The Cupcake Addict's Cupcake Collection The Cupcake Addict's Cupcake Collection

eating cupcakes since the late 60's
    • Category: Miscellaneous Bakeries

      • Divine Nine from Trader Joes

        Posted at 10:18 pm by MLea
        Dec 9th

        I was excited when I got my Trader Joe’s newsletter this month and saw that they were having holiday cupcakes.  The first Trader Joes we visited did not have them in stock.  (They did, however, have vegetarian corn dogs!  YUM!)  I went by another Trader Joes the next day in search of more corn dogs and found the cupcakes instead.

        The cupcakes were described in the holiday guide as chocolate sprinkled with sea salt, black & white topped with a Snocap® and chocolate with caramel butter cream.  The box cost $6.99, which I thought was reasonable for 9 mini cupcakes.  My review: BLEH!  All 3 flavors had the same chocolate cake base which was dry.  The icing had butter listed as an ingredient, but it tasted like shortening and sugar and all 3 flavors tasted the same.  I didn’t get any salt taste from the salted chocolate nor any caramel taste in the other one.  I wouldn’t go out of my way for these….

        Posted in Miscellaneous Bakeries
      • 3.14 Bakery, White Center

        Posted at 9:05 pm by MLea
        Nov 6th

        I’ll post photos eventually.  Maybe I’ll give them another chance.

        Dry as bone red velvet cupcake.  Dry as bone chocolate ganache cake.

        On the plus side…the cupcake was only $1.50

        Chocolate Ganache Cake

        Red Velvet Cupcake (Home made sized)

        Posted in Miscellaneous Bakeries
      • Back to Eden, Portland OR

        Posted at 7:31 pm by MLea
        Nov 1st

        So, day 2 of our Portland trip started on NE Alberta at the Vita Cafe.  After an extremely filling and mostly delicious breakfast of free range eggs, vegetarian sausage, potatoes and a biscuit (sadly served a little rare), we walked down a few blocks to Back to Eden Bakery.   The shop was very homey and welcoming, with folk art and rustic furniture and displays.  Everything was vegan and they had a nice selection of gluten free items.

        Besides cupcakes, there were some other delights that I would have sampled….

        Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

        German Chocolate Mini Cakes

        I ended up choosing a hazelnut mocha cupcake and a gluten free chocolate peanut butter cupcake.

        I had higher hopes for the hazelnut mocha cupcake.  It was pretty in a simple way.  I love coffee.  I love hazelnuts (well, I love Nutella, I don’t normally eat a handful of hazelnuts).  Unfortunately, this cupcake tasted like neither.  In fact, the most dominant flavor I sensed was “banana”, but maybe there is something wrong with my taste buds.  Apart from the lack of distinct flavor, the cake was fine.  It wasn’t bone dry.  It was okay.  The icing was a little grainy, but not overly sweet.  There was a nice crunch from the crushed nuts on top.  I’ve thrown away cupcakes that were worse.  I ate my half of it.  Mr Shuck thought it was fine, just a little dry.

        I wasn’t expecting much from the chocolate peanut butter cupcake.  After all, it was vegan AND gluten free!  I was pleasantly surprised though.  I’m not saying that it was an incredible cupcake; it was a decent cupcake.  The icing was peanut buttery and smooth.  The cake was rich and fairly moist.  I liked it overall.  If I decided to give up all animal products, I’d give it another whirl.  Until I go completely vegan, I’d rather have my icing made with  butter or egg whites from some blissfully happy and well treated cows and chickens.  I don’t think that my palate is sophisticated enough that I could detect oil rather than butter in a cake batter.

        My sample size is fairly small, but so far Back to Eden has the best vegan and the best gluten free cupcakes that I’ve tried so far.  Since it’s only 8 blocks away from my favorite breakfast in Portland, I’m likely to return.

