Love at First Bite, Berkeley

Oh, Love at First Bite. How do I love thee.

I visited this gem of a bakery in North Berkeley's Gourmet Ghetto on a super hot June weekend. It's a small shop tucked away in a cute ally on Walnut street, sort of behind Chez Panisse. They sell cupcakes, cookies, and cute items.

I tried the vegan gingerbread (pictured), the cookies and cream, vanilla, and strawberry. I'm rather embarrassed to say that I ate all but the strawberry before my husband copped on to their presence in the house. And I would have gladly fought him for the strawberry, if it wouldn't have made me look entirely like a pig.

These cupcakes are divine. They use fine ingredients, including the coveted Madagascar-bourbon vanilla, and the frosting was just superb. The frosting was so good that I actually had to portion control my bites, because eating the cakes all at once would have been heartbreaking. I could see easily how I'd be addicted to these cupcakes. A Love at First Bite cupcake junkie, is what I'd be.

When the cupcakes were gone, I was extremely disappointed. I've already begun trying to plan a stop at this super cute little shop the next time I'm in North Berkeley.

This is a definite For The Win.

Sweet Sierra Cupcakes

This weekend I was in Grass Valley visiting my mother and we went into Nevada City for lunch. Nevada City is super cute and has a farmer's market on Saturday mornings until 12 or so. I had an appointment and so met my mom, husband, and whippersnapper afterward for lunch. As we sat down to lunch, my mother and husband looked decidedly squirrely.

"What?" I asked, surreptitiously wiping my nose for any offending debris.

"Should we tell her?" my mother asked my husband.

"Tell me what?" I asked.

"There was....well, we're sitting down to lunch. We'll tell you later," my husband said.

"Tell me," I said. I could sense something momentous. Possibly to do with cupcakes.

"There was a cupcake stand at the farmer's market," my mother said. "But there weren't many left."

Of course, I demanded answers. What time did the farmer's market close? How many cupcakes were left? Where was the stall? Didn't they know this was important research? Scientific research? Why hadn't they gotten any?

Waiting until after lunch wasn't on. After we ordered, I jetted down two blocks to the market and found the cupcake stand -- it is Sweet Sierra cupcakes, and there were two left. And one of them was a mini! And someone was in front of me! I pranced a bit, looking rather desperate, and the girl in front of me took pity and asked if I was going to buy one, because otherwise (I presume), she would buy both. I tell you, there was very nearly an unseemly struggle. I went for the mini, which was white cake with chocolate chips and vanilla buttercream frosting topped in chocolate chips. While I love mini cupcakes, I always prefer more, but the full size one was coconut and I'm just not partial to coconut.

Let me tell you, this mini was a winner. The buttercream frosting was superb, absolutely melted right in my mouth and I could tell (funny how you can tell after only a few) that the ingredients were high quality -- no substitutes. No imitation vanilla here. Absolutely gorgeous frosting, and then the cake itself was sublime. It was just the right moistness, without being raw or clumpy. My mother agreed it was one of the best cupcakes she's ever had.

Had I known when I approached the stand, I would have wrestled the other customer for the remaining cupcake. I'm sorry I didn't get more, because this was scrumptious.

Chef Lynn Kouba specializes in gluten-free, vegan, and organic ingredients. You can check out the Sweet Sierra Cupcakes web site for ordering info.

Well worth wrestling people to the floor for.

Teacake Bakeshop

The Teacake Bakeshop is a chain, but a small Bay Area-based one. The location I visited was in the Bay Street Emeryville shopping center. Teacake had been one of the original shops that went into the center and I knew them for their very nice marketing and their delicious cookies. I'm not sure why I never tried their cupcakes before this quest, but I can only guess that it was out of some misguided effort to remain thin.

Teacake Bakeshop arranges their cupcakes in their store window in fetching little glass-domed cake stands. They also have certain cupcakes available each day of the week. In the store I found very inviting "Cupcake Guide" cards listing the cupcakes they make each day of the week. This was important because I saw these words: "Madagascar Bourbon vanilla." These words warrant their own post, but a quick Internet search revealed that this type of vanilla extract is supremely delicious and hearty, and imitation vanilla doesn't even rate as a comparison.

The cupcakes I tried this day (it was a Saturday) were:

• Banana chocolate cake with Chocolate Buttercream
• Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Cake with Strawberry Buttercream
• Chocolate Sour Cream Cake with Vanilla Buttercream

These were sublime. Like, 5 stars all the way. The cake itself was thick, like a poundcake, and just the right consistency. The buttercream frosting was really scrumptious. I am not normally a strawberry fan at all, but the strawberry frosting cupcake was tart enough to make me really appreciate the flavor. All in all, I have to say these might have been the most tasty cupcakes I've ever had.

Clearly, whatever Teacake Bakeshop is doing, they're doing it right. Also, their marketing and branding is extremely good, and they've tapped into the pink girl-ness of cupcakes.

I would have liked to taste Tuesday's delight: Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Cake with Honey Tangerine Buttercream. I've already started thinking of ways to find myself near a Teacake Bakeshop on Tuesdays.