Lola's Cupcakes

There isn't a shopping street in the world more famous than London's Oxford Street. It's Europe's busiest shopping street with more than 500 stores! Ever since I've heard of it, I'd wanted to go. I'm somehow addicted to shopping. When I finally got to do it, I spent two days wandering around, trying to find something to buy, cute but not too expensive. In the end, I came home empty-handed. It was so crowded that getting into some of the affordable stores, like Top Shop or Primark, was extremely difficult, and actually browsing for something I'd like to get was impossible. Needless to say, I was disappointed because it was nothing like I thought it would be.

My favorite store on Oxford Street was Selfridges. It's a high end department store, the second largest shop in the UK (after Harrods) and it's 101 years old! The building is humongous (540,000 square feet or 50,000 square meters) and the architecture is just amazing. It really stands out in the ''crowd''.

I love department stores. They're usually more expensive, so they aren't that crowded. I don't actually buy those famous expensive brands that they sell, but I spend my time in other areas of the store, like the bookstore, stationery, food hall.. That's why I like these stores so much, anything you want is right there in the same building. In Selfridges, I even got to touch a cranberry Kitchenaid Stand Mixer (I thought that color was discontinued!?). At first I wanted to take a picture with it but then I decided it would be best to just walk away (after five minutes of looking at it) and not look like a mental patient. I'm not sure I succeeded with the latter. 

If you like food in any way, the Selfridges Food Hall is unbelievable. There's a great choice of takeaway food and even more cakes. I've never seen anything like it. Although some of the prices, like one scoop of ice cream for 2 pounds (seriously?) were shocking, other things seemed actually worth it. I found my second cupcake stop right here, in the Food Hall: Lola's Cupcakes. They serve normal and tiny cupcakes, at 2.25 pounds for the normal one and 1.10 pounds for the tiny one to take away, prices to eat in were slightly higher. They also sell beautiful boxes of 9 different tiny or 4 different regular cupcakes, giant cupcakes (called Show girls), cupcake cakes and bottles of colorful sprinkles. 

I treated myself to two tiny (mini) cupcakes: chocolate and Oreo. This is the box they came in. Isn't it cute? I didn't even get any frosting on it, so I could bring it home.

I didn't eat them right away, so they had to wait in their little box until I got to the hostel. First, I tried the chocolate cupcake. It tasted good, although the batter was a little dry. I blame myself, because I should have eaten them sooner. I loved the huge sprinkles on top. 

The Oreo cupcake was a different story. It just didn't taste good. I don't know why they even bothered naming it Oreo, apart from the cookie on top there wasn't much taste that would even remind me of Oreos. But I should have known this before I ordered it, since it didn't look impressive at all. Luckily I chose two tiny cupcakes, so I could eat both of them whole.

I'm definitely coming back to Lola's next time, since there are so many flavors to try! Fifteen, to be exact. If you want to try some Lola's cupcakes, you can find them in the Selfridges Foodhall, but they also have other locations (Harrods Patisserie Counter and a cupcake counter in the Top Shop store on Oxford Circus for example). If you live in London or somewhere in the UK, you can also order their products online (Lola's Online Store).

LOLA's Cupcake & Coffee Bar

Selfridges Foodhall

400 Oxford Street, W1C 2BU

Candy Cakes

Guess who's back from London! And not just back, suffering from post-London depression too. I have a terrible cold that I always get when I come home from a vacation. London is awesome and I can't wait to go back (which, hopefully, will be in December). I saw the mummies in the British Museum, the dinosaurs in the Natural History Museum, one of the first Dyson vacuum cleaners in the Science Museum (it was pink!), nothing in Tate Modern (I still can't believe that any of those paintings qualify as art), and all the Monets, Manets and Picassos in the National Gallery. Oh yes, and I watched Inception in the BFI IMAX, the largest screen in Europe. It's my new favorite film (and I'm definitely coming back to this cinema)!

