I blame falling victim to singing The Smiths’ “Ask” Monday night to a sugar high. Specifically cupcakes and some chocolate pudding made from scratch from Susie Cakes in Brentwood.
I discovered Susie Cakes on the Chowhound message board during one of my long Saturday night shifts at work. After all my deadlines have passed, I always find myself with at least three hours of free time exploring local eateries online. I have yet to discover all the cupcakes places in Los Angeles but when I saw that Susie Cakes just opened, I jumped on the chance to check it out on my day off.
Susie Cakes was a bit harder to find. I have never been to Brentwood and only know it due to the whole OJ Simpson debacle in the 90s. I actually had to pull out the map to find the exact location of the shop. Brentwood is a very nice part of Los Angeles, a bit difficult to get to from the Valley but a lot of small shops I could imagine visiting. Susie Cakes itself is a neat, spartan shop with a awesome coldcase full of colorful cupcakes, cookies, puddings and full cakes available by the slice or to buy whole.
I was almost swayed from trying one of the made from scratch puddings by one of their Whoopie cookies (two chocolate cookies sandwiching a butter cream interior) but nothing detered me from trying their cupcakes: a red velvet cupcake (of course) and an orange creamsicle cupcake.
The red velvet cupcake had a moist bright red interior, just the way I liked it. Unfortunately, the orange creamsicle was oddly sweet and sour. The was no fault with the yellow cake but the frosting was just seemed to be an odd pairing. The cupcakes were finished off with some chocolate pudding. Extremely yummy but just too much sugar for me at that point. The best experience was the staff. They were really eager please and more than once, I was asked how the food was.
As for the karaoke later that night, I had been wanting to go to Ground Control, a self-proclaimed goth karaoke place in downtown. Since this karaoke bar was in Los Angeles, I was half expecting a lot of wanna-be, pretenious goth singers but in reality everyone was down to earth. There were a lot of singers belting out awesome versions of both alternative and mainstream songs but mostly a lot of people who was there just for fun and a place to sing. I suppose that’s why I got the nerve to sing in front of total strangers (which by the way was streaming live online). I admit it wasn’t the best rendition of “Ask” but I won’t be embarrassed to return and sing a few more tunes in the future.
My Burning Kitchen 
i remember Karaoke at your house years ago during the house to house dinner party we did. fun times!see, now you make me wish we had cupcakes bakeries down here!XO…trinity
I am glad you made it down to Brentwood! Next time try the Whoopie Pie, the cookie is so soft and chewy.
Trinity: That karaoke machine is long gone. But if I remember correctly, the music selection blew. No alternative music!Triplecreme: Brentwood was fantastic but getting back into the valley was headache inducing with the afternoon traffic. I will have to return and try the Whoopie Pie.
Andrew from Ground Control here:It was great to have you out! I hope you enjoyed the food as well as the fun. :-)Heh, funny you should mention "goth karaoke". I usually refer to it as "alternative karaoke". You see, most goth and industrial kids really want to sing David Bowie, Depeche Mode, or Journey. Go figure. 😛