batter directly on top of the cookie dough til the pie crust is about 2/3 filled. The cake will rise, so you want to leave room for it. You will probably have leftover cake batter; why not make some cupcakes?

Put this monster in the oven and check after about 25 minutes. I kept on checking every 5 minutes and think it ended up baking for about 30-40 minutes total. I took it out when the cake was golden around the edges.

Let cool, and frost generously with buttercream frosting (mine was approximately an inch thick--this is not the time for moderation). Garnish as desired; I thought sprinkles were festive and pretty.

Finally--and most importantly--enjoy.

In The Mix: A Sweet Giveaway from Gourmet Gift Company!

It's a funny thing, but somehow the shortest weeks always feel the longest. Perhaps it's the harsh reality of going back to real life after a sweet long weekend?

It's official: you deserve a giveaway.

Gourmet Gift Company has generously offered a $100 gift certificate to one lucky CakeSpy reader! Their website is chock full of sweet gourmet mixes for cakes (including flavors like chocolate, red velvet, vanilla and champagne), cookies, brownies and a variety of other treats. Just think how much sweetness $100 could get you on this site--you could pick up some sweet treats for yourself, and friends too! What a sweet gift-by-mail for a faraway friend or relative these mixes would be! Or, if you're planning a wedding or event, the gift certificate would get you quite a few of their unique customized favors.

To put your name in the running, simply leave a comment on this post and tell which of Gourmet Gift Company's flavors you'd try first!

Sorry, US entrants only this time; this giveaway will be closed on Saturday, May 30 at 12 p.m. PST, and the winner will be chosen at random and announced shortly thereafter.

Seeking Sweetness in South Africa: A Basic Primer

koeksister photo from flickr user Chameleongreen

One of the most interesting aspects of discovering a culture is discovering how--and what--they eat. What flavors are commonly used? What are their native ingredients? What are the regional specialties? And most importantly, what's for dessert?

On a recent batch of emails with South African CakeSpy reader Sophie, she not only gave a tip on a shops to pick up cute cupcake pincushions (Delagoa African Arts and Crafts), but also paused to discuss what kind of sweets they like to eat there. Cupcakes, it turns out, haven't hit in the same way they have in the US (yet), but sounds like they've got plenty of other delicious sweets to keep them busy--thanks again to Sophie, who gave the 411 on the dessert scene in South Africa:

With our 11 official languages (and those are just for indigenous languages) and a myriad of other cultures (Chinese, Portuguese, Bulgarian, German and other African nationalities) it is difficult to pin-point what desserts South African as a whole enjoys. So I’m sure you’ll understand if I can only tell you what my own South African culture (Afrikaans) enjoys!

The Afrikaans culture has its roots in the Netherlands and France, as most of our ancestors came from there during the late 1600’s early 1700’s. So many of our desserts show (I think!) similarities to those countries.

But firm favourites are:

· Melktert (loosely translated to Milk tart) is especially nice and creamy and it’s a firm favourite on Sundays or at parties; here is a recipe. I have a recipe from my great-grandmother that I’m dying to try still and most Afrikaans families will have recipes for this that go back many generations.

· Malva pudding is a unique South African dessert (it’s to die for!) and it almost tastes like a brandy pudding, but just much, much better. Here is a recipe.

· Koeksisters are a very, very sweet but extremely popular syrupy-coated doughnut in a braided shape and I usually can’t have more than 2 (or 3, or definitely no more than 4!). Read more about them here--also, check out the "Koeksister Monument" here!

· Melkkos (which loosely translates to Milk Food and does not sound all that appetizing) is lovely as a dessert or as a meal, especially on a cold winters’ night. It’s quick and easy and you only need 4 ingredients: milk, flour, butter and cinnamon.

What about cakes, you ask? Well, reports Sophie:

On the cake side I’m actually not to sure what would be “typical Afrikaner” cakes ... I know we love Black forest cake, carrot cake and chocolate cakes but I’ve actually never really thought about what would be the uniquely South African cakes. Now I’ll never rest until I know!