sugarlina

I know, we were all gonna go on a "diet" after that major foodie vacation, plus I think I may need some time getting back into the groove of things, so I thought I would line up some posts...

Before heading back, BFF and I had dinner and afterwards were in the mood for something sweet.

Since she had never heard of Sugarlina Bakeshop, I bought her a nutella cupcake to try.

BFF unfortunately is super picky about cupcakes (or baked things in general), so she was disappointed with their shortening based frosting...but enjoyed the cake which was moist.

5 years ago, I first tried them and enjoyed them.

Their prices are the same, though over the years our sales taxes went up.

In Japan these days, it's all about being "insta-bae" (in-stah-bah-ay) or "photogenic for Instagram"...so where I would have probably chosen a favorite flavor like chocolate, which would be brownish...I instead chose the blingy blue vanilla one...he he.

I loved the buttercream-ish frosting topped with all that crunchy blue sugar and the cake was super moist.

And since we had purchased something, they gave me a free macaron...so we kinda split this cotton candy flavored one.

I think they put the cotton candy flavor into the shell and the filling is a dense whipped cream...talk about sugar rush!

5 years ago, they only sold cupcakes so it was nice to see that they had expanded their menu a little.

And if I am not mistaken over the years, they freshened up the interior of the shop too.

I'm glad I got to reconnect with this place...I'll be back (for special occasions).

foodie saturday

Yesterday, I got together with BFF.

We headed out to Kapolei.

Lunch was at Brick Oven Pizza. Apparently this shop is originally from Kauai.

Our peeve? where was the brick oven? the pizzas took about 10 to 15 minutes to come out.

If there actually were a brick oven, the cooking time would've been way quicker.

Not to mention most crusts that I've seen come out of brick ovens are thinner...not deep dish-y.

Pretty inconsistent as BFF's crust was way thinner...

After lunch we walked right across to Cupcakes & Things...all sorts of baked goods.

I tried their Coconut Cream Cupcake.

The cake was moist but the coconut on the outside was hard.as.rock.

I also tried Starbucks' cold brew coffee.

Was a bit disappointed that they diluted it before serving.

The weather was blazing hot but at least the humidity had died down a bit (for now)

Overall, not the best foodie adventure, but at least I got to spend some time with my BFF.

Brick Oven Pizza
889 Kamokila Boulevard
Kapolei, Hawaii
Phone: 808.674.8561
Hours: 11:00-21:00
Closed Tuesdays

Cupcakes & Things
885 Kamokila Boulevard
Kapolei, Hawaii
Phone:808.693.9932

petit bisou

On my birthday, my host sister, Tomoko, sent me some cake...8 mini cupcakes/muffins from Petit Bisou.

Just love how special places make you feel with their wrapping.

Two tiers of 4 mini cupcakes/muffins...this tier is matcha white chocolate, chocolate chip, oreo, cranberry.

This tier was a decorated white cupcake, banana walnut, apple & another decorated white cupcake.

I must say that the cupcakes were moist but the muffins were kind of dry.

Still, it was a very thoughtful and delicious gift.

Thank you Tomoko!

Petit Bisou
7-8 Omasu-cho
Ashiya, Hyogo
Phone: 0797.34.6101
Hours: 11:00-19:00

sugarlina

You know how fro-yo was trending? Well, now it seems to be cupcakes.

I think it has to do with one of our local cupcake shops winning on the Food Networks' "Cupcake Wars".

Anyway, I don't particularly like their cupcakes, though they do have their fans.

I am always willing to try new places though, like Sugarlina Bakeshop.

I actually found out about this place on one of my social media feeds.

After dinner at Tadashi, we picked up some dessert...chocolate, strawberry (buttercream frosting), chocolate & vanilla (cheesecake frosting) and fleur de sel (caramel center).

This place is pricey...$2.95 +tax for a cupcake.

My mom (she had the strawberry one) said that their buttercream frosting was delicious.

I thought their cakes were quite moist (even though they are kinda sitting out).

If you bake, you'd probably think that it was outrageous to pay so much for something so little.

Would I go back? probably for a special occasion.

Sugarlina Bakeshop
Pearl Kai Shopping Center
98-199 Kamehameha Highway
Aiea, Hawaii
Phone: 808.312.3173

let them eat cupcakes

The other day someone re-tweeted that Let Them Eat Cupcakes were selling their maple bacon cupcake on Monday.

Let Them Eat Cupcakes was started by two employees of the Honolulu Advertiser who lost their job when the paper went out of business.

So, I told BFF because she had also mentioned that these cupcakes were intriguing.

And since I had to meet a friend for lunch on Monday, I went a little early to check them out.

