Pastries | Dessert Darling

Archive for Pastries

Marzipan Treats and Pastries at Berolina Bakery

By Dessert Darling · February 22nd, 2013

Today my friend and I stumbled upon Berolina Bakery in Glendale where I had the most delicious marzipan treat. It was called a “Vacuum” and was basically a small log of mild rum soaked chocolate cake, enveloped by a layer of marzipan, with the sides dipped in a delicate shell of chocolate. The mild rum and almond flavors dominated as the chocolate took a quiet back seat. The Vacuum’s consistency was thick, pasty, and delicious! 5 Cherries for the Vacuum!

The pastry, on the other hand, bored me with it’s thick dried out sides. However, it did have delicious fruit on top! Over all, the Berolina Bakery earns 4.5 cherries for the exquisite Vacuum, which almost makes me forgive and forget the very ordinary pastry.

For more info on Berolina Bakery, click here.

Gluten Free Blueberry Muffin from the Woodside Bakery

By Dessert Darling · September 10th, 2012

Mmm :-9 I’ve been spending more time back at home in Northern California, where my mom buys me pastries from the Woodside Bakery before I wake up. Yay home! I especially enjoyed this Gluten Free Blueberry Muffin that supposedly had no refined sugars (maple syrup?). The delightful muffin was bouncy, fresh, and moist (a word you can totally use to describe desserts!). As with all Gluten Free desserts, the consistency was not quite as viscous as products with real flour, but still palatable nonetheless.

For more information on the Woodside Bakery, click here.

Fruit Topped New Zealand Pavlova: My Pin Pick of the Week

By Dessert Darling · August 17th, 2012

For scorching days, it’s nice to have a light, bouncy option for dessert. I use to make an awesome New Zealand Pavlova myself as my high school calculus teacher was from New Zealand and gave us the recipe. She would say things like “nig five” for negative five and tell tales of stuffing sheeps’ mouths with large jaw breakers out of boredom. Alas, I digress. How Gorgeous is this Pavlova?!! And really, they’re not hard to make.

To see how the Internet Chef made this low-fat beauty, click here.

Gluten Free Raspberry Bar from Bloom Cafe

By Dessert Darling · July 25th, 2012

Even though it takes Bloom Cafe an hour and change to deliver to my house, I’m just grateful to have an organic food establishment that delivers! In addition to serving up yummy and healthy savory options, they also have some delicious Gluten Free desserts on their menu. If you read my Thinny Thursday post (here) on Gluten, you’ll see why this makes me happy! This Raspberry Bar totally hit the spot for me. Like all Gluten-free desserts, it was a little bit crumbly and sweet, but still pretty fantastic.

For more info on Bloom Cafe, click here.

Fried Bananas from Izaka-ya on 3rd Street

By Dessert Darling · July 24th, 2012

Yesterday I posted this glowing review on the Creme Brûlée at Izaka-ya. Today however, I’ll share the flip side of their dessert menu: these totally uneventful Fried Banana bites. First of all, it’s really hard to mess up banana in a dessert, and yet, this is the second time Izaka-ya has failed (see Banana Crepe review here). This dessert basically tasted like plain, raw bananas, wrapped in bland, fried bread. Snooooze. People, to make bananas rock your dessert- cook them! All the way through!

For more info on Izaka-ya on 3rd Street, click here.

Melted Chocolate Sandwich at Grub in Los Angeles

By Dessert Darling · July 17th, 2012

Together, Top Chef contestant, Betty Fraser, and fellow chef, Denise DeCarlo, founded Grub, a quaint little cafe nestled near Hollywood. I wanted to love this scintillating dessert titled Cyndi’s Luscious Chocolate Sandwich as it looked and smelled divine when placed in front of me. Biting into this mess of cheap ingredients though, deflated my expectations. If they had used melted Belgium chocolate, organic buttered bread, and homemade whipped cream, we could be on to something awesome here. But Wonder Bread, Hershey’s Syrup, and ReddiWhip, each awful in their own right, are supposed to make magic when blended together? I think not. If I wanted high fructose corn syrup, Genetically Modified Organisms, preservatives and artificial flavors, I could have gotten myself a treat at the drug store, thank you very much. One and half cherries for looking appetizing.~

For more info on Grub, please click here.

