Wednesday, March 23, 2011

SweetsXSW - Pt. 2

The second stop I made on my Austin sweet-tooth journey was to a place right down the street from the South Austin Trailer Park:  Sugar Mama's Bakeshop.  I chose to visit based on 2 things I always look for: cool graphic style and the promise of vegan goodies.


This place was super-cute and totally what I could see Donut Girl looking like if/when I have a brick-and-mortar "store"...


exterior - i couldn't get a straight-on shot w/o standing in traffic - apparently I'm not a very committed blogger

interior - LOVE the old soda fountain tables and chairs


I showed up around 3pm on a Saturday, and they were all out of vegan cupcakes.  I'm sure that had a LOT to do with the SXSW hipster masses, but I was more than happy to purchase some traditional cakes. 


Clockwise from top left:
Strawberry Love, French Toast, The Hemingway, and James Brown


I was a big fan of the Hemingway with its key lime cream cheese frosting.  I will definitely be trying to turn that into a DG flavor.  I didn't try the French Toast because of the bacon bits on top, but my carnivore friend said it needed more bacon cause all he was getting was the chewy texture and no flavor.  Overall, the cakes were good but I wouldn't make a special trip back.


Finally, on Sunday, fatigue was setting in and despite wanting nothing more than to go back to the hotel after a harrowing trek to Ikea, I decided to poke my head in Quack's Bakery.  That's how dedicated I am to provided YOU with awesome blog stuffs! ....It also happened to be right across the street from where we stopped for some post-Ikea dinner.


exterior - at sundown


The cupcakes in this place were the size of my head!  But having satisfied my cupcake requirements at Sugar Mama's, I decided to diversify into cookies at Quack's.  I was so impressed with the aesthetics of their iced sugar cookies;  I still can't figure out what technique they used.  There were no drips down the sides to indicate they were dipped, but the icing was also very thin around the edges, so I don't think they piped it on.  I'm so confused!!  I'll be tossing and turning at night for a while trying to figure this one out.



Despite being so impressed with how the cookies looked, the taste was not nearly as good, but that tends to be the case with sugar cookies that maintain their cookie-cutter shape after baking.  This is usually a result of a shortbread-like dough as opposed to a true sugar cookie - at least in my experiences thus far.  This is an issue I'm still working to remedy in my kitchen.


Anyway, that is the end of my Austin sugar journey.  I look forward to reporting on more sweet spots in other locations whenever I have the chance.


On tap for this weekend - the beginnings of a "Taz" groom's cake :D

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