Sweets & Treats from my kitchen!

Please head over to my new blog at TheUrbanHousewife.com, where you'll find this post & more!

I'm a bit under the weather at the moment with a monster of a cold. Aches, pains, sore throat, swollen glands, you name it, I've got it! Rather than attempt to write a big long entry, I thought I'd inundate you with sugary goodness, so here are some cakes & cupcakes I've been making in the past few months...


First up is some good old classic chocolate cupcakes! Chocolate cupcake, chocolate frosting, & chocolate sprinkles, for the ultimate chocoholic.

The cake you see is a Peanut Butter Cup cake, which is a chocolate cake with a peanut butter buttercream filling, drenched in chocolate ganache. As you can see, it was a birthday cake & the peanut butter skull is for good measure.


Alex & Kristen had a brunch themed housewarming potluck a while back. I made a brunch item, but I also had extra cake pieces & frosting, so I made 3 types of cake truffles for everyone! I believe there was a chocolate-chocolate, chocolate-peanut butter, & a chocolate coconut. They're very easy to make & were a hit!


German Chocolate is a common request in my household, especially from my husband & father who insist on it every single birthday. While I'm used to making German Chocolate Cakes for people, I decided I needed to make a cupcake version as well. After a few thoughts on how to approach it, I ended up with a Coconut-Pecan "bomb" on top of a chocolate cupcake & drizzled it with chocolate ganache. Works for me!


Finally, a big cupcake tower! How fun is that?! The flavors pictured are Chocolate Snowball, Snickerdoodle, & Orange Dreamsicle, yum!


Okay, this is the LAST time I'll bother you, but voting for the 2009 Veggie Awards by VegNews Magazine ends in just a few days on July 31st! The Urban Housewife is nominated for "Favorite Blog" & you can win fabulous prizes, just by voting! Okay, I'm done!

World Vegetarian Day & VBC Picnic Edition!

Please head over to my new blog at TheUrbanHousewife.com, where you'll find this post & more!

This year was the 9th annual World Vegetarian Day in San Francisco & Sugar Beat Sweets was lucky enough to have a table selling vegan treats to the veg masses! While the focus of my booth was cupcakes (I made over 1,000 in 8 varieties) , I also decided to do some special treats which included cinnamon rolls, brownies in both chocolate & peanut butter swirl, & of course, the infamous candy corn from the recipe I shared last year.

As I'm sure you can guess, making 1,000+ cupcakes takes a bit of time, so I did 2 days of baking for the 2 day festival & also had to fill the orders for my regular customers! It was quite the undertaking, but luckily I had Mel from veglicious helping me on both a day of baking & a day of the festival. She also took the photos you see here, as I was busy slingin' sweets!

VegFest is always a great place to see old friends & make new ones; Amey from Vegan Eats & Treats, Laura & Meave of Vegansaurus, Megan of The Sisters Vegan, & Erin from Vegan Homemade are just some of the bloggers I was able to chat with! Also seen over the weekend, Colleen Patrick Goudreau of Compassionate Cooks, who had a booth next to mine, many of the Farm Sanctuary family who were repeat customers, chef Jesse Miner, who brought us goodies from his heirloom beans demo & of course, the crew at VegNews, who wrote a bit about us on their blog. I talked to so many awesome people, I know I am missing some here! By the way, SFoodie, the blog of the SF Weekly, did a piece on Sugar Beat Sweets, including a video. Check it out!

So, what else was there? Awesome speakers including John Robbins & Howard Lyman, food demos by everyone from Sarah Kramer to Antonio Magana, entertainment from musicians, belly dancers, & a vegan acrobat, plus free food samples! Coconut Bliss, Sheese, & Artisana were some of my favorite treats & I picked up an fabulous sampler with 11 flavors of Premier Organics spreads. Mmm, Goji Bliss!

VegFest was a fun & rewarding experience, I can't wait to do it again next year! Just don't ask me to bake 1,000 cupcakes until then. I'll have a booth at the upcoming Bazaar Bizarre, but the production scale should be much smaller.

On a beautiful sunny September day, the VBC convened for another brunch cartel. This time we opted for Dolores Park & an open invitation for all to join us, which didn't disappoint! Many new faces showed up & the food was outstanding! Best food ever? Maybe. I made a coleslaw & a Southern Style Banana Pudding with Vanilla cookies to stand in for Nilla Wafers; it turned out pretty darned good! Vanilla beans flanked the smooth, yet fluffy pudding mixture, while layers of bananas & cookies added texture.

Some of the other dishes we enjoyed were avocado potato salad, chickpea curry, tempeh sausages with roasted red pepper sauce, brownies, pasta salad, homemade beer brats with sauerkraut, & freshly baked rolls with cinnamon butter! Needless to say, it was quite the feast & I always look forward to future brunches.

