i know, i know, you anxious vegans. you have been tracking the arrival of babycakes vegan bakery on twitter for ages (i know i have!), and now it is finally time for them to open up in los angeles. tomorrow at 10am is when the adventure begins!

cookies 'n cream frosted cupcake: $3.95

i reviewed the babycakes nyc location awhile back on this blog, so i speak from experience when i say, these cupcakes are FUCKING AWESOME. i got the cookies and cream flavor which was great, along with a creamy cookie and frosting sandwich. babycakes was originally set to open in weho, but tomorrow they are opening in downtown LA. their menu is epic, and they will also be carrying donuts…just what los angeles needs, if you ask me.

everyone from vegan celebs like rory freedman, to to live and eat in la and ecorazzi, to vegan forums are excited about babycakes opening up, so you should get stoked as well! for more info on the company, and to see a real time countdown to the opening of the new store, check out the babycakes website.

babycakes
(opening Sunday, January 3rd, at 10 a.m.!)
130 East 6th Street (between S. Main Street and S. Los Angeles Street)
Telephone: 213.623.5555

if their baked goods are ANYWHERE NEAR as good as the ones in nyc, we are all in for a real treat.

so…i’m sure you’ve already heard that it’s national cupcake day. what better way to celebrate this special time of year then with some of THE BEST vegan cupcakes los angeles has to offer?

that’s right, trusted quarrygirl friend and favorite vegan bake sale now has cupcakes available to the public in silverlake. all you gotta do is head over to the meet market on sunset at descanso, and these babies are for sale individually!

the meet market is open on weekdays from 11am-4pm and weekends from 10am-8pm. i know, i know, that means it’s too late to grab a cupcake fix for tonight. but seriously, you should head over there tomorrow before they run out. a vegan cupcake this good that you don’t have to order by the dozen is very hard to come by.

right now, the meet market is offering pumpkin spice (pictured above), as well as peanut butter and cookies & cream (pictured below). i have never tried the peanut butter flavor, but i can tell you that the pumpkin spice and cookies & cream are MADLY DELICIOUS.

get to silverlake. get to the meet market. get some cupcakes. this is stuff that you usually have to order loads at a time. so take advantage.

the meet market
3206 W Sunset Blvd (at Descanso)
Los Angeles, CA 90026
mon-fri 11am-4pm
sat-sun 10am-8pm

yummy cupcakes is a bakery that certainly lives up to its name. with two locations (one in the valley and one on the west side), plenty of animal-free offerings, and absolutely delicious treats, it is probably my favorite place to get vegan desserts in los angeles.

on top of offering vegan cupcakes at their storefronts on fridays, sundays and mondays, yummy also has an extensive vegan menu for large orders which features basically any cupcake you could possibly dream up. they also have an absolutely brilliant product for special order called “cupcake-in-a-jar.” yep, it is exactly like you would imagine…fluffly frosting and moist cake all piled up in a mason jar, to be eaten with a spoon.

recently, yummy sent me some of their cupcakes in jars to try out—and boy oh boy, they made a believer out of me! chocolate with vanilla frosting, almond with almond butter cream, and peanut butter cup were all part of the deal…and they were all delicious. the best thing about the cupcake in a jar is, you don’t have to eat it all at once. you can just spoon out a bite of yummy frosting and cake, then store the rest in the fridge until later.

i gave one of the cupcake-filled jars to my omnivorous co-worker, and she was completely blown away. first off, it was so decadent that she couldn’t believe it was vegan. secondly, she noted that the idea of layering cake and frosting in a mason jar is “fucking brilliant.” and i agree with her. you think you like vegan cupcakes? well, try eating them with a spoon. you will never look back. YUMMY!

yummy cupcakes
313 Wilshire Blvd 90401
310.393.8283

2918 W. Magnolia Blvd 91505
818.558.1080

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

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.

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!

today, we bring you a special report on red velvet cafe in las vegas, a casual restaurant with a very vegan-friendly menu. you may remember that recently one of our secret quarrygirl.com operatives relocated to sin city, and sent us an in-depth undercover report on the breaking news that whole foods in las vegas was offering vegan pizza with daiya cheese. well now, our secret operative is back with another vegan vegas discovery…proving once again that there is much more than just ronald’s donuts to eat in the desert. over the weekend, our operative teamed up with another agent and ate the hell out of red velvet cafe, and they sent us a write-up and pictures to prove it.

here is some of the vital information we gathered from their report:

-the server was super nice, helpful and answered or found the answer to our million questions. seeing that it was his 3rd day, i would have told myself to fuck off. he said everything was able to be made vegan besides the caprese salad, but that it could be made vegetarian.

