November Roundup!

Zooooom! Whoosh! What's that? That's Friandise Pastries, jamming through a VERY busy month of November. Weddings--catering gigs--Patchwork Show--Thanksgiving! Let's review...

We had the pleasure of providing our signature dessert displays for some weddings this month. Congratulations to all our November brides and grooms!

Dessert display with custom backdrop

Custom-decorated Cakes for Dessert Display

We sold tons of Kirbycakes and other Friandise Sweets at the Patchwork Festival in Culver City. The Patchwork Festival is a great way to get to know a ton of local crafters of clothes, art, jewelry, and more--including us with our irresistible Kirbycakes!

Tastiest Booth at Patchwork!

Did you know we make custom cake pops? We do! A very delighted customer took our custom cake pops to her party and they were a huge hit!

Too Cute!

We even had an order for black macarons! No problem--these were perfect for a Nightmare Before Christmas Bridal Shower.

Beautiful Black Macaron!

We mustn't forget about Thanksgiving! We had many orders for pies, tarts, cupcakes, and other desserts. Our favorite was this pear and sour cherry tart--mouthwatering!

Pear and Sour Cherry Tart

That's just a few highlights from this busy month of November. This week we're getting ready for Unique LA, which is Saturday and Sunday at the California Market Center in Downtown LA. Come on down and check it out--10% of ticket sales are donated to Inner City Arts (an amazing non-profit for kids in LA) and you won't find a better selection of locally-crafted high-quality goods.

That's all for now. Until next time, stay sweet and send us a tweet! Pin It

We are Open! And it is Grand.

Howdy folks! WOW, it looks like I got a little busy there--well, hey...Busy is our middle name.

So, who all made it out to the Grand Opening on the 15th? From the amazing turnout we had, I'd say a LOT of you! It was a huge success.

Our first guest wasted no time getting his chocolate face on! 

 Mari, The Cake Countess, wowed the crowd with her Banana Split Cupcakes. She also served up Banana Split Dessert shots--yeah!

The Cake Countess!

 We had lots of fun games and giveaways. Lisa K won a free cake for guessing the weight of the cake! Julia R. won a free dozen cupcakes in our raffle. David G. won a free Giant Cupcake Cake by out-eating the competition at our Cupcake Eating Contest!

Guests enjoying refreshments and entering contests--fun and games for all!      
 (PHOTO BY NICOLE CHARKY AT MONTROSE PATCH)

Kirby made trays and trays of mini cupcakes in Friandise colors for our Cupcake Eating Contest! Purple cake with green frosting--they were too cute, and very easy to devour.

A survivor of the Cupcake Eating Contest...before I ate it. 

 All in all it was a great day. And now we have Friandise goodies and Cake Countess sweets available in our case every day! So stop by and see us. We're at our bakery in Cordon's Monday-Friday during the day till 4 PM, and some limited weekend hours (give us a call if you would like something special!).

And so, with happy Party fun behind us, we set Kirby to work on a major project for a Nintendo Party. 2000 pieces of custom cake pops and chocolate moustaches? No problem! I'll write more about that next week.

Mario! We have the mushrooms...

So, what are your favorite Friandise goodies? We will be stocking the case with amazing goodies, especially with Halloween coming (pumpkin whoopie pie anyone?) but we are always interested in your feedback and top picks. Stop by our Facebook page or send us a tweet!

Until next week, stay sweet and be awesome.

--Jen @ Friandise Pin It

Birthday Week!

This week we celebrate the birthdays of some very special ladies to Friandise.

On Wednesday we had two birthdays. One was our very own Cheryl, a woman who is beyond special to Friandise. Not only is she Kirby's mom, but she is an invaluable part of the company. She is an amazing woman of strength and love that we just can't thank enough for all she has done and continues to do.. HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHER!

Cheryl and Kirby at Unique LA

We also wished Tina at Truly Yours Catering a very happy birthday. Tina has been amazing to work with and has really become a friend to our company. Happy Birthday to you TINA! We celebrated Tina's birthday with a special delivery of Kahlua Chip cupcakes. YUM!

Kahlua Chip Cupcakes for Tina

For Cheryl's birthday, Kirby made a Berry Delicious cake--remember the Berrylicious cupcakes we had at market a few weeks ago? Berries baked into vanilla cake with a berry vanilla buttercream. It was amazing! We also had to indulge Cheryl with some other birthday favorites- the Bananarama cupcake(banana cupcake with brown sugar buttercream-yowsa!) and of course a Maple Bacon Cupcake.

