Viva La Fiesta! Viva La Chocolate!

I am in Santa Barbara for a 2-week summer institute with the Franciscan School of Theology.  We are blessed in being able to stay at the beautiful historic Old Mission, but we are doubly blessed in having the 88th celebration of Old Spanish Days occur while we are here.

On Wednesday, August 1st, we were given VIP seats to the "La Fiesta Pequeña", which officially opens the festivities and is held on the steps of the mission. This event featured traditional songs and dances of Fiesta, with tunes of the Californios, Flamenco, Spanish classical, and Mexican folklórico dances. It was a great celebration with a near full moon lighting up the sky and "Viva la fiesta!" echoing through the crowd.

With a day off from our studies today, I decided to visit the activities occurring downtown and to hunt for some chocolate.  I was successful and very satisfied in my search, as I discovered a new drinking chocolate and an "almost famous" vegan chocolate cupcake.

One of the highlights of the Fiesta is the Mercado de la Guerrero, which features merchant stalls full of Mexican arts and crafts (along with the Marines, Red Cross, and DirectTV).  In the food court area, there was music and dancing on the stage, with people elbow to elbow enjoying Mexican-themed foods sold by local charities and businesses.

I however was on a Mexican drinking chocolate hunt, and found only one booth that had anything similar.  La Bella Rosa Bakery Cafe had food, but it also served champurrado, which was noted as "a chocolate-flavored hot drink".  While I thought I knew Mexican drinking chocolate, I've never heard of champurrado before, and asked the server what differentiated it from a regular Mexican hot chocolate.  Very simply, champurrado is thickened with masa and often uses different spices.  It is very filling and hearty, she said.  With a love of thick Italian drinking chocolate, I knew this would be my kind of drink, and so for $2.00 I purchased a large 12 ounce cup.

Though it came in a styrofoam cup, I was very impressed by this traditional Mexican chocolate drink which is typically served in the morning and evening, and is very popular during Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) and at Las Posadas (the Christmas Season). This drink came warm, and had a seductively spicey (though not very chocolatey) smell, with a creamy froth.

While I cannot fully identify the spices in this chapurrado, it sang of chai tea with a tinge more cinnamon and chocolate undertones. It was very good -- not very sweet, with a nice balance of spice to create a complex, but homey-feel on the palate.  Though I was drinking this on a hot Santa Barbara summer day, there was a warming comfort to the drink, which I could imagine sipping at home on a cold evening.

After a few sips, I could feel myself getting full from the masa in the drink, and decided to keep sipping, while enjoying the music and hunting for a chocolate dessert to go with this drink.

I found the perfect compliment a few blocks away at Crushcakes, which featured a vegan chocolate cupcake as part of their daily vegan cupcake offerings.  I had seen Crush Cupcakes compete on the Food Network's Cupcake Wars, and also saw their bumper sticker while driving to Santa Barbara.  With a motto like "Make cupcakes not war", you know you gotta visit.  And I'm glad I did!

Their vegan chocolate cupcake was beautifully moist and light, chocolatey, and not very sweet.  It was almost salty, which was good, as it paired well with the very sweet frosting that had a vanilla marshmallowey flavor and fluffy texture.  I found that after taking a bite of the cupcake and then sipping the champurrado, the spiceyness of the drink drew out the chocolate of the cupcake and mellowed out the frosting to create a well-balanced afternoon of chocolate goodness.  It was nice.

On their own, the champurrado and the cupcake were good.  But together, it was magic - a nice pairing of chocolate desserts, and a wonderful to celebrate Santa Barbara.  Viva la fiesta!  Viva la chocolate!