-appetizer: avocado strips. they were pressed in a panini press, crispy shell and such gooey cheese, i was convinced it was daiya.

-at this point i was asking so many questions that the owner came over and said their vegan cheese was made from scratch. he did note that they used the same ingredients as daiya, but the texture, taste and feel was identical…it was too on point.

-lunch item #1: the buffalo chicken wrap. this was 100% hands down the best wrap i have ever had anywhere, PERIOD!

-the sauce was ranch and buffalo mixed, tangy and spicy at the same time. the chicken chunks where huge and the sandwich left my mustache and hands so messy, i needed a wet wipe. LMFL

-lunch item #2: tuna salad. so good as well. it was made with faux meat and not tofu so it had texture and it wasn’t overpowered with too much mayo, it was perfect.

dessert: face off between red velvet cupcake and chocolate chip cupcake. both operatives agreed, the red velvet won the challenge. super creamy sweet frosting and moist cake. a staple.

other fun things:
-there were 2 big flat screen tv’s, unfortunately they were playing sports.
-magazines everywhere (as can see pictured below, secret operative #2 is reading the fall fashion issue of vogue).
-as we were leaving someone was picking up a huge vegan cake… bday possibly.
-if red velvet served beer or were BYOB it would be heaven.
—–over and out—-

a very special thanks to our secret operatives who took the time to eat and document all this food.

so there you have it. a very glowing report of red velvet cafe from our field agents in las vegas. in fact, i even got a phone call from our operative immediately after he ate there, and he said red velvet was the best food he’d had during his entire stay in vegas, AND was better than most of the vegan food available in los angeles. that’s a bold statement, and a strong endorsement if i ever heard one.

i can’t wait to get to vegas and check this place out.

red velvet cafe
7875 W. Sahara Ave.
Suite 103 / 104
Las Vegas, NV 89117
(702) 360-1972

Mon-Sat. 9:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m.

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

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.

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

hey vegans, quarrygirl here reporting from coachella. yesterday in between drinking $7 beers, watching morrissey, and waiting in line for the bathroom, i was running around snapping vegan options all over the festival with my iphone. i wrote a quick post from my phone but had to delete it upon finding out that some of the stuff i suggested contained honey. so here is the updated info on vegan coachella 2009:

the best spot for vegan food is definitely inside the vip area. there you have luscious organic desserts selling a kick-ass selection of vegan cupcakes, plus a raw vegan stand called jenny’s. i had a cupcake from luscious and it totally blew my mind. more to come on that later.

luscious organic desserts

jenny's raw organic

if you don’t have vip access, never fear…you can get food in the dining area across from the dance tents. over there they have sweet leaf, an almost all vegan organic stand…except there is honey in all their dressings. so grab a wrap or salad at sweet leaf…just get it with no sauce or dressing. there is also a mexican stand called leno’s that uses no lard and a curry/mex stand called cowboys and turbans that sells vegan tofu masala. there’s also a middle eastern stand where you can get a falafel sandwich and some garlic fries.

sweet leaf

leno's lard free mexican

cowboys and turbans

so that’s it for now. if you are at coachella this weekend, i hope you enjoy the festival and that this helps you find somewhere to eat!

hey there LA vegan cupcake lovers (i know there is a grip of you out there), i have some really good news. remember when i lamented the closing of leda’s bakeshop in sherman oaks? well, as of recently, the original vegan baker at leda’s, kim garr has started selling her recipes to the public via her online bakeshop, c’est la v!

i know that a lot of vegan hearts (including mine) sank when they learned about the shutting of leda’s. kim garr read my melancholy post and emailed me to tell me that even though she no longer worked at leda’s, she had been improving her vegan recipes with plans to launch her own online bakery. i was so stoked to hear this, and now it looks like she is finally up and running. i haven’t personally tried any of c’est la v’s baked goods…but i thought i should let y’all know what they have to offer. here are just a few of the goodies. check out the full menu here.

