Deluscious Cookies and Milk
$38.95 for a dozen classic cookies. $1 extra for each “couture” cookie.

829 North Highland Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90038
www.delusciouscookies.com

Before returning home for the holidays, I had promised to find my brother, a cookie fiend, the best cookies in all of Los Angeles. So began a quest that eventually took me to Deluscious Cookies and Milk.

Deluscious is a small bakery in Beverly Hills that only takes custom orders, i.e. they only make orders to ship across the nation or for pickup in Beverly Hills. It’s so exclusive that you can’t even buy single cookies. You must buy at least half a dozen cookies, and each cookie costs $3.25 or more ($1 extra for special “couture” cookies, i.e. the cookies that are seasonal). The place itself is nothing to speak of, since it’s just a factory more or less. But they do make your cookies fresh the day of your order, so that you can eat them warm. And they do a great job with presentation. Everything comes in a large, white box, wrapped with a ribbon, and each cookie is individually wrapped and placed underneath a pink layer of paper. This is a fantastic, old school, grandma-style presentation, making for a great gift. The presentation, however, is nothing if the cookie quality isn’t up to snuff.

Gladly, though, after having tried the cookies, I can assure you that they are amazing!  They have phenomenal texture! Each is unique, too—depending on the cookie, it might be buttery, brownie-ish, flaky, or crispy, etc. Each has immense flavor, tons of butter, and is completely different.

Moreover, Deluscious sells freshly bottled milk, served in a glass bottle. It is imported from Bouguereau farms in California, and it comes in all varieties of white milk (low fat, 2%, whole), and in chocolate. The milk, to be sure, is on the pricy side—$5 a bottle for white milk, and $7 for chocolate milk. I had to have the chocolate milk at least once, though, to see the difference in quality between milk bottled in glass and milk bottled in plastic. I have to say, the milk is excellent and unlike any other I’ve had. But the price is still hardly justified, as the difference isn’t large. I definitely wouldn’t get the chocolate milk again.

The cookies, however, are a bit more justified, since the quality is amazing, and they do make great gifts. For consistently good cookies in a variety of flavors, this is probably your best bet in LA. To be fair, though, if I were craving specific flavors, I’d prefer to go straight to other bakeries which specialize in those flavors. You probably will not find the absolute best cookies here for any given flavor, except if you’re looking for a very buttery cookie, a cinnamon/sugar cookie, or a brownie-texture cookie. The chocolate decadence in particular is phenomenal!

What I had (recommendations in bold):

1. Cinnamon Sugar: Very nice, flaky. Extremely nice sugary-ness to it, though it can be a bit much for some. For me, it was falling apart perfect. Practically melted. One of the best. 4.5-4.6/5.0
2. Chocolate decadence: Like eating a fudgy brownie, except better. Great sugar layer on top. Tons of chocolate flavor, almost an overload. The sugary top adds a nice counterpoint, making for a more multidimensional flavor. Interesting mix. Stick to this—it’s unlike anything else. There’s a reason why it’s the specialty. Like the “ooey gooey” at Milk but 10x better. 4.7/5.0
3. Chocolate chip: Also excellent. Buttery, moist, a bit greasy. Three different types of choc—extremely interesting choc flavor that meshes with butteriness of music. It’s an amazing choc chip cookie. One of the best. 4.0/5.0
4. White chocolate toffee: Interesting. Crispy, even more so than cinnamon sugar cookie. Not soft to the point of seeming too buttery. It’s fantastic for what it is—like a ginger snap cookie. The chocolate and toffee merge to form a kind of gooey, cookie, which you have to pull apart, and the white chocolate gives it a nice sweetness. Not for me though. 4.0/5.0
5. Oatmeal Raisin: Again, not my forte. Has a nice burnt taste to it on top. Much more moist than rest, but not too buttery. Oaty moreso. Great for what it is. But not the best. For oatmeal cookies in LA, I’d definitely turn to Auntie em’s or Susina’s Bakery. 2.0-2.5/5.0
6. Chocolate milk: Extremely creamy, rich, and delicious. Smooth and rich, unlike any milk you’ve probably had in your life. It is even labeled as “extra creamy,” and I have to say, it lives up to the title. It was a great experience to have once in my life, but it’s a bit much. It’s just a very cool add-on for a gift. 3.5/5.0

Taste: 4.0/5.0
Value: 1.0/5.0
Overall Score: 3.0/5.0. Maybe good to try once, but too expensive.

4 locations in LA.
My favorite is at: 8565 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA.

Los Angeles is a city full of hot cafés, but there are few places that are hotter than Urth Caffé. Now, you’ve probably heard of Urth before, but you just can’t put your finger on it. In fact, it’s a pretty common site on the show Entourage, serving as Vinnie’s go-to hangout. And if you thought this place was just a fake show creation, you’d be wrong. Not only does it exist, but it’s one of the best cafés (and when I say café, I mean a real coffeehouse, not a bistro) in the city.

