Cupcakes By Surprise

My man had to travel to Indiana for work and I thought I should once again tag along with him. During the trip I planned to visit family and did not have cupcake taste testing on my agenda. Needless to say when I unexpectedly ran across a cupcake place I was a little unprepared.

This afternoon I met friends for lunch when I realized that a place called Gigi's Cupcakes was next door. I of course quickly decided that I would make room for a taste. I ordered a Miss Princess and Peanut Butter and Jelly. The Miss Princess was strawberry cake with cream cheese frosting and a pink fondant crown. PB& J was their special of the day. Over all the cupcakes were very good. The cake was very moist and had a nice flavor but the icing was over kill. The amount of icing easily equaled a Dairy Queen ice cream cone plopped on top of the cake. I immediately took 3/4's of the icing off. With that being said Gigi's cupcakes were decent even though I discovered they are a chain. I would give them an average 3 sprinkles.

Sweet Tooth

In the Salt Lake magazine I had read about a bakery called Sweet Tooth Fairy and thought I will have to try their cupcakes if I am ever in Provo. Well much to my enjoyment the owner opened a location not far from my home in SLC. I had been eagerly awaiting the official opening of the bakery to finally try these much talked about baked goods. I finally made my way there thinking I will just get one. I don't know what I was thinking- really who can buy just one cupcake! Of course I left Sweet Tooth Fairy with six cupcakes to taste test (Pumpkin Chocolate Chip, Grasshopper, Strawberry Shortcake, Cheesecake, Cookies and Cream, and S'mores).

Typically I taste test bites from all the cupcakes and then go back for more later, but these were different. I first pulledout Strawberry Shortcake and the rest was history. Before I knew it the cupcake was gone and I had not taste tested any of the others! All the cupcakes were moist and had really nice icing. The Strawberry Shortcake icing had a hint of strawberry. Out of the six flavors Strawberry Shortcake, Cheesecake, and Pumpkin Chocolate Chip were my favorites. They were so good that Sweet Tooth Fairy has made it into my top three favorite cupcake places (Yellow Leaf and Baked by Melissa my other two favs.). On the sprinkle scale I will give them a 4 1/2 . Dee-Lish!

My Cupcake Gets Cupcakes

On September 23, I welcomed Sylvia Rose into the world. She is my own little cupcake. Well, today her aunts and uncles sent her cupcakes from none other than Georgetown Cupcakes! Back in July I posted that I had made 2 attempts to get to Georgetown Cupcakes on two different trips to D.C. But lack of parking made it impossible to get to the store, in addition to a line around the block. And here we are, several months later and they arrive at my doorstep! They were overnighted and suprisingly fresh. My sister selected every cupcake (there were 12) and did a great job. There wasn't one disappointing one in the bunch. The 2 standouts were caramel apple and chocolate banana. When delivered fresh to your door, I give these cupcakes 4 1/2 sprinkles.

FREE Cupcakes?!

So it is our 8th wedding anniversary and we are 2 days away from welcoming our daughter into the world. After a dinner out, we decided to stop at a place that looked suspiciously cupcake-like. Cupcake Couture and Catering (CCC) in Greenville, SC was empty, but the door was unlocked, so we entered and sure enough, found cupcakes greeting us behind the glass case. A worker came out a minute later to inform us that they were closed and that these cupcakes were going in the trash. Appalled by the injustice about to be done to these cupcakes, I almost missed his next sentence where he told us he would give us some for free. Free cupcakes?! Of course! We picked an assortment, thanked the man and headed home. We sampled a few of them- blueberry was our favorite-but the highlight here is that they were free. For that, I give them 4 sprinkles.

Close Cupcake Calls

August my man and I went to NYC. He had to go there for work and I had to go for cupcake tasting research. I was only in the city for four hours and spotted my first cupcake spot, Crumbs. Anne and I have already tried Crumbs but I still thought I should taste test anyway. I bought Pink Lemonade. It was a huge cupcake and it still upheld the 4.5 sprinkles score that Anne and I gave the last time.

The few days in NYC I began to worry that my taste testing research would be unsuccessful. I began to run into several cupcake walls. Baked by Melissa was closed and The Cupcake Stop van was not in service. Fortunately the day we were leaving turned out to be successful!

