Saturday, February 24, 2007

Seattle Cupcake Tour, Part 1

My sweet tooth seems to increase ten-fold when I am pregnant so I thought I would take advantage of that fact and really put my nose to the grindstone for all of you out there and taste test some of the cupcakes that are popping up all over Seattle (I know, an extremely tough job, but I think I'm your gal).

First up on the docket: the Vanilla Cupcake at Starbucks. I had this as a snack earlier today accompanied by a sugar free Cinnamon Dolce Latte. Here's my takeaway:
  • The Cake - The yellow cake was just what I like, spongy and moist but not gummy. Sweet but not overly so. I'd call it a classic yellow cake taste (some get really vanilla-y but this one stopped short of that with more of a buttery undertone).
  • The Icing - Honestly? A disappointment. Just kind of blah. I was really excited because the icing showed evidence of the vanilla bean (the telltale little black specks) but the richness wasn't there. Not cloyingly sweet, which was good, but, if you'll pardon the pun, just plain vanilla taste-wise. Also, I had a problem with the raw sugar decoration around the rim of the icing. It made for a very nice presentation but the resulting crunchy icing was just the wrong texture for me. I want my icing to be smooth and melty, not like I accidentally dropped my cupcake in the sand at the beach.
  • Overall Impression - Not bad, but not great either... The cake itself I would go back for but the icing did nothing for me. I'll skip the cupcake next time and have something else. If I am going to pay for a cupcake (which I can quite easily make at home to good effect), it had better be outstanding.

A final note: I apologize for not having a picture to accompany this post but I was halfway through the cupcake before the inspiration for the Cupcake Tour hit. Next time there will be photos...

Next up on the Cupcake trail: Cupcake Royale in Ballard (I already have a trip planned for the middle of next week). I also have Trophy Cupcake in Wallingford on my list of places to go but if you have any suggestions for Seattle area cupcake havens let me know.

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