Urth has four locations, but my location of choice is the one on Melrose, right in the center of life in LA. Not only can you choose from a variety of coffees and teas, but there are certain touches that really make Urth stand out from the crowd. Coffee art is on such touch—that is, drawing pictures with the foam of a coffee drink. Another is the presentation of the food in general, as the cakes are all unique touches—pies baked deep dish (like a pot pie), cake slices made in the shape of perfect cylinders, etc.

And, most importantly, Urth has the vibe to make to make it a fantastic hangout. It’s frenetic, with a constant turnover of people. Just go during lunch and see how many people are looking for a table. Yet, it’s the type of place where you can just chill for hours—nobody’s going to be hanging over your shoulder and trying to kick you out. To top it all off, if you want sightseeing, this is sightseeing at its finest. Not only do you get a mean cup of coffee, but you see some of the most beautiful people you’ll see in your life. Coffee with a side of supermodel? Hell yeah! The only thing I might complain about is the seating—it’s a bit cramped and not too comfortable, but it’s fine.

And the food is fantastic to boot. They serve both baked goods and more substantive food. I’ve never been here for a sandwich, but I can attest to the quality of the baked treats. And one of the biggest draws is that they have a fantastic selection of organic, vegan-friendly foods. I wouldn’t say it’s one of my favorite pastry places, but it’s definitely my favorite coffeehouse in the city, especially if I’m in the mood for some carrot cake.   

What I’ve had:

1. Valrhona Chocolate Chunk Cookie: The chocolate in this cookie is right on, just by the simple fact that this cookie uses Valrhona coverture (Valrhona’s my favorite chocolate). It’s on the darker side, so it’s not cloying at all in terms of sweetness, and the chocolate flavor just bursts in your mouth. It’s the brownie type cookie, so it has a bit of fluffiness or a cakey quality to it that really suits the chocolate, giving it lightness that really accentuates the flavor. 3.5/5.0
2. 18k Carrot Cake: This is, hands down, one of the best carrot cakes I’ve had. It gets big points for presentation, as it’s shaped into a huge cylinder, perfectly covered with frosting around it, and it even comes with a drawing of a flower and vines on the top. Moreover, the taste is just phenomenal. The cream cheese frosting is creamy, but light, and the sugar is right on. It melts perfectly with the cake, which has a nice slight chunkiness to it and which has a huge carrot flavor. The cake’s not dry at all (trust me—I tasted it at 10:30 pm, so it must be made fresh throughout the day). The one slight critique is that the frosting has a slight tanginess, like a citrus quality, that at times clashes with the creamy sweetness. 4.5+/5.0
3. Tiramisu: This is an awfully good tiramisu, with a very pronounced espresso flavor to it. Again, it’s nicely presented in the shape of a cylinder, and dusted perfectly with coffee powder all over. While I don’t like the taste of tiramisu too much, I found this one to be quite nice actually. The cake is very well made. The cream is about as creamy, smooth, and light as it gets. The flavors are very strong, perhaps a bit too much for some, including myself—it actually tastes like a shot of espresso. If you love the taste of coffee, you’ll love this cake. 3.5/5.0. More if you like it strong.
4. Pumpkin Pie with Whipped Cream: This is another very well-made pie. The pumpkin flavor comes through well, but it’s not overpowering as in some pies. Specifically, the sweetness is controlled. The crust is especially good, with a nice hard doughey, cakey quality to it that makes it very satisfying, especially in contrast to the sweetness of the pie. Whipped cream doesn’t add much—just store bought, flavorless cream. 3.8-4.0

Ambience: 4.7/5.0.
Taste: 4.0/5.0. Gets points for all-organic options
Value: 3.7/5.0. Pretty pricey, even by LA standards, but you pay for the venue.
Overall Score, as a cafe: 4.4/5.0

8104 West 3rd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90048

A few days ago, I decided to go on a “sweet run” throughout Los Angeles—that is, a mini-tour through some of the best bakeries in town. Having gone to Auntie Em’s earlier that day, I had been left with somewhat of a bad taste in my mouth, especially regarding the “best” red velvet cupcake in town that Auntie Em’s was known for. So I was really craving some good red velvet. Lucky for me, Kiss My Bundt helped satisfy that craving.

Kiss My Bundt is a pretty simple bakery. When I headed over, I was somewhat surprised, because it looks more like a reception hall than a bakery. It’s very small, with very little seating. Really, there’s only a couch on the side and a display of cakes in the front. Kiss My Bundt is a no-frills cake-making house and is clearly intended to be taken home. I, however, couldn’t wait to get home, so I ordered three large 4 ½ inch cakes and ate them right in the store, to the great shock of the bakers.

Kiss My Bundt’s claim to fame is that it produces, as the name implies, Bundt cakes, and only Bundt cakes. No need to worry, though, because you can find them in three separate sizes, correlating roughly to the size of a cupcake (mini size, 2 ½ inches), cake slices (baby size, 4 ½ inches), and full on cakes (Big Ol’ size). So the bakery itself is, more or less, comparable to some of the cupcake and cake shops in town.

