Cubes Baking Company Review - Sweet milk and square cakes

This week's review is Cubes Baking Company! I discovered Cubes by chance the first time when walking through Wallingford, on my way to meet up with friends. I am especially weak for desserts that feature milk as a primary ingredient and flavor. Creme Brulee, Flans, and Tres Leches are all high on the list. So their signboard promising tres leches in many flavors lured me in! Everything they make is delightfully square and boasts amazing flavors. The storefront hasn't been open long, just over two years. They've already won a number of awards, including a win on Food Network's Winner Cake All!  I'm so excited to share them with you.

The Cubes Storefront!

Up first from the bakery are what I'm most excited to share! They offer several flavors of Tres Leches every day they are open. They offer unique flavors as well as more standard ones. Some of the other offerings I've had include Matcha and Mexican Mocha. I've also seen flavors like Cheesecake, which I will definitely be back to try!

For today's review, I selected a personal favorite in Dulce de Leche, and a more simple Strawberry flavor I'd not yet had.

On the left: Dulce de Leche, featuring dulce de leche blended with three milk blend, a whipped frosting, and drizzled with more delicious dulce on top! On the right: Fresa (Strawberry), loaded with strawberry flavored three milk blend, a strawberry whip frosting, and freeze-dried strawberries on top!

 Tres leches are, traditionally, a sponge cake soaked in a mixture made of heavy cream, evaporated milk, and condensed milk. Sometimes butter is in the cake mix, leading to a heavier and denser texture.  This leads to a moist almost pudding-like texture to the cake. The frosting is usually a whipped cream. Cubes' recipes seem to be of the lighter variety in general, which I'm a fan of.

Dulce de Leche is my favorite flavor on the menu. The caramel-like flavor imparted by the dulce de leche they mix in is divine. The cake is so loaded with milk it almost melts away on the tongue. I ate probably a third of the container for lunch the day I picked these up...

Strawberry is wonderful if you'd prefer a lighter affair. I found the flavor of the milk blend to be slightly more milk-heavy strawberry milk. The tartness of those bites with freeze-dried berries added a delicious contrast to the mild flavor! If you'd like a more mild experience, but want to be more adventurous than traditional, give it a try!

Last but not least today, I wanted to feature their well-known Purple Suede cake! At Cubes, they offer CubeCakes instead of cupcakes; mini squares of the full-size cakes they offer for special order. Purple suede is their twist on red velvet, topped with a delicious lavender and lemon zest cream cheese frosting. The cake offers a moist and dense texture, and the frosting is -just- sweet enough, so as to not bury the flavor of the cake! They are delightful, so definitely pick one up if you stop in!

If you'd like to visit Cubes, you can do so by checking the location tag at the end of this post! I've also gone back an added locations for all the previous posts, to make it even easier to visit my recommendations!

Have you tried any of my stops yet? Got somewhere you think I -need- to try? Be sure to let me know on social media or comment on this week's post!

Fuji Bakery Review - French Style, Japanese Flavor!

For this week's post, I wanted to revisit somewhere very close to my heart! Whenever I can, I try to stop by for one of Fuji Bakery's many delicious offerings. I have been a customer since their location in International District first opened, and have yet to find an item I didn't find fantastic. Fuji has been open since 2010, and today has a total of three locations; International District, Interbay, and Bellevue.

To pick up the assortment of treats featured in today's review, I chose to make a stop into the Interbay location. It was conveniently located along my route to work, with only a short walk involved. It also gave me a chance to check out their recently updated storefront!

Photo Credit: Fuji Bakery Facebook Page

Fuji Bakery's specialties are pastries and bread featuring French techniques, but often with unheard-of flavor combinations in traditional french desserts. The flavor profiles themselves feature Japanese ingredients like Pollock Roe (Mentaiko or Tarako), Matcha, or even Japanese Pumpkin (Kabocha) depending on the time of year! I will likely write a second post on Fuji's October offerings, as they are some of my favorite seasonal Fall desserts. (That writeup may also include some personal favorites of mine I left off this visit)

Clockwise from top left: Beef Curry Bun, Brownie, Canelé, Blueberry & Lemon Croissant, Fraise

The Beef Curry Bun is a signature item of the menu! The bun itself features their soft, slightly chewy dough, filled with a delicious house-made curry featuring ground beef. The entire thing is breaded and deep-fried, leading to a slightly crunchy exterior which pairs so well with the soft savory insides. I've had this many times, and still, find myself ordering it often when in stock. It is a flavor that is hard to get tired of!

The Fraise is one of Fuji Bakery's best-selling items on the menu. This item is made using their flaky and crispy croissant dough. It features custard and milk cream and is topped with lightly glazed sliced strawberries. The milk cream used in this item is also on the menu in other items, and it is remarkably good. One bite of this is enough to tell you why it's so popular!