Maple Bacon Cupcake

In a few days we'll also be celebrating Mari's birthday. Mari works with us in La Crescenta, heading The Cake Countess. She is a truly talented cake designer whose work we just can't get enough of! Kirby will be making her a special Macaron Tower. Be sure to stop by her Facebook page!

One of Mari's Creations--WOW!

 What a great week to have a birthday around here! What's your favorite birthday treat? Is it a special cake? A cupcake you have been dreaming of? Tell us more on our Facebook and/or Twitter!

Till next week--stay sweet and enjoy dessert! Pin It

The Latest--where to find our sweets!

Howdy folks and welcome to another installment of the Friandise Pastries Blog!

This week, let's take a moment to review all the new things going on at Friandise. We've settled in at Cordon's Ranch Market and we will be installing our pastry case this week. That's right--you'll be able to come down and grab some goodies to go!

Walnut Brownies, anyone?

We also have some new wholesale partners--which means more places for you to find our treats. We're happy to announce we now supply Classic Kirbycakes to Jumpcut Cafe in Studio City.

Great movie-themed coffeehouse now with Kirbycakes!

.
As of today, we begin our relationship with Downbeat Cafe in Echo Park, which is soon to be known as Echo Lake Coffee Co. For now our Kirbycakes will be available there, but keep your eyes open for more Friandise Goodies to be there!

Head down for Jazz Nite and a Kirbycake!

In the USC area? Soon when you go to La Taquiza on Figueroa you can get one of our cupcakes with your Mulita! La Taquiza will be providing special Friandise cupcake flavors. The Abuelita (honorable mention at the LA Cupcake Challenge 2011) will be available soon at La Taquiza along with the new Horchata Cupcake and Dulce de Leche Cupcake! How do you say "om nom nom" en Español?

Tacos y Mulitas y Friandise Cupcakes!

We're also very excited to begin providing desserts to The Federal Bar in North Hollywood. Ever had a Jumbo Kirbycake? How about an Elvis Pie? Get on down to The Federal and try one!

Perfect place for a night out in NoHo complete with dessert

Westwood folks--our cupcakes will be back at Boba Loca when UCLA is back in session. Don't worry, cupcakes shall return! In the meantime, the boba at Boba Loca is awesome! You can find them at 10946 Weyburn Ave, across from the Bruin theater.

Cupcakes by Friandise!

That's not all...we will announce more places to get our desserts in the next couple of weeks. Be sure to stay updated by Liking our Facebook page and following us on Twitter! Want to see our goodies in your favorite local hangout? Let us know!

Till next week--stay sweet!


Pin It

To Market To Market

For quite some time Friandise was mostly a commercial bakery, serving coffee houses, restaurants, country clubs, and caterers almost exclusively. As you all know in recent times we have shifted to serve our fans more directly. One of the bests ways to connect with you all? The Farmer's Market.

A quiet moment at the market

In July of 2011 we made our debut at the Century City Farmer's Market. We have now been there for a whole year, and we look forward to it every Thursday!

Sweets at the Market

Every week we bring our three most popular cupcake flavors: Red Velvet, Vanilla Salted Caramel, and Chocolate. We also bring a special cupcake flavor every week--some favorites have been The Dizzy(oreos+peanut butter goodness!), Maple Bacon, Strawberry Lemonade...the list goes on!

Strawberry Rhubarb Cupcake

We also bring assorted other goodies like cake pops and French macarons. Our latest addition of Kirbycakes has been amazingly popular. Jennifer brings dozens of Classic, Red Velvet(Red Kirby), and Salted Caramel(Salty Kirby) to the market every week and almost always sells out.

Get 'em while we got 'em!

This month we'll be doing a really fun special! The Golden Ticket--some Kirbycakes will have a Golden Ticket inside. Just like Willy Wonka, except we won't make you diabetic with a lifetime supply of chocolate. Each Golden Ticket will entitle the bearer to a free mini dozen cupcakes!

A free mini dozen cupcakes for the Golden Ticket holders!

How exciting is that? Don't eat them all at once!

As you know, we've recently moved into our new home at Cordon's Ranch Market in La Crescenta. During the coming weeks we'll announce where we'll have another Market location in our new neighborhood. Keep updated by Liking us on Facebook and Following our Twitter.