I spent my first minutes in central London buying an Oyster card at the Baker Street tube station. Which is also home to this beautiful bakery Candy Cakes. Their cakes and cupcakes were so cute! Unfortunately I couldn't decide which one I want, so we went to the hostel first and when we came back a few hours later, they were already closed. But that didn't stop me from coming back next morning! I'm not a fan of fruity flavors, so I chose the double chocolate cupcake. I paid the ridiculous price (3.50 pounds if I remember correctly, and the price to eat in was even higher) and got the cupcake wrapped in plastic and a cute paper bag.

I didn't even attempt to eat it in public because it looked so sticky. When I got home, I opened the package and found out that I was right, it was sticky. Very sticky. I think it was covered with melted chocolate, but there must have been something added to it, because it was too sweet to be made of chocolate only. And it was huge. For my first bite I had to open my mouth as wide as a snake, when it tries to swallow a whole elephant. Seriously. 

I wasn't too impressed with the flavor. The batter tasted good, but topped with this chocolate-whatever, it was so sweet that eating it would probably result in a diabetic coma. And I don't even have diabetes. So I stripped the cupcake and ate its lower parts only. 

This certainly wasn't worth the huge amount of money I paid for it (considering that I had to throw half of it away because it was inedible). If I ever come back to this bakery, I'm going to order one of their normal-looking cupcakes and hope they taste better. Which reminds me, they also serve beautiful cakes and other sweets, but my mission was to try cupcakes only.

The overly-sweet cupcake almost made me lose faith in chocolate cupcakes. But it didn't. I overdosed on chocolate though. For the first time in my life, which certainly means something! Candy Cakes, Shops D&E Jubilee & Bakerloo Lines

Booking Hall, 

Baker Street Underground Station

London NW1 5LA

0203 145 1857

Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes

There is no better way to start baking again than a recipe with four ingredients. Yes, you heard (read?) me right. That's what I love about flourless recipes. I actually made these cupcakes before the Daring Bakers' Crostata, but I didn't have time to write a decent post. Not that I have plenty of time now, I should actually be studying Pharmaceutical Chemistry 2 for an exam on Thursday, but here I am.

Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
6 large eggs, separated, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
ice cream, for serving (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 275°F (135°C). Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Melt butter and chocolate in a large heatproof bowl set over (not in = a pan of simmering water. Stir to combine, then remove bowl from heat and let cool slightly. Whisk in egg yolks.
2. With an electric mixer on medium speed, whisk egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar, beating until peaks are stiff and glossy but not dry (do not overbeat). Whisk one quarter of the beaten egg whites into chocolate mixture to lighten, gently fold mixture into remaining whites.
3. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until cupcakes are just set in centers, about 25 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes (their centers will sink). Cupcakes are best eaten the same day they are baked, keep at room temperature until ready to serve, topped with scoops of ice cream, if desired.

I chose these colorful cupcake liners that just scream Yay! I didn't have any ice cream at home, so I topped half of them with marmalade and whipped cream (second photo) and the other half just with whipped cream (first photo). They were very soft and moist and just melted in the mouth. I definitely encourage you all to try and make them. If you choose to top them with marmalade, use a sour one because the cupcakes themselves are sweet enough. And don't use Nutella, it's too sweet. Since they're best eaten the same day, I suggest you only use half of the ingredients (except if you have a big hungry family). I did and we managed to eat them all ;)

The Original Sacher Torte at the Hotel Sacher, Vienna

I bet you're wondering what that delicious cake is doing up there! I had never been to that part of Austria before and needless to say I was very excited about going. It only cost me 15€ because my school organized it, so it would have been a shame not to go.  I have to admit that I had no idea what that city is about. At first I wanted to go to the library and get a guidebook, but I forgot, so I googled 'what to do in Vienna' and was very surprised. I knew the city was expensive but seriously? I know London's very expensive but at least most of the museums are free. In Vienna, you have to pay for everything. I even googled 'what to do in Vienna for free' and the only recommendation was to take a walk. Great. 

