Sweet Avenue Bake Shop, Rutherford NJ's vegan bakery!

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Fresno Vegan Options, Strummer's Labor Day, & Vegans on TV!

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Here I go again, missing my weekly blog post! I almost missed this one as well, but I thought I'd throw in a mini update, until I have time to make a proper post next week.

Last week, I was in the Fresno area, hence the missing post. Now, Fresno isn't exactly on the list of vegan destinations, but I'm happy to say I found a decent little spot with vegan cupcakes & food options! Charlotte's Bakery serves up rotating vegan cupcake options daily. We tried 5 flavors when we were there; Red Velvet, Coconut, Raspberry, & Chocolate. While they weren't the best cupcakes I've had, I have to hand to them for serving up cruelty free confections! We also snagged a couple vegan paninis with eggplant, mushroom, red bell pepper, & pesto that were tasty & were told some of the grain salads are vegan as well. If you're in the area, I would recommend checking them out!

Over Labor Day weekend, I attended a potluck picnic in Dolores Park with a large group of PPKers. Despite having made giant, gooey cinnamon rolls & having my camera, I managed to forget to take food pictures! We had a pretty amazing food spread from pies & baklava to BBQ black eyed peas & tempeh sliders, yet I managed to miss it all. Instead, I was overjoyed that Strummer made a new friend & dare I say, love connection with a 3lb male chihuahua named Mango. They were friendly, to say the least & the photo says a bit more! I'm just thrilled that Strummer could finally frolic in the grass with someone close to her size & hope that there will be many future doggy dates.

This afternoon, I went to a taping of local TV show, View From The Bay to support Colleen Patrick Goudreau, author of The Joy of Vegan Baking & The Vegan Table. Colleen was doing a cooking segment on the show & made her Better Than Tuna Salad & No Queso Quesadillas. I managed to sneak a taste, they were delicious! We were stuck in the back row, so none of us appeared on screen, but regardless, you can check out the segment HERE!

I hope everyone had a great Labor Day Weekend! Until next time!

Sweet on San Luis Obispo, Whole Foods Southern California, & "Sweet Justice"; a Benefit.

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While this weekend was hardly a relaxing getaway having done 14+ hours of driving in less than 3 days, we always take the time on trips to find delicious vegan options along the way! Our first stop was halfway between San Francisco & Los Angeles in San Luis Obispo, our former home & the current home to our good friend Josh. Josh is always kind enough to let us crash at his place, any hour of the night, any day of the week, seriously ANY time, so I decided to surprise him with a delivery from Amy Bakes Cupcakes!

A popular Central Coast special order bakery, Amy Bakes Cupcakes has options for the vegan & gluten free folks & will deliver right to you! With Josh being a lover of Peanut Butter & Chocolate, I opted for a dozen of the "PB Kiss" cupcakes, a moist, flavorful peanut butter cupcake, topped in sweet chocolate frosting! He was completely surprised & they disappeared quickly! We can't wait to pass through & place another order, I have my eye on the S'mores cupcakes next!

Another sweet treat in San Luis Obispo is the newly opened chocolate shop, Sweet Earth Chocolates. Formerly housed in Splash Cafe, this company making organic, fair trade confections has opened their own storefront location & seems to have more vegan options than ever! While my favorite will always be the rice crispie & cashew flecked caramels coated in dark chocolate they call Turtles, I certainly would not turn down their other chocolates! I opted for an assortment for myself & friends, including Vanilla Caramels, Chili Orange Walnut & Almond Clusters, plus Cherry Almond & Peppermint Bark. They also have Truffles, Fruit Gellies, & Peanut Butter Cups! Luckily, you can order online if you won't be making it to San Luis Obispo any time soon.

