Straight Outta Chocolate

Just like the Hip Hop group N.W.A, Straight Outta Chocolate Cakes is a musically inspired organization founded in Los Angeles with smooth sweet style and more skills than any of those cats who call themselves artists and play with dough on the East Coast. Headed by My Friend Kate of My Friend Kate's Tours, Straight Outta Chocolate specializes in the high art of juxtaposing music with chocolate.

For those of you who have never heard of Straight Outta Chocolate cakes, let me take you on a tour.

Kate and I went to culinary school together. She was enrolled in the pastry department and learned how to form gorgeous shapes with chocolate. I, on the other hand, completed the program that includes two weeks of butchery. Since culinary school, Kate has gone on to earn a degree in fashion design, and not only can she design as a result, damn, the girl can sew. If left alone in a fabric store for a week, Kate could create enough clothes to lavishly adorn all of the groupies for the band members featured on her cakes. That's a whole lot of clothes. When she's not designing cakes or clothes, she might be also found DJing or making amazing music with friends in the cooler joints around L.A. That is, if she's not working on other art. Or reading. Or cooking North African peanut stew or lemon pound cakes.

Kate does a lot. Having experienced some of her many talents, one might think that I wouldn't be surprised upon hearing she started her own cake baking company that highlighted her art skills and utilized her endless music knowledge (if we ever play music trivia, Kate's on my team). But I was! And moreover, I was so...... impressed. Not jealous because I could never create a face as smooth as that of Eazy-E's on her chocolate cake mind you, but rather, overcome with her chocolate and art skills.

In honor of Kate's skillz, this post is devoted to pairing past Straight Outta Chocolate Cakes with alcoholic beverages, or.... wine. Also included below are some videos of the musicians featured on the cakes. If you are in the L.A. area and wish to commission a cake, contact Kate at hifivalentine@yahoo.com. Enjoy!


First cake- featured at top.
Eazy-E Chocolate Cake: As suggested by a N.W.A song called Don't Drink That Wine, Eazy-E wasn't completely into the fermented grape juice. Knowing this, I would feel good about pairing this cake with Calvados, a drink made by distilling apple cider. An amazingly good Calvados from Bonny Doon.





Love, the cover of Forever Changes
Meyer lemon curd cake with whipped cream frosting. Although I know very little about Love's alcoholic preferences, lemon curd always pairs with with a sparkling Moscati D'Asti. It's floral peach tones pop with the tangy lemon curd. And Moscato, as I'm sure many of you know, pairs sexily with whipped cream frosting.





Johnny Rotten

Angel Food Cake with whipped cream icing and carmel crunch candy. This one's a tough one. If I were enjoying the cake, I'd sip some Niepoort Tawny 10 year port. Caramel in the port, caramel in the cake, enchanting in the glass and on the plate. But I'm compelled to ask, "What would Johnny Rotten drink with a cake with his face on it?" Not having any personal drinking experience with Johnny Rotten, I'd guess that he'd consume aged Scotch, over ice. Or a Kahlua and Cream.









T-Rex
Carrot Cake. The lead singer of T-Rex, clearly one of the best British folk-inspired rock bands of the 60's and 70's, rocks just as hard on this cake as they do in the video below. The appropriate match for this cake would be a Santa Julia late harvest Torentes. This wine oozes with pinapple and apple and manages to be sweet without being over the top, like carrot cake and that cute, voluptuous haired singer from T-Rex.