Los Angeles Dessert Tour: (I strongly strongly recommend) Porto’s Bakery August 25, 2009
Posted by Dorothy in bread, cake, chocolate, cookies, cupcakes, dessert tour, information, sweet eats.Tags: burbank desserts, cheap bakeries, cuban cuisine, cuban desserts, glendale desserts, los angeles bakery, los angeles dessert tour, los angeles desserts, porto's bakery
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- Dulche de Leche Napoleon
Porto’s Bakery is my newest love and obsession! This place is so super wonderful; I have no idea why it took me so long to find it! Located in the heart of Burbank or Glendale (there are two locations), Porto’s is just a quick (and very worthy) drive away from L.A., and a definite dessert stop in Los Angeles. I recently visited the location in Burbank, and had the time of my life. The place is almost as big as a Whole Foods store, and packed to the max with cakes, pastries, desserts, and customers! This dessert heaven is completely family-owned and operated, and all the goods are made fresh at the premises.
Exotic Red Velvet Cupcakes
Surprisingly, Porto’s is actually a Cuban restaurant and features a wide variety of (delicious) Cuban sandwiches, snacks, and drinks along with traditional Cuban desserts and exotic pastries. Even though they are a Cuban bakery, they still have a great selection of the regular cakes/pastries/desserts we are used to. There is also a huge selection of fresh baked breads and rolls, too. I’ve never had real Cuban cuisine myself, but a customer standing in front of me in line told me Porto’s had the most authentic Cuban cuisine she had ever had in California – and yes, she was Cuban.
Delicious Banana Chips
Now, I never write about real food because I don’t really eat it, as I just live off dessert, but the real food at Porto’s was SO good that I am going to mention it. I had a vegetable sandwhich which was perfectly cheesy and delicious, but the thing I really want to talk about are the banana chips that came with the sandwhich. These are supersuperthin slices of banana that are freshly fried into crispy banana chips – also know as plantain chips. Soooooogood! They are the perfect thinness and perfect crispiness and they even come with a delicious dipping sauce. I suggest you order a large side and enjoy!
On to the best part now – the desserts! Porto’s is super fun because it has two extremely long glass display cases that stretch the entire length of the store completely filled with all the sweets you are craving. A lot of the sweets feature the exotic flavors of guava, mango, pineapple, apricot, and coconut which you don’t usually see in desserts at traditional bakeries. Here’s a small sample of what they have to offer in those wonderful display cases: Opera Cake, Apricot Empanada, Cheese Roll (sweet cream cheese filled pastry; their best-seller), Tiramisu, Guava Pie, Napoleons, Mariner Cake, Red Velvet Cupcakes, Tres Leches Cake, Raspberry Pudding…
Mango Turnover
admist all this wonder, I finally settled on six sweets to try:
Coconut Strudel: my favorite item from Porto’s! This was so coconutty and sweet, I ate half of my strudel and ran inside to buy more 
Dulche de Leche Pound Cake: good, like caramel pound cake from anywhere else. The only average-tasting item I had at Porto’s all day.
Dulche de Leche Napoleon (I was having a caramely day): soooo good! The layers were flaky perfection, the buttercream filling was delicious, and the dulche de leche definitely filled my caramel cravings.
Chocolate Eclair: this was pretty average as far as eclairs go.
Mango Turnover: delicious! Mango in a turnover is genius.
Refugiado (guava and cheese pastry): omg so good! I have never had guava in a pastry before, but I have totally been missing out! Similar to a raspberry and cheese strudel, but more tangy. The tang compliments the sweet cheese perfectly.
Refugiado (guava and cheese strudel)
Next time I go, I am definitely going to stock up on Coconut Strudels and Refugiados. I also want to try their Cinnamon Rolls, which are bigger than my head, their best-selling Cheese Pastry, and the Tres Leches Cake.