I have heard time & time again that Southern California Whole Foods are the best around. Well, even though we only made it to Thousand Oaks & not the vast locations further south, we were pretty well impressed. Signs declared that we were in the midst of vegan options & we found everything from organic cotton candy to Gardein Curry Salads & even a vegan friendly taco bar. Sure, those all sound great, but we were there for the "Surfboard Pizza"! Whole Foods in Southern California offer large, surfboard shaped pizzas with the soy free, non-dairy cheese Daiya, that has been taking the vegan world by storm. We opted for a Garlic, Tomato, & Spinach pie which was topped in Cheddar Daiya, baked to perfection in a wood fired oven, & set us back a mere $13.99! While I prefer my pizza topped in Cheezly, this was a pizza definately worth eating & sharing with friends!

For those of you in the Bay Area, there's a benefit coming up on August 28th at 8pm to support the AETA 4. "Sweet Justice" will be a night of vegan desserts with a silent auction, raffle, & more to benefit 4 activists currently jailed due to the Animal Enterprise Terrorist Act. Please see the AETA 4 blog post for more information! For those of you who can't be there, please sign this petition to repeal the Animal Enterprise Terrorist Act!

Finally, if you haven't checked out Veggie Thing lately, you're missing out! Sure, I might be a bit biased because they just featured the Peanut Butter Cup cupcakes my company Sugar Beat Sweets made for Sky at Eats Well With Others, but they also bring you the best in vegan eats across the United States, submitted by vegans like YOU! Be sure to check it out!

Sweets & Treats from my kitchen!

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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!

Twinkie meets Cupcake, Equal Rights, & Marijke's Farewell Weekend.

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It's rare that I have a weekend that's not planned out in advance, something always seems to have been on calendar for months. When a glance at the calendar showed unfilled boxes, I felt a bit of relief, as well as excitement about the many things that could be done!

It all started Friday, with some cupcake baking for JennShaggy of Veganize It.. Don't Criticize It!. After an ongoing comment battle between our blogs & my interest in her Vegan Twinkies, we decided a trade was in order. Jenn's Vegan Twinkies are available in two locations in Los Angeles & are highly sought after by locals. I can certainly see why! Moist, sticky, sponge cake in the classic canoe shape house a thick, sweet filling, just like you remember, but without all the processing! In fact, these are better than the toxic treats of your youth & they don't contain beef fat!

I opted to make Jenn a trio of cupcakes from the Sugar Beat Sweets menu; Snickerdoodle, which is my best seller & the favorite of my family, Orange Dreamsicle which uses oranges I picked myself, & Classic Vanilla, which I topped with kosher rainbow sprinkles from Kittee! We exchanged treats & sat on my couch talking about vegan baking, the LA vegan scene, & our careers in the entertainment industry. I had a great time & it was awesome to make a new friend. Check out the cupcakes she took home, plus surf her blog for mouthwatering, creative, vegan recipes!

Another Friday night activity was a march for equal rights in San Francisco. As we celebrate the victory of Prop 2, we also mourn the passing of Prop 8 which bans gay marriage & takes away the rights of many. Thousands of people from the Bay Area came to San Francisco to show that we won't accept this unfair & wrong proposition that should not be about religion, but about love & equality for all. Please consider signing one of the many online petitions about this cause because regardless of how you feel about marriage, no one should be discriminated against.

A few months ago, I received an email from Marijke, a vegan au pair from Potsdam, Germany. She had just arrived in San Francisco & was looking to meet other vegans. I invited her to the VBC picnic & we became fast friends, realizing we had a lot in common. From VegFest to the Halloween potluck to going out dancing, we've spent a lot of time together & shared so much fun, I feel I have a friend for life. Sadly, her year long trip has unexpectedly been cut short & she'll be heading back to Germany this week.

In an effort to show her more of what America & the Bay Area has to offer before she departs, we took a road trip down to Santa Cruz on Saturday afternoon. Armed with leftover twinkies & cupcakes, plus chocolate peanut butter bars made for us by Carmen, a group of us piled in the car to escape the rain of San Francisco & see the ocean. We engaged in an afternoon of shopping, followed by dinner at Saturn Cafe & while the rain eventually caught up to us, it didn't stop us from heading to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk for arcade games, photo booth pictures, & dancing in the sand by the ocean. On the way back, we hit my favorite frozen yogurt spot, Fraiche, which is rumored to be opening a San Francisco location soon!

