Mac Attack

Hello there.  Remember us?  We had grand visions of writing a weekly cupcake blog.  It lasted for... a month?  Since our last post, babies have been born, houses purchased, desserts eaten, and none of it recorded for posterity.

But it's Wacky Wednesday, and we're nothing if not wacky.  Plus, Jenny and I were reminiscing (via text! did texting even exist in 2009!?) about our ridiculousness in a simpler time, keeping a blog about cupcakes.  Pish.  Cupcakes WERE hot right then, but they seem to be over.

Macarons are apparently over, too, but they're still delicious.  So for today's installment of the cupcake review board, I ate a Hot Chocolate and Marshmallow macaron from babo., a charming deli right around the corner from our office.  They have "edgy" flavors, but I like my desserts somewhat traditional.  I can tell you that their vanilla macaron is DELICIOUS, but I hadn't had this flavor before, so here's what came back with me.

Looks kinda like a baby hamburger, right?

It was about as bland as something chocolate-flavored could be.  The meringue-y cookie portion was also slightly chewier than I like my macarons, and the filling was non-descript.  For $2.50, I wanted something super-sweet and delicious that only took three bites to eat, and this was a five-biter that was average.

Cupcake-ers, I feel like I've let you down.  I won't stray from cupcakes again!

babo macaron - C-

Double Dipping

I was way busy last week and I didn't get a chance to post a cupcake review, so here is last weeks and this weeks review.

Last week I had the PB+C. Peanut Butter and Chocolate.  It's the finest combination on God's green earth yet it was somehow screwed up. The frosting was the peanut butter and the cake was the chocolate, but it didn't matter...it was all peanut-y! This would normally not be a problem, but the taste of peanut haunted me the rest of the day. I couldn't shake it! Come on!

This week was the Party Cupcake. Traditional. Nothing over the top. But somehow it was totally awesome. It's exactly what I wanted from a cupcake. The addition of sprinkles was a homerun. It was a little dry, but that's fine with me. A cold glass of milk and this cupcake would be the perfect combo.

PB+C: Grade C-

Party Cupcake: Grade B

Double Feature

Yeah, yeah... I had two cupcakes in one week. I'm sorry. The second cupcake was more of a spur-of-the-moment type of thing than my now weekly cupcake consumption. Anyway, I'll get down to business.

This week I gave a vanilla cupcake a try and chose the Caramel Celebration, a vanilla cake with caramel frosting and caramel and chocolate drizzles over the top. I'll start with the best part - the frosting. It was unmistakably caramel, but it didn't taste like burnt sugar. It was light and creamy and was complemented by the caramel sauce on top. The chocolate sauce I could have done without because it hardened after a while and was chewy instead of...um, not chewy. The cake itself was OK. It was semi-moist, but not perfect. Paired with the frosting, it was hard to tell that it wasn't as moist as it should be, but I am a dedicated reviewer and will always taste the cake and frosting separately. All in all, this cupcake was great. I would definitely order it again if I planned to eat it right away to prevent the chocolate from going south.

My second cupcake this week was a FREEBIE, so it had that going for it immediately. But The Original, a vanilla cupcake with chocolate frosting, ultimately disappointed. The cake was bone-dry. That's maybe the worst sin in cupcakery, in my opinion. It came apart the second I took a bite. The flavor was all right, but I really couldn't get passed the dryness. The frosting had a good flavor, but it totally overpowered the cake. I didn't even finish all of my frosting, if that tells you anything. I think this cupcake will receive poor marks mostly because it claims to be the cupcake that started it all and it is not any good. It's like they made it, and were like, "Yeah, this cupcake is OK, and I bet we could make a lot of other interesting flavors, too!" "Good idea, let's call this one The Original and move on to making GOOD cupcakes!" Now, I will grant that cupcakes can have good days and bad days. Maybe this one baked in the oven for too long. I am willing to give it a second try, or to let one of the other Cupcakers give their opinion on this, the cupcake that started it all.

Caramel Celebration - A
The Original - C-

Guest Cupcaker in the House!

This week, with Amanda being on vacation, we had to fill her slot with a Guest Cupcaker! We hope you enjoy this review from the Natural Born Critic, Louis.

