Black Forest Cake is really something I grew up with, with my Midwestern German heritage. Its German name is Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte or Schwarzwäldertorte.  It's relatively simple to make - a chocolate cake soaked in cherry liquor (kirsch), topped with whipped cream, chocolate shavings, and cherries.

For our cupcakes, we substituted vanilla buttercream (so much more stable than whipped cream!) and I have always preferred sour cherries, though recipes call for everything from maraschino cherries to cherry pie filling!

We offer our Cupcake of the Month subscriptions with dairy or vegan, and if someone asks really nicely we'll make a gluten free version. You can sign up here, and upcoming flavors are:

• June 2013: Tea-infused Strawberry Rose
• July 2013: Cookies & Cream
• August 2013: Meyer Lemon Blackberry
• September 2013: Peanut Butter & Jelly

So about these vegan and gluten free options - check out the photo above of the three cupcakes. can you tell which one is vegan, which one is vegan/gluten free, and which one has lots of dairy and gluten in it? If you think you know, post your answer on Facebook!

This Mother's Day, we are partnering with Andrea at Tea Here Now to offer a cute tea & cake sampler for the most important ladies out there - moms!

Each little gift pack will include a cupcake and a sampling of tea, and you have the option to add a brew basket as well. They will be nicely packaged and ready for giving!

Cupcake options: Meyer Lemon Buttermilk, Double Chocolate

Tea Options:

• Strawberry Rose Black Tea: A lush and feminine take on a traditional Earl Grey black tea. Ceylon black tea is layered with hints of fresh bergamot, vanilla, rose, and deep strawberry for a very lightly sweet and full-bodied steep.
• Jasmine Green Tea: Short-cut green tea that has been painstakingly and gently handled alongside fresh jasmine blossoms to impart a delicate and fresh floral bouquet. A perfect balance of jasmine essence and a mellow green tea flavor.
• Meadow Herbal: Considered a "Renoir in a cup," this bouquet sips as lovely as it appears. The light sweetness of Egyptian Chamomile is accented by South African rooibos, fragrant hyssop, linden flowers, lemon myrtle, rose petals, safflower, and cyani flower for a calming and loving brew.
   

Brew baskets are designed to fit in any mug or pot, and are perfect for loose teas like those sold at Tea Here Now. The baskets are easy to use and to clean! Simply place the basket inside your mug, add leaves, add water, and brew for the prescribed time. Remove the brew basket and enjoy. 

Pick-up: Tea & Cake gift packages can be picked up on Friday May 10 between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m at Tea Here Now, 1727 1/2 Webster St in downtown Oakland.

To order, simply fill out the form below and pay through Paypal, and then stop by the shop on Friday to pick up your gift! Orders must be received by Thursday at 2 p.m.

***THIS GIFT PACK IS SOLD OUT****

The morning of every Cupcake of the Month delivery, I have a mini photo shoot in my home kitchen with a few of the extra cupcakes. The light is better and it's a fun ritual for starting the day.

Today's delivery is Key Lime! Key limes are quite different thant the Persian lime, which is widely available. Key Limes are smaller and rounder, and, of course, the essential ingredient in Key Lime Pie (though most commercially produced Key Lime Pies use Persian Lime concentrate). Key Limes are yellow when ripe and have a sweet flavor, but we chose to use less ripe green fruits for their unique tartness. 

Today we have two varieties: A key lime cupcake (flavored by lime zest and lime juice) with cream cheese frosting, and a vanilla cupcake filled with key lime curd (we used Stonewall Kitchen's lime curd, because we love it!). 

Next month, we will be featuring a cupcake version of Black Forest Cake, to please all of you chocolate-lovers out there! Sign up here to make sure you get the delivery! Subscriptions start at $22 a month, and feature our fanciest (and favorite) flavors.

In other exciting news, last week we perfected our caramel sauce recipe and will be debuting it at Tea Here Now on Friday!

March's Cupcake of the Month was Coconut! We love making variations on the theme, so subscribers received coconut, chocolate coconut, and for the non-vegans, chocolate coconut caramel cupcakes. That last flavor was our take on the Girl Scout Cookie called Samoas, and you can see them in the photo with the chocolate drizzle on top.

