Sprinkles Begone: Kiss My Bundt Is Kicking Butt

Almost everyone loves cupcakes. That perfect portion of cake, complete with frosting and sometimes a little decoration is so self-contained, so perfect, and so manageable. Who cares that some can down THREE of them in a sitting - they can still claim that, oh, it was "just" a cupcake. In Los Angeles the cupcake fad has been upon us for awhile and little cupcake boutique bakeries selling "designer cupcakes" have been sprouting up all over L.A. for some time selling overpriced, very pretty, and sometimes also delicious little morsels. The most well known of these is Sprinkles, which has been featured on multiple TV shows and maintains a continuous line of celebs, tourists and locals, patiently standing on the sidewalk in front of the upper crust Beverly Hills address, waiting for the chance to turn over an exorbitant amount of cash for a red velvet - or maybe a chai tea cupcake.

While I do like Sprinkles' red velvet cupcake (although I think it is too crumbly now that I've been shown the way), and I've also sampled Yummy cupcakes (tasty, too) and Crumbs (too many ridiculously sugary toppings, in my opinion), all of them might as well shut their doors now that Kiss My Bundt has come on the scene. As the name suggests, Kiss My Bundt is launching a one store attack on the cupcake fad, attempting to replace it with, you guessed it, BUNDT CAKES. And wow. They single handedly may just win the battle.

Chrysta Wilson is the founder and owner of the shop and can be found there most any day of the week baking up her own perfected recipes for mouthwatering, moist, tender, light and delicious cakes which you can get in three sizes. Of course the normal sized large bundt cake is available (or can be special ordered). There's the baby bundt (the size of probably 1.5-2 cupcakes) and mini preemie bundts, which are just a mouthful. Topped with any number of rich and creamy homemade frostings or perfect glazes, and these things are really worth writing home about.

Chrysta has about a zillion flavors that she can make, though she generally only has about 10 to 15 flavors available on any given day (you can special order a large sized bundt cake or a minimum of 3 baby bundts of any flavor at any time - just give them four hours notice). Flavors include red velvet, German chocolate, milk chocolate, luscious lemon drop, carrot, 7-Up pound cake, and strawberry lemonade, to name a few. There's also a myriad of hand whipped and stirred frostings, glazes and syrups adorning the tops including lemon glaze, cream cheese frosting, chocolate ganache, etc. The full menu is on their website. Drool trays recommended. Or at least a napkin. Every single flavor that I've tried has been consistently amazing - perfectly moist, perfectly flavored, perfectly divine, but my personal faves are the red velvet or the luscious lemon with my own requested additions of cream cheese frosting and coconut (yes, I know it comes with glaze, but just entertain my absolute gluttony and add cream cheese frosting and coconut shavings too - PLEASE, thank you). Bonus neato: Chrysta offers baking classes too -check the Kiss My Bundt blog here or call for deets.

Though they are definitely lacking in the corporate and institutional smoothness of Sprinkles (the labels look like they were printed out on a home printer), and they don't yet have that "I'm better than you because I have-or-am-at SPRINKLES" attitude, they do have the charm of a local "mom and pop" (or maybe just "mom") business and they have cake that will send you to the moon with one bite. Or at least send you to the corner of 3rd and Crescent Heights over and over and over again (free valet parking in back).

Downtown Los Angeles: Gigi & Stacey Are Ready To Fix All Of Your Broken Jewelry, Design You Some New Styles And Repair Your Discarded Time Pieces.

It's happened to all of us. We reach for our favorite necklace, the chain breaks, and we have a moment of disbelief followed by an extended period of feeling naked, and then we discard it in a drawer along with half a dozen other broken chains, bracelets, earrings with missing backs, and watches that no longer keep time. Every once in awhile we wonder what to do with all of those almost-but-not-quite-functional items that used to be our wardrobe mainstays but now have absolutely no use. We contemplate fixing them, but, not knowing where to go, we leave them abandoned in the drawer in their sad, snarled and tarnished state.

No more. If you live or work anywhere near downtown Los Angeles then you have absolutely no more excuses. Gigi and Stacey's watch and jewelry repair, located in the top floor of Macy's at 7th and Flower (look for the long glass counter tucked in the back of the housewares department), is your answer. They are chatty and friendly and extremely knowledgeable about gems, jewelry repair and design, precious metals and stones, and watch repair. You can take them your halted watches and broken and/or tarnished chains, bracelets and earrings and they will return them to you repaired and polished to perfection. Their prices are so reasonable that you can even afford to bring them your broken costume jewelry for repair. They've fixed chains for me, re-strung beads, soldered ring bands that had broken from too much wear, repaired earrings, and of course replaced the batteries to my watches. They also can special order particular chains that you may want, charm bracelets, etc., as well as help you with jewelry design. For example, I had set of pearl earrings but no pearl pendant. Gigi and Stacey matched the pearls with one to be used for the pendant, paired it with a chain, and also suggested a neck wire to use for variety in place of the chain (it looks fabulous). Additionally, they design gorgeous jewelry and have some of it for sale in their shop, all of it very reasonably priced and extremely high quality.

But it doesn't end there. Have something that are coveting from a retailer? You can also bring them photos of things that you like and they will make it for you at a fraction of what you would pay a retailer. Yay!

You can find one or both of them at the counter (you might have to ding the bell on the counter once to get their attention) on Monday through Friday between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. and Saturdays 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Telephone: 213-628-9311 X2220. And if you live nowhere near Los Angeles (and don't have a little messenger you can send with your broken bag of accessories), they are so nice and accommodating, they just might consider allowing you to mail them your items for repair. It never hurts to ask!

Photo courtesty of Freedigitalphotos.net. Gigi and Stacey's designs are MUCH cooler!