MILK is a small bakery that is full of deliciousness. They also have food, like sandwiches, salads, soup and pasta. But that's not why you go there. You go for the bakeshop and ice cream parlor. Their cakes are so gooooood. Some flavors include:
Carrot Cake, Chocolate 3X, Blue Velvet, Coconut, Strawberry and Vanilla Cream Cake, Red Velvet, Tres Leches, Chocolate Chip and Classic Birthday Cake. They also have fresh baked cookies: Chocolate Chip, Oatmeal, Snowcap, Oreo, Ooey Gooey Double Chocolate, Super Chunk Peanut Butter, Snickerdoodles and Iced Spiced Molasses. They have extra goodies such as: Moonpies, Chocolate Coconut Macaroons, Brownies, Blondies, Peanut Butter Brownies, Red Velvet Cupcakes & Poppers. There is an ice cream parlor as well, where you can get sundaes, ice cream cakes in 8 different flavors and specialty shakes, malts and floats. Whatever your taste buds are craving, MILK is sure to having something for
you. It's a great place to take your family, because it has something for everyone. But if I had to guess, you were sold at the Blue Velvet Cake.
doughnut hut - burbank
The Doughnut Hut is where all my problems begin and end....because it's open 24 hours. Sometimes it's 2:00 am and you think to yourself, "I could really go for half a dozen donuts right about now" [If you have said this, then you might wanna take a good hard look at yourself. I say this coming from a place of absolutely no judgement, as I too have been there. And I can promise you, it gets better.] The Doughnut Hut is a small, walk up donut shop, that has amazing fresh baked donuts. They are making them even at 2:00 am. They never stop. It's wonderful and terrifying all at the same time. There's really not much else to say about this place. It's the shit. Their donuts speak for themselves. Oh, but if you go, don't tell them I sent you. I'm pretty sure the man donut serving man hates me. Probably because I always go there at 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning and I'm super annoying. But hey, it's the middle of the night. What do you expect? - C
Sweet! - hollywood
Harry Potter made out of Jelly Bellys and Eminem made out of M&Ms.
Sweet! is the biggest candy store in Los Angeles. Sweet! is like a real life CandyLand: 28,000 square feet filled with every candy you could ever imagine! They have different rooms and sections. My personal favorite is the Chocolate Lab where create your own candy bar room. There are over 30 ingredients to choose from making it impossible for you to create a candy bar that is anything less than extraordinary and heavenly. They also have a Willy Wonka room, which is pretty cool. The only thing that is disappointing is they do not have Oompa-Loompas walking around. But they do have one creepy-ass Willy Wonka (the Johnny Depp Willy Wonka) lurking around the room and he does a great job of making you feel very uncomfortable. And that's saying a lot, coming from me. I'm usually the one making people feel uncomfortable. But now we're getting off track. In addition to the Chocolate Lab and Willy Wonka rooms, they also have Sticky, Yucky, Peace of Candy, Rick O'Lish Licorice, Stay
Puft, AS IF, Lollywood, Tinseltown, Route 66 and Forever Valentine's. This place is amazing and entertaining. Even if you don't like candy. I suggest stopping by and letting your inner fat kid out and run around the candy shop for an hour or so. (It will take you at least 30 minutes to get through all the rooms.) It's a fun place and it has candy you didn't even know existed.
