Frosted Cupcakery - Hollywood and Santa Monica

Today I read on LAist that, thanks to a promo via Bravo's Top Chef, a few bakeries around LA were giving out some goods for free. I thought I'd be all smart and clever, save gas money, and take the metro down to the very newly minted "cupcakery" called Frosted on Highland. Adventure!


Well, my intention was good, but after having one of those unexpectedly-long, cars-wizzing-by, dirty-bus-wind-in-my-face, sun-blaring-down-on-endless-concrete-trash-swirling-Los Angeles wasteland walks, I was feeling like the whole thing was so not worth it.

But Frosted was cool and clean and made of my favorite color turquoise, so once I walked inside I was able to chill out and enjoy my freebie:



Look at these fat little things!!! They call these "hottops" which I think is totally adorable. That's two cupcake tops sandwiching buttercream. Cute idea, cute looking, cuuuuuuute overloooaad. Mine was even better than it looked: sexy, sticky, moist... yea baby. I love the sprinkles on there. They are just over a buck so it's an easy treat to splurge on for next time and try the other flavors. The chocolate was so rich. No complaints!


The store itself reminds me of Dot's Cupcakes in Pasadena and Lark Cake Shop in Silverlake... that sort of "shabby chic", sterile but charming (is that possible?) girly/retro thing. I also got a 50's vibe from Frosted which I liked. I bet rows of women like this come out at night, grinning perpetually as they top every perfect cupcake with a special candy or swirly frosting design.

The big cupcakes are less than $3! So, dammit, my frugal, metro-taking self totally broke down and bought one of these mint chocolate ones...


Look at those chocolate chips!!! They get me EVERY TIME. I was going to wait for dessert, but I just ate it. This is a grade-A cupcake people! Dense, tightly-crumbed, "cake-like"cake (not dry), divine minty frosting that has that more "crunchy" (powdered sugar-y) consistency that makes salivary glands shudder. HEHEHEHHAHAHAA!! sugar rush!!

I also wanted to try their flavor of the month for September: Chocolate Malt (MALT!!!) and these strawberry ones. I loooove those candy toppings...

And these orange ones too! wowee. These are the ones that looked really 50's to me for some reason.
Thanks Frosted! Good luck with your new store! Being a match for Dot's is no small feat. But next time I'm driving.

Frosted Cupcakery (how cool is it that they call it a "cupcakery" too, by the way?)
1200 n. highland ave.
los angeles ca 90038

(323) 467-1080

closed monday
11am - 7pm tuesday - sunday

Come Hither Cakes - Dot's Cupcake Lust and Other East Side Treasures

I haven't blogged in sooooo long, it only figures that an orgasmic muffin-mound mouthful of incrediblicious chocolate cake stuffed with whipped cream from Dot's Cupcakes in Pasadena would be the thing to break me out of my stupor: Nothing short of divine, folks. I'm sure I'm really late on the band wagon here, I mean, cucpakes for god sakes. Still...

I went to Dot's for the first time last week after a sunny day rooftop-pool lounge with the magical blond duo Laure and Trevor, and bought 3 mini cupcakes - the likes of which survived about a 30 minute lifespan. And only so long because I had to savor some of them on the way home, careful not to spill over the sidwalk. The cake at Dot's is moist and dense but still very light and springy, somehow! After watching Laure bury her face in the big (normal size) cupcakes, I vowed next time I went there I would get myself at least two of those and go ape-shit on their fluffy, fresh, compact pastry asses. Sorry for the profanity, they're just that good.



Well that time has come and today I got two big ones: Strawberry Lemon and "Hostess" - the chocoalte bomb devil mistress-pie foodie version of an old school Hostess cupcake. I stuffed that thing in my face while waiting for the light to turn green on the way home, and finished the rest of it off with a glass of milk as soon as I got home! I also bought a tasty looking pumpkin and cream cheese mini cupcake to save along with the strawberry lemon one for later on.



The carnage was nothing short of heavenly. It fell apart at the last bite, the frosting yielding, the cream inside melting a bit with the top and sides of the whole luscious mess. The chocolate was dark but not too dark, evolving all over the tongue, with the tightest crumb I've ever had; a devil's food cake done classic but still gourmet. Familiar but heightned. Yet still very much in reach of the memory of a real Hostess cupcake.



Before Dot's woo-ed me back into cupcake land, there have been a few other highlights on the east side of Los Angeles, that I now call my home.

First were these gorgeous things from The Coffee Table - a little cafe near friend's Jordan and Vivien's place, with the most intense, juicy and lovely peach cupcakes (the one in front) that you could imagine.




That's frosting that would stop anyone's heart. Very fresh and bright, I remember that flavor. Not to mention how cute and pretty they look. MM!







Second was the absurdly beautifully tasting caramel cupcake at Lark Cake Shop in Silverlake.



HOLY COW!! I went with Jordan, Vivien AND Laure (I'm seeing a theme of accomplices here...) and we did it right. I dont' remember anything, however, besides that caramel cupcake. Or perhaps it was "burnt caramel"... I think it was. It didn't look like it would be so amazing but it was long standing the best cupcake in LA for me by far. Such a painfully true and wonderful caramel flavor, light and buttery cake...though I think Dot's Hostess has now taken the lead. At least until I get myself over to Susie's Cakes in Calabasas! From what I remember they have by far the best Red Velvet around! But that's for another post... :P'''