Introducing Sugar Beat Sweets!

Please head over to my new blog at TheUrbanHousewife.com, where you'll find this post & more!

There's a reason I've been lagging in the posting department lately & I've been waiting until things were in full swing until I let you all in on my little secret. I own a vegan bakery! Yes, Sugar Beat Sweets is a wholesale & special order bakery in San Francisco specializing in vegan, organic, artisan cupcakes, cakes, & other confections!


I've been baking away in my commercial kitchen for quite some time & things have been great so far. My clients have run the gamut from local vegans with birthdays, to VegNews, PETA, the ACLU & Sephora corporate! I've also been donating cupcakes to local animal rights groups, such as Yes on Prop 2 & Rocket Dog Rescue. I supply cupcakes to grocery stores, co-ops, & cafes around San Francisco, with plans to expand within the city & to local areas!

Sugar Beat Sweets cupcakes are available in the following locations:
Rainbow Grocery
1745 Folsom @ 14th Street

Other Avenues
3930 Judah Street @ 44th Avenue

Real Food Co.
2140 Polk @ Broadway

Ike's Place
3506 16th St @ Sanchez

Mojo Bicycle Cafe
639-A Divisadero Street @ Hayes

Harvest Urban Market
191 8th St @ Howard

Deliveries are Tuesday & Friday afternoons, so get 'em while they're fresh!

Additionally, on October 4th & 5th, I will be selling sweet treats at the 9th Annual World Veg Festival Weekend & on November 30th I will be at Bazaar Bizaare. If you're around, please come say Hello & grab a cupcake!

I truly hope my blossoming business won't keep me away from the blog world. I'll keep posting, of course, but you may see more sweet treats than ever on these pages while my life revolves around baking. Try not to get a toothache, ok?


Find out more information about Sugar Beat Sweets on our webpage & be sure to add SBS on Myspace & Flickr! We're also on Yelp!

By the way, check out the "Batter Chatter" interview I did with the awesome Jessie Oleson at Cakespy.com, it's all about the progress of vegan baking, as well as Sugar Beat Sweets!

July 4th Ice Cream Social & Potluck, Prop 2 Fundraiser success!

Please head over to my new blog at TheUrbanHousewife.com, where you'll find this post & more!

Potluck mania is alive & well in my home! I love a good potluck, from the monthly brunch I attend, to a Holiday get-together, an excuse to have a spread of food & hang out with friends is alright by me. The 4th of July was utilized as a reason to have people over & due to my current obsession with frozen treats, I hosted an Ice Cream Social & Potluck!

We started with a fabulous food feast with everything from Ethiopian food, noodle & potato salads, & sweet potato fritters, to homemade guacamole & other dips, faux meat skewers & BBQed seitan Shawarma! Everyone dug in to the display with fervor & managed to clean out most of the food options & I found myself reminding people to, "Save room for Ice Cream!".

Initially, I worried about a lack of ice cream, everyone seemed to be bringing dishes instead of a store bought item, which is wonderful, but makes for a bad Make-Your-Own Sundae party. In the end, no worries were needed as we had 17 pints & 7 quarts of vegan ice cream! Imagine opening your freezer to all of those containers! I also made a spread of treats & toppings such as brownies, whipped cream, fruit, nuts, custard, caramel & chocolate sauces, & 2 types of cones.

Once it was ice cream time, a line formed from the kitchen in to my living room, as people took turns approaching the sundae station & loading up on goodies. The clear winner was Double Rainbow Soy Cream, 12 of the pints were their delicious confection & they were quickly demolished! (If you haven't had a chance to try Double Rainbow Soy Cream, seek it out, the Vanilla Bean is BY FAR the best vegan vanilla ice cream I've ever had, no soy beany flavor!) In the end, I had 4 loaded up ice cream sundaes & an upset stomach, but it was totally worth it. I love "make-your-own" parties & this certainly won't be the last one I host!


As I mentioned in my last post, Californians for Humane Farms had a fundraiser to benefit Prop 2, a ballot initiative on the upcoming November election which would allow farm animals to stand up, sit down, & turn around in their enclosures. I'm happy to say the event was a success & raised DOUBLE our expected donation amount! The silent auction went amazingly, thanks to the help of donations from Julie Hasson at Everyday Dish TV, Hannah Kaminsky of My Sweet Vegan, Joni Marie Newman of Cozy Inside, & Isa Chandra Moskowitz of Veganomicon!

In addition to helping plan the event, some sweet treats were also whipped up, courtesy of Sugar Beat Sweets; over 100 mini Vanilla bean cupcakes topped with Peach Mousse! Sadly, I was too sick to attend the event, but Ryan was kind enough to take this photo of the mini cupcakes set up. Thank you to everyone who made the fundraiser a success & don't forget, YES ON PROP 2 in November!