Another interesting aspect are the flavors. You’re going to find a lot here that’s traditional—like the chocolate with chocolate glaze, vanilla cake, red velvet, carrot—but at the same time, you have a wide variety of choices, particularly if you’re getting a customized cake. Some of the more unique choices include Lemon Drop, Maple Bacon Cake with Maple Glaze and Bacon, and Riesling Apricot and Honey Aphrodisiac Cake. Still, you’ll typically only find the 8 most popular flavors available in the smaller sizes, plus a few custom flavors for each day.

As for the taste, I really can’t complain. Everything that Auntie Em’s wasn’t, Kiss My Bundt is. Every cake I had was excellent. The place itself is horrible for eating, but it doesn’t matter, because the cake is so good it’s worth taking home. Each Bundt cake has lots of frosting or glaze, but it’s never overpowering and never too sweet. It’s also nice to see that numerous cakes utilize glaze instead of frosting, which I think adds a lot of variety to a city that’s known largely for traditional cupcakes. The cakes are moreover moist, excellent, and perfectly sweetened, and they blend very well with the frosting and glaze.

Overall, go to Kiss My Bundt if you want a consistently good variety of cakes. You won’t be disappointed!

What I had (recommendations in bold):

1. Lemon Drop (Homemade lemon syrup on top of lemon cake, with lemon glaze)—Really solid pound cake. Topped with an awesome lemon glaze that is both flavorful and well-sweetened. The cake is super moist and rich. Though I don’t like lemons (so I wouldn’t get it again), this is definitely a fantastic lemon cake.
2. Red Velvet—Excellent! One of the best in LA! The frosting is just right, especially on the sugar, which is a relief after eating most of the other red velvet cupcakes/cakes in town. The frosting doesn’t overpower the cake either. The cake is again super moist and has very good flavor. It actually tastes just like a good corn bread, and has a nice crunch to it on the top (a semi-burnt crust). I will say, it can’t top Milk’s blue velvet cake, but it’s still amazing.
3. Choc Glaze—Keeper! Again, the cake is excellent. It’s buttery, with a great chocolate flavor that isn’t too intense. The glaze is a bit weak, to be fair, but it blends very well with the cake, tastes great, and is not too cloying. Although the glaze is a bit weak and too little is provided, I’d still recommend this cake as excellent, just like all the others. Sprinkles probably beats it out for a better chocolate flavor, but only by a little.  

Verdict: 4.0+/5.0

7122 Beverly Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90036

It should be apparent by now that I have quite the sweet tooth. So I was just looking for an excuse to check out Susina Bakery, one of the finest bakeries/coffee houses in town. That excuse came last Sunday, when I decided to go out with some friends to Susina for the weekly coffee night. One of the nicest things about this place is that it’s open every day until 11 pm, unlike most of the really good bakeries in town. If you’re craving sweets at night, then, this is the perfect place to go.

As for the place itself, it’s actually really nice. Unlike some of the other bakeries/cafes in town, like Milk and Sweet Lady Jane’s, there is a lot of seating, and the place seems much homier because it is larger, with much better seating arrangements. Still, this place gets packed, and you should plan for that. Lots of people like to come and just do some homework or hang out with friends, so seating is quite limited.

I also like the vibe of the place. It’s a quaint little store, filled with tons of treats, ranging from French style pastries (croissants, etc.) to cakes to cookies. Moreover, it sells lots of gourmet goods, especially chocolate (Hachez, Santander, Bonnat, Pralus, Michael Mischer).

As for the food, it lives up to the hype with no problems. As noted, there is a variety of baked goods, and most of them are quite good. I would recommend sticking to some of the cakes, though, although some of them might be hit-and-miss, depending on the flavor.

It’s for all these reasons that Susina is one of my favorite bakeries and cafés in town. Whether you want a slice of cake or a nice place to relax with some friends, this is the place to go. Highly recommended!

What I had:

1. Bear Cake—Chocolate Devil’s Food cake layered with white chocolate mousse and a hint of Italian rum, chocolate mousse with milk chocolate chunks. Covered with milk chocolate and white chocolate shavings. Really good cake actually. Probably the best I had here. Nice sponginess to it w/ a great chocolate flavor that just kind of melts in the mouth.  Not overpowering/cloying at all. Strong chocolate flavor, but perfect sweetness, and white choc especially adds a great balance. Is it the best chocolate cake ever? No. Actually, it’s kind of a sissy cake, in that it’s very good but does nothing extraordinary. Superb cake anyway.
2. Carrot cake—Kind of disappointing actually. Cake is good, with a slight nuttiness in there. Frosting is not overly sweet. Not cloying at all. Decent, but flavors are kind of weak. Just a good cake, with good texture, and  nothing special to it. Has the taste of “health food.” Not as buttery/rich as others.
3. Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse Cake – Three layers of chocolate devil’s food cake. Filled with creamy peanut butter mousse; banded with chopped peanuts and topped with chocolate mirror glaze and chocolate leaves. I had just a bite, but it wasn’t bad. Not as good as the bear, but it does have a nice peanut butter flavor that really does come through. After a while, flavor would probably get a little annoying, perhaps a bit cloying. Sweetness did seem right though. Shouldn’t have been bad in larger quantities. If you like peanut butter, you’ll really like this. Good texture and taste to cake too.
4. Fudgy Brownie—Amazing! Mega keeper! I don’t even like fudgy brownies, but this is right on. Hard, kind of crunchy exterior. Hardened chocolate on top that provides a nice intense, fudginess. Cake itself is much more cakey than expected. Still on the fudgy, very dense, very intense choc side, but with just enough cakiness to make it tolerable. Sugar is not too much either, so it’s possible to eat the whole thing. Kind of like an intense choc cookie. Can’t complain. Heavy, fudgy, and with great flavor.
5. Chocolate chip cookie—Another keeper! I’m not a big fan of cookies, but this is very good. Crispy/crunchy on the edges, gooey/chooey on the inside. Nice contrast. Also, great chocolate flavor. Very nicely distributed chips, and chips have strong flavor. Cookie is on buttery, oily side, but not so much that it detracts from experience or makes you feel disgusting. It’s an awesome cookie. No complaints. Now just need to try peanut butter, which looked amazing.
6. Berry Blossom—This is the specialty cake of the house and is the most popular, yet it was kind of a disappointment. It wasn’t actually bad. The cake was fresh and moist, though it was dull and lacked intense flavor. The cream was near flawless. Not too sweet, very light, with a great texture. You could eat it all day. Whipped cream, however, is a bit weak on flavor in general and doesn’t do much to help the cake’s lack of strong flavors. Berries added very little—whole blueberries and strawberries just formed an extra layer of cake. Berries didn’t blend well with the cake and seemed tacked on. Solid cake, but definitely uninspired.

Taste: 4.0/5.0
Ambience: 4.0/5.0
Overall Score, as a bakery and as a café: 4.0/5.0

8350 West 3rd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90048

I was on Melrose the other day and decided to stop by Joan’s on Third, another café/patisserie, on my way back home. LA is just full of great little spots like Joan’s to have some breakfast or lunch or to grab a sweet. Of course, I’m not really concerned with anything other than the sweets. Particularly, Joan’s is supposed to have some great cupcakes—so good, in fact, that Giada on the Food Network’s “The Best Thing I Ever Ate” went so far as to mention the chocolate coconut cupcake as the best sweet she has ever eaten. That’s some real cred!

Needless to say, I was pretty excited to head over, even though I was so full I really shouldn’t have been eating any sweets. Still, I just had to test out the “ultimate” cupcake. When I entered, though, there was no available seating, even though there is tons of seating inside and outside the store. I was surprised, since it was around 3 pm. The place, though, does have a nice vibe to it. It has lots of space and a large variety of goods, with two separate areas for sandwiches and for sweets, in addition to a market for some gourmet goods, like chocolates (though the selection for gourmet goods isn’t as nice as at Susina).

Anyway, with no space available, I had to take my cupcakes to go. Moreover, the chocolate coconut cupcake was all sold out, so I had to settle for a couple other chocolate cupcakes. Needless to say, I was just dying to try them out, but I had to sit through a good 40 mins of LA traffic just to get back home. Upon my arrival, I almost instantly and instinctively opened up my box of treats and let the tasting begin!

What I had (recommendations would be in bold if there were any):

1. Oatmeal Raisin Cookie: My brother, an oatmeal raisin cookie fanatic, liked it a lot. Really solid. Oaty, nice, and fresh. Pretty big too for the price. For me, just too cold, too boring, and too “healthy”—very little butter to it, more focus on oaty-ness, rather than gooey, greasy, doughy-ness. Still, solid flavors came through, not overpowering. A good, safe bet. Very good for a cookie.
2. Chocolate Cloud cupcake (marshmallow fluff covered in chocolate, on top of a chocolate cake): Awesome concept, awesome design. Huge chocolate cloud. The marshmallow part was right on—very nice, light, refreshing, and just sweet enough, not cloying. Cake was also really solid—near the top of my cupcake list actually. It seemed like real chocolate cake. Only problem with cupcake is that it’s not a real cupcake—you can’t eat the “frosting” with the cake at the same time, because the “cloud” is just a humungous swirl. But both parts are great, and it’s definitely a great treat, especially for the marshmallow flavor.
3. Snickers cupcake: Again, chocolate base is really good. Snickers part isn’t bad either, and it surprisingly isn’t cloying. Actually, the Snickers blends well with the cake, giving it an extra sweetness that’s nice. Not as good as the cloud, but definitely good. Still, stay away from Snickers cupcakes in general, since it’s not the best flavor.

