Comfort me with cupcakes

I’ve had a rough two weeks — too many deadlines, too little sleep — and I’m not proposing that it’s a good idea to use dessert to lift your mood (I am sure going for a run would’ve cleared my head and refreshed me just as well and certainly in a much healthier way) but two Fridays in a row, I’ve found myself at Sweet Bliss Baking Company in Leslieville picking up a cupcake as a special treat.

And let me tell you: the cupcake’s super light cake topped with the freshest icing (in just the right frosting/cupcake proportions) did its job fantastically. Maybe it was just the sugar high, but I definitely felt ready to tackle everyday life again after devouring it.

Husband-and-wife team Chris and Christina opened Sweet Bliss four years ago. The top sellers are the cupcakes — chocolate and red velvet in particular — but they also sell the city’s best cinnamon buns (according to Toronto Life), brownies, butter tarts and other treats. “Regulars like to stick to their favourites,” says Chris, noting that they’ll walk out if the brownie or tart they’d come in for are sold out.

I sure wish other customers would branch out a little as two of the best cupcakes I have ever had were from limited-edition batches I happened upon at Sweet Bliss. Last week was the whoopie pie cupcake: a chocolate cupcake with marshmallow cream frosting. As a rule I don’t even like chocolate baked goods (people always seem shocked by this — a woman who doesn’t love chocolate cake?!)  but I could tell just by looking at this cupcake that it was something special. Maybe it was the way the cupcake glistened from being so moist. And I wasn’t even sure I’d like the frosting but let me tell you this, the flavour of it almost makes me want to go pick up a jar of Marshmallow Fluff (which I always admire on the grocery store shelf for its retro design, but shudder on inside at the thought of what I assume to be very unhealthy and unnatural chemicals and preservatives in the jar).

The other damn good cupcake flavour was an apple cupcake with cream cheese frosting I had a few years ago. Ever since that day, every time I go into Sweet Bliss I am hopeful Chris has made a batch of them again, but alas, he has to stick to what the majority of customers will buy (you know, having to stay in business and all). This apple cupcake is something me and a girlfriend still wistfully talk about, its awesomeness lingering in our tastebud memories. It was that good.

I’ll try to make it through the upcoming week without a cupcake pick-me-up, but I’ll just take it one day at a time (although right now a cupcake sure would help dealing with losing an hour to daylight savings time a little easier…).

Sweet Bliss Baking Company, 1304 Queen St. East. Open Fridays and Saturdays, 9-6; Sundays 10-4.

7 Comments March 15, 2010

Sweet and salty is a match made in heaven

I grew up eating bowls of Parlour ice cream (Heavenly Hash was my fave) followed by potato chips (usually sour cream and onion) and loving the combo of sweet and salty has stuck with me. And so I’m not sure why it took me so long to try salted caramels, but having now tasted Purdy’s Himalayan Pink Salt Caramels, I find myself asking its pretty little box, “Where have you been all my life?”

I did a little fact checking with the company, and the pink salt is indeed from the Himalayan Mountain range, harvested from an ancient sea salt deposit that was crystallized during the Jurassic Era over 200 million years ago.

With only two precious caramels left in my supply, I’ll be ordering up a fresh new box pronto from the Vancouver-based chocolatier.

8 Comments March 3, 2010

Healthy eating for you and your pet is one and the same

” ‘Now made with whole grain and fruits and vegetables .’ Look Mya, your food is just like what I’m supposed to be eating,” I said to my little cat.

Reinforcing my point is Natural Defense. I attended their launch event last week and learned this new line of food and snacks for dogs is loaded with ingredients such as flaxseed, whole grains and green tea extract. “The same natural extracts benefit dogs in a simliar way,” says food and nutrition trend expert Amy Snider-Whitson.

The variety of vitamins, minerals and extracts in Natural Defense have all been scientifically proven by vets and pet nutritionists to boost a dog’s health in terms of their immune system, digestion, oral, skin/coat and joint health. All I know is that if the products boost a dog’s health half as much as I enjoyed the meal we ate inspired by some of the same ingredients, courtesy of Daniel et Daniel Catering, your dog will be living the good life. (I’m still salivating over the green-tea creme brulee! At my table we were all convinced the addition of green tea cancelled out the fatty cream and sugar of the dessert. That’s how it works, right? 🙂 ).

P.S. I was kind of hoping that the swag bag would include a puppy. Alas, it did not. Would’ve been the perfect excuse to come home with one (I’ve been trying to convince G. for years that we need to add a pup to our abode).

P.P.S. The food photography is courtesy of food writer/stylist/chef Signe Langford. Check out her blog An Eater’s Digest.

2 Comments February 8, 2010