c'est la v vegan cupcakes: moist, delicate cakes topped with fluffy, creamy frosting. (chocolate cake with vanilla frosting pictured) $3.25 each

vegan chocolate chip cookies: 12 minis/ $4.75

vegan rugelach: raspberry, strawberry or apricot. 6 pieces/ $5.25

c’est la v offers loads more vegan goodies than the ones pictured above. check them out and place an order if you want to relive the good old days of leda’s bakeshop and try some new/improved stuff as well. they also have lots of mouth-watering things that aren’t even listed on the menu like chocolate peanut butter fudge and plum kuchen cake.

so there you have it. while i haven’t actually tried c’est la v’s baked goods myself, i know they come from the mastermind behind my all-time favorite vegan cupcakes. i guess when one door closes, a new one opens…it was tough saying goodbye to leda’s, but c’est la v! so los angeles vegans, embrace the new vegan baking line from our talented local kim garr.

c’est la v
Kim Garr
Owner / Baker
818.326.4443
kimgarr1@gmail.com
www.cestlavbakeshop.com

also check out kim’s kick ass vegan blog:
www.cestlavegan.com

as of yesterday, there’s one more reason to love cafe muse in hollywood. not only do they have breakfast daily, a great vegan selection of wraps, delicious sandwiches and huge, hearty build-your-own salads; but now they sell no whey VEGAN CUPCAKES! i don’t know of anywhere else in hollywood i can get vegan cupcakes, and this place happens to be like 5 feet from my work. 

chocolate and vanilla vegan cupcakes. $3.25 each.

cafe muse sells both chocolate and vanilla cupcakes, and both flavors are out of this world. i bought one for my omnivorous friend, and she just couldn’t believe they were vegan. she said the actual cake bit tasted way better than any she’d ever tried before, and the frosting was just as rich and creamy as on other cupcakes.

i would have to agree with her. these cupcakes were just as good as the ones i used to get from leda’s bakeshop in the valley, which has closed to the public and is only taking special orders. it’s so great to have top notch vegan cupcakes again, and right here in hollywood!

no whey, the vegan baking company that makes these cupcakes, is owned by jenn shaggy, the maker of the famous los angeles vegan twinkies. her twinkies have gained a lot of local press, and i can say her cupcakes are just as good.

so hollywood vegans, rejoice! cafe muse has super awesome vegan cupcakes. go check out this cafe if you haven’t already. they have a ton of great food and now some really tasty desserts.

what self-respecting, sweets-lovin’ vegan doesn’t go nuts over the thought of VEGAN CUPCAKES!!?? i know i do. and since leda’s bakeshop in los angeles has practically shut down, i’ve been fiending for my next vegan cupcake fix. that’s why when in nyc, i absolutely had to check out manhattan’s famous vegan bakery, babycakes! i sure wasn’t disappointed.

cookies 'n cream frosted cupcake: $3.95

for my cupcake choice, i went with a chocolate cake topped of with cookies ‘n cream frosting. it was out of this world. the cupcake sure wasn’t as pretty or daintily decorated as the ones over at leda’s, but it tasted even better. the frosting was by far the best part, being rich, creamy, and full of little chocolate chunks. the cake was moist and decadent as well…i seriously could have eaten like 5 of these. so friggin’ delicious.

best frosting ever.

i happened to be at babycakes on halloween, so they had a selection of ghoulish goodies for sale as well. i decided to buy a variation of the chocolate chip cookie sandwich with orange frosting and the word “BOO” written on it.

chocolate chip cookie sandwich, halloween style! $4.25

the cookie sandwich was even more scrumptious than the cupcake and filled with so much sticky-gooey frosting. i loved every last bite. seriously, i can’t figure out how they get a frosting with no eggs and no dairy to taste so damn rich and creamy.

the cookies themselves were incredible as well. crunchy on the outside, soft and moist on the inside, and littered with almost-melting chocolate morsels. by far the best cookie sandwich i’ve ever had. now if only they sold a version with soy ice cream in the middle. mmmm.

i can’t wait to get back to nyc and eat at babycakes again and again. rumor has it they are even gonna open one in los angeles, right here in our very own weho! i hope that happens sooner rather than later. i don’t think i can wait.

everything i tried at babycakes was off the chain and worth raving about. although their treats are pretty expensive, they make up for it with healthier, natural, organic and VEGAN ingredients along with a tastiness that is unmatched. yum. yum. yum.