I got to their shop at around 10-ish and it wasn't too busy.

I purchased their Maple Bacon, Li Hing Mango and a Red Velvet Cupcake and shared them with my parents.

First off, I love their packaging!

The cupcakes don't get damaged because they are in their own little "cubicle".

The bacon flavor was very prominent, maple flavor kind of light.

I liked that there were actual bacon pieces here and there too.

My parents felt the mango wasn't prominent enough, but I could taste it in their frosting.

Li hing wasn't present at all though and I think the cupcake itself was vanilla....meh!

The red velvet cupcake had cream cheese swirled in the dough and was tasty.

Overall, we liked these, but felt that eating 1 was enough for one sitting because the buttercream was the real deal and overall very rich.

Let Them Eat Cupcakes (UPDATE: 2018 moved to Bishop Street)
35 South Beretania
Honolulu, Hawaii
Phone: 808.531.2253 (CAKE)
Closed Sundays
Open: Monday-Friday 10:00-16:00 (or earlier if they sell out)
Saturday 10:00-14:00 (or earlier if they sell out)

t.a.s.t.e. & cake works

The lunch wagon is not something new in Hawaii. Recently though, there are taco trucks popping up here and there.

I think I mentioned that I had planned to check out one with Deb, but since that one was out of business (or so it seems on Twitter), we instead planned to check out one called T.A.S.T.E.

T.A.S.T.E. stands for Tasty Asian Style Taco Eatery. Asian style food items served on 6-inch tortillas. (Apparently, this is all the rage in L.A. at the moment. (The Kogi trucks))

Anyway, this truck has 5 regular items on the menu and a daily special (unfortunately at 11:30 am the special was already sold out!).

Each taco is either $2.75 or $3.25 and served with a nice amount of slaw on top, (which does not make them too blog photo friendly (because they all look alike)).

Deb and I ordered 2 each and shared.

Deb was also kind enough to email the menu (Thanks!)...

Ribeye with kalbi marinade and wasabi dressing ($2.75)--this was very flavorful and matched the wasabi dressing and slaw...sweet, salty and a hit from the wasabi

Mahimahi with green onion ginger sauce & miso dressing ($3.25)--moist mahimahi served with the slaw, sauce and dressing, very tasty! kind of reminded me of the cold ginger chicken at chinese restaurants in a good way

Shrimp with wasabi honey mayo& wafu (Japanese style) dressing ($3.25)--loved the sauce but thought the shrimp should've been marinated or something.

Homemade charsiu with shoyu aioli & Hoisin vinaigrette ($2.75)--nice 5-spice taste, very meaty.

Just the right amount for lunch. A bit messy, definitely not something to eat while driving around.

We noticed that the majority of customers were guys. (though I think they'd have to at least eat 3 or 4!)

I would definitely go back, these tacos are reasonable (by Hawaii standards) and very tasty.

Wanting something a little sweet after lunch, Deb introduced me to Cake Works.

This bakery is in the spot where Mary Catherine's cake shop used to be. (I was shocked because MC used to be there forever!)

They mainly specialize in wedding and celebration cakes, but do have lots of other goodies there too.

Another nice thing was that they also had a little eating area right in front of the shop.

I tried their mini red velvet and mini peanut butter cupcake...$1.25 each

So moist and delicious, even with it being in the refrigerated case! The red velvet had cream cheese frosting and the peanut butter frosting was so light and creamy.

I would definitely go back for some sweet treats!

It was nice to see Deb again and to try two new places.

Satoshi is coming soon so there will definitely be more eating for another week or so.

MIL was supposed to come too but decided not to, it's too bad because everyone was looking forward to seeing her.

T.A.S.T.E. UPDATE: closed as of 2011
2012 S. Beretania St (inside the parking lot of Ocean Sports Bar)
Honolulu, Hawaii
Phone: 808.429.0818
Open Mondays-Saturdays 11:00-14:00 & 17:30-20:00

Cake Works
2820 S. King Street (across from Humane Society)
Honolulu, Hawaii
Phone: 808.946.4333

cake couture

Been wanting to share Cake Couture with BFF for some time now, so we headed out and tried them.

Our crazy plan was to halve what we bought and share.

BFF chose Chocolate, Key Lime & Coconut and Peanut Butter.

I chose Rocky Road, Orange Creamsicle and Chocolate Cherry.

We loved Key Lime & Coconut. The white cake was very moist, the lime was very subtle and there was lots of shredded coconut on top.

Orange Creamsicle...meh, the frosting was hard, so was the cake and only a little orange flavor.

Chocolate, Rocky Road, Chocolate Cherry & Peanut Butter had all the same chocolate bottoms, which were surprisingly disappointing, dry and flavorless...boo!

