This past weekend Mr Shuck participated in the Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic, a 202 mile bike ride. Being more sensible, I drove down.
While we were in the Portland area, we stopped by the Bridgeport Village Mall in Tualatin/Tigard, Oregon. The main reason for the stop was to visit Sweetest Thing Cupcakes which has a kiosk there.
When we entered the store, we were greeted by a delicious blast of the aroma of butter cream and cake: a delicious first impression. I was also glad that there were a lot of choices: Snickers, Chocolate/Raspberry, Chocolate w/ Vanilla Icing, Vanilla w/chocolate icing, Vanilla/Vanilla, Chocolate/Chocolate, Snickerdoodle., Chocolate Strawberry and Red Velvet. They also had one of the most unique cake treats I’ve seen (although very environmentally unfriendly): Cupcake PushUps.
Peanut Butter Marshmallow Cupcake PushUp
The shop had 3 different flavors of PushUps available and I chose Peanut Butter Marshmallow. Theoretically, I think PushUps are a great idea, but practically they didn’t work so great. It was next to impossible to get a balanced bite. I had to eat the icing, which was good but EXTREMELY sweet. After the icing, I got a layer of cake, which wasn’t dry exactly, but very crumbly and messy. Next I got a mouthful of marshmallow filling, also extremely sweet. Being able to have a combination of layers would have tempered the sweetness of the creamy components and possibly held the cake together better as well. From a hippie standpoint, it’s a lot of plastic to be thrown away for such a small a dessert.
On the way back to Seattle, I dug into my cupcake. I had chosen the Strawberry Fields cupcake, which was advertised as a strawberry/chocolate chip cake filled with strawberry and topped with chocolate ganache. It came packaged in a Chinese to go box, which kept it safe for the journey.
Strawberry Fields Cupcake
This was a very tasty cupcake. I didn’t get a lot of strawberry flavor from the cake, but it was moist and the chocolate chips gave a bit of texture. I wasn’t thrilled with the strawberry jam in the center: it was a bit sweet and “Smuckers”-ish. The ganache on top was nicely bitter and delicious. I don’t even remember eating the fondant flower garnish, so it wasn’t as off putting as I find most sugar garnishes.
Granted, my sample was pretty small, but I was impressed overall with this shop. I’ve had a few visits to other shops lately that I didn’t want to even comment upon. (If you can’t say anything nice…).
I would go back to Sweetest Thing if I were in the area. I’d be interested in visiting the original shop where the baking is done, but it’s about 40 minutes south of Portland. Maybe one day….
On a tangent: We also visited the Good Food Here food cart pod at 43rd and Belmont in Portland. I was excited to see that my old cupcake friend, The Sugar Cube PDX had moved from Mississippi and Skidmore. The Sugar Cube is home to one of my all time favorite cupcakes, Chocolate Caramel Potato Chip. On this trip, I tried their Chocolate Chocolate Bread Puddin’ which was described on their website as “An ooey gooey journey to the peak of Mt. ChocoGASM. Served warm and topped with Nutella cream, salted caramel and Freddy Guys toasted hazelnuts.” They did not lie. It was fabulous. It was beautiful. I wish I had taken a crappy IPhone photo before I devoured it. I also love that they serve on mismatched china and trust us to bring it back to the cart and not steal. I loved my plate and pondered taking it with me before returning it to the cart. I have visited the Sugar Cube almost every trip to Portland… they were closed once when we attempted. I will definitely return.
The Cupcake Addict's Cupcake Collection 