In case you didn't know, Vienna (Wien) is the capital of Austria and one of its nine states. It has a population of about 1.7 million, which is almost the population of Slovenia. It's very popular around Christmas, because they have famous Christmas Markets (Christkindlmarkt) the biggest one is in front of the city hall. There's really nothing to buy there, to be honest, it's just the Christmas atmosphere that draws people there. But there's one thing hat you must do if you like cakes and you ever come to Vienna, eat a piece of the original Sacher Torte at the Hotel Sacher. 

As soon as I figured out where I was (which is not easy in a snow blizzard!) I started looking for the famous hotel. At the beginning of my journey (or should I say odyssey?) I was so lost.. but 15 minutes later, I found it. There's some construction going on so I couldn't see the hotel in all its shine, but I found it faster because there was a giant sign in front of it.

You can't actually eat the torte there; you have to go to the Cafe Sacher or the Sacher Stube a few meters to the left of the hotel entrance. I still haven't figured out the difference between the two, maybe the Stube is less classy. I went in there because I was soaking wet from all the snow and I didn't want to embarrass myself.

The inside of the Stube is beautifully decorated and quite small; there aren't many tables. I ordered my Sacher torte (I don't think anyone orders anything else, although they offer other cakes) and a peppermint tea and they brought it right away. I liked it. A lot. Eating it felt special, after all, the recipe has been the same for more than 175 years! 

It was invented after Wenzel Clemens Prince Metternich ordered a very special cake to offer his noble guests that night; but the chef was ill, so the 16-year-old apprentice had to invent something. That was Franz Sacher, the man who invented the most famous cake in the world. I have always liked Sacher Torte. My mother used to bake it since we found a recipe in one of the magazines and it was delicious. Its taste wasn't far from the original, I know that now, but the icing was never that pretty. It's also on my to-do list, as I want to bake it in the near future. The Austrians only eat this torte with unsweetened whipped cream on the side, which is unusual here. But if I went to Vienna to eat it, I had to eat it the way it was intended to.  

If you don't live near Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck or Graz where the other Sacher Cafes are, you can always order the torte online. The prices are outrageous, just as you would expect, but at least you can try the original. There's also a shop to the right of the hotel, when you can buy the tortes to take home. They offer four different sizes and a few variations on the torte. The 150 g torte (''Lilliput'' version - just so you know how small it really is!) costs 10.50 €, while the biggest one (1.6 kg) costs 39.5 €.

I paid 4.80 € for one piece of the torte and 4.80 € for the tea, so it's not the torte that makes eating there expensive. It's the drinks! I wanted to order water, but I was freezing and I needed something warm. I liked the plates and cups you can buy those in the Sacher shop as well at Cafe Sacher/Stube, Philharmonikerstrasse 4, A-1010 Vienna ;)

Lola's Cupcake Counter - Top Shop, Oxford Circus, London

Who opens a cupcake counter in the middle of a clothes store? Apparently, Lola's Cupcakes. It looks like the customers were so hungry that it was the only logical move. I guess.

Back in August last year, Top Shop was so packed that I didn't even try to get in. When I came back in December, a few days after the sale had started, it was almost empty. Anyway, I was browsing the store and there they were! Lola's Cupcakes! There aren't many people who could resist the colorfulness of their display. I sure couldn't. (I was secretly hoping I would get the cupcake in one of those blue boxes. And didn't. They serve them on a paper napkin.) You can have any of their 14 flavors in regular or tiny form. Regular cupcakes cost 2.25 £ and tiny cupcakes cost 1.10 £. I already wrote about their Selfridges cupcake ''bar'' last year.

I had the Rocky Road mini cupcake. I still don't know why, since I hate marshmallows. But it does look good with all that's happening on top of it. I didn't like it though. I give it 2 stars. When did I start giving stars for cupcakes? Oh, well. 

I also tried the Chocolate Milk Cupcake, which is a chocolate cupcake with vanilla buttercream frosting. It wasn't bad, but there was sooo much frosting! Thankfully, I keep a frosting-loving person with me at all times. Otherwise, I would've just thrown it away.

