Hey, cupcake!
The Cupcake Courier
How super cool is this?
Available at CupcakeCourier.com
Thanks for bringing it to my attention, Little Miss W!
Mrs. Beasley's Strawberry Cupcake
Read the review at Dandelion Sky
Easter Cupcakes
As seen on Blah Blah Babycakes
Cupcake Sighting
At work
From Rosario's March '06
(And even though I have tested Rosario's Cupcakes on at least two other occasions, to show my complete and utter devotion to the integrity of the International Cupcake Tour, I tested them again, just to be sure they are still good. And they are. See also: the Cupcake Tour Photo Album.)
Spotted: Birthday Cupcakes
3.18.06 @ Vegas, Brooklyn, NY
Noe Valley Bakery
Noe Valley Bakery & Bread Company from Special Correspondent Anh-Minh Le
Appearance: 5
[cup]Cake: 4.5 (including the cream in the middle!)
Frosting: 4.5
Total Score: 14
Comments: When I think of Noe Valley Bakery, their fantastic breads
usually come to mind (mmm... cherry and dark chocolate...). BUT, they've got
this Hostess-inspired cupcake -- cleverly dubbed the "Most-est Cupcake" --
that I adore. They may look like the packaged sweet treats from your youth,
but they are 10x better. Although I usually like creamier frostings, since
this is an homage to Hostess, I understand the need for a rich and thick
icing (it was still very tasty). The chocolate cake itself was moist, while
the vanilla cream in the middle was nice and light. It's the perfect snack
when you're feeling nostalgic, but just can't bring yourself to eat a
cupcake out of a plastic wrapper.
www.noevalleybakery.com
Noe Valley Bakery & Bread Company
4073 24th Street
San Francisco, CA 94114
(415) 550-1405
Cupcake
Andrea + Henry visit Cupcake in Minneapolis
Andrea
Appearance: 4
[cup]Cake: 4
Frosting: 2
Comments: Cupcake has nearly 30 different cupcake varieties to choose from. (S'mores and Boston Cream Pie!) I sampled the Red Velvet, Betty Crocker and the carrot cake muffin. According to guy behind the counter their specialty is the Red Velvet. I concur. The cake on the others was decent, but a little mealy and the frosting waaaay too sweet.
(Eternal) International Cupcake Tour: Little Cupcake Bake Shop
Beth
Appearance: 3.5
[cup]Cake: 4.5
Frosting: 4
Comments: SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Yummy!
Visit Little Cupcake Bake Shop
(Eternal) International Cupcake Tour: Baked NYC
Beth
Appearance: 4
[cup]Cake: 5+
Frosting: 5+
Comments: I have said it time and again, these are THE best cupcakes you will find in New York City. (And at this point, I pretty much consider myself a professional, so take my word for it!) Just the right amount of everything. And they are totally adorable, to boot.
You'll be hard pressed to find a better cupcake anywhere.
Visit Baked NYC now.
Looks aren't everything
Read a review of Macrina Bakery and Cafe at Entre Nous
(Thank you, Vanessa! + I agree, there is nothing worse than a dry cupcake.)
International Cupcake Tour Updates
Jen's Review of Joan's on Third
and a Culinary Tour of Chicago's Cupcakes thanks to Marilyn!
Thanks + Frosting West Coast Style
A great big thanks to my new friend Emily who sent me this GREAT article about cupcakes!
And in other cupcakes news, a big welcome to Jen from LA who just joined the 2005 International Cupcake Tour. You can find her great reviews of two west-coast cupcake stops - Sprinkles (love the name!!) and Leda's Bake Shop here.
2005 International Cupcake Tour: Rosario's
My co-workers are SO sweet and thoughtful that they got my cupcakes (instead of a cake...duh!) for my birthday. (Me: I saw Opportunity with a Capital O, people)
The cupcakes were from Rosario's. (Old Italian family-owned bakery and restaurant around Pearl Street, in the Financial District)
The cupcake in question:
(cup)Cake: 3
Frosting: 4
Appearance: 3
Co-workers thoughtfulness: Priceless
Total Score: 10
2005 International Cupcake Tour: Cupcake Cafe
Destination: Cupcake Cafe
Edit0r's Notes: Our busy schedules did not permit Andrea and I to test these together. Additionally, we did not drink first. Our results will show the chaos that ensued.
