masse's

Since it's the holiday season, I wanted to put up a picture of something festive! Of course, I immediately thought of Masse's.

D's sister, brother-in-law, and nephew all have birthdays around the same time, so when we went to visit, I brought this cake.

Isn't it beautiful? I went up to their counter, bright and early and picked out prettiest one there. I was so excited, I even forgot to ask what kind of cake it was! What a mistake. It was tart, not too sweet, with wonderful textures. The fruits and chocolate were a perfect complement!

I'll have to put up pictures of Jen and Peter's wedding cake. Masse's is so amazing.

Masse's Pastries

1469 Shattuck Avenue
Berkeley, CA
(510) 649-1004

satura cakes

One of the things I miss the most about being in Southern California is the (somewhat) easy access to good Japanese markets. Near my home, there's a Marukai and a Nijiya, and Mitsuwa and Yohann is just a county away (though in opposite directions).

Actually, I went to Mitsuwa for the first time recently with my family the last time I visited. I was smitten. Not only is it a supermarket, it sports a bookstore and a food court. The food court boasts Santouka, a famous ramen-ya--it always has a line of people.

I'll save that post for another day; today I actually want to talk about Satura Cakes. This weekend, my bf and I visited his sister in San Jose. I was excited to see her and her family, but I was really excited to find that there is a Mitsuwa in their vicinity! So we went, because I was adamant that we go.

There was this bakery in the corner to the right of the entrance. We decided to get these cakes in these cute little cups for his sister--I'll admit, I'm a SUCKER for cute packaging. Have you heard of Benefit Cosmetics? Best packaging ever! /end tangent. The bakery was called Satura Cakes, and we got the Choco-Misu and the Honey Yogurt cup.

Aren't they cute? The Choco-Misu cup had a wonderful creamy texture, and balanced the chocolate and coffee flavors really well. The Honey Yogurt one was a little bit lumpier, but a really light refreshing taste, not too sweet with just a hint of tartness. I wasn't sure what the white cubes were; maybe some kind of fruit? The lady at the bakery actually recommended the Earl Grey cup, but I was pretty set on the Choco-Misu, but took her suggestion of the Honey Yogurt.

It seemed more cream/custard than cake, but the actual flavor/taste was really good. It's a bit pricey for the size ($3.95 for no bigger than a small cupcake!), but if you happen to see it, I would try it. I don't think I would go out of my way for it though.

Visit Satura Cakes!

san diego adventures and my mama's birthday part 2

Part 2 is all about desserts. We went to Extraordinary Desserts, which boasts cakes, tarts, and other baked goods, with ice cream, tea, coffee, and drinks as well as savory food. Situated in an urban warehouse with modern decor, Extraordinary Desserts is a bustling hub for San Diegans who want to grab a bite, chill with friends, or sample sweets. (We went to the location near the Gaslamp District.)




We ordered a beignet, which is somewhat of a French donut, served with strawberry ice cream. I confess, I didn't think it was that special (maybe I expected more because it was on the specials list or maybe I'm just spoiled because we have great bakeries in the Bay Area); it was a bit sweet for my taste.

We also had a coffeecake, but my mother, who ordered this, was sadly disappointed because Asian bakeries, when they say coffeecake, mean coffee-flavored cake, whereas American/European bakeries mean cake to eat with coffee. Nevertheless, it was good, but also a tad sweet. Still who could say no to that presentation?

Daddy ordered some tea (cute no?), but I didn't think it was worth the money really, but the teabag (I know, blasphemous!) was unique and they filled the pot with hot water each time you asked.

Some more pictures:

Extraordinary Desserts
1439 Union St
San Diego, CA 92101

blueberry + almonds = yummyness

one of my staples for sure.

ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/4 cups plus 3 tablespoons sugar [i use less than a cup and i like to use brown sugar for half]
• 2 whole large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla or 1/4 teaspoon almond extract [i always use more ...mmm vanilla]
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 cups blueberries (15 ounces)
• 1/2 large egg white [i take some of the egg white from one of the two eggs cause i don't like having an extra yolkness chilling around]
• 1 cup sliced almonds [i use toasted whole almonds and coarsely chop this, i definitely use more than a cup cause i love almonds and its so delicious and gives it texture]

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and butter a 2- to 2 1/2-quart (2 1/4 inches deep) ceramic or glass baking dish.

2. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. [i'm lazy so i don't do it]

3. Beat together butter and 1 1/4 cups sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. [i do this by fork but electric mixer is probably lots faster, but this is my workout :)]

4. Beat in whole eggs, 1 at a time, then vanilla.

5. Alternately add flour mixture and milk in batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture and beating on low speed after each addition until just incorporated.

6. Fold in berries.

7. Spoon batter into baking dish, spreading evenly. [somehow my mixture is pretty thick and sticky, but it still turns out fine, probably overmix and berries not defrosted all the way]

8. Lightly beat egg white with a fork and add remaining 3 tablespoons sugar and almonds, stirring to coat. [this is a must!! super yummy!]

9. Spoon topping over batter and bake in middle of oven until golden brown and a tester inserted in center comes out clean, 50 minutes to 1 hour.

