not long ago i wrote a very positive review of earth cafe’s raw vegan cheesecakes and pies, and in the comments section y’all agreed that they were great but bitched about the high price. well guess what, i was at whole foods today and saw that they had dropped the price by 60 cents per slice!!

Cherry Dream Cheesecake by Earth Cafe

now you can get a slice of one of the best desserts i’ve ever had for just $5.99 at whole foods. seriously, you can’t complain about that price when you take into consideration that this stuff is all raw, vegan, gluten-free and with no refined sugars or hydrogenated oils. this stuff is actually good for you…but it sure doesn’t taste like it.

well done, people. obviously The Man was listening to your complaints. maybe other stores will take whole foods’ lead and start dropping prices on vegan shiz as well!

since you will probably already be up on sunday morning to buy the best breakfast sandwich in the world at the hollywood farmers market, while you are there be sure to head over to cosmo street for some vegan baked goods from the c’est la v booth. created by kim garr, one LA’s most popular vegan bakers, c’est la v specializes in treats that taste just like traditional decadent baked goods…but with no refined sugar or animal products.

c’est la v has been offering their amazing animal-free desserts at the hollywood farmers market for a while, but now that the weather has cooled down a bit, they have finally started selling the most beloved vegan treat ever—cupcakes! and these aren’t just any old vegan cupcakes, these are seriously some of the best.

do you guys remember leda’s bakeshop in sherman oaks? they shut down a while ago, but back in the day they used to have the most delicious cupcakes in town—seriously worth a drive to the valley for. well kim garr was the original vegan baker at leda’s, so the fact that her vegan cupcakes are available to the public once again is quite a big deal!

last sunday when i dropped by the c’est la v booth, they were selling 2 flavors of cupcakes—chocolate chocolate and velvet with cream cheese. both of them were excellent.

velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting. $3.25

the velvet one was moist and delicious, topped with a dollop of incredibly rich vegan cream cheese frosting. it was basically like a red velvet cupcake but without the food coloring, so if you are a RV fan, you will LOVE this.

chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting. $3.25

and the chocolate chocolate…wow! this flavor was my personal favorite. i am a huge chocolate fan, and this thing did not disappoint—the cake was packed with amazing sweet flavor, and the frosting was so fluffy. i’m glad i was pretty far away from the c’est la v booth when i started eating it, because i would not have been able to resist going back for more.

whatever your plans are on sunday, you should figure out a way to work in a trip to the hollywood farmers market and pay c’est la v a visit. sure, you can always order their stuff online…but you usually have to order like 12 cupcakes at a time. here you can go grab as many things as you want, and try a variety of their goods! i know i will be back again on sunday.

C’est La V
Hollywood Farmers’ Market (Sundays)
Cosmo Street near Selma Avenue
Hollywood, CA

the fakery bakery has perfected vegan milk chocolate.

vegan milk chocolate peanut butter cups. i thought i’d never see the day. remember how much i raved about the fakery bakery’s dark chocolate cups? well these are 100000x better. these new cups are covered in creamy milk chocolate that does not taste vegan, and filled with a crumbly sugary peanut buttery filling that tastes exactly like reese’s.

these cups taste exactly like the stuff i miss from when i was a kid. it’s some of the best vegan candy i’ve ever tried. don’t miss out, these can be yours!

hey everyone, today we have a winner for last week’s cupcake giveaway from vegan bake sale! thanks to everyone who participated, you guys all came up with some delicious flavors. we used random.org to generate a random number and choose the winner…and out of 166 commenters, it selected #34.

that means the winner is…nadia! yay! here is nadia’s original comment:

so there you have it! congratulations nadia, you are the proud winner of 1 dozen cruelty-free delicious cupcakes from vegan bake sale. we will email you today and discuss how you can collect your prize.

for those of you who didn’t win, i highly suggest you put in an order of your favorite flavor with vegan bake sale anyway. i can say without a doubt these are the fluffiest, tastiest cupcakes i’ve ever eaten. so don’t miss out, we can all be winners here.

about a year ago, los angeles was buzzing with the news of amazing vegan twinkies that tasted way better than the real thing. these twinkies were so popular, not only did they get rave reviews from the vegan blogs, but also the non-vegan foodie blogs, as well as the LA times! however these fluffy, delicious, cream-filled vegan twinkies disappeared completely earlier this year when the bakery that made them decided to take a break.

well now it’s with much excitement that i announce to you, the original LA vegan twinkies are back! that’s right, starting today no whey vegan bakery will be accepting private orders for a short time through their website. if you never got a chance to try these amazing baked goods, now is the time.

