Cupcake Memories

So I know all of you loyal readers have been waiting in anticipation to hear all about my cupcake from Whole Foods so here it is in a nutshell:

When I was at Legacy Place over in Dedham a couple of weeks ago I was wondering around assuming I would find at least one small bakery to pick a cupcake up at. I was slightly disappointed to discover that no such place existed, and since I was planning on wandering over to Whole Foods anyway it seemed only fitting that I would venture over the baked goods area of the Whole Foods Megastore (seriously most ENORMOUS and EPIC WF there is). The whole foods bakery did not fail me there were 3 different cupcake options: yellow cake with lemon frosting, chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting, and yellow cake with flower designs. Since I don't eat peanut butter and the flower ones were a lot bigger than the others it left me with one options:

Whole Foods Yellow Cake with Lemon Frosting Cupcake Review:
* the cake was drier, almost like a muffin texture, reminded me a lot of the cupcakes I ate in Ireland
*the frosting was very light and airy, but not with a very distictive lemon flavor
*the c:f was pretty much on the money, but the airy frosting was an interesting pairing with the denser cake.

Overall a decent cupcake, but certainly not THE BEST CUPCAKE IN BOSTON.

Yesterday I was in Sharon, Ma and noticed that the Starbucks that used to be in the town centre had been replaced by a bakery called "French Memories". I decided to check it out and pick up a green tea and a cupcake. The woman who was working there was very friendly, but also seemed perplexed by my asking for a cupcake. There were 3 options there as well-- yellow cake with vanilla frosting, chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, and pink cake with pink frosting? As tempted as I was to try the pink cupcake I decided to get a chocolate cake.

* the cupcake was a little larger than most of the ones I've had in the past. The cake itself was actually really good--moist and rich and with a definite chocolate flavor.
*I was really thrown off though because when I bit in I discovered that there was a chocolate pudding filling INSIDE my cupcake. Now maybe this is my personal preference, but I was not a fan of this filling inside my cupcake. It really threw me off and I was unable to pay much attention to the little frosting on top of the cake (the rest was covered in almost a chocolate dipping sauce sort of thing)
*Good cake, almost beats SWEET's carrot cake, but the filling and awkward frosting took away from the cupcake experience as a whole.

At this point I'd say SWEET's carrot cake is my favorite, but I'm keeping my eyes peeled and waiting for the next delicious cupcake to come my way. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!


xo.
A

A SWEET Summer

I was so excited about my "Summer of Cupcakes" that I did not anticipate one major problem...I work ALL the time, and don't exactly have the time to wander around Boston looking for wonderful bakeries. Don't get me wrong, I have some free time, but I usually fill it with going to the gym and sleeping. But I have gotten to a couple of places and indulged in some delicious cupcakes, so I figured I'd share my thoughts of those and hopefully I'll have time to sample a few others before my summer disappears.

My first stop was SWEET. I had read about SWEET online, and my boss at Big Sister raves about their cupcakes so a couple of weeks ago I stopped into their location in Harvard Square and picked up 4 cupcakes: 2 vanilla, 1 chocolate, and 1 lemon for a little over $12. I had purchased the cupcakes for me and a couple of friends to split after dinner, but we were stuff from our fajitas at Borders and so I brought the cupcakes home instead. John and I each had a vanilla, Mom had the lemon, and (big surprise) Dad ate the chocolate cupcake. I sampled a little of both Mom and Dad's but came up with the same conclusion about all of them--

*the cake was a little dry
*the frosting was too sweet
*there was too much frosting for the size of the cupcake (the c:f was greatly over-powered by f), the way John described it, he felt like he needed to eat the cupcake with a knife in hand and continuously spread the frosting as he bit into the cupcake. I took a different approach and simply took off one dollop of frosting off all together.

Overall, after all the raving I had heard, I was a little disappointed. BUT, I still had not given up on SWEET. When I was in the Harvard Square location there was a woman sitting at a table eating a carrot cake cupcake that she absolutely loved, and it was the cupcake that the employee had recommended, so of course when I was walking down Newbury St last week and saw the newest location of SWEET, I simply had to go try it out for myself.

SWEET's "Organic Karat" cupcake is simply to die for!!

*the cake itself was moist and rich of carrot peels
*the creamcheese frosting was rich and creamy, but not too sugary, and not too cheesy
*and the c:f was JUST RIGHT for this particular cupcake
*but for one cupcake it cost almost $3

Now, I don't know if the dramatic difference in cupcakes was because I visited the Harvard Square location at 5pm and the Newbury Street one at 11am (possibly sitting out for a little while vs. very fresh), or if it had to do with my choice of cupcakes. My friend mentioned that she always finds SWEET's vanilla cupcake a little dry, so probably just has to do with the product itself.

Overall both experiences I've had at SWEET have been pleasant ones. The staff is friendly and very helpful. The stores are both set up similarly, white with pink accents, and extremely clean. Basically right up my alley.

After I had mixed reviews at SWEET I decided to try my luck with a more mainstream cupcake....Whole Foods. Stay tuned for my thoughts on my vanilla cupcake with lemon frosting.


For now..
xo.
-A