October 2009 Archives

Hi everyone! This is Emily, the GM here at BabyCakes NYC and the resident Walt Disney World fanatic. I am excited to announce that this coming weekend, BabyCakes NYC is coming to Walt Disney World! Well, specifically, the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival.

Erin is honored to have been asked to participate in the Authors Without Borders series. She will be giving a brief talk about her cookbook, Babycakes followed by a book signing at the Wonders Theatre in the Wonders of Life Pavilion in Epcot. She is participating Friday, October 23rd; Saturday, October 24th; and Sunday, October 25th. The presentation is each day at 12 noon, immediately followed by a book signing at 12:45.

If you will be visiting the Orlando area this weekend, or if you live in central Florida we would love to see you there! For the complete event schedule,please click here.

Forbes Traveler recently posted their round-up of America's Best Cupcakes and named BabyCakes NYC as one of the best! We are absolutely thrilled! Check out the entire list here.

Let me get right to it.

When I realized I couldn't tolerate wheat, dairy and sugar it wasn't because I had a blood test done or anything, it was by quitting cold turkey. After removing them from my diet, all my ailments went away. My skin cleared up, I had more energy, the stomach upsets were gone. I was a new girl. And oh-my-agave was I ever grateful.

Soon after this realization, not only did I stop eating wheat, dairy and sugar--I got really nit-picky about everything I ate and obsessed with digestion and overall health. The good news is that I learned a lot about nutrition and used the knowledge while creating my recipes for the bakery.The bad news was that I got all koo-koo crazy about every little thing I ate. My list of requirements read like the Odyssey. Is it organic? Are there preservatives? Hormones? Omega 3's? If I combine my rice with beans would it give me more energy then eating rice with nuts? When out to dinner, I was one of those girls. You know the one that's like, "What kind of oil do you use? Are your vegetables organic? Is your soy non-GMO? How do you make your tempeh?". I was real obnoxious and a total buzz kill for any dinner companion. Luckily, I've learned how to loosen up since then. I love food too much to agonize over the tiny things that I can't control and I have to say much happier with simply avoiding dairy, wheat, and sugar.

Now to the real talk. Last week I met my sisters for breakfast when I was in San Diego. They decided to meet at a bagel shop because that's what they and many normal people eat for breakfast. Now, I blame this partially on the fact that I was jet lagged, another partially on wanting to do what my sisters were doing and a final partially cause after all this time there's still a little voice in me that doesn't believe I can't digest wheat. So...I. Ate. A. Bagel. I know, gasp! gasp! I totally did it. And I was fine. For an hour. And then the pain began and let's just say I was not comfortable for the rest of the day. Why did I do this to myself? Was I insane? I guess I must have been temporarily but I learned my lesson. Wheat's sword is swift indeed. I guess I need to open a bagel shop next.

So instead of keeping this just my little secret, I thought I'd share my experience with y'all. Have any of you had a similar experience? Any war stories to share? You're in a safe place here!

Oh. No.

As if the girls at the bakery needed any help being adorable, now they're looking cuter then ever thanks to our new uniforms designed by In God We Trust. It's borderline obnoxious how perfect they are. We sorta want to roll our eyes at ourselves, it's that bad.

But these uniforms didn't come easy! Shana Tabor, the wizard behind the label, spent countless sessions with us to achieve the perfect material and fit to keep the girls comfy while they frost, bake, and gossip. In God We Trust employees judged the uniform's wear-ability by simulating bakery tasks like intense whisking, extreme flour lifting and turbo frosting. Countless revisions were made, endless samples trashed and many tears were shed. But in the end, it was all so worth it.

Thank you Shana and In God We Trust for transforming us from baking nerds into kool kids.

Oh, you guys are my favorites! Thank you, thank you everyone for posting really great comments and suggestions for the Fall menu.

At first, every comment was like, "Pumpkin chocolate chip!", "Pumpkin Chocolate Chip sounds good!", "What about Pumpkin Chocolate Chip?" and "Oh! Have you thought of pumpkin chocolate chip?!" I was beginning to think it was the only seasonal thing you guys were into, which was fine by me! But then a lot more ideas started rolling in and I want you to know that I've been playing around with the ingredient combos you guys suggested. It has been fun making things that I know will excite you and I'm not totally hating the flavors. Sorry! That's the best I can do with anything involving pumpkin.

Which leads me to my lunch today. I'm sitting at Le Pain Quotidien in the Village working on a secret project on my computer (details soon!) and take a glance at the menu. They have a gluten-free vegen quiche on the menu so I ordered it out of curiosity. Despite the fact that it has pureed pumpkin and a slight Thanksgiving-y finish on my palette, it's really good! I took a pic of it, like a total blogger to show you. It was definitely worth trying. I know there are a ton of small cafes and restaurants around the country that do gluten-free, vegan dishes but it's interesting to see a chain restaurant do it nicely. They have a number of locations that you can check out here .

Do you have a favorite spot for finds like this? I want to hear it! I'm traveling a lot lately and often find myself looking for options without any luck. So, let's hear it!