Andrea's Report:
Frosting: 5
[cup] Cake: 3
Appearance: 4
Total: 12
YUM! And oh so pretty. The cake was a little thick, but it had a nice fudge-like quality. The frosting, omg, the frosting was perfect. It was sour creamy, not too sweet at all and had a kind of waxy texture. I tested these at an awkward conference room birthday celebration. The girl
from accounting didn't eat the top?! I had to stop myself from eating it right off her plate.
Beth's Report:
Frosting: 1
[cup] Cake: 2
Appearance: 4
Total: 7
But for aesthetics, I am not a fan of these famous New York cupcakes. The frosting isn't sweet at all and the cake is nothing special. However, what the cupcake lacks in taste, it makes up for in appearance. The cupcakes are absolutely beautiful and have the most adorable floral designs on them. Cupcake Cafe also offers tons of flavors, which is a plus. If you aren't a fan of sweet frosting, oodles of frosting on your cupcake, or super-sized cupcakes, you'll love these.
2005 International Cupcake Tour: Pupcake Studio
Destination: Pupcake Studio
Special Guest Correspondent: Emma the Pug
Emma's Report:
Frosting: 5
[cup]Cake: 5
Appearance: 5 (but who cares!)
Total: 15
Today Mom brought me to my October Pug Meetup at Happy Paws. Here I am posing for the camera:
And here I am TOTALLY POOPED after lots of playing. (As my grandma would say, I was "too pooped to participate!"):
I could not believe my eyes when I saw the yummy Pupcakes that awaited me! (For Pugs Only! Not people. It's about time!) They even had a beautiful Turkey made of frosting! These were so delicious, I wish Mom had grabbed me the whole box.
Here I am eating my Pupcake on Houston Street:
Frosting done! Taking a breather before I tackled the [cup]cake:
Mom had to break this baby in half for me, so I could really tackle it:
In the end there were only crumbs....and I got those too:
More on cupcakes!
Thanks to the Totally-Cool + Must-Read-Blog Blogdorf Goodman, I now know about Johnny Cupcakes, where you can find adorable cupcake-themed tees + other merch.
Like this:
and this:
Add them to your Christmas / Hanukkah list asap!
2005 International Cupcake Tour
Stop 2: Downtown Atlantic, 364 Atlantic Avenue
Andrea's Report:
[out of a possible 5 cakes, 1 cake being the lowest score]
Frosting: 4
[cup]Cake: 2
Appearance: 2
Total Score: 8
Comments:
This was a tough cupcake to judge. The frosting technically wasn't frosting, but more a pure, unadultrated, delicious, hard, dark chocolate. YUM! The thing is, it just didn't work so well on a cupcake. The cake itself was much too dry and it was really messy. Points taken for needing a knife and fork.
Beth's Report:
[out of a possible 5 cakes, 1 cake being the lowest score]
Frosting: 2
[cup] Cake: 2
Appearance: 4
Total Score: 8
Comments: Ugh super-disappointed! I usually LOVE these cupcakes, so I am not sure what happened last night. The frosting was no where as yummy as it usually is and the cake tasted a little like cornbread. I think we may need to re-test these.
Cupcake Royale!
You'll find a review of Seattle's Cupcake Royale (that will make you drool) HERE!
2005 International Cupcake Tour Reminder
2005 International Cupcake Tour participants:
Don't forget to make Eating Cupcakes a Priority between now and December. (Or Whenever.)
There are no Real Rules. The basic idea is to test as many Cupcakes from around your city as you can, and then declare One the Winner. Learn more here and here.
You can send your Documentary Evidence to me All At Once, or in Bits and Pieces. I'll figure out how to relay it all later.
THIS:
is how it should look. (Or something like THIS).