As far as the supposedly legendary chocolate cupcakes go, I have to say that Sprinkles in Beverly Hills has a chocolate flavor that is definitely better, as do, to a lesser degree, Kiss My Bundt in West Hollywood and Georgetown Cupcake in Washington, DC. Joan’s is a bit overhyped, and I really can’t recommend any of the treats that I ate. To be fair, though, I do have to try some of their other goods before casting a verdict.
Taste: 2.7+/5.0
Ambience: 3.0/5.0
Overall Score, as a bakery and as a café: 2.8+/5.0

4616 Eagle Rock Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90041

I was out on another outing for the perfect cupcake, so I stopped by during lunchtime at Auntie Em’s Kitchen in Eagle Rock, where I had heard I could find the mythical, “perfect” red velvet. Whenever I hear about a good red velvet, I’m almost immediately skeptical, since so few places do a good job with it. So I headed over to see the truth for myself.

When I got there, I was somewhat underwhelmed by the location and ambience, but I still liked it. The place isn’t too much to talk about. It’s small, a bit cramped, and not quite as nice as some of the other bakeries in town. Still, it has a cool vibe to it, as it’s packed with a lot of people, with what looks like a great breakfast menu, and a gourmet cheese shop inside the bakery on top of that. The inside might not look great, but it’s simple and quaint, with a kind of intimate charm to it. It’s a good breakfast/dessert spot for the family or for a date.

Still, Auntie Em’s was a disappointment. It wasn’t bad, but it was definitely overrated. I only went for the sweets, and they were just way too sweet for their own good. The cookies are definitely a pleaser, as is the brownie, but other than that, avoid this place.

What I had (recommendations in bold):

1. Chocolate chip cookie—Falling apart good. Buttery, to the point of no return, but crispy as well. Tons of chocolate. Kind of gooey too. Great texture. It’s really nothing extraordinary, though, and the butteriness can be off-putting for many. I’d still recommend it, but it may not be your type of cookie. 1.4/5.0
2. Oatmeal Raisin—Even better than the chocolate chip, and I don’t even like oatmeal raising. Much better than that from Deluscious cookies. Amazing sweetness to it (not cloying). Great blend of raisins and oats w/ a very satisfying buttery gooeyness. Raisins are yellow raisins—adds a great sweetness. Best oatmeal raisin I’ve had in town—combines fresh flavors with just enough sweetness and butteriess for a good cookie. Still, the butteriness may be very off-putting for those who don’t like fatty, oily treats. 4.2/5.0
3. Cream Cheese Brownie—Not too gooey/dense but perfectly fudgy and cakey. Great balance. Melt-in-your-mouth good, and not cloying at all, to the point that you can eat the whole thing with no problem, and maybe another one too. One of the best I’ve ever had—like eating a very good chocolate cake with a nice counterbalancing glaze on the top. Cream cheese glaze isn’t too sweet and adds a nice contrasting flavor. Almost Perfect. This is what I’d get if I could only choose one menu item. 4.7+/5.0
4. Red velvet cupcake—Definitely one of the best cakes in a red velvet cupcake. The  texture is amazing. The color is a beautiful ruby red. The flavors are huge. However, the frosting is way too decadent. There is way too much frosting, and the frosting itself is just too sweet. The cake is rather moist and flavorful, but it’s overshadowed by the frosting, which is horrible and doesn’t even really taste like cream cheese. Very disappointing in general. 1.0/5.0
5. Carrot cupcake—Again, delicious cake. Cake blends much, much better with frosting than in case of red velvet. Still, frosting is way too sweet and overpowering. Better mix of flavors than in the red velvet, but that doesn’t say much. To be fair, though, the cake it excellent. The raisins inside add a nice flavor and crunch. 1.5/5.0
6. Chocolate w/ chocolate ganache cupcake—Ganache is way too hard, too dark, and too much, though it is very good (you can eat it all by itself, if you can stomach the intensity). Overpowering, to say the least. Cake can’t be salvaged either. Not as moist or as good as the others. Kind of disappointing. If you like intense dark chocolate, this may be good, especially the ganache portion. Otherwise, avoid it. Just way too much, too overpowering, and the cake is too dry. 0.8/5.0

Taste: 2.0/5.0. Depends largely on the good, since it’s so hit-and-miss.
Ambience: 1.0/5.0
Overall Score, as a bakery: 2.0/5.0
Overall Score, as a café: 1.5/5.0

Various locations in major metropolitan areas across US, including LA, Chicago, and Dallas

I went to the original:
9635 Little Santa Monica Blvd.
Beverly Hills, CA

So, if you live in LA—or even if you don’t for that matter—you’ve probably heard of Sprinkles, the legendary cupcake store in Beverly Hills that started the whole cupcake trend throughout the US. I, however, was a little slow on the uptake. Having lived in LA all my life, I didn’t really learn anything about cupcakes until I went over to DC and saw the cupcake craze with my own eyes. Ironically, that’s where I heard about Sprinkles, supposedly the best of all the cupcake stores in the US. I don’t know how true that is, but now that I’ve returned to LA as a cupcake fiend myself, I have no choice but to head over to Sprinkles and see for myself.

