So, after 2 weeks of having a horrible cold and sinus infection and having no cupcakes because my sense of taste was off, I am finally back to cupcake work. Mr. Shuck was downtown and stopped by Yellow Leaf for me. I don’t recall the other selections, but Chocolate Covered Cherry and Italian Eggnog appealed to me. (Actually the eggnog didn’t appeal to me, but it was seasonal, so I gave it a shot.)
YL's Chocolate Covered Cherry: Click to enlarge
This cupcake wasn’t what I was expecting when i heard the name “chocolate covered cherry”. I was expecting something very chocolatey with some cherry in the middle. I was hoping and praying that there was no maraschino cherry hiding inside the cupcake somewhere. At least I got that wish. What I ended up with was a cherry flavored cupcake with a thin layer of chocolate on top topped with pink Italian meringue butter cream and a chocolate drizzle. The cake was nice: firm and moist with a fine crumb, but it didn’t really have much flavor. If I didn’t know it was supposed to be cherry, I couldn’t have identified it as being cherry. The only chocolate was the layer between the icing and the cake and it did not have a very rich flavor. The icing was okay, perhaps because the chocolate drizzle gave it a little extra texture. I ate it. That says something. Rating: ♥♥
YL's Eggnog: Click to enlarge
Italian Eggnog: I’m not sure why it’s Italian Eggnog. Maybe because of the Italian meringue butter cream on top? You could probably go back and read my comments about the chocolate covered cherry because this will sound pretty familiar. The cake was moist and firm with a fine crumb. That’s probably true of all Yellow Leaf cupcakes. I LOVE THEIR CAKE! I have never had a dry crumbly cupcake from there. It tasted like regular yellow cake to me, nothing to write home about, but no cake left in the container when I threw it away. ON THE OTHER HAND….
Eggnog icing headed to the trash
I really liked Yellow Leaf’s Italian meringue butter cream icing at first. It was not too sweet and had a texture similar to ice cream. Lately, I guess my choices have had icing that isn’t strongly flavored, so I feel like I’m licking a stick of butter. The mouth feel is slick and without strong flavoring, it just tastes like butter. Rating for the cake:♥♥, Icing: ♥ so ♥ 1/2 overall.
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