Coconut is one of our most popular flavors, and we make it with coconut milk and shredded coconut in the batter, and top it with vanilla buttercream and toasted coconut flakes.

Upcoming flavors in the subscription series are Key Lime, Black Forest, tea-infused Strawberry Rose (with tea supplied by Tea Here Now - you may remember this one from our Valentine's gift box in February), and Cookies & Cream.

Subscriptions start at $22/month and you can sign up here.

We LOVE it when people send us wedding photos!

Last fall we made a cutting cake and cupcakes for Oaklanders Nupur & Virali. They ordered three flavors of mini cupcakes: lemon raspberry, chocolate peanut butter, and vegan coconut passion fruit. The passion fruit cupcake was a must! We experimented with a lot of different combinations until we settled on coconut cake, vanilla frosting, and fresh passion fruit on top. YUM!

The wedding was held last October at Dunsmuir House & Gardens in Oakland and everything was gorgeous. Today we received some of the photos from their photographer, Ed Main Photography, and we thought we would share with you.

If you're interested in considering us for a wedding, please read all of our info here.

Making an interesting flavor can be as simple as adding a little extra salt!

Our February Cupcake of the Month flavor was salted chocolate - our simple chocolate cake with a little bit extra helping of sea salt. I remember when we were first experimenting with this flavor a few years ago, and my friends will tell you - it's definitely easy to have too much salt! It took us a few rounds of testing to find the perfect addition. Now we have a few devoted customers who order this flavor all the time - even for their wedding! We usually top this flavor with a vanilla buttercream, colored a delicate pink this month for Valentine's Day.

We are now entering our third year of offering the Cupcake of the Month subscriptions - an idea that sprang up from a casual conversation with my friend, Max. It's possible we might need to start repeting some of the most popular flavors, but we also enjoy creating new flavors - especially from seasonal fruit. Of course, we do try to include a fair number of chocolate flavors as well.

This year, the Cupcake of the Month deliveries - the second Wednesday of each month - fell on the day before Valentine's Day. Valentine's day is one our busiest days of the year! I don't know what I was thinking trying to do those two right next to each other - we will definitely not be doing that in 2014.

Our upcoming flavors for the Cupcake of the Month are: Coconut / Chocolate Coconut (and there might be some caramel thrown in there, too!), and then two new flavors: Key Lime, and Black Forest. Subscribe here!

We have about 400 photos in the gallery, and below are some of examples of salted chocolate cupcakes from the past - including my all time favorite cupcake photo, of the three peach/salmon colored cupcakes. I honestly don't know why I find this photo so pleasing!

Do you love someone in the Bay Area? Send them cupcakes on Valentine's Day!

Again this year we are offering a special Valentine's Day cupcake box to be delivered directly to your sweetheart!

Each half-dozen box will include three fancy flavors - with dairy or vegan - and will include cute designs like these red heart cupcake picks we bought on Etsy (and shown to the right).

Last year was a huge success! Flavors this year will include: Red Velvet, Salted Chocolate, and a fancy new flavor: tea-infused strawberry rose, with tea provided by Tea Here Now.

Each box will be tied with a pink ribbon and hand delivered to the lucky recipient, or boxes can be picked up at Tea Here Now at 1721 1/2 Webster in Oakland.

Boxes cost $20 to $30 depending on location, and delivery area is limited to San Francisco, Oakland, Alameda, and Berkeley. Deliveries will be made between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on February 14.

To purchase the special Valentines Gift Box, use the Paypal button below (please leave the Recipient's info as the shipping address and remember to include any special instructions) or call 510-301-4757 to place an order with a credit card.

Orders need to be placed by February 13 at 12 noon PST.

***This offer is sold out! There will be a few individual cupcakes for sale at Tea Here Now if you would like to stop by and pick one up!***

Yesterday's Green Tea cupcake was a big success! We've been getting rave reviews all day - and since last January's Cupcake of the Month was Chai, it's starting to look like tea-inspired cupcakes are going to be a mid-winter regular on the schdule!