Anyway, I headed over at night yesterday with a good friend of mine. Beware, because it’s quite a long drive, especially if you go at the wrong time of the day. It was around 5 pm when we started from Pasadena, and we got to Sprinkles about 50 minutes later because of all the traffic. To be honest, I felt a bit foolish for wasting so much time driving just to get a damn cupcake. No cupcake, I thought, could be so good to justify that much of a time sink.

Boy was I wrong!

Surprisingly, Sprinkles has some of the best cupcakes I’ve ever tasted, and all of the cupcakes I tried were consistently excellent, except perhaps for the red velvet. All the cakes are top notch—moist, with great texture. Typically the frosting is not not overly sweet or cloying at all. It has good texture, good creaminess, and blend extremely well with the cake.

Moreover, the location is fantastic—right on Rodeo Drive, in the midst of beautiful architecture, lots of money, and tons of people. It’s a very hot area, with a lot of life. And good cupcakes only make it better.

What I had (recommendations in bold):

1. Red Velvet—The only cupcake that really disappointed. It wasn’t bad. It just didn’t live up to expectations. The cake itself wasn’t too bad. It was more on the cornbread flavored side. Pretty moist, but not as much as some of the better cakes in town. Also, kind of plain, though flavor isn’t bad. Biggest problem is that frosting doesn’t mesh as well as with other cupcakes. It’s a bit on the overly sweet side, and cake is a bit too flavorless, so clashes. However, unlike most places, cream cheese flavor does come through really well in frosting. It’s an okay cupcake, but you can get better.  Kiss my Bundt stands out as a very similar, “cornbread” style red velvet that tastes better on all accounts.
2. Dark Chocolate—Belgian dark chocolate cake with bittersweet chocolate frosting. The first keeper on the list. The dark chocolate is right on, both in the cake and the frosting. Typically, I don’t like dark chocolate too much because it’s too bitter, but surprisingly, in this case, the bitterness was balanced with a bit of sweetness. The pound cake was great, as with the other cupcakes. Moist, nice consistency, with a nice dark choc flavor to it, which really came through but which wasn’t overpowering by any means. The frosting also had just the right amount of sweetness. Still on the bitter side (characteristic of dark chocolate), so it wasn’t a sweet cupcake, but the frosting was sweet enough to balance out the bitter chocolate. If you like strong chocolate flavors, this is a phenomenal creation. Probably even beats out Kiss My Bundt’s chocolate flavor.
3. Vanilla—Madagascar bourbon vanilla cake with creamy vanilla frosting. If you like vanilla, this cupcake is a keeper. The vanilla cake tastes just like extremely moist pound cake, with great flavor, somewhat buttery, but not with a greasy flavor. Very simple, consistent, and well done. Vanilla frosting is a tad too sweet for my taste, but it’s rich, creamy, with a great lightness to it, so that you can just eat it by the spoonful. Blends well with the cake, but at the same time, it’s just too sweet for me. It would be perfect with the chocolate frosting (i.e. the Vanilla Milk Chocolate flavor).
4. Peanut Butter Chocolate—Chocolate-chip studded peanut butter cake with fudgy milk chocolate cream cheese frosting. Mega keeper! This was beyond excellent. Typically, I hate peanut butter cupcakes. They are way too sweet for a PB flavor. But in this case, it’s right on, and the cupcake is extremely unique in comparison to other flavors (kind of reminds me of the Oinkster’s). The frosting is fantastic—milk chocolate flavor mixed in with some PB, making for a great blend. Very rich, creamy. Not like the typical frosting—a lot thicker, much more like a ganache or PB. The cake itself is also fantastic—moist, with a great pound cake flavor, mixed in with a light PB flavor. Chocolate chips within the cake are extremely well integrated and add a new layer of flavor to the cake itself, which is typically much more neutral. All in all, top notch. Frosting and cake are perfect. If you like PB or chocolate, this is for you.

Overall Score: 4.0/5.0. If you know the right flavors, probably more of a 4.4
The sweetness and creaminess of the frosting + moist, flavorful cake = probably the best cupcake store in LA.

I visited the one at:
7290 Beverly Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90036

I was driving back home from dinner recently, and I started to crave some ice cream, so I headed over to Milk. Milk is a great café for a chain, at least in terms of food and location. The Milk locations tend to be in really hot areas, like on Beverly Blvd., a block from Susina Bakery, or on West 3^rd St, near other famous bakeries like Joan’s. The seating areas are very small and simple, and the interiors of the Milk sites look more reminiscent of a shack than a café. Seating is very limited, and it feels like people aren’t meant to stay too long.

In terms of food, though, Milk is fantastic all around, especially in terms of variety. You will find everything from ice cream to cookies, brownies, and cake. It’s especially famous for the ice cream, which is supposedly some of the best in the city, though I’d respectfully disagree. I personally prefer Fosselman’s or some of the gelato places in town. In general, though, the dessert quality is excellent. In fact, I can’t imagine a better velvet cake anywhere (blue velvet in the case of Milk). The Molasses Cookies are also phenomenal.

