One Sweet Ride: The Whoopie Pie

After a long, sweaty work out a breath of cool fresh air is usually all I need to feel fresh and ready to face the rest of my day. But sometimes, just sometimes, you might need a little bit more. Lucky for me, that little bit more was sitting right across the street in a bright pink van with flaming sides. The back of the van even warned me that it would ruin my diet, but still - after running and lifting weights - I was willing to make that sacrifice.

This was my first in person encounter with Chicago's Mobile Bakery: Sweet Ride. Twitter recommended I should follow them, for my love of Flirty Cupcakes, but I was never able to make any of their stops before. I had practically given up checking up on their twitter and facebook accounts to see if our paths had crossed. Yet, this day they were right there in front of DePaul's student center in Lincoln Park. I couldn't pass up this opportunity - not with the bright pink colors and delicious cupcakes and treats to be had.

But get this, I didn't even get a cupcake. I know, right? I am such a cupcake girl. Of course that was my original intention, but I walked up and spoke to the woman running the truck. First off, she was sweet, friendly, helpful, and knew her sweet stuff very well. It was really great talking to someone like that and being able to ask what they would recommend and having that catered to what I wanted. She explained their options that included a very tempting sweet potato cupcake that was on Cupcake Wars and a red velvet whoopie pie. I've been a little bit skeptical about the whoopie pie craze that seems to be popping up in correlation to the love of cupcakes, but this one just seemed so tempting. Their red velvet is well known, she said, as well as was sold out in cupcake form. The whoopie pie was also heart shaped. I'm a sucker for anything heart shaped.

She also gave a great description of it having a cookie-like consistency with the cream cheese frosting in the center. It just seemed to be the perfect treat to grab before getting on the Metra train. I got one and took it to go. One of the great things about food trucks is how they're ready for you to take on the go, where ever you are and where ever you are going. The difficulty I had with this whoopie pie, though, is that I love to break cookies, muffins, and most baked things into pieces with my hands (if not large enough to eat with a fork). This idea did not work so well with the whoopie pie; it was something I should have guessed ahead of time. My fingers squished the red velvet top and bottom so that the frosting squished right out of the center.

Instead of continuing with my failed attempt, I decided to just dive right in. This bite brought me back to a great, childlike joy of going face first into food, not really caring how messy you might get and just purely enjoying what you're doing. It was wonderful too, since it really did remind me of a cookie. I ended up leaning onto a lot of child roots, and let's face it we still do it as adults, and twisted the top and bottom off like an Oreo. This way I could it the top, then the bottom, and get lots of cream cheese frosting in a higher ratio of taste per bite. Perhaps I might not have enjoyed the ratio (more red velvet cookie) if I had eaten it originally, but the fun of this whoopie pie is the childlike creativity you can have with it - that and the heart shape. While it was grainier than a typical cupcake, the whoopie pie had a great tradition red velvet taste that was rich and nicely blended. It made me even more tempted to go back and try their cupcakes.

The whoopie pies are a perfect treat for an on the go bite or for kids. I can see kids really loving twisting these open and licking them or being able to eat them in the stroller or the car. I believe the whoopie pie really does bring us back to a simple time where we can just enjoy something sweet without the stress of the world around us. Luckily, Sweet Ride is bringing this piece of joy around Chicago in a flaming pink van.

Let me know what you try via Sweet Ride and your favorite whoopie pies.

Harrod's Hall of Foods Feature: Cupcakes

I apologize first for November's lack of  blogs so far. I promise, I will do my best to dig my teeth into sweet treats and keep you updated on the new, sugary, and wonderful in London. If you may listen to my excuses they include not only midterm assessments, but the beginning of NaNoWriMo.

For those who know or those who don't, that means I'm trying to write 50,000 words this month on a story that I've come up with (vaguely) in the attempt to write a full novel - unedited, first draft, barely even coherent. It's the idea that writing in any form helps you grow as a writer and getting ideas on paper helps you develop something fuller and sparks something creatively. Anytime I've sat down to write I've done that or fretted about the 500 page novels I'm supposed to read in 1 week. Trust me, I've done all my school work and on time, so it's led to less time updating here.

But this is well worth the wait, because today is all about Harrods' Hall of Foods and specifically the beauty that is Lola's cupcakes.  Originally we were hoping to have tea and macaroons at the tea house, which I also fell in love with, but when we saw this array of cupcakes that were cheaper than most of the large selection of cakes at the tea house... and being poor university students, we couldn't resist. Also, we all know my ability to resist cupcakes is pretty much nonexistent.