Verdict: if you are shopping for clothes in Top Shop on Oxford Circus and you suddenly get hungry during the 8-hour shopping spree, get a cupcake. I'm not sure who does that, but I guess there is a market for in-store cupcakes, otherwise they would've already closed this cupcake counter. If you're just a cupcake lover and you want to try Lola's cupcakes, you don't have to walk all the way up to Selfridges anymore. Yay!

Lola's Cupcake Counter

Topshop, Ground floor, Oxford Circus

6-38 Great Castle Street, 

London W1W 8LG

Jamie's Italian, London

My relationship with Tiramisu is not so great. Sure, first time I made it because it was a Daring Bakers' challenge and loved it. But I've always been afraid of eating raw eggs.. And when I made it the second time, well, you can probably guess what happened the night after eating it.

However, every time I ate tiramisu anywhere, it was soaked in coffee. It was even sprinkled on top. I was always so excited because I thought the brown topping would be cocoa, but no... the majority of people think it has to be sprinkled with coffee. (Does it? I don't know. I don't care. I want cocoa powder!)

Anyway, it has now been more than 4 months since I was in London, but I can still remember the heavenly taste of this Tiramisu. I was never a huge fan of Jamie Oliver - or any other chefs, really, because I'm a picky eater and I can never use any of their recipes. 

A few days before 31 December, I was in Tate Modern again (they have free Wi-Fi), checking a food-related app on my iPod for the first time. You have to type in an ingredient or a dish and it gives you photos and links to restaurants where you can find those dishes. I typed in Spaghetti Bolognese, and that's how I found Jamie's Italian. I didn't even know he owned any restaurants! We wanted a break from the steady McDonald's diet, so we decided to give it a try.  

Since the whole menu is available online, we were able to decide on what we were going to eat before even going. There are 19 locations on the planet, two of them in London. We decided on Covent Garden, since we were going there anyway, but there's one at Canary Wharf too.

Here I should say that I only eat my pasta with the Bolognese sauce or Salmon sauce (which I can only make myself since no one does it better), so I ordered Spaghetti Bolognese. It was the best I've ever had... (the pasta is homemade too!) But let's not lose time with regular food. You're here because of the desserts, aren't you? Well, they have quite a selection at Jamie's: ice creams, sorbets, affogato, brownies, pannacotta, tarts and tiramisu. 

Because of the high prices (5 £ for one serving) we only ordered one tiramisu and split it. It was so tasty... You can actually see the grated orange zest sprinkled all over it! Overall, the tiramisu tasted of mascarpone and oranges with a hint of coffee, and it was very aromatic. More than a half of the dessert consisted of mascarpone, and they even added a generous dollop of it on top. Definitely the best dessert we could've ordered. I mean, I'm definitely not going to order brownies in an Italian restaurant, and I'm not a fan of panna cotta either. Of course, they could've sprinkled some more cocoa on the tiramisu, but that's just my opinion - and you know by now that my opinions are always very pro-chocolate, even when completely unnecessary.  

Our budget was limited, but since we really wanted to eat a good meal, we shared one dessert. That way, the final price of the meal was around 25 £, which is still affordable (and good for my figure!). We ate there on the last day of 2010, the 31 December - and came back on 1 January! And we ordered that tiramisu again. We came back and paid 5 £ for it again, that's how good it was!

Jamie's Italian, Covent Garden

11 Upper St Martin's Lane

London WC2H 9FB

While you're at Covent Garden, you might want to pay a visit to Cybercandy (3 Garrick Street), where they sell lots and lots of colorful candy imported from all over the world (USA, Japan, Australia, Canada, even New Zealand), and Paperchase (13 The Piazza), where you can find a huge selection of cute notebooks, address books... and beautiful recipe books! Everyone needs a beautiful recipe book. I bought mine there. If I won the lottery, I would definitely go to Covent Garden and spend a great portion of the money in those two stores. And then, I would go to Jamie's with all my bags from the shopping and order myself two servings of Tiramisu! :D

Strawberry Nutella Cake

I'm sure everyone who writes a baking blog has thought about becoming a baker every once in a while. At least I have. I imagined it would be an easy job, compared to all the studying I have to do for college. No stress, lots of sugar.. Perfect! This summer, I had an opportunity to see that it's not that easy.

