Sprinkles Ice Cream Opens in Orange County TODAY!

The day has finally arrived! Sprinkles Ice Cream shop is scheduled to open in Newport Beach today! Wahoo! Now all of us Orange County fans don't have to drive out to Beverly Hills to get a fix. If you remember, I reviewed them last August. That Red Velvet ice cream will never be forgotten. So delicious! If you haven't been yet, now's your chance. Go!

Bake You Happy Opens Second Location

Why do all the great cupcake shops have to be so far away? I guess distance makes the heart grow fonder, right?

Bake You Happy made their big debut on Cupcake Wars two years ago. And they won! (Check out my post-show interview here.) They used their prize money to open up shop in Valencia, CA in February 2011.

Looks like business has been good because location #2 recently opened in Canyon Country. My friend happened to be in the area and picked up some goodies for me because she knows I LOVE Bake You Happy. The brown butter cupcake she brought me was out of this world, as knew the cookies too!

Anyone want to pick up some cupcakes for me?! Yum!

Sweet & Saucy Shop Moves its Long Beach Location

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More Sweet & Saucy Shop news! Melody has announced that the Long Beach location is moving to...Long Beach. Yes, you heard me right. Sweet & Saucy Shop is moving to a permanent location in Bixby Knolls. Bigger shop, more parking spots, and decorating classes! I love seeing success for one of my favorite cupcake shops ever. Good luck to them!

P.S. The Newport Coast location is staying right where it is. Yay!

Dolcissimo Bakeshop Re-Opens in Orange County

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One of my first reviews as The Cupcake Activist was Dolcissimo Bakeshop in Costa Mesa, CA.  I can't believe it's been 4-1/2 years since then! I've tasted thousands of cupcakes and written over 100 reviews since that first one.

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Not long after that review, Dolcissimo moved to Chino Hills and I never re-visited their shop. Well, the good news is they've opened a second location and it's just down the street from me! Dolcissimo Bakeshop has expanded to the Main Place Mall in Santa Ana, CA. And it looks like they've expanded their menu too! Cookies, mini cheesecakes, macarons, dessert shots, and of course lots of cupcakes! I'll be paying them a visit this week to check out their new store.

Dolcissimo Bakeshop

2800 N. Main St.

Santa Ana, CA 92705

Sprinkles Expands to Chicago

Photo: Sprinkles

I am lucky enough to live within 20 miles of a Sprinkles store. And now the people of Chicago are fortune to have access to Sprinkles cupcakes too. Sprinkles Cupcake opened their newest location in Chicago yesterday. In honor of the new location, Sprinkles is donating $25,000 to Hope Hospital and the Ronald McDonald House. That's pretty cool of them.

When I spoke with Candace Nelson, owner of Sprinkles, a few months ago, she said Sprinkles will be opening five locations by the end of the year. Where do you want Sprinkles to open next?

Magnolia Bakery opens in LA

The cupcake shop that supposedly started the whole cupcake craze has finally made it to LA! Magnolia Bakery opened their doors to their first west coast store last Saturday. But will it survive?

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As much as I wished I could have been there for opening day, from the sounds of it, maybe it was a good thing I wasn't. Yelp already has 12 reviews about Magnolia Bakery and they aren't off to a great start. The complaints range from long lines (well, that's expected on opening day...duh!) to no parking.

Photo: Daily Candy

But what about the cupcakes? Plenty of complaints about those too. Too dry, too sweet, and vanilla frosting on red velvet is a bad idea ("felt like I was eating a sponge"). Ouch!

"Ugh......just waited in line for the worst red velvet cupcake I have ever tasted.... I wont even go into the rest of the stuff I tasted, no flavor." --Tony S.

"I've been to this bakery in NYC and was excited to visit the one in Los Angeles. I went on opening day and was quite impressed. The cupcakes are very good... not the best I've ever had, but better than others."--Laurie W.

Photo: LA Times

Can a cupcake shop survive on it's "famous" reputation alone? Probably not, but I'm guessing that Magnolia Bakery still has a few tweaks to work out before we see who they really are. But with lots of great cupcake shops in the LA area, only the amazing ones will survive.

Magnolia Bakery
8389 W. 3rd St.
Los Angeles, CA 90048
323-951-0636
www.magnoliabakery.com

New Cupcake Shop Openings

It's always exciting to hear about new cupcake shops opening, especially when they are close to home. See where two of my favorite shops are expanding to and where the newest cupcake shop in southern California will be.

Photo: SusieCakes

SusieCakes has opened a new bakery in northern California, Greenbrae to be exact. The new bakery is having a grand opening party on Saturday, January 23 from 11am-4pm. There will be prizes, sample, face-painting, ballon artist, and music. SusieCakes in Greenbrae will also be doing a Golden Ticket Contest, similar to the contest they did in Newport Beach during the summer.

SusieCakes
310 Bon Air Center
Greenbrae, CA 94904

Photo: Crumbs

Crumbs Bake Shop has opened a new shop in Ridgewood, NJ. The new shop opened on Monday, January 18. Although this shop is far away from me, it's still interesting to see where cupcake shops are expanding to.

Crumbs Bake Shop
123 E. Ridgewood Ave.
Ridgewood, NJ 07450

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Thanks to Cupcakes Take the Cake, I discovered that a new cupcakery will be opening in southern California. Cupcake Land is located in La Habra, CA. Their website is under construction so I don't have much info about them, besides their address.

Cupcake Land
1951 E. La Habra Blvd., Ste. C
La Habra, CA 90631