        Posted in Miscellaneous Bakeries | Tagged back to eden, chocolate, hazelnut, mocha, peanut butter, portland
      • Chocolate Caramel Potato Chip Cupcake from SugarCube PDX…after I digress

        Posted at 8:34 pm by MLea
        Oct 31st

        Another delicious vegetarian dining trip to Portland last night.  We started off our day at the Bob’s Red Mill Store and Restaurant where we bought some pantry staples and had a baked potato with veggies.  We roamed across the street to Dave’s Killer Bread for (you guessed it!) bread.  After checking into our hotel, we meandered to the Saturday Market where we did NOT find any cupcakes.   After a nap back at the Double Tree, we sought out a food cart for dinner.  We found Off the Griddle, a solar powered vegetarian burger cart, at the A La Cart food cart pod at 50th and Division.    I had their seasonal pumpkin curry falafel burger with pickled onions.  It was a bit mushy, but that could be overlooked because it was otherwise extremely flavorful and delicious.  Mr Shuck loved the Vegan Smoky Bleu burger, a leek, mushroom and rice burger topped with tempeh bacon and vegan bleu cheese.

        The food cart pod was blessed with a large heated tent where we sat protected from the light rain and listened to a singer, watched costumed children and ate our burgers.  We ventured out into the lot again and returned with coffee and chai from The Coffee Can and dessert fondue from Fon Due It.

        Donut holes, sourdough bread, strawberries and apples with melted chocolate

        This successful dinner was followed by a 2 1/2 hour ghost hunting walking tour (complete with electomagnetic radiation finder) which was not as successful: the pouring rain did not seem to speed up the ramblings of the extremely non-skeptical tour guide.  We returned to the hotel at 1am soaked to the skin (through our raincoats) and exhausted.

        I won’t bore you with more vegetarian food… there are 1000 other blogs for that.  On to the cupcake:

        After our late evening, I was in need of a little perking up after we checked out of the hotel today.   I felt the need for JUICE, so I drove us out to another fabulous food cart pod located at Mississippi and Skidmore, home of Dogfeathers coffee and juice, where Mr Shuck ordered us a Portland Sunshine (apple, orange, strawberry and ginger).  While he waited for juice, I crept over to the Sugar Cube to see what was happening.  I discovered that my old friend, the Amy Winehouse, had been replaced!

        by this

        Moist chocolate cake dipped in ganache, topped with a handful of potato chips and drizzled with caramel sauce

        Their website describes this cupcake as a chocolate buttermilk cupcake,  “topped with a tower of crunchy potato chips and drizzled liberally with our house salted caramel. This is the epitome of sweet knocks up salty and makes a baby.”  I couldn’t have said it better myself.  It was an excellent combination, no matter what my sister thinks.  I’d go back again for this in a minute if it wasn’t 3 hours away!

        Posted in Miscellaneous Bakeries | Tagged chocolate caramel, portland, potato chip, sugar cube
      • Confetti Cupcakes, Issaquah

        Posted at 5:24 pm by MLea
        Oct 28th

        You’ll forgive me for the lack of information in this post.  We went to the Issaquah Salmon Days festival with our friends, the Chens.  We stopped off at Confetti Cupcakes in downtown Issaquah while we were wandering among the stalls.

        Confetti Cupcakes

        There was a nice display outside…

        Menu board

        Most of the flavors were pretty usual, but they also had Snowball…

        and pumpkin spice….

        and whatever this was….Very cute flower on top…

        As I said in an earlier post…I’ve been busy…I didn’t write anything down about these.  I don’t remember much.  The Chens took the pink one and we had the pumpkin spice.   It seems like it was a little underdone, but tasty.  I’ll try to do better in the future.  At least I didn’t delete the photos….

        I think I’m caught up now…

        We’re going to Portland again soon.  I’ll take good notes….

        Posted in Miscellaneous Bakeries | Tagged chocolate, confetti cupcakes, issaquah, pumpkin, raspberry, Snowball
      • Divine Bites revisited

        Posted at 5:11 pm by MLea
        Oct 27th

        Back in May, we made a little side trip to Divine Bites on the way to Portland.  When we went  south again last month for VegFest, we stopped back in.

        I loaded up with a five pack of minis:  Butterfinger, The King’s Favorite, Nestle Crunch, Peanut Butter Dream, and Orange Cream.

        Butterfinger

        The Butterfinger was my favorite: a moist vanilla cake with a tiny bit of chocolate filling topped with vanilla icing coated in crushed up Butterfinger bars.  YUM!

        Nestle Crunch

        The other candy bar themed cupcake, the Nestle Crunch, wasn’t as delightful.  The chocolate cake was a little dry and crumbly.

        The King's Favorite

        The King’s Favorite is a banana cake with peanut butter icing and a tiny chocolate center.   The peanut butter icing was a little sweet, but the cake was moist and flavorful.

