International House of Cupcakes- July 2009

We don't limit our cupcake search to the United States. This past summer we took this quest global- one went south, the other went north. Anne found Charly's Bakery in Cape Town, South Africa. Courtney went to Cupcakes in Vancouver, Canada. She also went to The Yellow Leaf Cupcake Co. in Seattle during the same trip, so we'll post that picture and review here too.

I tried the blueberry cupcake and the key lime cupcake at Cupcakes in Vancouver. After a long day of traveling nothings better than a cupcake....but I was disappointed. The blueberry cupcake was a weird green color and the butter cream icing left a funny taste in my mouth. The key lime cupcake had a nice light lime taste. Both cakes were moist and dense like pound cake. On the sprinkle scale I would give it 2 sprinkles.

At the Yellow Leaf Cupcake Co. in Seattle, I tried the strawberry lemonade cupcake. Two words-DEE-LISH! The icing was light and refreshing. There was actually strawberries in the cupcake batter and there was a nice carmelized crust on top of the cupcake. I give this 5 sprinkles on the sprinkle scale!!!

While Courtney was in Vancouver and Seattle, I was in Namibia and South Africa. Finding Charly's Bakery in Cape Town was a group effort between us. I went to an internet cafe to look up cupcake places, but when I checked my email, she had already emailed me the place. It turned out that it was only blocks away from where I was! I got a chocolate cupcake with chocolate ganache icing. The cupcake was dry, but the flower on top was a vibrant hot pink like the color you see on the building. The other cupcake was vanilla with buttercream icing. It had a nice flavor, but the coolest part was the topper. It was a real chrysanthemum dipped in silver glitter. Overall, I'd give this a 3.5 on the sprinkle scale.