Sunday was a sleepier day. We all slept in, then Ryan & I headed to meet Marijke downtown for some more shopping. After buying every piece of animal print clothing I could find, we walked to the Ferry Building, home of local, artisan food & wine vendors. We snacked on olive rolls & bought a sour batard from Acme Bread & Marijke had soy Cookie Dough gelato from Ciao Bella. On the walk home, we couldn't resist stopping in 7-11 for Slurpees, after all, we were trying to show her an all-American weekend! A call from friends Alex & Kristen resulted in an impromptu dinner at my place, so I threw together spicy yogurt tofu, red & black quinoa, sauteed kale, & garlic bread for everyone. It was a great finish to a weekend I won't soon forget for a person I will never forget! We will miss you, Marijke! I can't wait to come visit you in Germany!

Introducing Sugar Beat Sweets!

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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!

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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!

Sugar Shock; a massive baking post!

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I am back from Portland! I had a great time seeing familiar faces, making new friends, & eating A LOT of food. I'll be covering the goods in a future post, but in the mean time, get your sweet tooth ready, as I am about to take you on one appetizing adventure that may put you in to sugar shock!

It's no secret, I love to bake! The level at which sweets are being produced is currently at an all time high around here. It may have something to do with a little endeavor I have in the works, but let's just say, they're not all for the consumption of my household or friends! With that being said, let the tour begin!

My friends Jordan & Mike got married. To celebrate, we ditched the guys & had a Girls Night Out which also celebrated the arrival of a friend's baby! I whipped up two types of cupcakes for the occasion; Vanilla with Pineapple Buttercream & Toasted Coconut & "La La Lemon"- Vanilla filled with Lemon Curd & topped with Lemon Buttercream.

I also sent home a little treat for the newlyweds; a Chocolate cake filled with a fudgy Caramel concoction, topped with Chocolate frosting & drizzled in Caramel. Not wanting to send them over the edge, I baked a 5 inch cake, the perfect amount for two to share!


An future vegan spot in San Francisco called "V Restaurant" contacted me for an event they were holding which included a bus tour & a stop in a community garden for dessert. I created this trio of mini treats for everyone to enjoy; Chocolate Peanut Butter Whoopie Pies, Orange Dreamsicle cupcakes, & locally grown organic Strawberries in Bittersweet Chocolate! I went along for the tour & saw familiar faces including Aurelia from VegNews who wrote about the event for their Press Pass blog.

One of my favorite people, Laura B. the vegansaurus had a birthday! I insisted on creating a cake for her special event, hosted at San Francisco's newest veg cafe, The Usual Suspects. My first time working with a tiered cake, it leaves a bit to be desired visually, but this cake was quickly demolished! The bottom layer is Chocolate filled with Peanut Butter Caramel & the top is Vanilla with macerated Strawberries. I frosted the outside with a light & fluffy Vanilla mousse.

Mini cupcakes are super fun to make, although some would say they're more fun to eat! These mini Chocolate cupcakes with brightly colored Vanilla Buttercream were for an event at the Sephora corporate offices. While I don't believe there were any vegan in the house, rumor has it people loved them & were shocked to find out their veg status!

Finally, I bring you a fun project, a goth inspired cake! Birthday girl & awesome artist Netsui commissioned me to create her birthday cake & this is what we came up with. Despite the black marzipan skull & iron cross exterior, this cake is filled with sweetness; Vanilla cake coated in violet Strawberry Buttercream & filled with fresh strawberries!


I hope I didn't send you in to complete sugar shock! Surprisingly, this isn't all of the sweet treats I've been making & you can expect to see more posts like this in the future. Let's hope you can process it all without slipping into a sugar induced coma!

