The Cupcake Addict's Cupcake Collection The Cupcake Addict's Cupcake Collection

eating cupcakes since the late 60's

    • Tag: portland

      • Back to Eden, Portland OR

        Posted at 7:31 pm by MLea
        Nov 1st

        So, day 2 of our Portland trip started on NE Alberta at the Vita Cafe.  After an extremely filling and mostly delicious breakfast of free range eggs, vegetarian sausage, potatoes and a biscuit (sadly served a little rare), we walked down a few blocks to Back to Eden Bakery.   The shop was very homey and welcoming, with folk art and rustic furniture and displays.  Everything was vegan and they had a nice selection of gluten free items.

        Besides cupcakes, there were some other delights that I would have sampled….

        Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

        German Chocolate Mini Cakes

        I ended up choosing a hazelnut mocha cupcake and a gluten free chocolate peanut butter cupcake.

        I had higher hopes for the hazelnut mocha cupcake.  It was pretty in a simple way.  I love coffee.  I love hazelnuts (well, I love Nutella, I don’t normally eat a handful of hazelnuts).  Unfortunately, this cupcake tasted like neither.  In fact, the most dominant flavor I sensed was “banana”, but maybe there is something wrong with my taste buds.  Apart from the lack of distinct flavor, the cake was fine.  It wasn’t bone dry.  It was okay.  The icing was a little grainy, but not overly sweet.  There was a nice crunch from the crushed nuts on top.  I’ve thrown away cupcakes that were worse.  I ate my half of it.  Mr Shuck thought it was fine, just a little dry.

        I wasn’t expecting much from the chocolate peanut butter cupcake.  After all, it was vegan AND gluten free!  I was pleasantly surprised though.  I’m not saying that it was an incredible cupcake; it was a decent cupcake.  The icing was peanut buttery and smooth.  The cake was rich and fairly moist.  I liked it overall.  If I decided to give up all animal products, I’d give it another whirl.  Until I go completely vegan, I’d rather have my icing made with  butter or egg whites from some blissfully happy and well treated cows and chickens.  I don’t think that my palate is sophisticated enough that I could detect oil rather than butter in a cake batter.

        My sample size is fairly small, but so far Back to Eden has the best vegan and the best gluten free cupcakes that I’ve tried so far.  Since it’s only 8 blocks away from my favorite breakfast in Portland, I’m likely to return.

        Posted in Miscellaneous Bakeries | Tagged back to eden, chocolate, hazelnut, mocha, peanut butter, portland

      • Chocolate Caramel Potato Chip Cupcake from SugarCube PDX…after I digress

        Posted at 8:34 pm by MLea
        Oct 31st

        Another delicious vegetarian dining trip to Portland last night.  We started off our day at the Bob’s Red Mill Store and Restaurant where we bought some pantry staples and had a baked potato with veggies.  We roamed across the street to Dave’s Killer Bread for (you guessed it!) bread.  After checking into our hotel, we meandered to the Saturday Market where we did NOT find any cupcakes.   After a nap back at the Double Tree, we sought out a food cart for dinner.  We found Off the Griddle, a solar powered vegetarian burger cart, at the A La Cart food cart pod at 50th and Division.    I had their seasonal pumpkin curry falafel burger with pickled onions.  It was a bit mushy, but that could be overlooked because it was otherwise extremely flavorful and delicious.  Mr Shuck loved the Vegan Smoky Bleu burger, a leek, mushroom and rice burger topped with tempeh bacon and vegan bleu cheese.

        The food cart pod was blessed with a large heated tent where we sat protected from the light rain and listened to a singer, watched costumed children and ate our burgers.  We ventured out into the lot again and returned with coffee and chai from The Coffee Can and dessert fondue from Fon Due It.

        Donut holes, sourdough bread, strawberries and apples with melted chocolate

        This successful dinner was followed by a 2 1/2 hour ghost hunting walking tour (complete with electomagnetic radiation finder) which was not as successful: the pouring rain did not seem to speed up the ramblings of the extremely non-skeptical tour guide.  We returned to the hotel at 1am soaked to the skin (through our raincoats) and exhausted.

