Eating My Way Through Vegas

It's not hard to find good food while in Las Vegas. But of course I planned accordingly and burned off all the calories before I got there. Yeah right! I would be running for 24 hours to burn all of these. It was a delicious weekend!

Frozen Hot Chocolate from Serendipity. It was like drinking melted ice cream. I could feel myself getting fatter.

Cookies from Retro Bakery. Makes me wish I had them right now!

Playing around at "work." Yes that's me on the left.

Not a dream. I actually bought six Hopscotch cupcakes from Retro Bakery. I knew I would need more than just one.

Komex Express - a little gem of a restaurant off the strip. The bulgogi nachos from this Korean Mexican fusion place were off the hook. Go there.

I came home five pounds heavier, but so much happier. I love you, Las Vegas!

My Favorite Review of 2012

Here's one last post to commemorate the end of 2012: my favorite review of the year. This one was easy to determine and I didn't even have to look back at all of them to figure it out.

RETRO BAKERY!

I had been itching to visit Retro Bakery in Las Vegas for years. Why it took me so long to finally get there is a mystery and a mistake none of you should make. I visited Retro Bakery in May 2012. I picked up a dozen cupcakes and three cookies to try. Everything was beyond delicious and I've already been back again to get more Hopscotch cupcakes and cookies. Seriously, this is one of my top 3 cupcakes shops ever and the cookies are phenomenal too!

You can check out my full review here. Even better, go get some cupcakes of your own from Retro Bakery. Totally worth the trip!

The World Needs Edible Cupcake Wrappers

Last weekend was girls weekend in Vegas! Actually, it's not what you think, it was more of a business trip with a half-marathon at the end. But that doesn't mean me and my two girlfriends didn't have a blast. 

The weekend ended with a trip to Retro Bakery, because you can't leave Vegas without stopping by. Well, you can but you'll regret it badly.

During my review of Retro Bakery earlier this year, the only "negative" thing I could say was I wished the wrapper was edible on the Hopscotch cupcake. I recently saw a post on Cupcakes Take the Cake about cupcakes with edible wrappers. Glad someone agrees with me! What do you think? Good idea or not?

#4 on My Top 10 Cupcakes of All Time

The list continues...

I constantly get asked, "where can I find the best cupcakes?". Wow, it's just so hard to narrow it down because I've tasted so many delicious cupcakes. You can check out all of my reviews under the tab "Cupcake Reviews." But I think it's time to reveal the updated list for The Cupcake Activist's Top 10 Cupcakes of All Time! This list will be constantly changing, as there are so many cupcakes I have yet to try.

#4

CUPCAKE SHOP: Retro Bakery

LOCATION: Las Vegas, NV

FAVORITE FLAVOR: Hop Scotch

Sometimes I kick myself because I waited too long to visit an amazing cupcake shop. This is one of those times. After several years of trying to visit Retro Bakery, I recently experienced the awesomeness! Listen to everyone when they say to try Hop Scotch. I would even go as far as buying several so you don't have to share. Retro Bakery's motto is "It's All About the Buttercream." And that's why I love them so much! Delicious buttercream frosting, moist cakes, large variety of flavors, and KILLER cookies! They have earned this spot on my list. You can read my full review here.

Review: Retro Bakery

This day has been in the works for a looong time. I've driven through Las Vegas so many times, but fate never allowed me to partake....that is, until last month. The stars finally aligned and I made it to famous Retro Bakery! I met the super-sweet Kari, owner of Retro Bakery, and ate some of the best cupcakes ever....ooops! Did I spoil the surprise already? I'm sure most of you have already heard about the amazingness of Retro Bakery, but read on anyway.

Choosing cupcake flavors is always a hard decision, but I knew I couldn't go wrong at Retro Bakery. Everything looked so good! Normally I pick a handful of flavors to sample, but this time I just couldn't do it. One of everything please!

From left to right, top to bottom:

Glazed Donut - just like a dense glazed donut

Hop Scotch - yum, yum, yum!!! Everyone was right!

Apple Cider - reminiscent of a caramel apple lollipop. It had a strong green apple flavor.

Milk & Cookies - my husband said the frosting tasted like milk. Of course it wasn't, but the cookie topped off this cupcake perfectly.