What I had (recommendations in bold):

1. Brownie sundae—not bad. Best part was the brownie—rich, cookie kind. Very intense, sugary flavor, but great with ice cream. Made the dish. Still, probably more than one brownie would be too much. The chocolate was the dark choc type, a bit bland too. Not much going on. Vanilla was better but still just normal vanilla. Nothing different. Good combo though overall.
2. Banana peanut butter malt—not bad. The banana dulce de leche ice cream is pretty good. The malt itself is so thick that you pretty much just have to eat it with a spoon, so it’s just like eating a lot of ice cream. A bit of a conflict of flavors—banana and peanuts. Still, it was pretty good, though nothing I’d get again. Just too much clash.
3. Ooey gooey cookie—It’s like a soft, cakey brownie. It would have been very good if a bit warmer, but it was cold. It might have also been better earlier in the day. Still, it was falling apart good, and an awesome brownie-type cookie.
4. Chocolate chip walnut cookie—Okay but a bit tough and dull in flavor. Really not much to say about it other than that it was boring
5. Molasses cookie—Awesome! Finally, a gingerbread cookie that tastes bold. Very enjoyable. Great snap feel to it, with strong flavor and great sweetness. This is a keeper!
6. Blue velvet—Mega Keeper! Probably the best thing in the house. Very well made. Extremely moist. Very BOLD flavor. Lots of blueberry in there. Frosting is right on too—great balance, great quantity of frosting to cake. Very heavy cake, but it’s one of the best velvets I’ve had—comparable to or better than alcove. Stick to this! At least a 4.5/5.0, easy.
7. Blondie—butterscotch brownie. Really good. Nice, soft, like a caramel cookie mixed with texture and richness of brownie. Brownies and cakes seem to be the way to go here.

Scoring:

Ambience: 0.0/5.0 (but you don’t go here for the ambience)
Taste: 3.4/5.0
-          For the ice cream: 2.5/5.0
-          For the cakes and cookies: 4.0/5.0
Overall Score, as a dessert shop: 3.4/5.0
Overall Score, as a café: 3.0/5.0

Crumbs Bake Shop
Various locations in CA, CT, NJ, NY

I visited the one in the Americana Mall in Los Angeles:

803 Americana Way
Glendale, CA

I like to think of myself as somewhat of a cupcake connoisseur. Not that I have much of a choice—all they eat in DC are cupcakes, so ever since moving to the capital I’ve just been exposed to one cupcake store after another. Needless to say, when I heard about this famous East-Coast cupcake shop, I couldn’t resist. This shop is from New York. Crumbs is a large chain, with locations throughout NY, California, and a few other states, and from what I’ve heard, it’s pretty popular in NY. So I just had to check it out. It’s a pretty small storefront in LA, without any seating or anything, but to be fair, the one I went to is in Americana in Glendale, so space is pretty limited.

As far as cupcakes go, the place is pretty solid. The cupcakes are huge, and they’re overpriced accordingly ($3.75 each). At that cost, you’d expect them to be amazing.

I have to say, the flavors are pretty interesting. Caramel Apple, Chocolate pecan pie, raspberry, pistachio, etc. If you want a real gourmet cupcake, this could be the place to find it.

That being said, the cupcakes seem a bit uninspired to me. I’ve had five of their cupcakes, and none of them struck me as amazing. The cake portions are all pretty solid, but they tend to be dry, and I don’t think it’s because I go later on in the day, since I’ve noticed this on two separate occasions and with 5 different cupcakes. The frosting is also a bit too sweet. It’s even on the verge of being cloying. However, they do limit the amount of frosting they put on, which is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it means the overly sweet frosting can’t do much damage and ruin the whole cupcake. At the same time, the dry cake stands out.

I can’t say that this shop doesn’t have some good concepts. For example, they fill in their cupcakes at times with the flavor, such as by putting in raspberry preserves into the cake. Still, that type of “trick” only serves to cover up the rest of the problems with their cupcakes. Overall, the place is a disappointment, considering how popular it is in New York. The flavor concepts are there, but the execution is just dull. I would rather drive all the way to Beverly Hills to eat at Sprinkles. Go here only if you have no choice.

What I had (no recommendations):