Doesn’t Porto’s sound amazing?! Well, I didn’t even tell you the best part yet – the PRICES! I have never been to a dessert place with prices this good. My favorite Coconut Strudels are only 85 cents each, and $7.40 for a dozen. The delicious Refugiadosare only 65 cents each! Most cheesecakes/sliced cakes/Napoleons are only $2.50. The cheapest I’ve ever had for a Napoleon outside of Porto’s was $6.50! The cinnamon rolls that are bigger than my head are $1.50! Everything is super worth it.
After that life altering dessert trip, I have added a new life goal to my list of life goals: to try every sweet at Porto’s Bakery! Yay, this is going to be so much fun! If you’re planning on going, be prepared to park far away and wait in long lines as the place is ridiculously popular and always packed and there is no such thing as big parking lots in or around LA. Porto’s Bakery has two locations to satisfy your sweet tooth:
Glendale Location
315 North Brand Blvd.
Glendale, CA 91203
tel. (818) 956-5996
fax (818) 956-0696
Map it
Burbank Location
3614 W Magnolia Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91505
(818) 846-9100
Map it
So if you live near LA, go! Now!! I’ll see you there
Dessert Obsessed Recipe Index is Up! August 18, 2009
Posted by Dorothy in bread, cake, chocolate, cookies, cupcakes, vegan.Tags: banana cookies, brownies, chocolate chip cheesecake, dessert recipes, lemon pound cake
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I went through the entire blog and indexed all the recipes featured on the blog so far for your convience. Just click the ‘recipe index’ tab on top or click here. I’ve got everything from cupcakes, muffins, cinnamon rolls, chocolate chip cookies, frostings, and even vegan dessert recipes there. I only post tried and true recipes here, so check them out!
Here are some of my personal favorites:
Coconut, Banana, and Chocolate - Tropical Brownies
Kahlua Cheesecake Swirled Brownies
Best Ever Banana Butterscotch Cookies
Lemon Sunday Pound Cake
Cinnamon Hazelnut Rolls
Super Chocolate Chippery Cheesecake
New York City Dessert Tour – Part 5 March 17, 2009
Posted by Dorothy in bread, cake, chocolate, cupcakes, information, sweet eats.10 comments
the desserts: pumpkin scone, buttermilk scone, blueberry scone, mocha chocolate chip cake, assorted cookies
tea party goodies
the assessment: Tea parties are so fun! Especially at Alice’s Tea Cup! We had a typical tea party composed of skirts, headbands, raised pinkies, exotic teas, tiny sandwiches and wonderful desserts.
Inspired by Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, this shop is absolutely darling. The walls feature fabulous quotes from the book (one of my all-time favorite books, but the way), and depictions of Alice herself! My favorite part of the decor were the swinging doors that led to the kitchen with keyhole shaped windows, reminiscent of the door Alice goes through in the story!
And the desserts! Everything was supercute, and they had the most amazing scones I’ve ever had! They have all sorts of creative scones, like blackberry coconut, and the regular flavors, like buttermilk. I don’t usually like scones, because I feel like I’m eating bread and not dessert, but these scones did not taste like any other scone I’ve ever had before! They were perfectly moist and soft, and the texture was more like cake than a biscuit (like scones I’m used to). They still weren’t very sweet, but I didn’t miss the sugar! The mocha chocolate chip cake was also delicious, and had the perfect blend of chocolate and mocha. Deeeelicious!
Our supercute tea party outfits (I'm dressed as Alice!)
I’m Back!! with Cinnamon Hazelnut Rolls January 9, 2009
Posted by Dorothy in bread, chocolate.Tags: almonds, brunch, chocolate, cinnamon, cinnamon roll, dough, hazelnut, nutella, pastry, streusel, walnuts, wordpress
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Did you miss me?
I haven’t blogged in forever! I’ve been baking, but too lazy to blog. Blogging takes too much thinking! I don’t have enough brain cells to spare after finals.
And this is weird – WordPress has changed their layout since I’ve been gone! Now I don’t know how to use it anymore 
Oh well, better figure out how to use it so I can blog again. And I can do just that while enjoying one (or more) of these Cinnamon Hazelnut Rolls!