Till next week, stay sweet and out of the heat!


Pin It

We Love Custom Cupcakes!

As you may know from reading this blog, one of our favorite things about weddings (and celebrations of all kinds, really!) is the dessert. Now, we might be a tad biased being that we're a bakery but it's true! Desserts really top off a special event and give your guests one more memory to appreciate.

A trio of custom cupcakes

The cupcake craze has not let off-and why should it? Cupcakes are versatile, delicious, fun, and customizable! One of the latest wedding trends is dessert tables and custom-decorated cupcakes are a great way to have a fun and attractive display that leaves your guests satisfied, delighted and talking about your event for days.

Cupcake with Custom Anemone Flower

A cupcake tower can be filled with cupcakes of all flavors and decorated to suit the bride's tastes and decor of the wedding. It's something as beautiful as a huge traditional cake, but updated for the modern event.

Cupcake with Custom Bowtie Decoration

This week we've chosen to share some of our custom cupcake designs for formal events. These designs are perfect for a black-and-white wedding or any elegant event.

Cupcake with Custom Quilted Decoration

Custom-decorated cupcakes do require quite a bit of advance notice (we love things to be perfect and with these decorations, perfection takes some time), so give us a ring if you're looking to make a dessert display truly memorable!

As always, stay updated on our latest news at our Facebook page and Twitter! And hey, we love to hear from you--so tell us your dream custom cupcake!

Pin It

Bon Voyage, Kirby!

This week, we prepare to send our Owner and Pastry Chef Kirby off to Italy!

One of the many gorgeous views -- pic from Culture Discovery

Wow, Italy? That's right, our very own Kirby will be getting back to her Italian roots as she heads to Soriano to be a guest chef at Culture Discovery Vacations. She will be teaching guests how to create sweet culinary delights at the gorgeous 18th century villa in Soriano. Culture Discovery is an amazing life experience for all who attend. Founded in 2006, they offer cooking vacations that steep the attendee in the lush culinary culture of Italy including Tuscany, Umbria, and Sicily. Now they add the Kirby touch--lucky vacationers! (And not too bad of a gig for Kirby, right?)

All they need is Kirby! (pic from Culture Discovery)

Kirby is no stranger to teaching. She has done numerous classes at Whole Foods, showing customers how to create delicous tarts, bars, and more. Whenever she does a class at Whole Foods, the space is packed with customers eager to learn her tricks and tips.

Time for a class on tarts!

So that's all for this week. We're so excited to send our Kirby off to Italy! Hopefully she'll bring us back some Limoncello. Have a great time, Kirby! We'll miss you, hurry home!

*What pastry classes would you like to see Kirby teach? Sound off on our Facebook page or tweet us!



Pin It

Summer is coming, are you ready to get your sweet on?

Summer is upon us once again. For bakeries this can be a very busy time as we enter what they call "high wedding season". At Friandise, that certainly fits the bill. Kirby has been booking weddings left and right. (Don't worry brides, she still has some room on the calender!)

Last month we had the pleasure to do some weddings at one of our favorite venues, The Oviatt Penthouse. It is a very unique venue in Downtown Los Angeles and we've gotten to create some equally unique cakes for it. Here are a couple we enjoyed working on recently:

 Wedding cake at the Oviatt Penthouse

 Wedding cake with streetlamp accent at Oviatt Penthouse

Ah summer...it's a great time for any outdoor celebration. We had the pleasure of making some wonderful cakes and sweets for parties and gifts.

 Custom-decorated birthday cake

Custom-decorated baseball cakepops for Eastbound & Down

In closing, we'd like to share some good news:

We also had the joy of incorporating a move into our busy schedule. That's right, Friandise has a new home in La Crescenta, CA. We are now at the in-store bakery at Cordon's Ranch Market on Honolulu Avenue. In the coming weeks we'll be offering our petite sweets at Cordon's. You'll soon be able to stop in and shop for the best treats in town. In the meantime, we are taking special orders for cakes, cupcakes, macarons, cakepops, Kirbycakes* and more! Our menu is right here.


*What's a Kirbycake, you ask? Check back next week!

Pin It

New to Blogging

Kirby here of Friandise Pastries, Inc. I am  so very new to this whole world of blogging and internet networking, so bear with me here. I have created this blog to share all of my company's wonderful work and the good times we have doing it. Stay tuned for pictures and little blurbs... and maybe even some specials for our followers.

Pin It