On the upside, we did enjoy the chocolate cherry frosting with a punch of cherry flavor and bits of cherry and the peanut butter frosting which was like eating whipped peanut butter.

Major sugar rush, lots of water, some disappointment but all in all good times and moral of the story...don't let your eyes be bigger than your sugar tolerance level, just choose 4 (max! or less) to share!

hokulani's

Well, it has been a week since I've been back. Grandma is up and around. She uses her cane, when she remembers to (she's never had the need to use one up until now, so this is a good sign that she doesn't really need one.) We have been taking turns staying with her at night, but will try to let her stay by herself after this coming week.

Since I still have to eat...this is just a little round-up of what I've been eating...

From our neighbors...these bambucha (huge) avocados...These actually "fell" into our yard like a bomb...SPLAT! from tip to end they are about 6 inches long! creamy and delicious. (Thank you!) Can you believe the ginormous tree grew from a single avocado seed planted over 20 years ago?

A lunch of 3 crispy tacos with guacamole from Diego's....US$4.50+tax. More than the tacos, which were really dry, I enjoyed the homemade guacamole and homemade salsa. If there is one thing I miss in Japan is Mexican/Tex-Mex food. UPDATE: as of 3/2012, this place has closed

Lunch with my Aunty M at Ryan's. Satoshi and I used eat here often, loving their appetizers and frozen li hing margaritas.

My aunty and I shared the mango stacked salad (refreshing!), buffalo wings (spicy!) and their sweet potato fries (loved their BBQ aioli!). I'm sure if it were happy hour, my Aunty and I may have had some of their reknown mojitos...(Thank you for lunch Aunty!)

Hokulani's Red Velvet Cupcakes...4 for US$10...bought at the New Food and Product Show...Aunty M and I thought there were way more products than food.

They seemed smaller than the ones I picked up from Cake Couture. I guess these cupcakes were sitting out for awhile...the parts that weren't frosted were dry and the cream cheese frosting had a hard shell to them and seemed a bit greasy....meh!

My Dad, who is a man of few words, said they were okay, but he wouldn't have spent $2.50 for it. I guess it was good that we got to try them, will we go back? probably not.

What have you been eating lately?

cake couture

Yesterday I met my friend Carroll for a lunch of egg drop soup, honey glazed walnut shrimp, honey glazed spare ribs, spicy potstickers, garlic choi sum & coconut tapioca at Beijing in the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center.

We had a nice lunch and despite the bad economy, it was nice to see the restaurant packed with people. (Thanks Carroll!)

After lunch, she had to go back to work, so I drove out to Aina Haina to Cake Couture.

This shop was featured in a local magazine called "Honolulu" in their "best of" issue. I had made a note "to visit" on my last trip home.

Last year, my blog friend, Deb, in the meantime, had checked them out here and here.

Since this trip home there are only my parents and me, I picked out 3 cupcakes for us to try.....I chose Red Velvet, Lemon and Chocolate.

I split each one in half, and split the other half into another half giving each of us one half plus two one-fourths of a different flavor (complicated?? maybe).

So, we got to try one whole cupcake with three flavors...mmm. My favorite was lemon, then red velvet then chocolate.

The cupcakes were so moist and all the frostings seemed to be flavored buttercream...delicious! My mother, who usually scrapes off the frosting from the cakes and throws them away (because they are mostly made from sugar and oil and are tasteless), ate every bit, so you know it was good!

They also had flavors like cookies 'n cream, vanilla, chocolate mint and a special cupcake that looked like a Hostess cupcake only more decadent because they used bittersweet ganache (OMG!...Deb have you tried this one??). I think some of their flavors change daily, so check out their website for more info.

If this shop weren't too far, I would be back often!, but this was a special trip, my parents 46th wedding anniversary is today, a great excuse for some cake, don't you think?!

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!

Cake Couture
Aina Haina Shopping Center
820 West Hind Drive
Honolulu, Hawaii
Phone: 808.373.9750
Closed Sundays

sigh....

Luckily, these carrot cupcakes were disastrous the day before Satoshi's staff came for lunch.

Not sure what I did wrong because they came out okay two weeks ago. I felt crappy about throwing them out because ingredients are expensive and there are people in areas of the world who aren't eating real meals.

All in all, the party was great, I added spicy garlic soybeans to the menu and resorted to apple-blueberry crisp for dessert.

Hope you have a great week.

carrot cupcakes

Last year we had some of Satoshi's staff over. Since he has a large department, we broke the group down to about 10 per gathering.

