Pumpkin Passion

In addition to my love of pumpkin, all things cute, anything with sugar, eggnog, and etsy, I also have a minor obsession with cupcakes. They perfectly combine my love of all things cute and anything with sugar and sometimes they are even pumpkin flavored. The trifecta, however, has never been successfully accomplished. I guess pumpkin cupcakes are so simple that they’re complicated.

I’ve ranted several times before about my pet peeve when it comes to pumpkin cupcakes: people treat pumpkin cupcakes like carrot cupcakes. Carrot cupcakes typically have a stronger combination of flavors; in addition to carrots, there are walnuts, raisins and cream cheese frosting. Cream cheese has a naturally sour taste that stands up well to a carrot cupcake. Cupcake shops also tend to top pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting but the flavor of the frosting over powers the delicately flavored pumpkin cake. My search for the perfect pumpkin cupcake had therefore been futile.

This year I’ve had a more successful run with pumpkin cupcake. I’ve enjoyed two cupcakes this year and both are on the same block. Soon all of Los Angeles will have two cupcake shops on every block, which is 3 less than the number of Starbucks currently on every block.

The first pumpkin cupcake I had this year was at Crumbs in Larchmont, CA. Their pumpkin cupcake was different but in a good way. The walnuts on top and the drizzle of chocolate were a nice touch. The frosting may have had some cream cheese but it was very light–if there was any at all. Maybe it was the orange color of the frosting but I kept also tasting some orange flavoring. The pumpkin cupcake was strongly flavored and moist–definitely enjoyable.

Today we went to the Village Pizzeria in Larmont (their pizza is amazing) and we walked past a new coffee shop called the Larchmont Bungalow. We could see their pastry case from the street and it appeared to be filled with yummy looking cupcakes and other sweets.

We decided to stop by on our way back to the car and take a closer look. The cafe is beautiful. There’s a counter full of orchids and a relaxing outside patio. The back half of the café is also a sit down restaurant that serves primarily brunch items and also sandwiches and salad. We saw red velvet pancakes on their menu. What did I just say?!?! YES! RED VELVET PANCAKES.

The desserts are divine looking. We got two red velvet cupcakes, a chocolate ganache, and I ordered the pumpkin cupcake. I also got a cup of coffee that was strong yet devoid of any bitterness–an absolute must try for coffee snobs.

When I came back to the office I meant to wait until at least 3:00 p.m. but that was wishful thinking and so out of the brown bag it went and into my tummy.

I have to say, the pumpkin shaped disk on top threw me a little. I wasn’t sure if it was paper, that foamy stuff used for kids’ crafts, or if it were actually edible. Sprinkles has similar looking dots on top of their cupcakes and they are simply horrible. They’re so bad that you’d think you’re eating a Tiddlywink, blah! Their hand-drawn pumpkin thing was surprisingly tasty. Not too sweet and not hard. I’d describe is as sweet and foamy but it looks a little cheesy–kind of like a grade school Thanksgiving Day art project.

The frosting is a simple buttercream dusted with cinnamon–excellent choice–and the cake is nicely spiced and plenty tasty. I think this is my favorite pumpkin cupcake that I’ve had so far. Also, it’s the LARGEST cupcake I’ve had. This sucker is huge.

A special THANK YOU! goes out to Terrye who purchased both cupcakes for me. You’re sweet!

Question of the Day: Am I the only one who doesn’t like cream cheese frosting on pumpkin cupcakes? Just curious.

Crumbs Rating: 4 out of 5
Larchmont Bungalow Rating: 5 out of 5

The Crumbs pumpkin cupcake photo is courtesy of roboppy. Thank you!

I am not admitting anything but I’ve been told that I have an obsession with cute, fat, Japanese things. Examples of this would be Hello Kitty or Studio Ghibli films. I now have something else to add to the list, Yayoi Kusama’s “Pumpkin.” I’d seen similar photos to the one above but hadn’t looked into them any further. Today, I did the follow-the-Google-trail thing and was completely WOWed that I’d missed her art work up until now. She often gets put into categories next to Takashi Murakami and Yoshitomo Nara —both of whom I love’s .possibly because a considerable amount of their work would fall into the “cute, fat, Japanese” category.

What most interests me in Kusama’s work, besides her use of pumpkins, is her life story. Kusama was born in Matsumoto, Japan in 1929. She labels herself as an “obsessive artist” covering surfaces of just about anything in polka dots.

From Wikipedia:

“Kusama has experienced hallucinations and severe obsessive thoughts since childhood, often of a suicidal nature…The vast fields of polka dots, or “infinity nets,” as she called them, were taken directly from her hallucinations…

‘One day I was looking at the red flower patterns of the tablecloth on a table, and when I looked up I saw the same pattern covering the ceiling, the windows and the walls, and finally all over the room, my body and the universe. I felt as if I had begun to self-obliterate, to revolve in the infinity of endless time and the absoluteness of space, and be reduced to nothingness. As I realized it was actually happening and not just in my imagination, I was frightened. I knew I had to run away lest I should be deprived of my life by the spell of the red flowers. I ran desperately up the stairs. The steps below me began to fall apart and I fell down the stairs straining my ankle…’

Today she lives, by choice, in a mental hospital in Tokyo, where she has continued to produce work since the mid-1970s. Her studio is a short distance from the hospital. ‘If it were not for art, I would have killed myself a long time ago,’ Kusama is often quoted as saying.”

