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| - This review is LONG overdue! But it can't wait any longer because time is running out on this month's cupcake of the month the "Salty", a sea salt sprinkled caramel delight. If you're a fan of sea salt caramel cupcakes you need to try the one from here; quite possibly the best I've ever had!!!
Seriously, even if salted caramel cupcakes aren't your thing, any cupcake connoisseur worthy of their yelp ink needs to check this place out. Some yelpers obviously are less thrilled than I but having tried all the greats myself in NYC, Chicago, LA, SF, and dozens of other places, the cupcakes here are my flat-out favorite. I'm not saying Cupcakes is "perfect". They do run out of stock later in the day, aren't open 7 days a week (closed on Sunday) or past 6 PM, and have perhaps a couple other non-cupcakes areas in which they could improve. For these reasons, I thought of giving a four star rating but let's face it the single most important thing about a cupcake store are the cupcakes themselves. And with that simple thought and with the ones at Cupcakes in my opinion being the best, Cupcakes get five stars.
So will YOU like Cupcakes? Well, these are *not* of the light and fluffy box-mix made-at-home variety that some love. The cake in the cupcakes at Cupcakes (say that 10x fast!) are very dense but still quite moist. So if the prior is your thing, you'll find other places more to your liking. Furthermore, whipped or super creamy frosting lovers need not apply. While it will depend somewhat on which type of cupcake you order, the frosting used at Cupcakes is the perfect classic buttercream where you can almost sense the sugar granules melting in your mouth with each bite. Those of you who love this type of frosting know exactly what I'm saying and Cupcakes gets it very right! This makes for a very rich cupcake which is exactly what I love. At the same time, being so rich, don't expect to be able to put down a six pack of them. And yes, they do run out so get there early but do get there!
STILL WITH ME? More details...
Showing my somewhat crazy cupcake addiction, the conclusion above wasn't just from a few simple visits; oh no... We're talking a personal quest to find the best "vanilla" cupcake anywhere which spanned a long time and involved going to multiple cupcake places on the same day sometimes several times a week. Favorites stayed in the contest, clear losers dropped, and new contenders were added. For Scottsdale, it all came down to two: Sprinkles and Cupcakes. For a long time I had a hard time picking between the two even resorting to blind taste tests. Over time however, I started to recognize and dislike the sponginess of the Sprinkles cake. I don't know but it almost seems like Sprinkles is adding some sort of non-natural ingredient in an effort to artificially preserve the perception of freshness which gives it an ever so slight sponge-like texture. Next time you go, try a Sprinkles cupcake alongside a cupcake from somewhere else and see if you notice the same. Frosting-wise I had a similar revelation. At first I found the two pretty close but the Sprinkles frosting gathers a lot of its sweetness from the sprinkles that are placed in it. This deconstruction leaves the Sprinkles frosting just a bit too sugar like. The Cupcakes frosting certainly won't leave you longing for sugar and I just found their integrated approach, as I said before, to give the perfect result.
While my quest was to find the perfect vanilla cupcake, I also really like the "Pure" a white-chocolate coconut special, their take on the classic Red-Velvet, and several others I tried. I personally haven't had the other chocolate variants but would imagine them to be quite amazing as well.
When you do go, say hi to Stephanie one of the co-owners and masterminds behind Cupcakes who is often working there and truly terrific!
Enjoy!
TRIVIA
* Store featured in Lifetime Network mini series
* Picked as Challengers on Food Network's Cupcake Wars
* Featured on E! Television's "What's Eating You?"
* Numerous other magazine articles, celeb quotes, and events
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