Read the rest of this entry »

update: we have a winner for the vegan cupcakes! yaya! thanks to vegan bake sale for doing such a wonderful giveaway!

FREE. VEGAN. CUPCAKES. do i have your attention?

that’s right, you have a chance to win a whole box of delicious cruelty-free cupcakes. and these aren’t just any old vegan cupcakes—these are rich, decadent, sinful-tasting cupcakes made by vegan bake sale. alix, the mastermind behind the los angeles-based baking company, has been kind enough to offer quarrygirl.com readers the chance to to win one dozen cupcakes by commenting on this blog post.

this is quite an amazing gift, because i have eaten loads of vegan bake sale cupcakes…and there is nothing vegan-tasting about them. as alix says on her blog, “These aren’t the healthy, crunchy, cardboard vegan desserts you find at health food stores, they’re the decadent, delicious treats that could fool any non-vegan.” And, she’s right. I have fed her desserts to unsuspecting omnivores, who gave them tons of praise without even knowing they were vegan. heh heh heh.

here’s what you need to do for a chance to win some of these lovely cupcakes:
1.) you must comment on this blog post with your favorite cupcake flavor.
2.) you must leave your real, valid email address when you submit your comment. (the public won’t see this, just me…so i can contact you if you win!)
3.) you must be in los angeles.

that’s it. super easy. the winner will be picked at random and announced on the morning of tuesday, september 22. they will receive one dozen free cupcakes from vegan bake sale, hopefully of their dream flavor. if you need some help thinking of your favorite flavor, check out vegan bake sale’s menu.

i’ve tried several of vegan bake sale’s cupcakes, and while i love them all, the one that haunts my dreams the most is pumpkin spice. the creamy spiced frosting atop moist fluffy cake invokes such warm fuzzy feelings of autumn—this one would be my first choice.

vegan bake sale pumpkin spice cupcake

and to those of you who don’t win, please don’t let that stop you from trying out some of vegan bake sale’s cupcakes anyway! they are some of the best vegan cupcakes around, and you won’t be sorry. plus, they are so damn pretty.

for more info, check out:
theveganbakesale.com
@veganbakesale on twitter

now get commenting! THERE ARE CUPCAKES TO BE WON!

WIN A BOX OF CUPCAKES! COMMENT NOW!

exciting news, people. vegan desserts in los angeles have just been taken to the next level. since my first taste of products from the fakery bakery, i’ve been a huge fan of their animal-free goodies. their peanut butter cups and baklava won me over immediately, as did their willingness to take on the challenge of “veganizing” anything customers could dream up.

vegan cadbury creme eggs from the fakery bakery

well, i can say from first hand experience that the fakery bakery is not fucking around when they say that they’ll make a vegan version of pretty much any dessert. i was lucky enough to get an order of their amazing faux cadbury creme eggs, and they absolutely blew my mind. while these suckers aren’t on the fakery’s online menu, you can special order them…and you won’t regret it. it has been years since i had a real cadbury creme egg, and these vegan versions were so damn close, i almost cried. i seriously ate 3 immediately without even thinking about it. the fluffy white center complete gooey yellow “yolk”, the soft velvety chocolate and all around sugary madness, it was all there. the only big difference between these fakery eggs and their non-vegan counterparts, is that the fakery ones were much bigger and shaped slightly differently. more candy per serving? i’m not complaining.

peanut butter cups 2.0 from the fakery bakery

and there’s even more exciting news! since my original post about the fakery bakery’s awesome peanut butter cups, they have wowed me again with their peanut butter cups 2.0. the old cups were basically little round open-face chocolate containers, filled with a swirly peanut butter filling. the new ones however, are closer to the old school peanut butter cups i ate as a kid. delicious peanut buttery-sugary filling, surrounded completely by rich chocolate in the shape of a cupcake. i loved these so hard.

like the cadbury eggs, these special new peanut butter cups are not listed on the fakery’s menu, but they are available for special order. i suggest you get your hands (and mouth) on this stuff as soon as you can. your inner fat kid will thank you.

check out the fakery bakery’s website.
follow them on twitter.
and dream up some amazing dessert you never thought could be veganized, email them and tell them, and let your mind blow.

