cleveland cupcake review #3: main street cupcakes

Main Street Cupcakes

Hudson, Ohio

http://www.mainstreetcupcakes.com/

Ambiance:  5 scoops of icing-- main street cupcakes has a lovely set-up with pretty wood tables and an adorable display case.  also adorable was the pretty green bike sitting in front.  

Customer Service:  5 scoops of icing-- the friendly staff was able to recognize josh's face (not sure if this speaks to their friendly nature, or the fact that josh is always there buying me cupcakes... probably both).  the woman on the phone was also very nice when we called at 9:45 to ask what kind of cupcakes they were going to have that day.

Flavor Variety:  4.75 scoops of icing!  there were so many flavors that is was difficult to choose!  we ended up ordering 18 cupcakes (it was my birthday, don't judge!) because it was just too overwhelming.  our only feedback was that it would be nice to know at the beginning of the week what the flavor options are going to be so that we can plan ahead.

Cupcake Size:  3 scoops-- they had the standard cupcakes, but not the super sized or tiny ones that we have seen in other stores.

Quality of Cupcake:  4 from annie, 3 from lexy.  annie wishes that they had the harder icing, like White Flower... lexy wishes that the frosting had lots of flavor, but the cake did not.  she wishes that her pear cupcake would have had the pear flavor in the cake like it did in the frosting, as she really enjoyed the frosting part.... so, in total, 3.5 scoops!

Overall Impression:  around 4.5-- i am super glad that we chose main street cupcakes for my birthday celebration-- we can't wait to go back again!!!

cleveland cupcake review #2

Baby Cakes

4145 Erie Street

Willoughby, Ohio

http://babycakeswilloughby.vpweb.com/default.html

Ambiance: 4.5 scoops of icing.  Baby Cakes has some super cute whimsy, which every good cupcake shop should strive to achieve.  There were cute little awnings above the tables and plenty of seating.  Annie and I discussed that it would be a cute place for a party.  Downfalls include that the cupcakes were not well labeled and it seemed a little cluttered at the counter.  I would have liked a little more organization.

Customer Service: 5 scoops.  The woman who helped us was very nice.  She was super helpful (which was good since not all cupcakes were labeled--we almost missed out on a lemon cupcake!!).  Also, she was decorating cupcakes, serving hungry cupcake critique-ers, and caring for 2 small children that were in a crib...crazy.  (is that why its called baby cakes?)

Flavor Variety: 3 scoops.  There were quite a few to choose from, but all the cupcakes seemed to be chocolate or vanilla varieties.  I had a chocolate with coconut and Annie had a lemon.  One fun bonus was that some had filling in the middle.  We would have enjoyed a few more daring flavors.  

Cupcake Size: 3 scoops.  They had the basic size.  We are still in search of the elusive cupcake store that serves jumbo, regular, and mini.  Nothing super special to report here...

Quality of Cupcake: 3 scoops.  Annie was not pleased with the icing.  It was very creamy and we all know (or at least I do...) that Annie enjoys the harder/denser cupcake frosting.  The cake part of the cupcakes was pretty soft as well.  It was more like cake than a cupcake.  Good, but not as dense as a lot of cupcakes.  

Overall Impression: 4.4 scoops.  Baby Cakes was a new cupcake store for Annie so it was a fun adventure for both of us.  We never turn down a cupcake, so it was a good time, however we wish the quality of the cupcakes was just a tad higher.  But they definitely have the whimsy of what "magical cupcakes" means locked in.  Well done.

cleveland cupcake review: White Flower

White Flower Cake Shoppe:  LaPlace Shopping Center, Beachwood, OH

http://www.whiteflowercake.com/

Ambiance:  2 scoops of icing.  While the big pretend wedding cakes were quite impressive, it wasn't the cozy, sit down and lick-frosting-off-your-fingers kind of establishment that a cupcake shoppe should be.  It was very white and almost sterile looking... although the smell was quite yummy.

Customer Services:  2 scoops of icing.  The woman at the desk was nice, but not super-friendly.  She seemed like maybe she could take or leave our business, and also assume that Lexy did not want a cupcake... Lexy is wondering if this means the woman thought she was too fat to eat

 cupcakes... or maybe that she was so skinny that clearly she doesn't eat cupcakes-- either way, assumptions were made, and you know what happens when people make assumptions.