10. Cool in pan on a rack 10 minutes.

this is really easy to make and so good!

blueberry-almond coffeecake recipe courtesy of epicurious

- n

crixa cakes

I mentioned Crixa Cakes in my post about Masse's Pastries, but aside from being bakeries, the two are quite different in terms of the types of cakes they churn out. Crixa is a Hungarian bakery, and their baked goods have a type of home, country feel to them, especially when compared to Masse's sophisticated and refined pastries. Even the decor of the two is quite opposite; Crixa's is dimly lit, with wooden furniture while Masse's is bright and furnished more modernly.

In terms of menu, they also serve savory Hungarian and Russian goods, like pirogs and zagoras. But today's post is about cake.

(From top to bottom)

Tiramisu: a bit too rummy for me, but the cake was moist and crumbly, and the cocoa powder added a nice taste.

Amaretti: by far, their best cake. Seriously. It's a vanilla sponge cake with hazelnut liquor, but what really sells it is the marscapone cream. Mmmm. Some alcohol overtones, but not too much.
Rigo Jancsi: It's a chocolate sponge cake with a layer of mousse in the middle, and a great story behind it! But this was my least favorite of the three; I think Masse's handles mousse much better.

(Yes that is Korean tea in the back. Korean corn tea I believe.)

(From left to right)

Amaretti again.

Carmella: This is a chocolate chiffon cake with lots of cream and caramel. Too sweet for me.

Lemon Cream Cake: I got this because I thought it would be similar to the Amaretti cake, but unfortunately, the added lemon flavor to the marscapone didn't really work for me...

I've also tired their more homey cakes, like the apple cake (so delicious!) and the pave vergiate, a flourless chocolate cake (which I would skip actually). Overall, it's a cute, rustic bakery--definite must visit!

Crixa Cakes
2748 Adeline Street
Berkeley, CA 94703
www.crixacakes.com

masse's pastries

As with restaurants, the Berkeley/Bay Area has a plethora of cupcake shops (and carts!), bakeries, creameries, and the like. I must confess now that I am not, or rather, was not, a fan of baked goods. It took this girl multiple baking frenzies and multiple trips to Crixa Cakes to finally convince me that yes, I love cake. (I am still on the fence about cupcakes. I don't know if I'll ever like them.)

But this post is not for Crixa or cupcakes. It's for Masse's Pastries, a little cafe in Berkeley's Gourmet Ghetto. Masse's specializes in the most beautiful, delicate cakes and pastries, but this post is about their cakes. There's nothing better than sitting in a quaint cafe on a sunny afternoon with friends, eating cake and drinking tea.

We got three cakes between the three of us--N ordered the mango mousse, a definite must have, I got the chocolate hazelnut (with gold flecks!), and Mel got a guava something or other, I forget.

But they're all delicious. We've also tried the blood orange with chocolate, which is divine, to put simply, the raspberry mousse, the key lime mousse--yes, they like making mousse, but the mousse is so light and melts in your mouth, that you can't help but inhale it and savor it at the same time. Yes, I am not making sense, but this is how Masse's makes me feel--incoherent. And yes, it is a good thing.

Above (from a friend's birthday): blood orange, raspberry, mango, and keylime mousse. So much love.

Masse's Pastries
1469 Shattuck Ave
Berkeley, CA 94709

happiness in the form of cakes

i first heard pchung was going to propose to jen on wednesday and i was super super excited and super super happy and every positive feeling you can possibly feel. in my happy state i decided i just had to bake something for them. dude serious dilemma. but i finally settled on double chocolate cake from smitten kitchen. i've wanted to bake a cake for a long long time, but was always way too lazy. but since this was super super special, i had to do it.

i spent three days on this cake because i didn't have 5 + hours to spare in a single day. friday afternoon i did the raspberry filling. my bad at not documenting each step but again i was lazy. it was really easy. food processors=easier life. straining out the seeds was kinda a hassle but it was fine. i fridged it until i needed it which wasn't until two days later. i would suggest not making this first. when i took it out of the fridge to spread on the cake, it became solidified in a almost gelly consistency. i had to bring it to room temperature and mix it like crazy but it turned out fine. make this the day of, it'll probably be better.

the next day i made the cake. it was easy, except my pans were different sizes and i had SO MUCH batter that i used three cake pans. and it finished baking in like 40 minutes. good thing i checked cause it smelled done. its good to make this the day before since you need to wait for it to cool down.

sunday morning, i made the frosting and halved the recipe. it was surprisingly easy. i cooled it in an ice bath and assembled the cake. i had to shave off the volcano like dome to make t it looked really really ugly so i decorated it was raspberries. the frosting got hard so the raspberries wouldn't stick so i used a dab of icing as glue.

yay! i actually didn't get to see it eaten but i did eat the scrapes and it tasted pretty good. :) it wasn't as hard as i expected! its very do-able and a good recipe!
happily engaged :) and no, not cause of the cake (stolen picture from jen)

okayy, so there was another cake i made for melody and jr's birthday! i was super excited for their birthday too cause they're super cool and awesome! i decided to bake cranberry vanilla coffeecake since i found fresh cranberries! it was cranberry season! i love surprises :)

the ugliness because i ran out of powdered sugar. it looks diseased...

ahh, much better!

the recipe calls for vanilla bean which is i did not have because i am cheap. so i added vanilla extract to the cranberry mixture and the cake itself. i'm sure it would taste much more delicious with the vanilla sugar. a very do-able recipe!

recipe courtesy of epicurious

- n