These are probably my favorite things that I have posted on this blog! These rolls are reminiscent of a cinnamon roll or a sticky bun, but much more fun! These combine cinnamon, chocolate, and nuts all rolled up in a flaky croissant-like dough!
I always thought cinnamon rolls, flaky pastries, and their like would be really hard to make and time consuming. But these were so simple! I’m so glad I tried. Now I can make these all the time! YAY!!!
The filling is sooo amazing. Nutella and cinnamon work so well together! And the crushed nuts in the filling gives the pastry a nice crunch. I’m in love with these!
Cinnamon Hazelnut Rolls (these deserve a better name)
Delicious Flaky Dough:
3/4 c warm milk
1 package (1/4 oz) active dry yeast
2 large eggs
2 egg yolks
3/4 c white granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 c all-purpose flour
1 stick unsalted butter, cubed
Pour warm milk into a small bowl. Sprinkle yeast and pinch of sugar over milk; let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. In a seperate bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs, and egg yolks. Add the egg mixture to the yeast mixture and whisk to combine. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine flour and salt. Add egg mixture, and beat on low speed until almost all the flour is incorporated, about 30 seconds. Change to the dough hook. Add the butter, and beat until flour mixture and butter are completely incorporated, and a smooth, soft dough that’s slightly sticky when squeezed is formed, about 6 minutes. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead dough. Place dough in a butter bowl and cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let sit for at least one hour to rise.
Make egg wash while you wait for the dough to rise. After the dough is ready, punch back the dough, and transfer to a generously floured surface. Roll out the dough into a 1/8 in. thick square. Brush edges (1/4 in. border) with egg wash. Fill the square with filling.
Filling:
6 Tbsp Nutella (adjust according to how much Nutella you want inside your pastries)
1/2 c chopped nuts (I used chopped pecans and slivered almonds – again, adjust for how crunchy you want your pastries to be)
1.5 Tbsp cinnamon
Spread Nutella evenly over the dough, leaving a 1/4 in. border. Sprinkle with the cinnamon. Sprinkle nuts over the Nutella and cinnamon. Roll dough up tightly – seal with Nutella. Cut into 12 rolls, and place in a 9×13 lightly greased pan (or use a lightly greased baking sheet). Generously sprinkle tops of the rolls with streusel (below). Bake at 350 degrees for 20 – 25 minutes, until light golden brown.
Egg wash:
1 egg, beaten
1 Tbsp heavy cream
Beat together to make egg wash.
For the streusel topping:
1 stick butter
3/4 c sugar
3/4 c all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp cinnamon
Combine all the ingredients together.
Pumpkin Spice Bread October 21, 2008
Posted by Dorothy in bread.Tags: bread, fall, october, pumpkin, williams sonoma
3 comments
Its mid-October, and we’ve had a couple of chilly days here in Southern California, which means it is officially time to start baking with pumpkin! I love baking with pumpkin because it lets me pretend my desserts are healthy. Pumpkin is a fruit, after all. And its superhealthy. Pumpkin is very very high in vitamin A, low in calories, and full of fiber! And its so yummy! My first dessert with pumpkin this season was a generic pumpkin spice bread. I love pumpkin spice bread, and I’ve been craving it since Williams-Sonoma started putting out samples of their pumpkin bread mix (delicious, by the way) in the beginning of October, so I had to make some of my own!
Pumpkin Spice Bread
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
3/4 c sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 cup pumpkin puree (I just used canned)
1/4 c oil
1/4 c applesauce
2 eggs
1/4 c milk
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin spice
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9×5 loaf pan with cooking spray. Sift together the dry ingredients - except the pumpkin spice. Thoroughly combine the wet ingredients together, and stir in the pumpkin spice. Combine the dry ingredients and wet ingredients together, but do not overmix. Bake for 55 – 65 minutes. Enjoy!
This cake was soft, moist, and delicious, but a bit sweet, so I would cut out some of the sugar the next time I make it.