Since I was unable to track down one of the trucks from The Cupcake Stop I had to head the actual store. It was located in a neat old church called Lime Light Market Place. There I ordered a Cookies and Cream Cupcake which was a yellow cake with oreo cookies crunched up in both the cake and icing. It was very good, moist cake, and icing not too sweet. Even though I was disappointed that I did not get to order the cupcake out of one of their food trucks I will give the cupcake 4 sprinkles.

Up next was Billy's Bakery. Anne tried this cupcake spot years ago but neither of us had officially reviewed it. I ordered a basic vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream frosting. I have to say I was very disappointed. I know Katie Holmes loves this place but no thank you. The cake and icing were just sweet with no real flavor beyond that and the cake crumbled into powder. Billy's gets 1.5 sprinkles from me.

As my man and I were wandering back to our hotel I spotted another Baked by Melissa location. Jack Pot! Three cupcake places in one day! What more could I ask for. Baked by Melissa sells cute mini cupcakes that are two bites. We ordered Tie Dyed, Peanut Butter and Jelly, and Cinnamon. These were by far the best cupcakes all week. Great creative flavors, super moist, and tasted so good! They were so good in fact that I find myself thinking about them and longing to try the other flavors. I will give them 4.75 sprinkles.

Louisville Cupcakes

Today we took a day trip to Billy's hometown of Louisville, KY. We hadn't been in awhile, so this was our first chance to try "The Cupcake Shoppe" even though it's been there for 2 years. I got the Coco Vanilla- chocolate cake with really good vanilla buttercream. He got Banana Chipped- a banana and chocolate chip cupcake with cream cheese frosting. Both had mini chocolate chips around the icing. We liked both, but the banana and chocolate chip cupcake was the favorite cake. I liked my buttercream icing best. We give them a solid 4 sprinkles. Especially since Billy's friend owns a jewelry store nearby and he bought me a necklace there. Cupcakes and jewelry, it was a good day.

Upside Down Cupcakes

This month my man and I made a trip to Wisconsin for his sister's wedding. I of course ensured that a cupcake stop would some how fit in during all the festivities. On our last day we made a quick stop to Miss Julia's Bake Shop in Brookfield, Wis. I ordered an Old Fashioned Chocolate and a Carrot Cake. Since we were on our way to the airport I decided to wait to eat the cupcakes until we safely made it to the airport....little did I know that was a little more complicated than I had planned.

On our way we got stuck in traffic due to a wreck which only allowed us 45 minutes to get our rental car returned, make it through security, and get to our gate. We made it just in time and as I was sitting down in my seat getting myself arranged tragedy occurred- the box of cupcakes landed on the floor. Never a good outcome.

I decided to wait until our lay-over before I ate any of the cupcakes. Finally I was able to taste test! The carrot cake was ok, the carrots were long stringy pieces which I did not care for. I have had better before. I give it only two sprinkles. The chocolate on the other hand was the absolute most moist chocolate cake ever! The icing was just ok but the cake was quite good. So 4 sprinkles for sure.

Hello Washington D.C.

We were able to get to two cupcake places during our visit to D.C. The first is a vegan bakery called Sticky Fingers. We had breakfast there with Billy's friend Chris. He didn't realize when he suggested the place that he would get roped into a picture with the cupcakes...

I, actually, did not have a cupcake there because I had just finished some delicious french toast. Billy took one for the team and got a chocolate with raspberry icing cupcake. He said he never would have realized it was vegan (no dairy, butter, eggs, or other animal products), but it could never compare to a good buttercream icing. He gives it 3 sprinkles.

The next day we stopped at Hello Cupcake. They had very creative names like "24 Carrot" and "You Tart!". We got a peanut butter blossom and a strawberry lemonade. Peanut butter blossom was good, but not as good as Mary's homemade peanut butter chocolate in Richmond. I give it 4 sprinkles. Strawberry lemonade was light and refreshing, also getting 4 stars.

We tried to get to Georgetown Cupcake, the place we were told we had to get to. Apparently everyone else was told this too. The line was out the door and to the corner. We also could not get a place to park. This is the second time I've attempted to go to Georgetown to no avail. Get a parking garage if you can't get a metro line!

