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| - When it comes to cupcake shops, I'm like a pig hunting for truffles. A big, frosting-coated pig, turning up the latest cupcake stores.
...Which is, of course, the very image you want in your head when envisioning cupcakes, I'm sure. Which isn't quite fair to Simply Sweet Cupcakes, so let's shake that visual out of the ol' Etch-A-Sketch and move on.
That said, Simply Sweet Cupcakes is an odd storefront. It looks more like a Beanie Baby outlet from the 1990s than a cupcake store, as stuffed animals are everywhere and the cupcakes are an afterthought - when you walk in, you actually don't see the cupcakes anywhere, and have to turn left to see them sitting on wooden shelves.
And the cupcakes don't look particularly appetizing. They are in very nice individual plastic containers, which shield the cupcakes nicely on the go, but they look mass-produced sitting in plastic buckets, with labels that show the ingredients. I think the idea is that they're supposed to be professional, and it's nice to know what's in them... but it gives the impression that you're buying from some remote cupcake factory, not a local baker. I kept thinking that I was buying them at Giant Eagle.
Yet you don't eat environment, so how are the cupcakes?
First off, these cupcakes are large, with an appealing weight to them. They have *heft*, a pleasing density. And the cake is surprisingly flavorful, a sort of rich chewiness saturated with the appropriate flavor. If you're into cake, you crazy freak you, then you can get by with just the crumbly bits.
The frosting, however, is a disappointment. It's gritty with sugar, and though I have a sweet tooth it set my whole mouth jangling with a diabetic sweetness. It's not inedible, but I can - and have! - eaten frosting straight out of the bowl, whereas with this I needed to pair it with that delicious cake to balance it out. Even then, it wasn't a perfect balance.
I want to like this place. It screams "local business" from every pore, and I hope they do well. But there's stiff competition for cupcakes in Cleveland, and I think they need to adjust their recipe - they ARE new - before they can be on the top tiers. Unless they can attract people who just want the cake. Which is delicious.
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