it'sugar - citywalk
This is a really cool candy shop in the middle of CityWalk at Universal Studios. If you've ever wanted to buy a 5 pound Gummy Bear or an 8 foot long Gummy Python coming in at 26.9 pounds, than this is the place for you. [Note: The only thing that annoys me about this place is they have pictures of super skinny chicks all over the store eating candy. I'm sorry but there's no way these girls are hanging out eating candy all day, and especially not a 5 pound gummy python. It's just not happening.] They have specialty chocolate bars, walls of candy (M&Ms and Jelly Belly's to name a few), retro candy, sugar free candy and novelty candy. They sell everything from clothes and cupcake flavored floss to a Gummy Bear Lamp. Don't act like you haven't been frantically surfing the internet trying to find one of these classy home decor items. If you're at Universal Studios you definitely have to stop by IT'SUGAR. It's my favorite store at CityWalk. It definitely beats all the touristy shops that sell "I Love LA" and "Hollywood" t-shirts. The bad thing about IT'SUGAR is it is ridiculously overpriced. That place will rob you blind. They charge you by the ounce. If you buy a pound of candy, don't be shocked when your total comes to $20. It's kind of like buying candy at the movie theater: they totally overcharge you, but do it because they know people will pay for it anyways. If you're looking to have a candy binge, do yourself a favor and go to Target for that. You'll get 3 times as much for half the price. But if you want candy that comes in a little pink bag, then IT'SUGAR is the place to go.
diddy riese - Westwood
Even Britney can't get enough of Diddy.
Diddy Riese is located in Westwood, right across the street from UCLA. It stems from the most simplest of concepts: Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches. But they have managed to make an entire, extremely successful store from it. But the fun doesn't stop there. The other part of their concept is it's a build your own ice cream cookie sandwich! You can chose from 10 different cookies and 12 different ice cream flavors. You can mix and match as well. For example: the top cookie could be a chocolate chip cookie, with mint chocolate chip ice cream, and the bottom could be a candy cookie (which is basically a chocolate chip cookie with M&Ms mixed in as well. One of my personal favorites.) The possibilities are endless! We are fortunate to have great weather year around (for the most part) in Los Angeles, so there is never a bad time to go to Diddy Riese. But nothing beats a cold ice cream sandwich on a hot summer day. The cost? Prepare yourselves: $1.75. I guarantee you this is the cheapest thing you will pay for in all of Los Angeles. It just so happens to be on of the best investments you could make.
Downfall: Parking is a real bitch and there is always a line, no matter where you go. But the line moves fairly quickly. And the troupble parking is also worth it beacause it's so damn delicious. If worse comes to worse and you decide you'd rather pay to park (because you've given up on circling the block 10 times for a spot) Diddy Riese is so cheap it's not the worst thing in the world if you have to fork out a little bit extra to park.
Frog frozen yogurt - hollywood
If you know me at all, you will know that I'm obsessed with Frozen Yogurt. Frog is one of my favorite frozen yogurt places in Bollywood (don't even get me started on Yogurtland. Ick.) They have a great assortment of flavors and toppings. They get their baked toppings (like red velvet cake and brownies) from Kitchen 24 daily so they are freshly baked. There is a really cool painting on the wall of different celebrities and cartoons. I'm still not sure how Mario and Princess Peach landed a spot on the painting. The only down side to Frog is there's no parking, except for Valet. It's a tiny parking lot and it's a pain in the ass. Which is why I walk there, as it's not too far from me. You can park on the surrounding streets, but it can take a while to find a spot. It's in the heart of Hollywood so you will probably end up circling the block 10 times. Then once you finally find a spot it's 3 blocks away from Frog. So if you are in a location nearby and can walk then definitely go. Otherwise, be prepared to drive and spend a while looking for a spot, or just give up and fork over $5+ to valet.
millions of milkshakes - west hollywood
Millions of Milkshakes is popular because of one thing: Celebrities. Oh, and their amazing milkshakes too. Celebrities such as Miley Cyrus, The Kardashians, Lindsay Lohan, Pamela Anderson and Shaquille O'Neal are just a few to have milkshakes named after them. The cool thing about MM is that the celebrity goes into the store and actually creates the milkshake that they want. So they get to pick all their the ingredients and make it specifically for them. They have a launch party at the store with the celebrity to introduce their new shake. (I recommend you stay away from the shop on these nights, unless you want to get trampled by the paparazzi and swarms of fans). But on a regular night it's not too crazy and definitely worth stopping by. I'd recommend the Miley Cyrus shake: Cookie Dough and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups with vanilla ice cream. It's magically delicious! Wait, that's Lucky Charms...