Kusama has become a well-known pop artist here in the states. She moved to New York City at the age of 27 after having corresponded for several years with Georgia O’Keefe. She’s so well know that one of her works recently sold for over $5 million at Christies in New York, a new record for a living female artist.

The pumpkin sculpture pictured above is found at the Benesse House in Naoshima Japan, Kusama has done other large pumpkin sculptures elsewhere. I’ve been trying to find photos of an installation she did in the Japanese pavilion at the Venice Biennale back in 1993 but haven’t found much. The exhibit consisted of a mirrored room filled with tiny pumpkin sculptures in which she sat in color coordinated magician’s attire. I love this quote that seems to surround discussions about her, “Pumpkin came to represent for her a kind of alter ego or self-portrait and remains one of her signature series of works.”

In my head, I’ve already begun planning a vacation to Japan in order to see the Benesse “Pumpkin” sculpture (I’ve also wanted to visit the Studio Ghibli Museum for years now) but for now I would settle for one of these Kusama tea towels:

Oh! So very pretty!!! I have spent too much time looking up Kusama’s pumpkins today but I’m glad I did. I still can’t believe that I hadn’t heard of her before today. I kind of thought of myself as a dilettante art nerd.. Anyhow, I leave you with this video from a Kusama documentary.

The photo at the top of this post is courtesy of RubyVrooom.

Name: Pumpkin Pie
Purchased At: Hof’s Hut
Price: $5.99
Availability: Year Round

Remember my last blog about early pumpkin sightings? Well, I failed to mention that I was in such a pumpkin mood that I had to run out and buy myself some pumpkin pie from Hof’s Hut. While eating my mini pumpkin pie I couldn’t remember if I’d ever blogged about them. It turns out that I never have, which is surprising because I probably eat these more than any other pumpkin product.

There are tons of different pumpkin pies in the world but Hof’s Hut pumpkin pie is my Go-To pie when I need some comfort food. It’s not fancy. There’s no pecan crust or spices plucked directly from a tree only moments before being grated and baked into a $50 pie. Nope, it’s just your simple pumpkin pie that tastes so much better than mom’s…if your mom, like mine, made hers by taking a cardboard box home from the freezer section of the grocery store.

What makes this pumpkin pie my favorite is 3-fold:

1.) Crust: There’s plenty of yummy tasting crust because it’s a mini pie and it tastes fresh.
2.) Filling: It’s properly seasoned with enough cinnamon and nutmeg plus they serve it chilled so the texture is firm like a proper pumpkin pie should be.
3.) Topping: They give you plenty of real whipped cream if you pay a few quarters extra.

There’s simply nothing to complain about. It’s a good pie but it clearly doesn’t inspire me to scream it from the mountains or even to previously blog about it.

Rating: 5 out of 5
Mostly for its “comfort food” qualities and its simplicity.

Name: Pumpkin Pie Bars
Purchased At: Creative Cakery
Price: I forgot but it doesn’t matter because you should buy them at any price!
Availability: Seasonal

I can describe the pumpkin bars from Creative Cakery in 2 words, “THE BOMB!” Kick your pumpkin-pie-making granny out of the kitchen NOW and head over to Creative Cakery to get these instead. They are soo freaking yummy.

I went in for a one-biter tray to take over to a friend’s house (Hi Annie) and saw the sign for the pumpkin bars. Joy of all joys! Creative Cakery had something pumpkin! Woot! Woot! Everything I’ve ever tried from this place has been delicious. However, it looked fairly boring so I wasn’t sure what to expect.

Creative Cakery is small shop with just a few steps from the door to the counter. This is a buy-here-but-take-it-home-to-enjoy kinda place. While we were purchasing our items a woman was standing around eating a pumpkin bar right out of the plastic carton. She said that she couldn’t wait until she got home to eat it. She couldn’t stop raving about it and stuffing it into her mouth.

One this particular day I’d made quite a few pumpkin purchases which were mostly mediocre. I left this one uneaten until the next day. It was love at first bite! The pumpkin was perfect. It was very similar to a good pumpkin pie. The texture was creamy and the spices weren’t overpowering…just the way a good pumpkin pie should taste.

What really pushed this into the superb category was the crust. It was a gramcracker crust with lots of crushed walnuts. Clearly it was made with mass amounts of salted butter but the salty flavor worked really well. The saltiness of the crust blended perfectly with the sweetness of the pumpkin pie as did the crunchy with the creamy.

It was a really well thought out recipe. Kudos to Creative Cakery!!!

Rating: +5 out of 5