Chocolate Coconut (flavor of the day) - tasted just like one of my favorite candy bars: Mounds. I loved the chocolate ganache covering the coconut and frosting.

Chocolate Fountain - extra moist

Peanut Butter Cup - can't go wrong with this flavor combo.

Mint Chocolate Chip - they pulled off this cupcake nicely. Sometimes the mint flavor is too strong and makes me feel like like I'm eating toothpaste. Not here, delicious!

Maple Bacon - the center of this cupcake was coated with maple syrup. The maple buttercream was very sweet. I wish this cupcake was a little more savory and had more bacon. Can't go wrong with lots of bacon, right?

Cherry Cheesecake - I liked the cheesecake buttercream and the cherry cake was just ok. But I'm not much of a cherry person anyway.

Pink Lemonade - the lemonade buttercream frosting was so perky. Might be weird to describe it that way, but this cupcake was just so fun and tasty.

Red Carpet - similar to the Red Velvet from Sweet Tooth Fairy because it uses almond buttercream instead of cream cheese frosting. I prefer red velvet with cream cheese frosting.

The cupcake that stole that whole show was Hop Scotch. This unique cupcake was recommended to me by everyone who has visited Retro Bakery before. I knew I couldn't pass it up and I'm so glad I didn't. It is a vanilla cupcake topped with vanilla buttercream, dipped in butterscotch ganache. Heaven! The only negative thing I can say about this cupcake is that I wish the wrapper was edible too. I regret not getting two because sharing with my husband was pure torture. I tried telling him it was awful, but he wasn't fooled.

Before I left with my cupcake treasures, Kari told me I had to get some cookies too. My stomach said I couldn't add cookies to the dozen cupcakes I was already going to eat by myself, but I did as I was told. Kari then confided in me that she makes good cupcakes, but she makes even better cookies. Sold! A chocolate chip, sugar with sprinkles, and peanut butter chocolate chip pretzel cookie came with me. Kari was right, these cookies were the best I've ever tasted....ever!

(The look of love. I wish my husband looked at me like this!)

What can I say about Retro Bakery? It lived up to its hype as one of the best cupcake shops I've ever been to! Lots of variety, perfect buttercream frosting, great prices ($2.65 each), and most importantly, amazing-tasting cupcakes. And let's not forget about the to-die-for cookies, which can be shipped directly to your house (I've already done it). This gem of a cupcake shop is absolutely worth the drive whether you're in the Las Vegas area or not. There's no doubt that I will be stopping by here every time I'm close by. Don't make the same mistake I did and wait too long to stop by.

It really is all about the buttercream!

Retro Bakery

7785 N. Durango Dr. , #130

Las Vegas, NV 89131

702-586-3740

www.retrobakerylv.com

Facebook: Retro Bakery

Twitter: @retrobakery

Guess Who Ate Cupcakes Last Weekend?

I may have eaten a dozen cupcakes. I may have eaten three unbelievably delicious cookies. And I may have met the fabulous Kari of Retro Bakery. I call that a successful weekend! Details coming...

Cupcake Wars: Word Series of Poker

Four gifted bakers will ante up for a chance to have their cupcake creations featured at an exclusive party for the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.

This week's episode featured:

Corner Cupcakes (San Diego, CA - mobile cupcakery) **winner**

Luli Tuli Cupcakes (Los Angeles, CA - custom only)

Sweet Retreat (Minneapolis, MN)

Cupcake Royale (Seattle, WA) I've heard great things about this cupcake shop.


I also recorded the season premiere of Top Chef: Just Desserts. Can't wait to watch it tonight!

Review: Bouchon Bakery

Last weekend my husband and I made a quick trip to Las Vegas for a race. Although we didn't have time to visit Retro Bakery (again), I still got a sweet cupcake treat. A friend picked up a chocolate cupcake from Bouchon Bakery.




Usually I don't eat sweets the night before a race, but I just had to try this cupcake at its freshest state. First up: the cake. It was very moist and as cake-like as can be. I enjoyed eating it just by itself. Next: the frosting. Not my favorite. It was light and whipped, which sometimes works for a heavy chocolate cupcake, but not this one. Last: the center. This was my favorite part. A huge glob of chocolate mousse filled the center of this cupcake. It was delicious! If the mousse would have been on top instead of the frosting, this cupcake would have been perfect.