YUM.

i’ve got good news, los angeles! it is with great pleasure that i announce there is yet another vegan baker on the scene, and i can vouch for the goods. sugar plum vegan is bakery from sacramento that was selling treats to the local whole foods and co-op up there. lucky for us, they recently moved to LA and are in the process of getting food available in stores around town.

assorted treats from the sugar plum vegan bakery

over the weekend, i was fortunate enough to sample several of sugar plum vegan’s creations, and they were all excellent. pictured above, starting at the back with the cookie and going clockwise, we have the peanut butter creamie, an orange goji scone, a cinnamon bun, a sticky bun, gluten-free carrot cake, the entertainer, and in the middle is a red velvet cupcake.

sugar plum vegan peanut butter creamie

the peanut butter creamie was one of my favorite things i tried from sugar plum vegan. the sweet sandwich was made of two chocolate chip, chocolate dipped cookies with peanut butter frosting in the middle. this thing was rich and decadent, and didn’t taste vegan at all. the soft cookies and smooth chocolate went great with the thick and creamy frosting. five stars.

sugar plum vegan sticky bun

my other favorite treat was the sticky bun, a delicious breakfast pastry with a caramel nut topping. the bun was filled up with gooey sugary goodness, and the nuts on top were so sweet, they tasted like candy. once i took a bite of this thing, i couldn’t stop.

all the other sugar plum baked goods i tried were great as well—the cupcakes were moist and flavorful, the cinnamon bun was soft and covered in delicious frosting, and the goji scone was perfectly fruity. oh, and the gluten-free carrot cake didn’t taste gluten-free…or vegan for that matter.

for info on how to order these goodies for yourself, contact sugar plum vegan through their website. and starting today, you can also find some of sugar plum vegan’s goods for sale at locali. melissa sugar, the baker behind all this, tells me locali will be offering the following items: the entertainer cupcake (a chocolate cupcake with cream cheese filling), gluten free carrot cake, sticky buns, cinnamon rolls, and gluten free/soy free pumpkin chocolate chip walnut muffins.

so try some sugar plum vegan stuff when you have a chance, it’s all really tasty. damn, we are getting spoiled in los angeles with all these talented vegan bakers popping up!

sugar plum vegan
916-706-8100

about a month ago, i made an announcement on this blog about the start of a new vegan bakery in los angeles called the fakery bakery. well i finally got a chance to try some of their goods—and boy, oh boy!—these desserts are a force to be reckoned with.

although everything on the fakery’s menu looks incredible, the first thing that caught my eye were peanut butter cups pictured on their website’s homepage. recently i had a small get-together with some friends and the fakery bakery was kind enough to provide us with dessert—a batch of the peanut butter cups i’ve been craving and also a whole box of vegan baklava—both of which were amazing.

vegan chocolate peanut butter cups from the fakery bakery

these peanut butter cups were everything i’d hoped for and more. they tasted like a gourmet twist on the trashy reeses peanut butter cups i used to love as a kid. these were made of rich flavorful chocolate and were filled with a thick sugary peanut butter mixture that was extremely additive, and way better than actual peanut butter. not only did the cups taste incredible, but they were gorgeous to look at as well. each chocolate cup was perfectly formed, and the peanut butter mixture was piped into beautiful swirly shapes.

the fakery bakery’s vegan baklava was also fucking delicious, and just as good as the real thing.

vegan baklava from the fakery bakery

the flaky phyllo crust tasted exactly like the buttery stuff i remember from eating baklava in my pre-vegan days. the insides were filled with chopped nuts and a gooey sugary sauce that tasted so much like honey, i couldn’t believe it. everyone was completely blown away by these things; they were so rick and decadent, i would challenge any omnivore to discern between the fakery bakery’s vegan baklava and the real stuff made with gross dairy products and bee spit.

there is no mention of vegan bakalava on the fakery bakery’s website, but just shoot them an email about it and they can whip some up for you. in fact, if you can think of any desserts you miss from before you were vegan, you should let the fakery know….they can probably make you a vegan version that will blow you away.

so los angeles vegans, if you want decadent sugary sweets that don’t taste vegan and can fool your omnivore friends, hit up the fakery bakery. and make SURE you try the peanut butter cups, those things are unbelievable.