Not only that, but the selection was hard. Lola's has monthly flavors of the day - which November is Hi Hat Marshmallow - in addition to.... *ahem* Vanilla, Chocolate, Chocolate Milk, Banana, Carrot, Lemon, Red Velvet, Rocky Road, Strawberry, Vanilla Coconut, and Cookies and Cream.
While not as strange as some of the selections I've seen in the cupcake shops in Chicago, they had an elegance, beauty, and mouthwatering quality that meant my friend Nicole and I could not resist.

Of course, this meant we came back in a flurry - not only because we wanted to devour the cupcakes we had in our hands, but there was a dramatic incident involving a beautiful camera named Hamlet and squash juice creating a sort of soup in her bag. This was less appetizing, so I'll leave the details out.

But we came home, each with our 2 Harrods cupcakes in beautiful boxes that we were pretty much fawning over. We used them as motivation then to write lots and lots of words for NaNoWriMo, before celebrating by breaking out our first cupcakes. I had gotten a red velvet cupcake, to try and see how the British do red velvet, as well as the Flavor of the Month Chocolate Marshmallow Cap. Nicole got a Banana and a Strawberry. Not only did we have that, but she broke out the Caramel Hot Chocolate she had got at Harrod's for 5 pounds and we truly lived it up in style.

The red velvet had to be my first try, since Nicole had never even tasted red velvet and that thought had to be abolished as soon as possible, and Nicole decided on Strawberry. We spent a good amount of time admiring the cupcakes, taking photos, and finally, carefully, digging into them. Of course, since they were from Harrods, which is a classy place, we ate them on plates, with forks, and sipped daintily at our caramel hot chocolate - knowing that there was probably nothing better to do on a Sunday afternoon. This was emphasized even more when we discovered the glitter atop Nicole's Strawberry cupcake.

The sparkles weren't even the final stop. Her cake was beautiful - light, moist, airy, strawberry pieces inside, creamy, and the frosting was that careful combination of sweet, fluffy, and soft without being overwhelming. Although I can't speak for her, I'm pretty sure she was in cupcake heaven.

The caramel hot chocolate was another thing completely. Both of us ate non-chocolate cupcakes so we could truly enjoy the warm chocolate swirled with the caramel. She even made it on the stove, warming the milk and slowly mixing in the powder to create this rich drink. It felt like something that had been freshly made with real chocolate - if we had gone to Starbucks or the popular Cafe Nero. I have to say I've been debating which one of my lucky family members or friends might get a thing of caramel hot chocolate for Christmas, I just loved it so much. That or I'll just take it for myself.

My red velvet cupcake was, perhaps, not as special as Nicole's strawberry. Although that seems like a strange statement, since red velvet seems like a more unique cake than one merely named after a fruit, but it wasn't the best red velvet I've ever had. Don't get me wrong, it was still delicious, soft, and I was extremely impressed with the cream cheese frosting not being too heavy. My favorite part was probably the crumbled cake atop the cream cheese frosting, but... there lies the problem as well. The cake was a little too crumbly. Red velvet is hard to get just right, but I've had a rich, moist red velvet and now I have to compare the two. This one was a bit too crumbly and wasn't able to maintain that soft, moist texture to the cake as the day went on. While Lola makes their cakes fresh every day - this cupcake was missing out on the same freshness that I've had in other red velvet.

The other two options we had were also delicious, but were put on hold for other writing motivation. The only problem with putting cupcakes on hold is missing out on that just-baked-this-morning feeling. In addition, I put mine in the fridge to keep any kitchen heat, sunlight, or steam away from it. I also didn't wait to devour mine up - so the chocolate on top of the marshmallow cracked and came in chucks as if it was the hardened chocolate atop an ice cream cone. It was a chocolate treat, especially with the soft marshmallow on top, but I really wish I had eaten it fresh. I was also a little disappointed that there were no other fun tricks in the cake itself. Nicole's Banana, though, was wonderfully spiced and she seemed to enjoy it as well.

 Overall, Lola's cupcakes at Harrods were a joy to see, taste, and use as motivation. I was in absolute heaven after my fingers cramped from writing and I could clutch warm caramel hot chocolate between small bites of red velvet. If you want anything from Harrods, but can't afford a lot, I'd suggest the cupcakes - and then even come in mini-sizes too! It's an experience, one that focuses on luxury and small touches. Even the inside of the box left you a note (the picture to the right) to add personal touch to the delicious bits of cake you were ready to devour. So dig into Lola's cupcakes and perhaps try what may sound plain, but may have something beautiful and special in it's flavors.

- Mollie