Vanilla Bake Shop recently premiered in Santa Monica just near the Promenade. I had been eagerly waiting for it to open its doors since I first noticed it during my commute to work. I had known that it was going to be a cupcake shop just by the name and cutesy design that read "coming soon." Since the shop opened it has been publicized in a New York Times article and featured on Daily Candy LA.
In regards to the decor, LA Cakecake MeetUp member Evan of CupcakeFetish.com said that the place "can be best described as the bastard lovechild of David Bowie from Labyrinth and Barbie." With cotton candy pink walls, damask wallpaper, white chandeliers, and dark wood floors, he had a point. I especially liked that they had shelves of old fashioned clear jars filled with fine baby blue, green and yellow sprinkles.
It's trendy and their offering of baby cupcakes 3 for $5 are uber-cute and just the right size to allow you to try some of their many flavors. Using Belgian chocolates and farmers market ingredients; they make cupcakes like Meyer lemon raspberry and banana chocolate chip in regular and baby sizes (some even come stuffed with filling!). I had ordered six cupcake babies and a glass of low fat milk to wash them down with. The group consensus was the Old Fashioned, Red Velvet and Mocha were among the favorites.
Baker/owner Amy Berman kindly and enthusiastically came out to speak with our group. She shared her story of how she went from catering to opening her own shop. Originally though she worked in entertainment as a PA on the hit show Will & Grace. Apparently she baked cupcakes for the cast and crew as a Christmas gift for everyone and later decided to quit her job and pursue what she loved—baking! It's a cute story and she seemed to charm the group as much as her shop did.
For more photos from the event click here, otherwise we're off to try Dainties next and will report back.
PS: I was recently in my office's elevator with Bobby Brown and I had no idea, I even chatted with him in the elevator lobby. My coworker was the one to enlighten me, he also snapped a photo. My bad, call me Captain Oblivious. Meanwhile when I think of Bobby Brown I think of this.