Bouchon Bakery has three locations: New York, Napa Valley, and Las Vegas. This cupcake was from the Bouchon Bakery in the Venetian. After browsing their website, I want to visit soon to try some of their other items such as their macarons, eclairs, muffins, and of course their bouchons.

Bouchon Bakery looks like it sells some delicious items, but I wouldn't rate their cupcakes as the best out there. If you're in the Las Vegas area, I can recommend some other spots for cupcakes.

Bouchon Bakery
The Venetian
3355 Las Vegas Blvd South
Las Vegas, NV 89109
702-414-6203
www.bouchonbakery.com

Coca-Cola: Tastes of the World

Last weekend we hung out in Las Vegas, killing some time as we waited for traffic to die down. Since my husband and I had our two nieces with us, we wanted to do something that they would enjoy too. Thank goodness we came across M&M's World and the Coca-Cola Store.

Both stores mainly consisted of M&M's and Coca-Cola products for sale. But surprisingly, the most exciting part of the whole weekend was found in the Coca-Cola store drink bar.

For just $7, you get 16 cups of 16 flavors of beverages that Coca-Cola sells around the world. These are flavors that are not available in the United States.

We decided to make a taste-testing game out of the drinks. Each of the four of us would take a sip and then rate the drink (0-10 scale) based on taste. We didn't look at the flavors beforehand so we could be completely surprised.

Most of the drinks were carbonated, but there were a few that were juices. Some of the flavors resembled ones that we have here, but others were completely foreign. Sunfill Mint from India tasted just like mouthwash. Vegitabeta from Japan was simliar to V-8 splash juice. Inca Cola from Peru tasted like bubblegum. It was one of our favorites.

Our least favorite was a drink called Beverly and it was from Italy. Although we tried to keep a straight face after tasting each drink, we all made the same disgusted face after trying Beverly. It earned a total score of 1 (out of 40). I read a few other reviews on Yelp and here are a few of my favorite comments about Beverly:

"The Beverly tasted like socks."
"I think a part of me died when I drank this..."
"...tastes like battery acid."
"I imagine it is what panic tastes like."

Out top three drinks were as follows:

3rd place (30 points)- Inca Cola from Peru

2nd place (31 points) - Smart Watermelon from China

And our winner, with 35 points was - Bibo Pine Nut from South Africa.
Although it sounds like the drink might taste like pine nuts, it was actually a pineapple coconut beverage. It was delicious!

Totally worth the money and I would definitely do it again. They also have a sample tray of eight kinds of Coke floats. Might be worth trying next time.

The Coca-Cola Store
3785 Las Vegas Blvd S
Las Vegas, NV 89109
www.coca-colastore.com

Dessert Burgers at Mandalay Bay

I don't even remember where I first heard about the Burger Bar, but I certainly didn't plan on getting to do a review. The Burger Bar is a restaurant inside Mandalay Bar in Las Vegas. When I heard about their dessert burgers, I planned on writing a short post about them. But last weekend fate brought me to Las Vegas and I knew I had to visit the Burger Bar.

Sometimes I forget how big Las Vegas hotels are. The Mandalay Bay has an entire mall in it. Tons of restaurants and stores. The Burger Bar looks like a typical restaurant, but it definitely was not. The burgers were fantastic!

But the items that caught my attention were the dessert burgers. What exactly is a dessert burger? Well, it looks like a hamburger, but tastes like a dessert. There are actually two types of dessert burgers at the Burger Bar: Nutella Dessert Burger and Cheesecake Dessert Burger. Since there were six of us, we had to try both.




The Nutella Dessert Burger is made with Nutella mousse (hamburger patty), kiwi (pickles), strawberries (tomatoes), mint (lettuce), passion fruit gelatin (mustard), and a donut for the buns.

The Cheesecake Dessert Burger has cheesecake as the patty, strawberries (tomatoes), pineapple slices (mustard), and a donut for buns.




Two burgers were not enough for the six of us. We scraped the plates clean. We were split on which dessert burger was better. It doesn't really matter because you'll have to try both anyway. Well worth the $5.95 for each.

My Friends Know Me Well

At the beginning of the month I raced in my first Xterra Triathlon in Las Vegas. I have competed in quite a few triathlons in the past few years but, an Xterra Triathlon is bit different. Substitute mountain biking for road biking and trail running for "normal" running and you have an Xterra Triathlon.