there are new vegan treats in town, and they are comin’ straight outta the fakery bakery! the vegan baker whose whoopie pies, cinnamon rolls and peanut butter cups have been making a huge splash among some lucky eaters, has now opened her own bakery and started selling her goods to the public online.

thefakerybakery.com

the fakery’s new website is up and running with a full on menu, ordering info, and absolutely gorgeous photos taken by foodeater of ToLiveAndEatInLA.com! seriously, this stuff is all super drool-worthy. the fakery has everything from cakes, cupcakes, cookies and bars….to whoopie pies, muffins, cheesecakes and breads. and if you feel like putting the fakery bakery up to a challenge, you can email them a special request.

before the fakery bakery was official, i got the chance to try some of their cookies, cakes, and even pound cake. everything i sampled was absolutely amazing, i am so stoked that these goods will be available to the general public. these are some of the best vegan baked goods i’ve ever tried.

i will be ordering something from the fakery bakery ASAP and will post a review here for you to read. i am thinking it’s gonna have to be some peanut butter cups. what do y’all think looks the best? here’s the menu.

los angeles vegans: take the day off, pack your bags, fill up your tank, and head to las vegas asap.

it turns out sin city has a lot more to offer than cheap beer, false promises of wealth, broken down hookers and all you can eat shellfish buffets—vegas is also home to the best vegan donuts in the world. i shit you not. ronald’s donuts are so delicious, nobody would ever be able to tell they are vegan. not to be confused with ‘fancy’ los angeles vegan vendors, ronald’s is a typical low brow donut shop. located miles off the strip in LV’s china town, the unassuming hole in the wall opens early, lacks ambiance and charges very little for its treats. it’s an insane experience, going into ronald’s which is exactly like a normal donut shop in every way, and being able to order a box full of classic flavors for just $6. stuff like this in LA would be three times the price and wouldn’t taste nearly as good.

at ronald’s donuts, there’s two big display cases and everything on the top two rows is vegan. my eyes were bigger than my stomach and i went a little crazy ordering, luckily these things keep pretty well in the refrigerator. i highly suggest if you go here, you stock up as well. you aren’t ever gonna find donuts this good again.

my favorite by far was the soy cream filled donut. the round squishy white cake was injected with thick vanilla cream and topped off with a layer of chocolate frosting. i can’t stress how much this tastes like the donuts i remember eating as a child. a cheap, normal, decadent donut in every way….except this one was vegan!

i also filled up on other spiffy treats like the apple burrito thingy pictured above, a fried pastry filled with fruit and topped with crunchy cinnamon. the classic chocolate frosted donut was also delicious…

…as were the glazed donut holes.

and you can sit back and enjoy your pastries with a hot cup of coffee in the traditional donut shop atmosphere. seriously, i never thought vegans would be able to do this kind of thing.

the three and a half hour drive to las vegas is well worth it just to experience ronald’s donuts. if you live in los angeles, i suggest you start planning your trip now. i hear from friends that the thing to do is stay up all night then get to ronald’s at 5am when they open for fresh donuts. not even i am that hardcore, but who knows, maybe i will give it a try next time. get your asses to ronald’s now…and bring some donuts back to LA for me.

ronald’s donuts
4600 Spring Mountain Rd
Las Vegas, NV 89102
(702) 873-1032

hey los angeles vegans, i have some pretty exciting news for you! on thursday may 14th at noon, jennshaggy of vegan twinkie fame will be selling some of her beloved treats as well as a slew of other no whey baked goods in hollywood to benefit various animal charities. since jenn has retired from baking officially, and her goods are no longer available, i highly suggest you get out to hollywood tomorrow and pick up as many twinkies and cookies as you can carry!

here are all the important details:
what: no whey vegan bake sale for charity
when: thursday may 14th, noon until sold out
where: 7200 Melrose Ave Los Angeles, CA 90046 (outside the fratelli cafe near melrose and formosa)
baked goods: twinkies, pinwheel cookies, sugar cookies, snickerdoodles, cakes, and fudge
price: everything will be between $2-$4

if you have ever tried no whey twinkies, you know how bad ass they are. don’t miss this rare opportunity, these baked goods are no longer available!

also try the pinwheel cookies, they are my personal favorite.

i don’t know what you have planned for your lunch break on thursday, but whatever it is, drop it and get down to this bake sale at noon! see you there!