Flavor Variety:  4.5 scoops of icing.  There were quite a few yummy choices-- we had a hard time choosing what we should get...  there were lots of flavors and they all looked delectable.  Both Lexy and myself chose the banana cream cupcakes, which the website describes as 

NEW! Banana Creme Pie:

Banana cake topped with custard and vanilla creme, and sprinkled with graham crumbs.

We both agreed that this was a good choice.

Quality of Cupcake:  3 scoops of icing.  Individually, all the flavors were fantastic-- the custard, the cake, the icing... however, when they all came together, it was a big sloppy mess.  The cake wasn't physically strong enough to hold up that yummy thick icing, so it kind of just became a big goopy mess-- a yummy one-- but, nonetheless, a mess.

Cupcake Size:  4 scoops of icing.  White Flower did well in this department, as they carry large SUPER SIZE cupcakes with big pretty flowers on the top (meaning lots of yummy icing).  One suggestion Lexy had was that they also carry "mini" cupcakes as well, so she could have tried more of the flavors.

Overall Impression:  3ish scoops of icing.  White Flower was an excellent beginning to our cupcake adventures in Ohio and the Banana Cream cupcake was very good-- with just a little tweaking, it could be UNSTOPPABLE!

Adventures in Portland: Take 8

Cupcake Review #5: St. Cupcake at SE 33rd and Belmont (second location)

St. Cupcake has two locations and because every cupcake experience is unique, we HAD to go to this location to critique with our expert eyes and taste buds.

Ambiance: 4 scoops of icing. This is a very unique cupcake place. It is a cute little store in the front with jewelery and other fun trinkets. It was fun to look around, but it made you feel like you had to be super quiet (not able to ooh and aww over the cupcakes at the same level that we are used to). Also, there was no place to sit down. In fact, they had an antique couch that said you could not sit on it and eat your cupcakes. The cuteness factor of the store makes up for lack of seating... almost.

Customer Service: 5 scoops of icing. 5 words, dear friends: BUY ONE, GET ONE FREE! Oh yes, St. Cupcake was having a special. Buy one cupcake and get one free. Now, you might think that that meant Annie and I were able to get one of our cupcakes for free. Ohhhh no. That meant that we each got TWO! The friendly lady said that she does that on Sundays when business is a little slow, because they are closed on Monday and she does not want them to go to waste. Neither do we. Annie and I do not believe in waste, thats why we did our part in cupcake consumption yesterday.

Flavor Variety: 4 scoops of icing. Same review as before. This store has all the same flavors as their other store. Good variety, but we would like some more daring flavors.

Quality of Cupcake: 4 scoops of icing. This time Annie and I each got a banana pound cake and a toffee cupcake. Both were super yummy. Espeically the banana. The banana one was a little denser than a regular cupcake, hence it being called a "pound cake". It had cream cheese frosting as opposed to the usual buttercream frosting. I particuarly enjoyed that part, and came to the decision that I like cream cheese frostings more than buttercream.

Cupcake Size: 3 scoops of icing. Again, this is the same as before. They meet the standards for cupcake sizing. A jumbo would be nice....

Overall Impression: 4 (exact!) scoops of icing. We enjoyed the combination of store and shop, but some seating and more noise would have made it a little more welcoming. But, as always, St. Cupcake does not disapoint, and buy one get one free equals heaven.

Adventures in Portland: Take 6

Cupcake Review #4: Cupcake Jones on NW 10th and Everett

Ambiance: 1 scoop of icing. Cupcake Jones was seriously lacking in the ambiance department. If they had more space, we're sure they would create a wonderful cupcake eating environment. However, as it stands, it is, as Annie states, "the fast food of cupcakes". You walk in and it is a tiny area that no more than 5 people could stand. There was a bench that you could sit on, but that might be sort of awkward since you're pretty much right in the action. Annie and I decided to eat our cupcakes outside, only to realize there was no outdoor seating either. Major bummer. We ended up sitting on a crooked window sill/ledge thingy outside of the neighboring Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream (hmm ice cream....). People inside the Ben and Jerry's may, or may not, have been laughing at us (that could have been due to our excessive picture taking....). Given that we are in Portland, we feel that there needs to be some place to stand to enjoy a cupcake without the fear of being rained on at any moment.