Colonial Cupcakes

We drove to Fredericksburg to see a battlefield, but to also visit Colonial Cupcakes. It was in an old building that was still set up like a house. There was even a guy working in Colonial costume.

I got a s'mores cupcake. There was no icing. Instead it had a marshmallow and piece of Hershey's chocolate with a drizzle of chocolate syrup. It was fair, I give it 3 sprinkles. Billy got blueberry pancake. He swore the icing left a butter flavor like he was really eating pancakes. I was impressed with the creativity of it. We gave that one 4 1/2 sprinkles. My brother-in-law, aka, FBI Special Agent Glenn, got raspberry chocolate and gave it 4 1/2 sprinkles. Oh, and the battlefield was pretty cool to see too.

Richmond's Close Call

Mary's killer cupcake.

This past week, my brother-in-law graduated from the FBI academy. We drove to D.C. to celebrate, but made a pit stop along the way in Richmond, VA. My best friend for much of grade school now lives there with her husband and 4 kids. I lost touch with her years ago, but we reconnected through Facebook. She is an awesome person that I never meant to lose touch with, so I am very happy to have her back as a friend. She also makes killer cupcakes.

We actually did try to stop by a cupcake bakery called Carytown Cupcakes, but they decided to close the week I was in town. Word didn't get to them that a VICR (Very Important Cupcake Reviewer) was headed their way. Luckily, when we got to Mary's, she had made cupcakes- my Richmond experience wouldn't go cupcakeless! The cake part was chocolate and the icing was peanut butter. You can't go wrong with that. Her kids talked about eating these the moment I walked in the door. They each ate all of the cupcake, not just the frosting. Billy ate two of them. I'm giving them 5 sprinkles!

My guest taste testers... Annelise, Jonas and Celia (L to R)

Chance of Showers and Cupcakes

I had my baby shower last week at home in Cincinnati. The dessert was cupcakes from Firecracker Bakery. There were chocolate, white and carrot with buttercream icing and pink roses. This was a nice surprise to have cupcakes instead of cake, however the best surprise was having my fellow Cupcake Courtesan, Courtney there. She flew all the way from Salt Lake City to surprise me for my shower. We were able to taste test the cupcakes together. It was easily agreed upon that the carrot was the most flavorful and moist. The icing by itself wasn't special, but complemented the carrot cake nicely. We'll give it 3 1/2 sprinkles.

Spring Cupcake Tour 2010

My man and I are expecting our first baby in September, so we took a quick "babymoon" to St. Augustine, Florida. Of course, we looked up cupcake places along our route and found 3 worth visiting.

The first stop was Savannah, Georgia. Next to one of the many park squares is a place called the Cupcake Emporium. We stopped in to pick up a "cookie cup" and a chocolate raspberry. The cookie cup was like a cookie cake, cooked in a cupcake tin. I liked the idea, but it was an average cookie and the icing was so so. The chocolate raspberry quickly melted in the heat, but was still deemed delicious. Very subtle raspberry flavor, moist chocolate cake. Overall, 3 1/2 sprinkles.

Next in Savannah was Back in the Day Bakery. When I walked in, it did not look promising. I only had 2 choices, vanilla with buttercream or red velvet. I went with the vanilla and buttercream with pink icing. I sat down, took a bite and quickly took back all my doubts. This cupcake was one of the best cupcakes I have ever tasted. The buttercream was exactly like my grandma's. She is the reason why I like to bake. In fact, my daughter will be named after her. That is how awesome she was. It really did take me back in the day. To the days of special occasions eating her buttercream and angel food cake. It was so simple, yet so delicious. An easy 5 on the sprinkle scale.

Next, we hit LuLi's in St. Augustine. The place is full of cute cupcake decorations, as you can see in the picture. The cupcakes were bigger than ones we've had in the past. We chose Strawberry Lemonade, complete with a little straw, and Funky Monkey. Strawberry Lemonade was light and refreshing, neither flavor overpowered the other. The Funky Monkey had chocolate chips added to the cake and was denser. Both cakes, although very different from each other, were very good. We give them 4 1/2 sprinkles.