After the race we met up with some friends in Henderson for dinner. My dear friend Jill surprised me with a box of cupcakes from The Cupcakery. I reviewed The Cupcakery last year, but was excited to try a few flavors I missed.


I didn't get to try Pamela's Pina Colada before, but I found that I should never let that happen again. Pina Colada was easily my favorite cupcake of the group. Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup was my second favorite. Again, it's hard to mess up such a killer combination.


The Cupcakery has two locations in the Las Vegas area. I go to the one off Eastern in Henderson. Their cupcakes sell for $3.00. Next time you are in the Vegas area, definitely try these cupcakes. Thank you, thank you, thank you Jill for knowing that I would want a cupcake after my race.

NOTE: I'm still in Italy and should be getting to Rome today.

The Cupcakery

Wow, did we get lucky or what?! This past weekend we were driving home from Lake Mead and stopped in the Silverado Ranch Plaza in Henderson, NV for some food. I knew The Cupcakery was in this shopping center, but we arrived too late. It closed at 6:00 and it was about 30 minutes past closing time. I have heard a lot about this cupcake store so I had been very anxious to try it. This was my second attempt and I was bummed to be missing it again. My brother-in-law (my new hero!) somehow managed to get someone's attention inside the store and convinced them to sell us some cupcakes. My eyes lit up when I saw him hand me this box of assorted cupcakes!
Since there were nine of us, I cut each cupcake into four pieces. Each of us got to try four different cupcakes. We didn't know what kinds of cupcakes we got so we had to use our excellent deducing skills. When I got home I looked up the flavors on their website .

Going from left to right, top to bottom:

Chocolate Passion: This was the table favorite! Who doesn't like chocolate and more chocolate?
Chocolate Vanilla?": This was a chocolate cake with pink vanilla buttercream frosting. Very, very good.
Oh, My Gosh Ganache: Wow, wow! This was a vanilla cake cupcake topped with chocolate buttercream, and the best part was the chocolate truffle center. I wasn't expecting the truffle center, but it was so tasty! The truffle was a little overwhelming to one of the tasters because it was so heavy and it overpowered all other flavors. I really enjoyed the truffle center because it was something different and so unexpected!
Good Morning, Cupcake: I didn't try this one, but everyone else who did loved it. This yellow cake cupcake didn't have buttercream frosting but was topped with cinnamon and a maple glaze. It is a good choice for people who don't want something too sweet. It is a good mix between a muffin and a cupcake.
Mocha: This cupcake had chocolate cake with a mocha flavored buttercream frosting. One taster compared the taste of the frosting to a light, fluffy See's candy Bordeaux.
Strawberry Shortcake: I was a little hesitant to try this cupcake because fruit flavored cupcakes are not my favorite, but I was pleasantly surprised at how good this cupcake tasted! It had strawberry cake and strawberry frosting. Definitely the best strawberry cupcake I had tasted, by far! One taster disagreed with me and said that this cupcake was too sweet for him.
Chocolate Coconut: This was also another table favorite. It was yellow cake, with chocolate frosting and coconut sprinkled on top. I would say it was similar to a German chocolate cake except that the cake was yellow, not chocolate.
Lemonberry: One taster told me that this cupcake contained real blueberries and had lemon cake. He really enjoyed this one.
Pamela's Pina Colada: This was a sneaky cupcake! Since we didn't know the flavors we assumed this cupcake was lemon. One taster got a huge surprise as she discovered it was not lemon, but pina colada. She doesn't like pina colada so her vote doesn't really count. The other tasters really enjoyed this cupcake. It was a coconut cake with pineapple buttercream and coconut sprinkled on top. I wish I had tried this one!
Overall, The Cupcakery was better than I had hoped for. Lately I have tried a lot of mediocre cupcakes and was wondering if I had hit my peak of good cupcake stores. The Cupcakery renewed by hope in cupcakes! Their cupcakes had moist cake, good buttercream frosting, and a large assortment of flavors. One last note, I like how each cupcake looked unique. The frosting was applied in different ways on many of the cupcakes. Good job Cupcakery! I will be making a stop each time I travel to Lake Mead or Las Vegas.