Twisted Valentine's Cake, Sorbet, Vegan Brunch, & a Chocolate Orange Cupcakes recipe!

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I present to you, the most un-vegan vegan ice cream cake ever! As I mentioned in my last post, I spent Valentine's Day with a group of friends. We ordered two ice cream cakes from local shop Maggie Mudd & stuffed our faces until we felt sick! The cake you see on the right was the larger of the cakes, filled with half Peanut Butter & Jelly ice cream & the other half "The Kitchen Sink", which consists of peanut butter, chocolate, & marshmallow swirls in chocolate ice cream, both on a chocolate cookie crust! We couldn't help but add the graphic on top, inspired by a walk to the ice cream shop where we saw the horrible image at a nearby butcher. Of course, we're not completely heartless! We also had a lovely heart shaped cake filled with Apple Pie ice cream on a cinnamon graham cracker crust! We also started the evening with creamy polenta & roasted vegetables, but who cares about that?! Bring on the dessert!

Is sorbet season back?! Despite the mainly cool weather, we've had a few nice days & a plethora of citrus fruit inspired me to make a Tangerine Sorbet! I used my basic sorbet recipe, but added extra Lemon juice, some zest, & the juice of one Tangelo. Very delicious! Ryan & I love this refreshing treat, even on cool nights, you can imagine you're in a tropical climate. I suspect you'll be seeing more sorbet from my kitchen as fruit starts rolling in to the Farmer's Market!

Another successful Vegan Brunch Cartel took place last weekend, with my house being the location. I decided to have a crepes theme & invite everyone to bring a favorite crepe filling for a "Make Your Own Crepe station". It turned out quite well & we were treated to delights like Chik'n & Pesto, Indian Dosa filling, Tofu & Veggie scramble, Almond filling with Coffee sauce, & of course, Banana & Vegan Nutella! We also had sides of Potato Salad, Seitan Sausages ala Julie @ Everyday Dish, & a beautiful "Heart Salad" with adorable heart shaped beets on top! Delicious, Adorable, Fun; I love crepes!

Finally, I leave you with a poocake. That's right, I said poocake! Our good friend Josh was in town to celebrate his birthday & I couldn't help but make cupcakes for him inspired by his favorite subject! At his request, these were chocolate orange cakes with fudgy chocolate-orange frosting! I used Isa's Rich Chocolate Cake recipe, but made a few adjustments to add the subtle orange taste.

Chocolate Orange Cupcakes
Ingredients:
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup all purpose unbleached flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup soy milk
1/2 cup canola oil
1 1/2 cups pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon orange extract
1 teaspoon orange zest

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Sift together the flours, baking powder, & baking soda.

In a saucepan, heat the soy milk on low-medium heat. Once lightly bubbling, add the cocoa powder, whisk well until it is dissolved, & remove from the heat.

Combine the maple syrup, apple cider vinegar, vanilla & orange extracts, & orange zest in a bowl and whisk well. Add the cocoa mixture to the other wet ingredients & combine.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients & mix until just combined.

Bake at 350 F for 10 minutes & rotate the pan.
Continue to bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 4 to 6 minutes more, for a total of 14 to 16 minutes.

Let them cool for 5 minutes, remove them to a wire rack to cool completely & frost with your favorite frosting!

This yields 20 to 24 cupcakes.

My Notes:
This was my first time working with this recipe & I thought it produced a nice little cake! With the amount of maple syrup, I think I'll be sticking to my coveted favorite recipe which includes melted chocolate for depth, but this is still a tasty cake worth making & is much better than most recipes out there! The fudgy frosting was a delicious treat & I used fresh orange juice, instead of soy milk for my liquid, a fun & easy way to flavor frostings.

It's been far too long since I've posted a recipe, but I promise you my next entry will be a delicious & exciting item that's had a bit of buzz around the PPK! Can anyone guess what it is?!