CANELÉS! There are very few places that I have discovered in the city that make these wondrous little beauties. The batter is a very loose soft texture, which is poured into the molds of special pans designed for them, and then is returned to bake in the oven. This produces their crispy burnt-caramel shells on the outside and a delightfully squishy and spongy, almost custard-like inside. Fuji Bakery's version of the treat has a faint flavor of orange, which I love. Even cold they are wonderfully crisp still.

The difficult-to-find Fuji Bakery brownie! These are a rare treat when you find them at a location; usually, the brownies are part of their catering menu, and not part of the regular cafe lineup. If you prefer a fudgy brownie to chewy, definiely don't miss these if you see them! The chocolate flavor is rich, but not overwhelming since it's not made with extremely dark chocolate. It's also chock full of almond slivers, which provide a delightful crunch with each bite.

Last but not least on the tasting plate from this visit! Lemon Blueberry is one of my favorite flavor combinations; I find the contrast of tart lemon curd and sweet summer blueberries very enjoyable. Fuji Bakery's croissant dough adds a lot to the combo, providing texture and a wonderfully chewy base.

Hopefully, this week's article has inspired you to visit a Fuji Bakery location next time you are in! Check out their social media as well to see what seasonal items are coming out before you visit, or be prepared to leave with more than you meant to.

Have a great rest of your week!

Street Treats Truck Review - Fresh Cookies, Sweet Ice Cream

Well, it certainly would go to plan that I would restart the blog and odd things would happen to my schedule! Luckily after tonight's post, there will be scheduled posts to this blog, ensuring content about once a week as long as I can keep my buffer. If you have places you'd recommend I review for a future blog post, please feel free to leave a comment or let me know on social media! (I am local to the Seattle area) Beside's today's oddly timed post, expect to see new posts each Wednesday.

For this week's review, I'm choosing to feature a food truck that recently catered an event for my workplace that I had the opportunity to enjoy. Street Treats specializes in customizable ice cream sandwiches and has been in business since 2010. They are one of the longest-running food trucks in the city!

Photo credit: https://streettreatswa.com

For our work event, a selection of flavors in both cookies and ice cream were offered. Five of each were brought for mixing and matching. I opted for two more classic choices, not often enjoyed together - - An Oatmeal Cranberry and Vanilla Ice Cream Sandwich.

I found my cookies extra chewy, and not too sweet, which is just how I like my oatmeal cookies! And the less sweet cookies meant the ice cream didn't over-the-top the sugar level. The vanilla flavor of the ice cream came through well and made for a great treat on what ended up being a pretty muggy day.

If you are at a festival or function and happen to see the truck, definitely stop by! It is worth trying out a combination of your own!

Edit: Since Street Treats doesn't have a permanent location, visit their website to request they cater your next special event! Or you can even send an email and see which food festival they'll be at next!

Dochi Review - Squishy soft mochi donuts!

Welcome to the first review of this restarted blog! Most of the time in the past, I've just posted photos of my fun food to IG (which I will still be doing...) but I wanted to start including information about the amazing things I try!

And first up for dessert reviews is the newly-opened Dochi in the International District of Seattle. Dochi's brand of sweets is Japanese style mochi donuts; lightly fried rings of mochi dough balls, with most of the flavor coming from the glaze or toppings rather than the dough itself. Dochi's menu offers some creative combos, and I couldn't wait to try them!

From Left to Right: Taro Fruity Pebbles, Matcha Oreo, Ube Glazed, and Cinnamon Chocolate Biscoff

For several weeks since open, they have had lines, but not anywhere near the 15-20 minute wait times you may have been told! I hopped in line after lunch with some friends, and we made it out with donuts in hand in under 10 for sure. It's important to be aware they're still in soft-launch mode, so their hours are limited, and once they run out that is it for the day!

 A half dozen donuts will run you $16, and the flavors offered change regularly right now. They also currently have a limit of 1 dozen per customer. I opted for my full dozen allowed, to have some to share with others in addition to trying everything myself!

The donuts themselves are super light compared to even a standard yeast donut, thanks to the unique makeup of the dough. I found mine to be slightly chewy; nowhere near close as chewy as regular mochi. The Ube Glazed (pictured above in the scale shots) had a very mild ube flavor, and the glaze added the right amount of sweetness

Taro Fruity Pebbles was my favorite of the four in the box! The glaze is bright and sweet, and the cereal still retained its crunch, even though I did not enjoy them until several hours after purchase. If you like your sweets a little extra sugary, I'd definitely recommend it!

Overall, I would recommend trying Dochi for yourself for sure, if you're a fan of that springy mochi texture! And I would bet you get a crisper outside enjoying them fresh rather than doing them take away as well.