I started working on May 24. I had a boss who was 4 years younger than me, and on that first ''orientation'' day it was clear that I would not be spending a lot of my time in the bakery during the summer. There were simply not enough customers in the store to have two people working in there all the time. So I had a choice: I could either go home after I wasn't needed anymore and get a mediocre paycheck, or I could work elsewhere, wherever I was needed. That usually meant watering flowers, weeding, planting... At this point I have to add that I don't like touching dirt. Just so you know. But I did anyway. I also sliced peppers and prepared various vegetables for packing. After all, I came to the US to make money, not to sit at home and do nothing.

There is something special about bakeries though. There are flour containers, probably 30 times bigger than the one you have at home, and the number of pans is enormous. There is always a need for more than one spatula and many sets of measuring cups. That was the main surprise for me; I thought a ''professional'' bakery would be using a scale, since cups are not reliable. But the moment I walked in there and saw the huge buckets of white sugar, brown sugar, confectioners' sugar, flour, 10 different extracts and buckets of nuts, chocolate drops, white chocolate drops, mint chocolate drops and peanut butter drops.. I loved it in there. We had a gas oven taller than me and a convection oven that could hold ten times as much as my home oven holds. 

The sad thing is, I didn't get to bake much. About 80% of the cookies were frozen, we just put them in the oven and baked them. Pies were all frozen. So were breads. The only things we actually made from scratch were bars with a very sweet artificially flavored filling, a few types of cookies, banana bread and, sometimes, gluten free cookies or bars. Not very exciting, but I still got to see what it's like working in an actual bakery. 

As promised, today you're going to find out what to do with that extra layer of cake that you weren't able to use in your 5-layer Neapolitan Cake. Or, maybe you're one of those people who like tiny cakes but don't own tiny pans. I have a solution for all of you.

A while ago, when I bought my first cookbook, I found a whole world of pastry tips and piped flowers in it. At first, I didn't think I would ever need them, since I wasn't that ''advanced'', but that changed soon. I started looking for them in stores and online... They were nowhere to be found in Slovenia. I only found small sets of 4 tips and one bag, and I wasn't happy with that. Finally, I decided I should wait until I move to the US and buy them there.

A little more than a month after my move I ordered a big, 55-piece Ateco set from Amazon. My roommates were looking at me like I was crazy, but I knew I would be sorry if I didn't order the bigger set. In fact, the price difference between the smaller and the bigger set was only a few dollars. You've got to love Amazon!

I couldn't wait to finally try them out. My first attempts can be seen in my last post, where I decorated an entire cake with piping tips, because I didn't have enough frosting to cover the whole thing and then pipe a few details. When decorating this cake, one hour later, I was already somewhat experienced and I knew which tip I wanted to try out. The star!

Ingredients

one cake layer

strawberry jam

one small jar of Nutella

frosting (optional) 

If you made the 5-layer cake, you probably have one leftover layer. If not, bake one half of a cake recipe, preferably white/yellow cake.

Cut a small paper or plastic circle (I used the top of my oatmeal container, since it's round and it was just the right size) to use as a stencil. Make sure you can fit three of those circles on your cake. Those will be the tiny cake layers. If you can't, make the circle smaller.

Holding the knife straight, cut the three circles (layers) with the help of your stencil. Spread some jam on the first and second layer. Frost the cake with Nutella (or any other frosting you want to make. I used Nutella because the store was too far away) and, if you want, decorate it with leftover frosting from your hypothetical Neapolitan 5-layer cake. Piping stars (or anything else) on it will be easier if you put the cake into the freezer for a bit, so Nutella can solidify a little. Try to keep the cake somewhere cold. This is Nutella, after all! Enjoy! :D