To Live and Eat in L.A.

We’ve been eagerly anticipating the arrival of New York City’s fabled vegan bakery, Babycakes, here in L.A. and our patience has finally paid off! The brand new Los Angeles location of Babycakes opens this Sunday (January 3rd)! They even made a super cute video about it… check it out below:

In their own words: “BabyCakes offers all-natural, organic and delicious alternatives free from the common allergens: wheat, gluten, dairy, casein and eggs. Rest assured, all sweeteners have been chosen responsibly and used sparingly. White sugar will never be found in our bakery, nor will we ever use toxic chemical sweeteners. Instead, most products are sweetened with agave nectar—a natural syrup from a cactus which is low on the glycemia index and often a safe alternative to most non-insulin dependant diabetics. Occasionally, unprocessed and unrefined sugar is used in certain goods, although sparingly.”

Babycakes makes all kinds of goodies, including cupcakes, loaves, cookies & cookie sandwiches, crumb cakes, muffins, skinny bunnys, cinnamon & sugar toasties (what’s that? I want one!) spelt tea cakes, brownies, macaroons, scones, savory items, apple pie and more. And the best news I’ve heard all day? THEY WILL ALSO HAVE DONUTS!!!

The grand opening is Sunday, January 3rd at 10am. If you’re one of those who will be waking up early to push your way past all the other bloggers trying to be the first to eat there, feel free to come back and leave a comment telling us what you thought!

Find the brand spankin’ new Babycakes Los Angeles in Downtown at:
130 East 6th Street (between Main St. & Los Angeles St, near Cole’s Buffet)
Los Angeles, CA 90014
(213) 623-5555
www.babycakesnyc.com
www.twitter.com/babycakesnyc

Did you know Babycakes also put out a cookbook?

BabyCakes: Vegan, (Mostly) Gluten-Free, and (Mostly) Sugar-Free Recipes from New York’s Most Talked-About Bakery
By Erin McKenna

Publishers description: Simply, BabyCakes is your key to an enlightened, indulgent, sweets-filled future. This is important news not only for parents whose children have allergies, for vegans, and for others who struggle with food sensitivities, but also for all you sugar-loving traditionalists. The recipes in these pages prove that there is a healthy alternative to recklessly made desserts, one that doesn’t sacrifice taste or texture.

Having experimented endlessly with alternative, health-conscious sweeteners, flours, and thickeners, Erin McKenna, the proprietress of beloved bakery BabyCakes NYC, developed these recipes–most are gluten-free, all are without refined sugar–in hopes of combating her own wheat, dairy, and sugar sensitivities. In BabyCakes, she shares detailed information about the ingredients she uses (coconut flour, xanthan gum, and agave nectar, for example) and how to substitute them properly for common ones–all the while guiding you safely through techniques she’s spent years perfecting.

For confectionists of all kinds, delicious alternatives lie within: Red Velvet Cupcakes, Chocolate Shortbread Scones with Caramelized Bananas, Strawberry Shortcake, and BabyCakes NYC’s celebrated frosting (so delicious it has fans tipping back frosting shots!), to name just a few. Finally, Erin’s blissful desserts are yours for the baking!
For more info or to order your copy, click here.

See you at Babycakes! Please save me a donut…

I stayed in for New Years and made hemp brownies. No, not that kind of hemp, silly.

These lovelies came straight from a box, ‘Nature’s Path Hemp Plus Organic Brownie Mix’. The instructions suggested using 2 eggs or a substitute for moister results. I used soft silken tofu (whipped till creamy) and it worked perfectly. The brownies were indeed moist, chewy, chocolaty and delicious.

2007 started off being pretty fantastic for me, then unfortunately devolved into my own personal version of hell. I’m glad it’s over and am looking forward to putting it all behind me. Thank you to everyone who reads my little blog here, especially those of you who have taken the time to leave your thoughtful, encouraging, helpful, funny, friendly and even sarcastic comments. I never would have thought that going vegan would have opened up so many interesting opportunities and communications for me, or that it would have brought new friends into my life, but it has. I also would have never guessed that the discipline of maintaining a blog about it would become a lifeline of blessed distraction during dark times (or that anyone other than my mom would be interested in reading it). But it did all that too.

So here’s to better days, here’s to dusting yourself off, believing in yourself and starting anew… no matter what. And of course, here’s to delicious, healthy food for all. See you next year!

Update October 2008: Leda’s has closed shop and is now catering only :(
Read on and see what you missed!
————–

When my aunt brought out her homemade honey cake on the first evening of Rosh Hashana I asked if it had been made with eggs. My uncle replied that of course she had used eggs, or else it wouldn’t taste good, that no cake could taste good without eggs. I took that as a challenge to prove him wrong.

For the second night of Rosh Hashana I busted out with 2 dozen mini vegan cupcakes from Leda’s Bake Shop and proceeded to rock my egg eating family’s world.

I got two flavors, the velvet cake (their version of red velvet cake without the artificial red) and peanut butter-vanilla. Both were fabulous and moist and rich and delicious. I like the tiny little size, about two hearty bites worth each, which allows you to try out a couple of flavors without filling up or pigging out. Unless of course you keep all 24 of them for yourself. I had read many raving reviews about Leda’s and am very pleased to report back that it’s definitely all that, and then some. They also have vegan scones, brownies and cookies. Quite an indulgence.