We used Republic of Tea's Organic Matcha Powder to make this month's flavor. As is our usual style, the cake was green tea flavor, with vanilla buttercream - we find that doing a flavored frosting as well can be bit overpowering. We topped each of the three designs with delicate pink accents.

Next month's Cupcake of the Month will be one of our most popular flavors - Salted Chocolate! Other upcoming flavors are Coconut, Key Lime, and Black Forest. Now that it's been a few years, we're going to have to start repeating some of the popular flavors - and we're always open to suggestions. The last of past flavors is pretty impressive: Almond Apricot, Carrot Cake, Chai Spice, Chocolate Mint, Chocolate Orange with Candied Orange Peel, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Chocolate with Salted Caramel, Cinnamon Apple Crunch, Hazelnut and Chocolate, Lemon Buttermilk, Peach Blackberry, Pumpkin, Rasberries & Cream, Red Velvet, S'mores, Strawberry, Triple Chocolate, Vanilla, White Chocolate Raspberry.

Subscribe to the Cupcake of the Month here (and all flavors are available vegan or with dairy).

Don't forget - Fridays, find us in downtown Oakland at Tea Here Now!

Announcing our new cupcake pop-up shop in Oakland every Friday!

Our new collaboration with Tea Here Now in Oakland confirms it: tea and cupcakes are a perfect pairing!

Every Friday from 1 to 5 p.m. we'll be selling our cupcakes at Andrea's cute tea shop - we'll feature several seasonal flavors and old favorites, including some gluten free and vegan options. For everyone who wants an Angel Cakes cupcake but doesn't want to buy a whole dozen - here's your chance! 

Last Friday we had an experimental first pop-up shop, and it was awesome! We had vanilla, chocolate, red velvet, salted caramel, Old Fashioned (bourbon, orange zest, and a brandied cherry), vegan coconut, gluten free/vegan lemon raspberry and chocolate, and raspberry.  We definitely did not bring enough cupcakes, and we will be sure to stock up this coming week -- though I'm sure our most popular flavors (Old Fashioned, red velvet, and salted caramel) will always go fast.

Tea Here Now is the work of Andrea Tyler and friends, and opened on Webster Street in November 2012. Her shop features 20 teas, including black, green, and herbal as well as many premium specialty flavors. Since I've been spending a lot of time there, I appreciate Andrea's knowledge and the care she takes in selecting and brewing each cup. I recently discovered the aptly named "Big Hibiscus" tea that is amazingly complex, with a gorgeous dark maroon color. She also has salads and snacks, and opens at 7:30 a.m. on weekdays.

Come down and visit us every Friday for tea and cake at Tea Here Now, 1721 1/2 Webster Street, Oakland, conveniently located two blocks from the 19th Street BART Station.

A great way to end each week, right?

Last year, we provided cupcakes for lots of holiday parties and end-of-the-year celebrations - and we're already completely booked for several days in December! We're on a limited schedule until December 7, and then will be available through the New Year for all of your holiday baking needs.

To place a holiday party order, email us any time orders@angelcakesSF.com. Although we can often fill last minute orders - don't leave it to chance! Get in touch as soon as you can so we can put you on the schedule.

Now, what to order? Along with all of our regular flavors, we make a quite a few festive seasonal selections, such as cinnamon, gingerbread, chocolate mint, pumpkin, apple, chocolate orange - or more adult flavors like rum or spiced whiskey (with lemon, cinnamon, and nutmeg). Have an unusual idea? Let us help you create it!

I've included photos below of some our specially decorated cupcakes from last year.

If you're looking for gifts for Bay Area friends - what about a subscription to the Cupcake of the Month Club? Plans are as low as $22 a month, and subscriptions are available with dairy or vegan. Upcoming flavors include: Chocolate Mint, Salted Chocolate, Green Tea, and Coconut.

Pictured above:

Chocolate mint, chocolate orange with candied orange peel, pointsettias (can be any flavor), snowflakes (any flavor), mudslide (with Bailey's), vanilla/chocolate with crushed candy canes, vanilla with red and green sprinkles, vegan salted chocolate, holly leaves (any flavor), chocolate mint with dipped candy canes