magnolia bakery - los angeles
Magnolia Cupcakes is somewhat new to LA, they just opened their first store about 3 years ago. Being the obsessed cupcake lover that I am, I was beside myself. I don't know if you've ever had cupcakes from Magnolia but they are pretty much out of this world. They're so soft, moist, fluffy, flavorful and delicious. They stick to the most basic flavors but the cupcakes are so good it makes up for the lack of variety, honestly. The favors they carry vanilla, chocolate, black and white, caramel, lemon, devil's food, pistachio, red velvet and 2 flourless cupcakes: chocolate and peanut butter-chocolate. They also sell brownies, bars, cookies and crumb cakes. But it's all about the cupcakes. I'm telling you. Don't believe me? Well I don't know if you ever saw a little Saturday Night Live Digital Short video called "Lazy Sunday" starring my husband Andy Samberg, but he has a little ode to Magnolia Bakery in the song:
"But first my hunger pangs are stickin' like duct tape Let's hit up Magnolia and mack on some cupcakes No doubt, that bakery's got all the bomb frostings I love those cupcakes like McAdams loves Gosling Two, no, six, no, twelve, bakers' dozen I told you that I'm crazy for these cupcakes, cousin"
I think I've proved my point.
Susiecakes - Brentwood
Susiecakes is a cute, quaint little bakeshop. They are known for their cupcakes but have other deserts as well. Their cupcakes are so moist! And they have a frosting filling in the middle. Their signature cupcakes are only $3 each and come in these flavors: Red Velvet, Vanilla Pink, Vanilla Susie Blue, Chocolate Coconut, Coconut, Mocha, Strawberry, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Lemon, Chocolate Mint and Chocolate Vanilla. You can also buy specialty cakes, flavors available are Susie's Famous Southern Red Velvet, Vanilla Celebration, Old Fashion 6-Layer Chocolate, Carrot, Tropical Coconut, Traditional German Chocolate and Classic Marble Cake. They sell cookies and bars: Whoopie Pies, Frosted Sugar Cookies, 7 Layer Bars, Chocolate Brownies, Sweetheart Sandwich, Lemon Squares, Susie's Nutty, Chocolate Chip, Snickerdoodles and Iced Molasses Cookies. And if that isn't enough you can also get Coconut Cream Pie, Blueberry Crumble Pie, Cheesecake and Pudding. What's the best part about Susie Cakes, you ask? Parking. That's right. They have reserved parking spots in the back for customers. It doesn't get much better than that.
yogurt stop - west hollywood
Yogurt Stop is a fun place to get well, frozen yogurt in West Hollywood. They have great flavors (Chocolate Thin Mint Cookie and Cake Batter are my favorites.) But forgive me, for those are not their proper names. Their correct names are I'm Comin' Out Cake Batter and Girl! Stop Scouting My Thin Mint Cookie. They have various sizes, as do all frozen yogurt shops, but their largest cup size is called The Big Diesel. Between The Big Diesel and the amazing flavor names (all unique and hilarious) is reason enough to go to Yogurt Stop. Oh, you can also order Yogurt Pies, which are out of control. You heard me. Yogurt. Pies.
Crumbs Bake shop - hollywood
Oh Crumbs, where do I even begin?! This is my FAVORITE cupcake shop in LA, and I've been to pretty much every cupcake shop in the greater Los Angeles area. First of all, their cupcakes are huge. Their standard cupcake is 4" tall. They have more flavors than any place I've ever been to (I'd like to personally recommend the Mint Chocolate Chip, Peanut Butter Cup, Red Velvet and Vanilla Sprinkle). And almost all of the cupcakes have some kind of filling in the middle. They also have a Colossal Cupcake (available in many different flavors) that is 6.5" tall and serves 6-8 people.Or if you have no self control and don't like to share (like me) it only serves 1 person.