Customer Service: 4 scoops of icing. The woman who helped us was nice enough, but not really the above and beyond, hyped up on sugar, friendly that we have come to expect from a cupcake store.

Flavor Variety: 5 scoops of icing. Cupcake Jones has a good mixture of "daring" and "safe" cupcake flavors. Therefore anyone can find at least one cupcake that they would want to devour. Annie and I had trouble making up our minds, and had to split our cupcakes so as to try the different flavors (we got chocolate chip with cookie dough in the middle and apple crisp with yummy apple pieces in the center). AND we plan on returning tomorrow because we couldn't pass up on the pear spice and lemon varieties.

Quality of Cupcake: 5 scoops of icing. Annie believes that the apple crisp cupcake has been the best thus far. And, I have to admit, she may be right. The added bonus of filling in the middle is a fun surprise. And anyone who can figure out how to put cookie dough in a cupcake is a genius by our standards.

Cupcake Size: 4 scoops of icing. While Cupcake Jones gets bonus scoops of icing for having jumbo cupcakes, they do not score a perfect 5 because there is no in between size. You have to either have a jumbo (which is awesome, but a little excessive--even for us....sometimes...) or a mini. A regular or mid-size would be nice. If they had all 3 it would be perfect cupcake heaven.

Overall Impression: almost 4 scoops of icing. Really the only downside to Cupcake Jones is that there is no place to sit. We can't even complain about them being downtown where parking is a pain in the butt, because the cupcake Gods shone upon us and we got a spot RIGHT IN FRONT! So, dear Cupcake Jones, get a little picnic table and maybe a fun umbrella, plop it up outside the store and you will have earned the 5 scoops of icing.

adventures in portland: take 4

cupcake review #3: bliss bake shop
4708 NW Bethany Blvd Suite E-5
Portland Oregon 97229

ambiance: 3 scoops of icing. bliss did the best they could, given that they are located in a strip mall next to a subway. we appreciated the children's toys and big bucket of marshmallows in the front of the store, and it also smelled magically delicious. lacking was some wall decor and perhaps a little more color... it is also important to add that bliss opened around 2 weeks ago, so we should cut them a little slack.

customer service: 5 scoops of icing. lexy and i appreciated the fact that although we each individually ordered 4 mini cupcakes a piece (yeah, i said it), the woman behind the glass was not judgy, pretty matter of fact (doesn't everyone eat four cupcakes at these places??!). also, after we finished our cupcakes, another nice lady took our plates and asked us if we enjoyed our treats. very nice.

flavor variety: 5 scoops of icing. as previously mentioned (see customer service) lexy and i each had to (had to) get four cupcakes each because it was too difficult to make up our minds on just one (or two.... or three) flavors to try. lexy got the strawberry with strawberry icing, smore, lemon with rasberry topping, and cookies and cream, and annie got smore, cookies and cream, vanilla, and mocha.

quality of cupcake: 4 scoops of icing. these were pretty awesome cupcakes. i mean, nothing extraordinary or off the charts, but absolutely satisfying with a magical flair. annie appreciated that there was a lot of icing on her cupcakes, and lexy took solace in the fact that although she ate four cupcakes, one of them contained fruit, thus making it healthy.

cupcake size: 3.5 scoops of icing. nothing special, but they should get credit for having both normal and mini sizes. thanks bliss.

overall impression: 4 scoops of icing. bliss was a little bit of a hike for us, but well worth the time and effort. it's good to see more cupcake stores opening in the portland area (for lexy) and we are excited to see what they do with the decor. good luck bliss baking!

Adventures in Portland: Take 2

Cupcake Review #2: Sweet Pea Baking Co. (SE Stark and 12th)

For Annie and my second cupcake adventure we chose Sweet Peak Baking Co. Something special about Sweet Pea is that its a completely vegan bakery. They are pretty cool in that they will make special orders for people with food allergies, and they have lots of wheat-free stuff.

Ambiance: 2 scoops of icing. Although the outside table and fun green sandwich board sign are cute and luring, the inside of Sweet Pea is a little stark. Sort of the industrial type of look with exposed pipes and stuff like that. Definitely not magical or whimsical or any other fun word that should be used to describe a cupcake store.

Customer Service: 5 scoops of icing. The man who helped us was quite nice. Again, very willing to tell the cupcake experts (ie. us-annie and lexy) what each of the flavors were and patient while we tried to make up our mind and choose just one.