If you need some inspiration, I recommend the following sites:
52 Cupcakes (BRILLIANT idea, by the way) Will someone PLEASE give this woman a book deal?
Cupcakes Take the Cake - All cupcakes, all the time (and photos that will make you Drool)
Cupcake Bakeshop - Do yourself a favor and check out the Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes
Enjoy the Sugar High!
PS - We'll be testing other things next year. Like Tea Houses and Condoms. (Ha! Just Kidding. About the Tea.)
Silly Vogue and its mis-attributions!
Look! It's Andrea and I (and me?) on the 2005 International Cupcake Tour!
2005 International Cupcake Tour: NYC #1
2005 International Cupcake Tour: New York
Destination #1: Sugar Sweet Sunshine, 126 Rivington Street, 212-995-1960
In the interest of full disclosure, we should tell you that we started the 2005 International Cupcake Tour: New York with brunch, which included two glasses of Prosecco each. As such, to maintain accuracy in our reporting, we will start each tasting on the 2005 International Cupcake Tour: New York with two glasses of Prosecco (or similar) each.
Okay, now that we have that out of the way, a few Interior Shots to get us in the mood:
Polaroids on the wall of doggies: (My kind of place.)
Andrea and I wore our sunglasses, so that no one would recognize us. (It worked.)
Sign on the wall that says "I could live without a relationship if I just had an endless supply of pumpkin cupcakes at hand."
The Evidence:
Andrea's Report:
[out of a possible 5 cakes, 1 cake being the lowest score]
Frosting: 4 cakes
[cup]Cake: 4 1/2 cakes
Appearance: 3 cakes
Total Score: 11.5
Comments:
"I really thought these were delicious. Even day 2, after sitting uncovered, the cake was incredibly moist. The frosting wasn't too sweet, which is usually a cupcake deal breaker for me. Their shop was very cool. I could hang out there and eat cupcakes. It was edgy and fun. The staff could have chatted with me a bit more about cupcakes though... She sort of wanted us out of there and didn't help me keep count. 'how many more do I get?'"
Beth's Report:
[out of a possible 5 cakes, 1 cake being the lowest score]
Frosting: 4 and 1/2 cakes
[cup] Cake: 3
Appearance: 3 cakes
Total Score: 10.5
Comments: I agree with Andrea -- This place was very cute, I loved the Elizabeth Taylor picture and the Polaroids and the fun furniture;. The Staff DEFINITELY could have been more pleasant, especially to someone buying 24 cupcakes (lose the LES 'tude, dudes!)! The frosting outdid the cake, but the cake's crumble factor was low, which is a definite plus in my book. Any place that has pumpkin cupcakes is a-ok.
Cupcake Tour
Coming soon to Just My Cup of Tea...
The 2005 INTERNATIONAL Cupcake Tour with special guest correspondent, Andrea.
First stop: Sugar Sweet Sunshine
On our list:
Downtown Atlantic
One Girl Cookies
and Magnolia Bakery
Between October and December 2005 For the rest of our lives, we'll sample the cupcakes from each of the locations above and report back to you (with photographic documentary evidence and crumbs included!). In the end, we'll declare a Winner. Many will be eaten. Only one (or two) will Win.
[Never say I don't make sacrifices for you]
YOU too can join the Cupcake Squad & the 2005 Cupcake tour in your city! E-mail me to join us and help spread the frosting! I'll post the final results here (and links to all participants blogs).
To participate:
1. Test as many cupcakes as you can
2. Take pictures
3. be sure to include name/address/web url whatever of the cupcake places so we can track them down when we come to your city
4. Record your results
5. Declare one cupcake the Winner!
Current participants:
Joy - Philadelphia
Julia - Sydney, Australia
Vanessa - Seattle
Tessa J - San Francisco
Francesca - Bologna, Italy
La Dauphine - Atlanta, Georgia
Rachel - Baltimore, MD
The Cupcake Queen - Washington, DC
PurpleSockGirl - Cheyenne, Wyoming (Did I spell that right?)
Brittany - Denver, Colorado
Katie B - Chicago
Elizabeth - Chicago, aussi!
Sue T - Wellington, New Zealand
Jen - LA
Kitty - Melbourne, AU