[googleMap name=”vegan bake sale with no whey twinkies!” description=”outside fratelli cafe at melrose and formosa”]7200 Melrose Ave Los Angeles, CA 90046[/googleMap]

hey los angeles! i just wanna update you with one more place in this town you can get vegan cupcakes, cake and art on santa monica blvd in west hollywood.

mini vegan cupcakes

to be honest, until recently i didn’t know this place existed. their website doesn’t even advertise vegan cupcakes, but they carry both a chocolate and vanilla flavor that are delicious. last week i had some friends over, and one of my vegan homies showed up with a box of mini cupcakes from cake and art. the moist little cakes were topped with loads of rich creamy frosting, and they were so good that we all stood around the kitchen fighting over them until not a crumb was left.

i live pretty close to west hollywood, so it’s pretty dangerous knowing this place is around. a shop where i can stroll in off the street and get cupcakes this good is bound to lead to disaster.

cake and art
8709 Santa Monica Blvd
West Hollywood, CA 90069
(310) 657-8694

the title of that book is right, vegan cupcakes really are taking over the world. vegan bakers all over the place are trying their hand at the classic dessert and some of the results are better than others. one line of vegan cupcakes i can definitely vouch for is luscious organic desserts. the orange county based company was recently selling their goods at coachella and i got to try 3 different flavors, all of which were superb.

luscious organic desserts oreo cupcake

of the 3 i tried, the oreo cupcake was probably my favorite. slathered in creamy cookie-flavored frosting, the chocolate cake was incredibly moist. i’ve decided luscious is the perfect name for this company, because their desserts definitely are.

luscious organic desserts espresso cupcake

i also tried the espresso cupcake and the chocolate cupcake. both types of frosting were extremely rich and packed with flavor. i don’t know how they got the coffee taste down so perfectly in the espresso frosting, but it was unbelievable. these cupcakes were decadent in every sense of the word. they didn’t taste dry, bland, or have any kind of weird vegan-y texture…instead they were creamy frosting and juicy cake goodness.

luscious organic desserts chocolate cupcake

since i don’t find myself in orange county very often, i am super glad i got to try luscious cupcakes at coachella. currently you can find luscious cupcakes at native foods in costa mesa, mothers market in santa ana, and vegi wokery in cerritos. they also make tons of other mouth-watering desserts that you can order through their website. these are definitely vegan desserts i could get used to.

luscious organic desserts
949-378-7102

move over kids, there’s a new vegan baker in los angeles and the goods are amazing. vegan bake sale launched just a few weeks ago and specializes in beautiful and tasty cakes and cupcakes, but cheesecakes and cookies are also in the works. alix, the talented baker behind all of this, has been teasing los angeles vegans with her treats for quite awhile on her blog cute and delicious…i was so excited when she announced that she was making them available to the general public.

coincidentally, alix launched vegan bake sale just 5 days before my dad’s birthday. what better way to celebrate than to get him a huge vegan cake…right?!?! mwahahaha.

vegan bake sale double layered chocolate cake. $45

when i contacted vegan bake sale to place an order, alix wrote back and said she could make any flavor i could dream up. that sounded like quite an opportunity, but i still went with basic old double chocolate. i mean, who doesn’t love that, right? when i picked up the cake i was shocked at the size…it was much bigger than i imagined! it was also beautifully decorated with gorgeous piping around the edges. seriously, too pretty to eat. even the smell of it in the car on the way to my folks’ house was so sweet and tempting, i am shocked i made it all the way there without stealing a finger full of frosting.

i think everyone would agree the cake was a huge hit. my non-vegan parents loved it, and so did my husband who usually won’t go near sweet foods. on her blog, alix says her baked goods “aren’t the healthy, crunchy, cardboard vegan desserts you find at health food stores, they’re the decadent, delicious treats that could fool any non-vegan,” and she is absolutely right. the cake itself was sinfully tasty, and so was the rich luscious frosting.

after eating just one slice i went into an epic food coma. i left the cake with my parents and kept getting emails from my mom about how great the leftovers were. total success.

so if you are looking for a vegan birthday cake in los angeles, or a load of vegan cupcakes, definitely hit up vegan bake sale for treats that will impress. i got an amazing vegan birthday cake from real food daily last year, and i can tell you this thing topped even that…which is saying a lot! plus, alix can not only bake “any flavor you can dream up,” she’s also a total frosting artist and your cake is guaranteed to look amazing.

check vegan bake sale’s website, blog, and twitter for more info.