        Peanut Butter Dream

        The Peanut Butter dream consisted of a peanut butter cake filled with a bit of chocolate pudding and topped with peanut butter icing.  This one was a little too sweet for me.  It was moist and filled with peanut butter goodness, but also a bit too much sugar.  I’m not exactly sure what the chocolate ball on top was, but it didn’t add anything.

        Orange Cream

        The Orange Cream was not good.  The orange flavor in the cake seemed very strong and artificial.  The icing had flecks of vanilla bean in it and was probably good on its own, but I couldn’t get past the overly orange-ness of it all.  This did inspire me for a potential for “O” however.  If I decide on Orange Creamsicle, I’m hoping I can make it seem a little more light and natural.

        If I lived closer to Vancouver, I’d probably be in Divine Consign frequently, looking for household goods and having a little cupcake treat.    For now, I’ll be happy stopping in every now and then on my way to Portland.

        Posted in Miscellaneous Bakeries | Tagged banana, butterfinger, chocolate, Elvis, Nestle Crunch, orange, peanut butter
      • Sweetpea Baking Co, Portland

        Posted at 2:21 pm by MLea
        Oct 26th

        We ended a recent vegetarian dining trip to Portland at the Sweet Pea Baking Company, a vegan bakery/coffee shop.

        Mural on the wall @ SweetPea

        I should have made this post sooner… This trip was a month ago.  Things I liked: choice of soy, rice or hemp milk in my latte, gluten free options.   Things I didn’t: the staff (wasn’t very friendly) and this cupcake…

        German Chocolate Cupcake

        The cake was very dry.  So far, I’m not a fan of vegan icing.  This one thing could possibly keep me vegetarian instead of vegan: no more buttercream.   I’ve thought about trying Earth Balance, which is a vegan margarine that is extremely tasty, to make buttercream, but it’s $6 for a pound of the sticks.   I like to believe that my butter comes from happy, well treated cows.  I may be living in a dream world, but I like a tasty frosting!  (I also realize that there is no way to make a vegan meringue for Italian Meringue Buttercream.  I don’t think life would be worth living without that.   I also imagine that my eggs come from happy and well adjusted chickens.  In fact, some of my eggs did come from happy chickens…my friend Tanya’s…but I digress…)

         

        Posted in Miscellaneous Bakeries | Tagged German Chocolate, portland, Sweet Pea Baking Co
      • Perhaps one of the most unappetizing flavors I’ve seen….

        Posted at 5:56 pm by MLea
        Aug 18th

        Seen recently at Fred Meyer…

        Posted in Miscellaneous Bakeries
      • Katie’s Cupcakes, Bellingham, WA

        Posted at 5:36 pm by MLea
        Aug 16th

        This was my first trip to Bellingham and I would love to go back.  The downtown area is extremely cute and it would have been nice to walk around and look in the other shops.  However, we were in a hurry.  Mrs Chen, the little Chens, and I were enroute to Vancouver, BC to meet Mr Chen and Mr Shuck, who were riding their bicycles from Seattle to Vancouver, BC as part of Cascade Bicycle Club’s RSVP.

        We did take the time to visit Katie’s Cupcakes, one of 2 cupcake stops on this trip.

        I was very optimistic when walking up to the storefront and seeing such a cute window display.  Apparently their logo is by a fellow WordPress blogger, Frantic Pants.and then we walked in and the interior was happy and welcoming

        A place for the kiddies to play with lots of natural light...

        and colorful children's artwork on the walls...

        and cupcake related merchandise to buy...

        like T-shirts...

        even the bathroom walls were cute...

        There was a comfy chair in the bathroom so moms could nurse babies…or wait on their child to finish up….

        And, of course, there were cupcakes!

        Raspberry Truffle and Pina Colada

        Black Bottom and Red Velvet

        German Chocolate and Carrot Cake

        Also available that day:

        • Very Very Vanilla: white cake topped with vanilla butter cream
        • Classy Cupcake: white cake topped with chocolate butter cream
        • Black and White: chocolate cake topped with vanilla butter cream
        • Chocoholic: chocolate cake with dark chocolate butter cream

        All of the flavors were available in minis (called Maciecakes), so I chose 6

        MacieCake assortment

        All of the cakes were extremely moist and the icings were not overly sweet.  I didn’t even get to taste until late that evening and the cupcakes hadn’t suffered a bit.  I ate half of each of them that night and shared the other halves the next day.  All of the cupcake halves were still moist and delicious (although not very attractive as I dropped the box TWICE).

