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| - God I love bakeries. My level of affinity for cake (and baked goods in general) is probably intervention-worthy, but I don't care. Is there anything else in this world as comforting and delightful as a moist slice of cake or a warm, soft-baked chocolate chip cookie? I didn't think so.
I had tried a few offerings from this nearby bakery several months ago, with mixed feelings. I loved their cake donuts, which were tender and delicious and loaded with all sorts of fun and yummy toppings (Note: at the time, the Aspinwall location was selling donuts, but when I was there recently there was a sign on the door saying they now only have them at their L'ville store). Anyway, so I enjoyed their donuts, but I remember being unimpressed with their cupcakes. But, like I said, it's been awhile, and I've been wanting to give them another try so I can get a more recent and accurate assessment of their goodies. So the other day I stopped by and picked up an assortment of sweets for a friend and I to sample.
The goods: 3 cupcakes (ho-ho, apple pie, and pumpkin), 1 brownie (ho-ho brownie bar), 1 lemon square bar, 1 congo bar (like a 7 layer bar), and 1 cookie (peanut butter pile up). Everything looked really gorgeous and tantalizing, so this bakery definitely gets style points. But how did they taste?
The results:
Ho-ho cupcake -- The cake had a good chocolate flavor, but was kind of dry. The frosting was fudgy and piled high. It was too sweet given how much of it there was. The cream in the middle of the cupcake was a welcome burst of vanilla flavor to cut all of the chocolate.
Pumpkin cupcake -- I love anything and everything pumpkin, but was really disappointed in this. The cake was dry with little discernible spice. The frosting was hardly sweet and tasted overwhelmingly like cream cheese and little else (despite being called a "cinnamon cream cheese frosting").
Apple pie cupcake -- The only cupcake I really liked. This one was tender, probably due to the apple compote in the middle that provided moisture. The crumb topping added a nice sweetness that balanced the not-very-sweet vanilla buttercream.
Ho-ho brownie -- The brownie itself was tender, moist, fudgy, and delicious. It was topped with tons of the same frosting as the ho-ho cupcake, which made it too sweet. There was also hardly any vanilla frosting on this to balance the chocolate flavor. This would've been better had it just been a brownie without any frosting.
Lemon square bar -- The shortbread crust on this was way too hard and nearly impossible to break apart with my fork. Good lemon flavor, but overall nothing noteworthy.
Congo bar --This is their version of a 7 layer bar. A good 7 layer bar to me is moist and chewy, and this one was really dry and crumbly. The flavors were there, but the texture was really a miss.
Peanut butter pile up -- This was a HUGE cookie sandwich consisting of two peanut butter cookies with a peanut butter ganache in the middle. I liked this one. The cookies were soft, buttery, and drizzled in chocolate, while the ganache was delightfully sweet and silky. This was VERY rich though, so one or two bites was more than enough.
Overall verdict: 7 treats and 2 stomach aches later, I proclaim that the results were mixed. A lot of goods definitely seemed to trend on the dry side here, which personally is not my cup of tea. There are definitely better bakeries in the area, but this one is, as the 3 stars indicate, "A-OK."
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