        I won’t bore you with more vegetarian food… there are 1000 other blogs for that.  On to the cupcake:

        After our late evening, I was in need of a little perking up after we checked out of the hotel today.   I felt the need for JUICE, so I drove us out to another fabulous food cart pod located at Mississippi and Skidmore, home of Dogfeathers coffee and juice, where Mr Shuck ordered us a Portland Sunshine (apple, orange, strawberry and ginger).  While he waited for juice, I crept over to the Sugar Cube to see what was happening.  I discovered that my old friend, the Amy Winehouse, had been replaced!

        by this

        Moist chocolate cake dipped in ganache, topped with a handful of potato chips and drizzled with caramel sauce

        Their website describes this cupcake as a chocolate buttermilk cupcake,  “topped with a tower of crunchy potato chips and drizzled liberally with our house salted caramel. This is the epitome of sweet knocks up salty and makes a baby.”  I couldn’t have said it better myself.  It was an excellent combination, no matter what my sister thinks.  I’d go back again for this in a minute if it wasn’t 3 hours away!

        Posted in Miscellaneous Bakeries | Tagged chocolate caramel, portland, potato chip, sugar cube

      • Sweetpea Baking Co, Portland

        Posted at 2:21 pm by MLea
        Oct 26th

        We ended a recent vegetarian dining trip to Portland at the Sweet Pea Baking Company, a vegan bakery/coffee shop.

        Mural on the wall @ SweetPea

        I should have made this post sooner… This trip was a month ago.  Things I liked: choice of soy, rice or hemp milk in my latte, gluten free options.   Things I didn’t: the staff (wasn’t very friendly) and this cupcake…

        German Chocolate Cupcake

        The cake was very dry.  So far, I’m not a fan of vegan icing.  This one thing could possibly keep me vegetarian instead of vegan: no more buttercream.   I’ve thought about trying Earth Balance, which is a vegan margarine that is extremely tasty, to make buttercream, but it’s $6 for a pound of the sticks.   I like to believe that my butter comes from happy, well treated cows.  I may be living in a dream world, but I like a tasty frosting!  (I also realize that there is no way to make a vegan meringue for Italian Meringue Buttercream.  I don’t think life would be worth living without that.   I also imagine that my eggs come from happy and well adjusted chickens.  In fact, some of my eggs did come from happy chickens…my friend Tanya’s…but I digress…)

         

        Posted in Miscellaneous Bakeries | Tagged German Chocolate, portland, Sweet Pea Baking Co

      • Ja Da’s Desserts in Portland, OR

        Posted at 11:10 am by MLea
        May 10th

        Ja Da’s Desserts doesn’t have a shop.  They are available by special order by contacting the owner, Jamie Savage, (at 503-351-9769 or by email at jadasdesserts@hotmail.com) or at the Portland Saturday Market. These cupcakes were the best that I had in the Portland area.

        Cupcakes at Ja Das

        Chocolate Mint from Ja'Das

        When we first approached the cupcake booth, we were offered samples of the sweet potato cupcake.  The sample was so delicious, I couldn’t resist trying a whole cupcake.  I decided on the Snickers cupcake and we were given 2 spoons so we could eat it out of the cup.  We took our treat over to the fountains…after getting a little distracted by these little guys…

        Puppies! Click to enlarge

        Snickers Cupcake from Ja Da's: click to enlarge

        The cake was extremely moist and rich.  The icing wasn’t overly sweet despite the caramel swirl.  There were bits of cut up Snickers bars on top and the saltiness and crunch of the peanuts provided nice contrast.  I have no complaints, as this photo will show…

        YUM!

        After wandering around the market for awhile, somehow we ended up back at the cupcake booth.  A sweet potato cupcake found its way into my shopping bag.  Mr Shuck and I remembered it the next day during the 3 hour drive back home.  It was still fresh and stick to your fingers moist after a day (probably because of the air tight plastic container).

        My overall rating for both of these cupcakes: ♥♥♥♥.   If I were in Portland, I’d go out of my way to make it to the Saturday Market for another one of these.  My only complaint is an environmental one: these cupcakes have a lot of packaging.  Granted, they do keep the product fresh, but it’s a lot of landfill space.   Maybe one day they will consider compostable plastic.

        Posted in Miscellaneous Bakeries | Tagged ja das, portland, Snickers, sweet potato

      • I wanna go to Portland!

        Posted at 7:19 pm by MLea
        Sep 2nd

        Argh!  I shouldn’t surf the internet when I’m hungry.

        Cupcake Jones has an “after school snacks” theme for September.   I am drooling now:  Chocolate Fluffernutter, Cinnamon Bun, S’mores, Chocolate Covered Pretzel, Oatmeal Cookie, Rice Krispie Treat.  I don’t think Mr Shuck is going to drive 3 hours each way for a cupcake.

        Posted in Cupcake Jones | Tagged portland

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