Tag Archives: New Jersey

Vegan Cupcakes at Sweet Avenue Bake Shop

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Quite some time ago, on the same day I visited Rutherford Pancake House (a fantastic diner with a whole slew of vegan options), I also made a stop at Sweet Avenue Bake Shop.  

Sweet Avenue Bake Shop is NJ’s premier vegan cupcakery.  Starting off as a mail order only operation in 2006, Sweet Avenue opened their brick and mortar store in August of 2007.  They boast six varieties of everyday cupcakes, and a changing menu of special cupcakes every day of the week, and also offer gluten-free and soy-free options.

Upon entering the shop, my brain knew that everything was vegan… we had looked it up online prior, and Happy Cow was telling us that it was vegan.  However, there was no mention of “vegan” anywhere in the shop.  Being the paranoid vegan that I am, I had to ask, just to make sure.  I have mixed feelings about places not outwardly displaying the word “vegan” on their items.  On one hand, if the product is delicious, you almost don’t want to scare people off by labelling it vegan.  Sadly, it is widely accepted in the non-vegan world that anything vegan is going to taste like cardboard.  Of course, us vegans who live and breathe this lifestyle know this isn’t the case!  On the other hand, by not labelling it vegan, then having someone try it and letting them discover how delicious it is without their preconceived notions, leads to a “mind blow” on the part of the non-vegan.  That is the ultimate compliment for any vegan cook/chef/baker.

It was hard to choose, but we picked four scrumptious cupcakes to bring home to try.

Clockwise, Little Cutie (chocolate cake with chocolate Bavarian cream filling and chocolate & strawberry frosting), Sexy Sadie (Red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting), Snowball (vanilla cake with coconut frosting, topped with shredded coconut) and lavender lemon (lemon cake filled with lemon curd and lavender frosting).

Melissa and I each shared them all so we could try every single one of them!  We both had our personal favorites.  Here are mine, from least favorite to most favorite.

Sexy Sadie, the red velvet, looked delicious, but ended up being my least favorite.  Maybe I’m just not a huge red velvet fan, preferring bolder & stronger flavor combinations.

The Little Cutie was great!  I loved the chocolate filling, and I mean really… who doesn’t love a chocolate cupcake.  Melissa chose this one as her favorite.  This one came in second for me, but only because the next two just totally and completely delighted me!

The lavender lemon and Snowball tied for my favorite!  First of all, the Snowball is my ultimate in cake — anything with coconut and frosting with yellow/vanilla cake has me sold.  Bonus points for extra moist cake.  It’s my favorite combo.  The lavender lemon was such a unique combination for me, I had never had a cupcake like this.  The frosting was delicious – not too sweet, not too floral, and the filling also was the perfectly lemony lemon curd.  I died for this cupcake.

All in all, I was so pleased.  I am grateful that there is a vegan bakery within a reasonable distance from my home, and that it serves as a great vegan ambassador in its own home neighborhood.

Have you had a vegan cupcake from Sweet Avenue?  Which one is your favorite?  Where have you had the best vegan cupcake?

Vegan food… at a diner?!

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Right around the block from my apartment building is the Brownstone Pancake Factory.  It’s a place I used to frequent multiple times a month, particularly for weekend breakfast.  However, since taking on a vegan lifestyle, I haven’t been there in almost a year.  Diners are often one of the hardest places to eat for a vegan, usually having to stick to salads only.  And everyone knows you don’t go to the diner for a salad!

But now, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have the Rutherford Pancake House in Rutherford, New Jersey!

Less than a thirty minute car ride from Jersey City, Rutherford Pancake House offers an entire breakfast menu with vegan options.  Their breakfast menu includes vegan pancakes, vegan CHALLAH (freshly made in-house!) french toast, a variety of tofu scrambles, vegan scones, vegan Belgian waffles, vegan sausage… its everything a vegan could want in a breakfast menu.  Their lunch/dinner menu also has a variety of vegan options including a vegan seitan cheese steak with Daiya cheese, a whole vegan-ized Tex-Mex section, seitan Marsala & Parmesan, and veggie burgers.

We went smack in the middle of brunch hour on a saturday – just about noon-ish – and were seated right away.  We had previewed the menu online, so I kind of had an idea of what I might want.  But first, I was delighted to be able to order coffee with soy milk at a diner!  I wouldn’t have to drink my coffee black!

I placed a kind of gluttonous order –  vegan pancakes AND the seitan cheese steak.  I just had to have both!  Melissa opted for the vegan Challah french toast.  They make everything to order, so it takes a little bit longer to get your food than a traditional diner, but that is totally OK with me.  I appreciate that extra effort, particularly if you are offering vegan options.  The other thing I appreciate is that they seem to have really educated their staff about what it is to be vegan.  Our waitress, who had only been there a month, had “never heard about vegan” until she started working there.  She was quick to assure us that they take precautions for folks who order vegan menu items.  I think that is absolutely fantastic.

Finally!  Our food arrived.

I accidentally dug into the pancakes before taking a photo… I was really hungry.  Mel & I ended up sharing the pancakes, and I gave her a couple bites of my cheese steak, but I was kind of hogging it.  It was so totally yum.  It was everything I had remembered a cheese steak to be, but without the sadness of meat included in every bite.  And I ate every single bit of it.  The pancakes were exactly what I was looking for as well… nice and fluffy!  I had a bite of the vegan Challah french toast as well, and it was also very fluffy, cinnamon-y and delicious.

When we went up to the counter to pay, I asked if the gentleman working the register was the owner – he was!  I thanked him and his GM (also at the counter) for making such an effort to include the vegan community.  He said he has people who come far and wide to come and eat at his diner, and now I understand why.  I told them that this diner is a great example and that I hope more establishments catch on.  After all, us in the vegan crowd WILL travel for pancakes – and other delicious vegan fare.