Susina Bakery- Charming Atmosphere and Delicious Selections!

By Dessert Darling · May 7th, 2012

Su Su Su-Yeah! Woh-Oh!

What’s that song from the ’80s? Anyway, everytime I think Susina, that song comes to mind.

Susina is a super charming bakery & cafe on Beverly Blvd and La Brea that serves one of the best berry cream cakes I’ve had. Indeed, their Berry Blossom vanilla sponge cake layered with white chocolate mousse, fresh berries, and touches of orange liqueur, meringue, and white chocolate shavings, would make Sweet’s Lady Jane’s bland rendition cry.

Susina’s pastries are also quite delectable.

The Red Velvet Cake let my friend and me down a bit with it’s thick and mild frosting, and the iced Frog Cookie, while darling, was hard, firm, and tasted liked it came from a box in a grocery store.

Overall, I recommend convening with friends at Susina Bakery or stopping by to try some of their many tempting treats yourself!

For more information on Susina Bakery & Cafe, click here.

ps: Pass on a Tarot reading from the in-house Tarot reader, Jackie. She gets half a cherry for her rubbish~

Chocolate Croissant from The Black Cat Bakery

By Dessert Darling · April 24th, 2012

For 21 years Mani’s Bakery reigned supreme on Fairfax & 6th St. with its healthy baked goods. Then Mani’s tried to expand to a larger space in a sleepy part of Beverly Hills, and is consequently out of business (sad). In its old Fairfax location though, a new bakery has popped up. Introducing Black Cat Bakery, a sleeker and more appealing neighborhood spot, if I may say so myself.

The breakfast and savory food at Black Cat is totally delicious, and the decor feels fresh, compared to the ’70s vibe that Mani’s gave off. However, the bakery selection looked pretty minimal and not totally exciting. I opted for a this Chocolate Croissant.

The chocolate inside it was super delish.

If I were to be super picky, the croissant could have been slightly more buttery and flaky. But really, I’m docking half a cherry here for the lackluster dessert display upfront. I mean, they call themselves a bakery… show me the goods!

Ultimately, I’m delighted by this new little joint and I look forward to brunch there again. But if they want to make me a regular, they need to up the ante on the desserts!

For more info on Black Cat Bakery, click here.

BTW- very interesting that The Little Next Door and Black Cat Bakery, only blocks away from each other, both feature black cats!

XOXO

Wonderful Pastries from the Little Next Door on 3rd Street

By Dessert Darling · April 22nd, 2012

For years I have lived down the street from a darling French bistro that had the most lamentable French pastries. I mean, really- how can a Parisan cafe go wrong with the desserts?! Thankfully, The Little Next Door has hired a new pastry chef and wow, what a difference! These sweet coffee and pistachio eclairs literally had my eyes rolling back into my head.

Just look at that creamy, pistachio filling!

And while this flaky Napoleon was a little hard to eat, it’s gentle hand on the sugar made for a lovely and mild alternative to the eclairs.

Even the macarons, for which I wrote this unfavorable review in 2010, are significantly better.

I’m so delighted that The Little Next Door has stepped it up with their desserts! Now I can officialy call it one of my favorite neighborhood joints.

For more info on The Little Next Door, click here.

Delightful Desserts at Monsieur Marcel French Restaurant

By Dessert Darling · April 12th, 2012

Really, I love nothing more than my Ladies Lunches where my favorite girls and I catch up for hours on end, enjoying a string of desserts to make it last! Our most recent gathering was at Monsier Marcel, the charming French, outdoor bistro at the Farmer’s Market on 3rd and Fairfax.

We loved the natural looking Macarons which had wonderful flavor and perfect consistency from cookie to filling.

The Creme Brûlée was lovely the way that Creme Brûlée always is. Really, it’s hard to mess up Creme Brûlée.

Where we lose cherries is over the disappointing Profiteroles. Profeteroles are a childhood favorite from overseas travels, so I have a preset standard for how they should taste. Unfortunately, restaurants in America never quite nail them the way Europeans do. The pastry puffs at Monsieur Marcel’s were too dry and crumbly, the ice cream too bland, and the chocolate sauce generic. Blah. Bla bla blah.