On our way home, we stopped at CamiCakes in Jacksonville, FL. I was a littled disheartened to see it within a new shopping sprawl area, but once I walked inside, I forgot the location. It was simple with the main focus on the cupcakes displayed. We got the Elvis and a simple vanilla with chocolate buttercream. The Elvis was very creative. It was a chocolate cupcake with banana and peanut butter frosting and a hint of sea salt on top (to bring out flavor, I assume). The flavors came together and it was very fresh. We give it 4 sprinkles. The other, was average. I'll just give it 3 sprinkles.

Our last stop was Cupcake Girls. This was also amongst some urban sprawl in Jacksonville, FL. I was disillusioned by the outside look of this place too, but inside was cute. Their cupcake selections were unique and everyone was named after a cupcake girl. We got the creme brulee, or Mimi, and praline, or Mazie. The creme brulee was very sweet. It had a brown sugar meringue frosting. I give them credit for the creative idea, but it was too sweet for me. The praline had an actual piece of praline in it, but it made it difficult to eat. It wasn't bad, but didn't stand out. We give them 3's on the sprinkle scale.

So, an unbelievable 5 cupcake stops in 4 days! What a demanding hobby I've chosen!

Boston Cakes

In April myself and my man headed to Boston for a wedding and of course I managed to fit cupcake tasting in! We tried out Sweet in Cambridge. I fell in love with the cute little cafe. They had great decorating and lots of cupcakes to choose from. We tried lemon, chocolate donut, vanilla, and carmel chocolate. I have to say the chocolate donut was my favorite. I loved that they made it look like a donut by cutting out a bit in the center and adding sprinkles. However, as for taste they were just ok. The cafe's decor far out weighed the quality of the cupcakes. The cake did not have much flavor and the icing was an unusual stiff dense buttercream. I would have to give the cupcakes a 3 on the cupcake scale.

A Sweet Surprise

On my Easter visit to Cincinnati, my mom, dad and I happened upon a cupcake place called "A Sweet Life." It's always a good day when you just come upon cupcakes, but the store set up was weird. Most of the shop was a store for handmade crafts (most tacky, some not). But there was one display case for cupcakes. We decided to give it a try. We got the chocolate mint- I liked the green color of the icing and the Andes mint on top. I think we were all surprised by how fresh and flavorful it was. I'm pretty sure the cake originated from a mix (maybe it was doctored up), but it was the most moist cake I've had in awhile. My parents, our guest taste tasters, were also pleased and gave it a 4 1/2 on the sprinkle scale. I'm glad we tried the place- you can't judge a book by it's cover and you can't judge a cupcake by the shop it comes from.

So Dee-lish

Last week was my nephew's spring break. My dad and nephew came out for a bit of skiing, snow boarding, and cupcakes....of course. They were given the roles as our first guest taste testers which they took very seriously. We tried out So Cupcake here in Salt Lake City and all I can say it was so dee-lish. As of right now it is my favorite cupcake place in SLC. We tried seven different mini cupcakes: Blueberry, Red Velvet, Peanut Butter, Lemon Poppyseed, Keylime, Carrot Cake, and Cinnamon. My Dad enjoyed the moist cake and the cream cheese icing. He really liked the Keylime- he said it had enough lime in it without being too bitter. He also liked the peanut butter, carrot cake, and red velvet. My nephew liked the peanut butter, lemon poppyseed, and carrot cake. My favs were the lemon, carrot, and surprisingly the red velvet. We all agreed that the carrot cake was probably our top fav. All the cupcakes had wonderful bright colored sprinkles. On the sprinkle scale we give it a 4.5.