        • German chocolate (top left): This was a light chocolate cake topped with a coconut/nut frosting.  Excellent texture from the coconut and nuts.   I would definitely get this again.
        • Pina Colada (top right): Unfortunately the mini didn’t come with an umbrella!  This lack made it pretty unremarkable to look at.  Pineapple flavored cake topped with white coconut icing.  This bite of cake was just okay.  We had a much tastier Pina Colada cake at PinkaBella.
        • Black Bottom (middle left):  This was an amazing bite!  I must confess that I was unable to leave the other half until the next day.  I was unwilling to share this one!  Rich dark chocolate cake filled with a tiny dab of cheesecake filling, topped with a delicate chocolate butter cream, and garnished with a swirl of cream cheese icing.  Tangy chocolate goodness.  The best Black Bottom cupcake I’ve had.
        • Carrot Cake (middle right): Visible strips of carrot in a soft, lightly spiced cake.  The cream cheese icing was tart and lightly sweet.  No pineapple chunks or raisins!
        • Chocoholic (bottom left): The same dark chocolate cake as the Black Bottom, but topped with a bittersweet chocolate icing that was so dark it was almost black.  This one was also delightful.
        • Very Very Vanilla (bottom right):  I didn’t have a taste of this one, but was told that it was “very good” even the next day.

        If I lived in Bellingham, I’d have a hard time staying away from Katie’s.  I wish they weren’t almost 2 hours away!  I will definitely check them out again if ever I am nearby.

        Posted in Miscellaneous Bakeries | Tagged bellingham, black bottom, Carrot, chocolate, katie's, pina colada, vanilla
      • Cinnamon Cupcake from Cinnabon

        Posted at 9:33 am by MLea
        Aug 15th

        I apologize for the crappy iPhone photo.  I wasn’t planning a cupcake adventure.  It just happened at Bellevue Square just after I purchased some cotton-free socks for running.   The nutritional information for the cupcakes isn’t available online, but I’m guessing it has the same number of calories as a Minibon, so I’d only have to run for 30 minutes to burn this off.  (Just to make it clear, I am not that fit that I CAN run for 30 minutes.  I can make it almost 30 seconds as of this post.)

        Cinnabon has 4 different cupcakes to choose from: (stolen from their website)

        • Cinnacake Classic: A tribute to our famous Classic Roll – moist, vanilla cake infused with Cinnabon’s Makara Cinnamon, topped with our signature cream cheese frosting and garnished with a caramel, Makara Cinnamon swirl.
        • Chocolate Passion: If you like chocolate, you’ll love our moist, decadent chocolate cupcake topped with rich, chocolate buttercream frosting.
        • Vanilla Bliss: Calling all cupcake purists: This moist, divinely vanilla cake topped with luscious, vanilla buttercream frosting is for you.
        • 24-Carrot Cake: Picky about carrot cake?  Try our gold-standard carrot cupcake!  It’s perfectly spiced, has a hint of pineapple and coconut and is topped with our signature cream cheese frosting.

        So…I didn’t really expect a lot from a mass produced cupcake.  I assume that these are shipped to the Cinnabon shops  I can’t imagine that all of the workers are trained to pipe these icings designs.  The cake was moist and very dense.  The texture was somewhere between a Cinnabon and cake.  It was nicely cinnamon-y and I really liked it.  However…the icing…oh, the icing….BLEH!  I’m not sure if the “signature cream cheese frosting” is the same as the glaze on the cinnamon rolls.  I don’t recall being repulsed by that…but, then, after I learned that a Cinnabon has about 1000 calories, I haven’t felt the need to indulge… I am also going to assume that if the cupcakes are shipped in from parts unknown that the icing is composed mainly of shortening.  It tasted like shortening and sugar…also known as grocery store icing.  I didn’t get any cream-cheese-tangyness and the cinnamon caramel swirl was slightly bitter.  Needless to say, most of the icing went into the trash.

        If in the mall area again…and hungry…I might try one of the other cupcakes.  I’d give the Chocolate passion a try…maybe…

        Posted in Miscellaneous Bakeries | Tagged cinnabon, cinnamon
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