Sunday, we had some of Satoshi's staff over for lunch. I made Spicy Poke, Taco Dip, Szechuan salt & pepper shrimp and Kim chee gyoza, but we ran out of food!

For dessert, I also made carrot cupcakes using a Food Network recipe, I'll have to tweak the baking time though, the cupcakes came out quite dry.

I guess for the next party in two weeks, I need to add another dish or two.

red velvet cupcakes

For Satoshi's birthday yesterday, I made red velvet cupcakes using half of this recipe for the cake and half of this recipe for the frosting.

I subbed the sour cream with plain yogurt.

Actually with the butter shortage still going on here, making this cake used quite a bit of butter (half a box), but this was so worth it. The cake was moist and the frosting...yum!

Happy Birthday Satoshi!

black bottom cupcakes

Since I had some cream cheese leftover, I wanted to find a recipe to use it up.

I found a rather simple recipe on Leite's Culinaria, called Black-Bottom Cupcakes by David Lebovitz.

Here is the recipe: Black-Bottom Cupcakes from David Lebovitz' book, "The Great Book of Chocolate". Makes 12 cupcakes.

For the filling:
8 oz. cream cheese, regular or reduced fat, at room temperature
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg at room temperature
2 oz. bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

For the cupcakes:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
5 tablespoons natural unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
1/3 cup unflavored vegetable oil
1 tablespoon white or cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:
Make the filling:
1. Beat together the cream cheese, granulated sugar and egg until smooth. Stir in the chopped chocolate pieces. Set aside.

Make the cupcakes:
1. Adjust the rack to the center of the oven and preheat to 350F (175C). Butter a 12-cup muffin tin or line the tin with paper muffin cups.

2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, brown sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together the water, oil, vinegar and vanilla.

3. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and stir in the wet ingredients, stirring until just smooth. Stir any longer and you will over mix the batter and end up with less-than-tender cupcakes.

4. Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Spoon a few tablespoons of the filling into the center of each cupcake, dividing the filling evenly. This will fill the cups almost completely, which is fine.

5. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the tops are slightly golden brown and the cupcakes feel springy when gently pressed. These moist treats will keep well unrefrigerated for 2 to 3 days if stored in an airtight container.

Notes: I don't think I had 8 oz. of cream cheese because my filling was very liquidy--either that or because it had been in the freezer, maybe the consistency changed after defrosting. Anyway, I ended up with a marble-y top, not the cream cheese filling in the center.

Another thing that I made a mistake with was the cocoa powder.
The only one I could find was a dutch processed one, Droste. (the nun/nurse on the package is quite scary looking...)

For the coarsely chopped chocolate, I used Dagoba New Moon bar which was a 74% cacao and because it was exactly 2 oz.

Also, I baked the cupcakes for about 30 minutes.

Still, the cupcakes came out moist and delicious! I'll definitely have to try this recipe again!

happy 1st birthday!

Today, this blog turns one!

I can't believe how fast time flies. I want to thank all of my blogging foodie friends who have helped me learn more about the blogging world, while also inspiring me to try new recipes or new things (like baking bread, making madelines) that I probably wouldn't have had the courage to try had it not been for their enticing posts and delicious photos!

For the special occasion...I made some cupcakes (actually a day ahead)

I was inspired by Jasmine's post and it was a good chance to use the muffin tins I got from my mom, plus, I thought if I made cupcakes instead of a whole cake, I could freeze most of them (unfrosted, of course) and we could enjoy them at a later date.

I used up the cake mix that I had bought for Satoshi's birthday (the cake mixes here come with two in a box). I was in the mood for a buttercream frosting and found a "copy-cat" recipe for Magnolia's Vanilla Buttercream Frosting. Though I have never actually tasted a cupcake from the Magnolia Bakery in New York, it is on my list should I ever get to the Big Apple.

Here's the recipe: Makes enough for one 2-layer 9-inch cake or 2 dozen cupcakes
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
6 to 8 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Place the butter in a large mixing bowl.

2. Add 4 cups of the sugar and then the milk and vanilla.

3. On the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes.

4. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency.

5. You may not need to add all of the sugar.

6. If desired, add a few drops of food coloring and mix thoroughly. (Use and store the icing at room temperature because icing will set if chilled.)

7. Icing can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

8. Enjoy!

NOTE: I actually cut the recipe to a fourth, frosted 6 and froze the rest of the cupcakes. Also, I only used 80g of confectioners sugar. This frosting is really easy to make, if you can get your hands on confectioners sugar, I never realized how hard it is to find a large amount of confectioners sugar here until this recipe! Warning: this frosting is really sweet so you might have to tweak the amount of sugar to your liking.

Here's to another year of delicious foodie travels and other adventures!

Happy Birthday!