Los Angeles is home to numerous dessert shops that feature a range of treats from cupcakes to doughnuts to shakes. Urban Confections will select dessert restaurants whose only West Coast location is Los Angeles, highlighting students’ opportunities to taste the city’s distinctive flavors. Follow columnist Lindsay Weinberg around Los Angeles as she samples local confections and suggests how students can take advantage of these iconic desserts.
All that remained was a stack of empty cupcake wrappers on a white table. Moments earlier, the paper shells had been filled with moist cake, a heap of fluffy frosting and creamy filling, but I had since eaten the contents.
Every dessert column needs a cake excursion, and Vanilla Bake Shop played its part. It is known for custom wedding cakes, but walk-ins can buy cupcakes, cookies, cake lollipops and icebox desserts – a treat layered with mousse, custard, toppings or cream, all in a mason jar.
After sinking their toes in the sand at Santa Monica State Beach, customers can walk a few blocks up Wilshire Boulevard and devour a few mini cupcakes. Though the bakery has locations in Los Angeles International Airport and Westfield Century City, this beach venue is the only stand-alone store, which provides the most impressive and authentic bakery atmosphere.
Corresponding with the season, the front window was Valentine’s Day-themed. Paper cutout hearts, fake red tulips, heart garlands and jars of pink and red sugar cluttered the display, aiming to draw in lovers for the imminent romantic holiday.
The pink and beige walls were embellished with high shelves presenting jars of colored sugar and models of tiered wedding cakes. Two dessert counters acted as pedestals; one exhibited cakes, tarts and other assorted baked goods, while the other counter held the selection of mini cupcakes, including one that reminded me of a See’s Candy’s Bordeaux with its chocolate sprinkles.
Cupcakes are $3.50 each, but to maximize the number of flavors I tasted, I opted for three baby cupcakes for $5.25 – Vanilla Bean, Blackberry Passion Fruit and Fleur de Sel. Flavors rotate daily so customers may come across Meyer Lemon Raspberry, Spicy Carrot or Vanilla Latte.
The Blackberry Passion Fruit has a captivating muted pink color filled with a passion fruit-flavored yellow custard. The cake and frosting were very mild; I assume the cake is vanilla and the frosting blackberry, though neither were strong. Individually, the three elements were extreme, but together the acidic filling balanced with the lighter frosting and cake. Its texture was a little unsettling, as I found the dense cake to contrast too much with an exceptionally airy frosting.
The vanilla bean cupcake won the most darling award – a vanilla frosting base coated with rosy pink sugar, a dollop of pure white frosting on top and a tiny pink candy sphere for the finishing touch. I had to try the namesake flavor of Vanilla Bake Shop; the real Madagascar vanilla beans were evident in the soft, genuine vanilla cupcake with a slight crunch from the sugar sprinkles.
The Fleur de Sel cupcake, however, took the cake, so to speak. This mini chocolate cupcake is stuffed with seeping liquid salted caramel and adorned with rich, thick chocolate frosting for a balanced texture and mouthwatering taste; mine was heavenly, luxurious, silky and every other description of salted caramel chocolate. The height of the cake component was equal to the height of the frosting, a positive for those of us who relish in the smooth cream more than the crumbly foundation.
These cupcakes were so decadent that it was necessary to purchase a glass of milk. A cool sip washed down the confections and became the best decision of the trip.
I’d also hoped to evaluate the icebox desserts, such as the Dirt Cake with layers of vanilla whipped cream, chocolate mousse and cookie crumbles, but I was disappointed to hear that they were not selling these signature creations that day.
Instead I decided on a bite-sized s’mores tart, similar in shape to the small tarts at Bruin Plate, though the difference in quality is vast. My s’more was encompassed in a crumbly brown sugar crust like a graham cracker, filled with fudge-like chocolate and liquid caramel and then sealed on top with a scorched dollop of meringue marshmallow. It was less messy than a traditional s’more but every bit as good.
I’d say there are enough options at Vanilla Bake Shop to satisfy most anyone with a sweet tooth, though I was particularly interested in the shop’s cupcakes. Most flavors were mediocre but the Fleur de Sel stood out above the rest. The cute and modern bakery would be a sweet destination for couples on Valentine’s Day that prefer a rich chocolate cupcake to a box of chocolates.
– Lindsay Weinberg
What cupcake would tempt your tastebuds? Email Weinberg at lweinberg@media.ucla.edu.