Greensboro's Maxie B's

On our way home, we stopped in Greensboro to see the site of the first "lunch counter sit in", one of many events that prompted the start of the Civil Rights era. Four men, sat at a Woolworth's lunch counter waiting to be served for hours. Of course, they never expected to be waited on, but the powerful message they conveyed has left a mark on history. I can't say the same about Maxie B's. The store was very cute, lots of comfortable, cushiony chairs, fancy lamps and wall decorations. I ordered a simple chocolate cupcake with buttercream icing. It was so tasteless, I may as well of been eating a paper cupcake. I couldn't even finish it, which NEVER happens. Billy had better luck with his hummingbird cupcake. It was a combination of different fruits with a cream cheese icing. It compares with banana bread. He also had a pumpkin chocolate cupcake. He said the cake was a bit dry, but the bits of chocolate chips within the cake helped a little. He also just didn't care for the overall pumpkin flavor, but liked the cream cheese icing. These cupcakes were also refrigerated, but they offered to warm them up. I'm not sure what they did, but it sounded like they blew a hair dryer on them for 30 seconds. It helped the temperature, but then the icing would slip off. My cupcake gets 1/2 a sprinkle and that's generous. The hummingbird gets a 3 1/2 and the pumpkin, 3 sprinkles.

Chapel Hill's Sugarland

My husband and I headed to Chapel Hill, NC for a research project he is doing. Of course, this included my own research as well....cupcakes. We found a place called Sugarland right along the main strip. It was the first time I came across a refrigerated cupcake. A sign said to wait a few minutes before eating it so it could become room temperature, but really, who does that with cupcakes? We ordered the Guiness Chocolate cupcake since St. Patrick's day had just passed. We couldn't taste the actual Guiness; instead it seemed to bring out the flavor of the chocolate. It was deeper and richer, which I like. There was a good icing to cake ratio too. The only downside to this one was the cool temperature. I'm giving this cupcake 4 sprinkles.

Desperate and possibly addicted

February I (Courtney) went home for a long over due trip. I am from a small town in Southern Indiana. My sweet little hometown however does not have the luxury of a place dedicated to cupcakes. Sigh. The closest place would be a 2 hour drive- not to say that I would not drive that in an instant, I just ran out of time.

My parents however understand my dedication/ addiction to cupcakes. They fortunately knew just where to take me. In Bloomington there is a place called Angel B's. They specialize in cakes of all types and according to their menu they have the best cupcakes in town. They bake small batches throughout the day so they are fresh. They also have a variety of flavors but the day I went they had the good stand bys- chocolate and vanilla. I ordered one of each and they were placed in a nice pink to-go box. The cupcakes had the prettiest pansies on top, the icing was light and not too sweet. The cake was moist and had nice flavor. We thoroughly enjoyed them and would give Angel B's a 4 on the sprinkle score. And I am comforted to know that next time I go home I know exactly where I can get my fix.

A Mini Get Together

Courtney and I have been friends for a long time, so our biggest complaint is that we don't live in the same town. The idea is to one day end up in a city together, go over to each other's houses, knit and bitch and grow old. A simple request, except that Courtney keeps moving farther and farther away. She and her man recently moved to Salt Lake City, so we went out to ring in the new year. Not too surprisingly, the first thing we did was head to a cupcake place called Mini's. It is located in a neighborhood called...are you ready for this?...Sugarhouse. We got a small assortment of mini cupcakes with the coolest names ever. Breakfast at Tiffany's with the Tiffany blue color was a must have. We also got Twisted Sister (chocolate with a pretzel and caramel), Lemon Drop, and a chocolate peppermint one who's name I can't remember. We took them home and attempted to split them up into pieces for everyone to try. I usually lean towards chocolate, but I think my favorite was the Lemon Drop. It was refreshing and I couldn't get over the real lemon bits in there. This is a cupcakery that I would definitely return to. The icing to cupcake ratio was great, they were fresh, and they were unique. These cupcakes really did make me happy. I give it 4 1/2 sprinkles.

Home, Sweet Home

I moved away from my hometown of Cincinnati almost 6 years ago. Me and my man headed south, transplanted Yankees over 8 hours from home. I've adjusted to the culture shock and have come to appreciate many things about living here, but there's nothing like a trip home. On a recent visit, I discovered that two cupcake places have opened. I enlisted some of my young helpers and their mom and headed to The Sweeterie in Cincinnati. The kids all chose the chocolate marshmallow cupcake, which looked and tasted a lot like a Hostess cupcake. I thought that was a creative idea for a cupcake, but they were a little dry. That didn't seem to stop the kids from eating them. The winning cupcake of the day amongst the adult voters was the banana cupcake my man got. It had great flavor, and was moist- truly the most important things you look for in a cupcake. For that, I give this place 4 sprinkles.