Flavor Variety: 3 scoops of icing. Sweet Pea did not have tons of the flavors, but the ones they had were solid. Annie got a mocha, complete with espresso beans on top, which was a cute touch. Lexy got a cocnut cupcake with raspberry icing. They do deserve a little extra credit because we feel that its probably hard to make lots of random flavors and keep with the vegan-ness. Also, about half of their cupcakes are wheat/gluten free and that's pretty cool.

Quality of Cupcake: 4 scoops of icing. Annie really enjoyed her icing--possibly better than st. cupcake. The icing is a little stiffer, so for those of you that like stiff frosting this is the where the icing party is at. The texture of the actual cake was a little denser than normal cupcakes, possibly due to being vegan, different, but still good.

Cupcake Size: 3 scoops of icing. Annie's cupcake was bigger than Lexy's, which made Lexy a little sad. They didn't have mini and normal (or even big) size cupcakes, just all their "general" size, however the size of our cupcakes were quite different. This is sad because maybe you really want a cupcake so you want to pick one of the bigger ones, but the flavor of one of the smaller ones is the one you want to get. I think we all see the problem in that. This is serious business, people.

Sweet Pea averaged a 3.something (again, not math majors). They could afford to hire a deorator to revamp the place and bring it up to cupcake selling standards, but if its nice outside and you can sit at one of the cute tables, its a pretty enjoyable time. So enjoyable in fact, that you can see Annie, Lexy, and Kevin (we brought him one at work... what nice people we are) with our cupcakes. All looking pretty darn excited to have such a yummy treat!

Lexy and Annie's Adventures in Portland: Take 1

CUPCAKE REVIEW #1: Saint Cupcake on NW 17th and Flanders

Ambiance: 5 (out of 5) scoops of icing. St. Cupcake has the mandatory aroma of baking cupcake-goodness right when you walk in. They also have fun paintings on the walls, including the story of St. Cupcake. And, if you're lucky you can sit at the "bar" and watch the bakers at work.

Customer Service: 5 scoops of icing. We were asked at least 3 times if we had been helped. The cupcake lady was nice enough to tell me (lexy) all of the day old cupcake flavors. And, they were patient while Annie tried to choose from the all of magical treats.

Flavor Variety: 4 scoops of icing. St. Cupcake has some great flavors, but you cant get all of them every day. Annie wished they had some weirder or more daring flavors, apple perhaps. And, Lexy feels sad that her favorite cupcake (fat elvis) is only available on Tuesdays and Wednesdays--both days that were not the day that we were there. However, the coconut that Lexy had is available every day and quite amazing, and Annie had a vanilla with vanilla icing that she found enjoyable....delectable even.

Quality of Cupcake: 4 scoops of icing. Annie wishes her cupcake would have had a little more icing on the top. The quality of the cake in St. Cupcake's cupcakes is quite good, not dry. No one likes a dry cupcake. Lexy's cupcake was really good and she feels like the cupcake to frosting ratio was good...but as Annie said, you can never have enough frosting.

Cupcake Size: 3 scoops of icing. St. Cupcake offers the standard size cupcake as well as the mini "dot" sizes. The dots are great for when you cant make up your mind, and you need to try two...or three... or maybe four...? Nothing extraordinary about the size of their cupcakes, but they meet the averages.

Overall Impression: 4 scoops of icing. (technically 4.something, but we're not math majors, people). Tasty, and looking forward to our next trip there when we can partake in more fun flavors.

if there is one thing i love in life, it's a good cupcake.  quality cupcakes are hard to find, but what's even harder to find are good guilt free cupcakes.  lexy and i are here to tell you to look no further.  here's what you do:

*pick a box of cake mix, any ol' box will do.  i, personally enjoy vanilla, and lexy enjoys confetti cake.

*mix the cake mix with one can of diet soda-- take your pick...  lexy enjoys diet cherry coke with her confetti cake, and i am partial to diet root beer or pepsi max with my vanilla.

*mix thoroughly, try to get out all the lumps of powder, although it's not always possible.

*pour into cupcake holders and bake at 350 until a toothpick comes out clean.

what a magical treat!  

for those of you counting, this is around 2 ww points without frosting.  yummmmm........