Adorable and delightful in presentation, the Strawberry Delight cupcake had a more realistic strawberry flavor than I had anticipated. Hints of tartness are very apparent. An almost unwieldy amount of frosting made consumption a strenuous affair. The decorative strawberry jam dollop at the crown was ineffective, overpowered by the frosting itself. The cake itself is moist and the wrapper separated nicely. Overall, as strawberry-themed cakes go, this cupcake did not disappoint. I’d like to see the Cupcake Station roll out a few more “exotic” fruit based cakes (lemon, boysenberry, etc.) to compliment this rather tired mainstay. They’ve got the recipe and presentation of this church-picnic classic under control, perhaps now is the time to try for something less pedestrian.

Where It All Began

This cupcake blog couldn't have come at a better time - I had the great good fortune of being to visit Cupcake Ground Zero, Sprinkles, the first cupcake bakery in the whole entire world, located in beautiful Beverly Hills, while I was on vacay in sunny California. Big ups to the Fuertes, who heard about CASHRN and thought a trip to Sprinkles would be perfect. I feel sort of bad for the other Cupcakers, who didn't get to experience the magnificence of Sprinkles - sorry, suckas.

Starting top left and moving clockwise: I tried the Black and White, and guest Cupcakers NateDogg, Senor and Senora had the Chocolate Coconut, Red Velvet and Cinnamon Sugar, respectively. I had a little milk with mine, which is how all cuppies should be eaten, I believe.





Sprinkles didn't let me down... how could it? The frosting-to-cake ratio was pretty much perfect, and each was good by itself (certainly the mark of a good cupcake), but the two together were a little bit of heaven in my mouth.






Had to use a fork. Always a good sign.








Mmmmmm.

Sprinkles locations are popping up all over the country, slowly but surely, so I cast my vote for a new store in Nashville. You're welcome, Jenny!

Black and White cuppie from Sprinkles - A-

German Chocolate Cupcake

I was not a huge fan of chocolate cake until just a few years ago. The cake that changed all that for me? German chocolate cake. It might have something to do with the sugary-coconut frosting that's slathered on top and in between layers of chocolate cake. To me, plain chocolate cake isn't sweet enough. Sometimes it's good with cream cheese frosting (because what isn't good with cream cheese frosting?), but most of the time I just flat out prefer vanilla cake. But German chocolate cake provides the balance of a sugary sweet frosting and the less sweet chocolate cake - a perfect blend.

The German chocolate cupcake has one major disadvantage versus the cake: no middle layer of frosting. No chance for the chocolate cake to absorb those ridiculously sweet frosting flavors! For that reason alone, I would give this cupcake only a passing grade, because it just doesn't compare to a slice of German chocolate cake. I'm not saying it was bad, because I gladly devoured that little cuppie. In fact, it would probably be my go-to cupcake of the chocolate variety. The frosting was delicious and the cake itself was nice and moist. Now if only they could come up with a way to dissect the cupcake into layers, then we'd really be on to something!

German Chcolate Cupcake - B+

Pineapple Upside Down (Cup) Cake

This cupcake looked delicious. I really can't stress the "looked" enough here. It had perfectly placed frosting. A glowing red, completely round cherry? Even the color of the cake itself drew me to it. But, sadly, there were so many things fundamentally wrong with the cupcake that I don't even know where to begin.

Bland frosting on a cupcake is the ultimate sin; And this cupcake had it in spades. I still have no idea what the flavor was suppose to be. Creme? Banana? Someone help me out here! Is "nothing" a flavor? I expected it to be a flavor found in most Pineapple Upside Down Cakes...but if it wasn't cherry, pineapple, or various nuts then I'm at a loss.

The cake itself was moist and delicious, yet it contained three giant pieces of pineapple that were more distracting than edible. I've made a Pie Chart to explain my point; but a cupcake should have nothing but cake. If I wanted fruit I'd have eaten a muffin (and I would have certainly have not picked a pineapple muffin). And this pineapple wasn't even fresh. I have cans of Del Monte at home and I'm confident that this is what they used.

This fake muffin just does not pass the test.
Grade: D