While we were home for Thanksgiving, we visited the Honeymoon Bakery in Rome, GA. (Twice!)
The Chocolate Velvet was described as Red Velvet cake (without the red dye) with chocolate icing. The icing was very creamy and had a rich chocolate flavor, but was a little too sweet. The cake was moist, but didn’t have a definite chocolate flavor and was a bit crumbly. I typically taste the icing and cake separately, then have a bite with both. This one was definitely better all at once. Rating: Cake ♥♥♥ Icing ♥♥. Overall: ♥♥½
Spice Cake Mini: The cake was nice: moist and not crumbly, with light cinnamon/nutmeg(?) flavor. The icing seemed to have the same flavoring as the cake. The colored sugar added to the cupcake aesthetically, but added a grainy texture and more sweetness, which definitely wasn’t needed. The icing to cake ratio seemed a little high also: when tasted together, the icing overpowered the cake. I’m not sure what flavor icing would have been better (maybe cream cheese), but a contrasting flavor icing would have made it more interesting. Rating: Cake ♥♥♥, Icing ♥, Overall ♥♥
Caramel Mini Cupcake: Like the spice cake, this cupcake seemed to have the same flavor cake and icing. I tasted the icing first, so I may not have had a clean palate when I tasted the cake. The cake was moist and not crumbly. The icing had nice flavor, not the “burnt” sugar caramel taste that I don’t like. Overall it just tasted sweet, though. Not very interesting. Rating: ♥♥
Italian Cream: coconut and walnut studded white cake topped with cream cheese icing, coated with more nuts and coconut. Mr Shuck and I both really liked this cupcake. We ended up going back another day for second one. The first cupcake was really moist and had a nice texture from the walnuts. The second one, however, was a little dry and crumbly. The icing was tangy from the cream cheese and there was just the right amount of it. The coconut and walnuts on the icing added interest. If we hadn’t gotten the second cupcake, the rating probably would have been a bit higher, but the dry cake the 2nd time around lowered the rating a bit. Cake: ♥♥♥, Icing ♥♥♥♥; Overall ♥♥♥½.
The carrot cake was very moist and had large shreds of carrot visible, but without an abundance of carrot flavor. However, it was a bit underdone in the center and a bit wet. The icing was smooth and creamy and had the right balance of sweet and tangy. It was also very cute. I assume the brown crumbs were chocolate cookie crumbs, but they didn’t add chocolate flavor, just a bit of texture. Overall rating: ♥♥♥.
All in all, I was impressed with the cupcakes at Honeymoon Bakery. The staff was very friendly and cheerfully answered my questions about ingredients. I would definitely go back if we are in the area.