1. Carrot Cupcake: Boring—just normal carrot. Frosting was okay, but cream cheese flavor didn’t come through at all. Moreover, cake was lacking flavor and was dry.
2. Chocolate Pecan Cupcake: The most popular cupcake here, and, not surprisingly, a lot better than the carrot. Great caramel flavor as a counterbalance on top, which is nice, considering the frosting on these cupcakes tends to be cloying typically. The cake itself wasn’t up to snuff though. It was too dry for the caramel to redeem it. The mixture of very sweet with very dry just doesn’t work. Also very sweet. Overall: nothing special. Go only if you have no choice.
3. Red Velvet Cupcake: Again, dry cake with boring frosting. The cream cheese frosting didn’t really taste like anything, just like really sweet vanilla cream. Moreover, the cake didn’t even taste like red velvet. It tasted somewhere between cornbread and a chocolate cake. Flavor profile was completely off. Frosting made it a little better, but all in all, this just tasted nothing like a red velvet cupcake.
4. Raspberry Cupcake: This is actually quite interesting. The cake is filled with raspberry preserves, and the top has a really nice raspberry preserve glaze on it. So, unlike the other cupcakes, it actually tastes like what it’s supposed to taste like. The cake itself is a vanilla cake and is much better than the others I’ve tried so far. Still, the dryness persists, and the raspberry glaze at best only tries to hide that dryness with a strong flavor that clashes with the blandness of the rest of the cupcake.
5. Black Forest—Another interesting cupcake. Chocolate cake, filled with cherries, and with a cherry glaze on top. Still, it’s the same problem as with the rest of them, and again, the cherries inside are only used to cover up the problems. Better than the rest, with some stronger flavors b/c of the fruitiness but still a big disappointment.

Overall Score: 0.5/5.0. Creative, but overly sweet and cloying.

Sweet Lady Jane
$7.50 per cake slice
Best Bakery in Town

8360 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90069-6519

I wanted to meet up with a friend, a girl, for some coffee the other day, so I was looking for a nice little patisserie—nothing too fancy, but something respectable, with good food and drinks. Specifically, I was craving a nice slice of cake to go with my drink. I’ve been hearing about this place Sweet Lady Jane’s for a long time. It’s in a really hot area, so I thought it would have to be pretty nice, and from what I’ve read, the cakes just can’t be beaten.

So on entering the place, I was kind of surprised at just how small it was. There were only about 10 seats, so if you’re looking for a spot, you might want to come during a time that it’s not busy. Luckily, it wasn’t crowded at all when I went (around 3 pm).

The ambience, though, is quite nice. It’s very crowded, but because it’s so small, it feels rather intimate. There isn’t much decoration, but the service is very nice, and Jane herself will take your orders and offer suggestions.

That being said, you don’t go to this place for the ambience or the service, but for the food, and it does not fail to deliver. Almost all the cakes, except the red velvet cupcake I had (maybe a bad batch?) were amazing. Large slices, large variety, and great consistency—that’s a formula you just can’t beat. Plus, it’s a really great spot to take a friend or a date.

What I had (recommendations in bold):

1. Fudge Brownie—The brownies are the gooey, rich kind. Small, but DENSE. Very good, somewhat sweet. Kind of like Baked and Wired brownies, but I think they’re better. Very good balance—makes you want to keep eating. Walnut brownies are good, a little less sweet, but salt brownies are just too good. Best brownies in LA? Just maybe. Stick to it
2. Chocolate Taco—This is one of the most unique and delicious chocolate creations I’ve ever had. In theory, it’s very simple. A taco shell made of caramelized nuts is filled with chocolate mousse and topped with tons of large, square chocolate shavings. The end result, though, is more than the sum of its parts. The crunchy, hard nut shell is absolutely delicious—provides a great contrast and sweetness to the otherwise creamy, bittersweet chocolate mousse. The mousse is absolutely delicious—rich, with an intense chocolaty flavor that isn’t cloying at all. And the shavings add a nice presentational component and another nice layer of contrast. Nearly a perfect 10.
3. Chocolate, cherry cookie—Pretty good. Not very gooey. A bit on the hard side, nice burnt flavor, but soft enough to tear apart easily. Somewhere b/t gooey and burnt/tough. Nice flavor, nice texture. Still, not the best cookie.
4. Vanilla, Chocolate swirl cheesecake—Again, solid cake. The cheese isn’t too sweet. Good balance, and the cake has a great cookie crust that adds a nice crunch. Decent flavors too, though the chocolate ganache/cream on top is way too much. It’s also very dense. All in all, it’s not my favorite cheesecake. Maybe it’s the richness or the flavor, but it’s just too much and isn’t that great.
5. Triple Berry Cake (yellow butter cake filled with three layers of lightly sweetened whipped cream and layers of fresh berries: raspberries, blueberries or blackberries and strawberries)—This is the house specialty that you’ll hear about endlessly, and it lives up to the hype. I had only one bite, but it was light, creamy, perfectly sweet, with a great flavor. Very well-balanced, and the yellow cake was out of this world. One bite was enough to convince me to get it for my dad, a lover of berries. The yellow cake here is amazing—I would highly recommend getting anything with a yellow cake base.
6. Almond Rocca Cake (Dark chocolate cake with three layers of fresh whipped cream, Belgian chocolate ganache, and caramelized almonds)—Actually, it’s really chocolaty, really strong, and really good. Caramelized almonds were a little downplayed—more focus on layers of chocolate and whipped cream. But the chocolate was very well done, rich and balanced, and most importantly, not too sweet. Very nice.  A lot heavier than the berry cake, but extremely satisfying.

Taste: 4.5/5.0
Ambience: 1.2/5.0
Overall Score, as a bakery: 4.5/5.0
Overall Score, as a café: 3.3/5.0