Birthday Fun (part two!)...

Birthday Weekend, Version 2.0

Woo! It's my birthday!!!
(Well, OK, my birthday is tomorrow, but it's my birthday!)

Whee!!!

Saturday: Wake-up early and have brunch with...Chip and Dale! Oh, the Mom and AJ2 are so going to kill me. Hee! And then hang out with the family, because...I'm really tired.

You know I'm old now. *snerk*
But it's OK, there are going to be presents. And cake.

Sunday: Cake for breakfast (a post-birthday tradition!), then finalize the New York plans. Woo!

Did I mention it was my birthday? Whee!!!

Mmm, muffin! Doughboys Bakery

Because I HAD to go to Sur la Table for baking supplies (the pb tart project continues!), we stopped off at Doughboys for cake and other yummy baked goods.

First up, the spiced pumpkin muffin. We already know my love of the pumpkin in baked goods - pumpkin muffins, pumpkin scones, I want it all. Now. I don't care if it's April, I want it now.

I have to say, aesthetically, this muffin isn't much to look at. It's short and squat, kind of the opposite of Great Dane's massive mushroom muffin. This muffin is 3-inches round by 2-inches high, stubby. It's topped by a single, off-center, walnut.

It looks homemade. In fact, it looks like something I would make - very homely.

But looks can be deceiving.

This muffin rocks. It's moist, it's buttery. It's spicy...the love of the pumpkin baked goods for me is the spicy sweetness - not exactly over-whelmingly spicy, not sickeningly sweet, it's a blend of both. The muffin batter has tons of walnuts inside, whole and chunks throughout.

The muffin is so moist that it holds together when torn, not crumbling very much at all. It's sweet, it's spicy, it tastes like a nice pie...mmm, pumpkin! My fingers even get slightly orange when I'm tearing it apart.

The middle isn't close to dry...it's doughy, it's sooooo good.

Did I mention that it's moist?

I want another one now.
Doughboys Muffin - A+!

Doughboys Bakery
8136 West Third Street
Los Angeles, CA 90048
323) 651-4202
http://www.doughboys.net

Mmm, muffin! The Great Dane Baking Company

So how do you top BIG-O CUPCAKES? How about a BIG-O MUFFIN?

*snerk*

This is one big muffin. Like 3-inches in diameter big.

As a result, it was dense, cakey - as opposed to light and...well, less cakey. However, it was not overly sweet - I know that lots of people think that a "sweeter muffin" means cake pretending to be a healthier muffin, but this wasn't a disguised cupcake.

The problem? The dough must be heavy – I have yet to get a chocolate chip muffin from Great Dane that has the chocolate chips evenly dispersed through out it. Weird, the chips are always smashed to one side, which leaves one part of the muffin all lonely. The muffin itself was yummy, but slightly dry. That seems to be my theme lately.

For the record, my favorite muffins happen to be…well, pumpkin, actually. Love the Starbucks Pumpkin Cream Cheese, Doughboys Spicy Pumpkin, Bristol Farms Pumpkin – I think I love the moist spicy sweetness. Chocolate chip is OK, but it’s not pumpkin.

So this one wasn't bad, but not the best I've ever had.
The Great Dane Baking Company - B.
They make great cakes, though. *ahem*

The Great Dane Baking Company
11196 Los Alamitos Blvd.
Los Alamitos, CA 90720
562) 493-6899
http://www.greatdanebakery.com/index.html

Weekend, Weekend, Weekend...I love weekends!

But the question is...will I still love the weekends when I'm not working at, you know, that place?

Oh, who are we kidding, I still love weekends!

Ah, the update:
It was relaxing and we were busy...and yet not...Ha!

Applied for all the jobs...cross your eyes, even!
Got coffee (a couple of times *ahem*)
Got pedicures
Got muffins...and cake...
Went to Olives...yum-o!
PB sammie...enough said...
The Easter Bunny came!
Read magazines, watched television
Amazing Race!!!

I love weekends! And?
Next weekend? HA!

Mmm, cake! The Great Dane Baking Company

Yum...

Our next entry in Mercedes's great "she's in love with tiny cakes...who has the best?"-search is from The Great Dane Baking Company.

They have a chocolate decadence cake, a 3-inch round chocolate cake. It's decorated with curls/waves of chocolate, stuck into chocolate ganache. The chocolate ganache isn't hard, like Rossmoor, it's creamy and gooey. The entire cake is dusted with cocoa powder. The sides are also covered in more curls/waves/pieces of chocolate stuck into the ganache.

The cake itself is a moist layer of chocolate cake, topped with a deep layer of light chocolate mousse, much more delicate than Rossmoor. It's not over-powering in it's chocolate-ness, it's just richly cocoa-y. The ratio of cake to mousse is probably 1-inch of cake to 2 inches of mousse. Rossmoor was more like 2/1 cake-mousse.

The chocolate decadence is much more intense, in a chocolate way – where the chocolate hexagon was straight-forward, the chocolate decandence was more elegant and deep. The flavors were similar, but the concept and presentation was markedly different – the clear winner is Great Dane in execution, the chocolate hexagon is great for a cake fix, but the chocolate decadence is an experience…layers of flavor, texture, playing off each other.

Great Dane - A!

The Great Dane Baking Company

(2 outlets in Orange County, went to the Los Alamitos one)

11196 Los Alamitos Blvd.

Los Alamitos, CA 90720

562) 493-6899

http://www.greatdanebakery.com/index.html

Weekend Plans

Ah, Friday - Saturday-light, as I like to call it. My favorite day of the week, the weekend is looming.

This one should be really relaxing - the Mom and Auntie J1 are coming home tonight from volunteering in New Orleans. The guy with the big fluffy ears and cotton-tail will be bringing some chocolate eggs. Oh, and jobs. Naturally.

So, in no particular order, because I'm not even sure what order this will be happening...
Apply for 6 Jobs
The Great Dane Bakery (Easter Brunch Muffins and *ahem* cake)
Haircut for the Mom
Pedicures for the Girls
Olives (the Dad is working early Saturday night!)
Mmm, Peanut Butter Sammie
Catching up on 12 hours of Food Network stuff with the Mom
Starbucks
Eat lots of Peanut Butter Eggs
Amazing Race!
Bake Cookies? (found a recipe online for GOOEY cookies!)

I'll update later, when the plans (or lack of) fall into place.
Hopefully I can relax some, because I'm clenching my jaw - only six more days to go and next week I've got two lunches AND red velvet. Not a bad week, if you can arrange it. :)

Mmm, cake! Rossmoor Pastries

Ah, the cure for whatever is bothering me.
I'm speaking, of course, of cake.

This is a chocolate hexagon, from Rossmoor Pastries in Signal Hill. Contact info to follow.

It's a tiny little chocolate cake, topped with a chocolate mousse. It's covered in a layer of chocolate ganache (*thud*), decorated with a bit of whipped cream and berry...this time, a raspberry. A few chocolate (white and milk) shavings and a chocolate curl finish it off.

My review: Not bad. The cake was moist, the mousse light and delicate. Loved the chocolate ganache (*thud*). I'd give it a solid B, it's a good cake. I just think I like Great Dane's cakes better now...which is why my birthday cake is coming from there.

But in a pinch, a cake pinch, it will do.

Rossmore Pastries
2325 Redondo Avenue
Signal Hill, CA 90806
(310) 498-CAKE
http://www.rossmoorpastries.com/