Flavor Cupcakery is a newly opened--they opened their doors to the public this past Summer--cupcakery located in the same strip that houses Burlane Cat & Dog where we get our little devils groomed, and Fiesta Grill, a surprisingly authentic and delicious Mexican joint. I'd first heard about Flavor Cupcakery... Frankly, I don't remember where. Anyway, despite my love/hate relationship with cupcakes, I was intrigued at the possibility of another local food venue in Bel Air that actually had some soul (Fiesta Grill being the first). So we pulled up the car and luckily they had just opened so we walked right on in.
After our jovial greeting we took a few moments to peruse the display case. Unfortuantely, I didn't have the foresight to blog about this visit until I got back into the car, so no interior shots, but I will tell you that they had a full line-up of unique flavors including Turkish Coffee, Salted Caramel, Cookies & Cream, and Maple Bacon to name a few.
The woman at the register said business was going great--it really helped that they opened during the Summer allowing them to capitalize on wedding season over the Summer which helped jump-start their customer base and get the word of mouth flowing. After asking for recommendations my lovely wife went with the Chocolate Peanut Butter cupcake and I went for the benchmark Red Velvet. The cupcakes were $2.50 a pop, which considering their size, wasn't too bad a deal. We took them out to the car and after snapping a few quick photos, commenced the cosmic gluttony.
I had to unhinge my jaw to bite into this thing, and, as expected, that little spiral of frosting--which was cream cheese--went right up my nose. My verdict? Well, the main reason(s) I don't usually care for cupcakes is due to two faults they usually fall victim too: The cake is either dry and flavorless, or, the cake is overpowered in a sea of frosting, which, unfortunately, was the case here. You probably could've guessed that just by looking at it, but I usually reserve judgement for my taste buds. But, I'm not going to write off Flavor Cupcakery quite that easily. Let's break this down a bit more, shall we?
The cake was insanely moist, I mean just look at it:
And there definitely was discernible cocoa flavor, just not enough to stand up to the onslaught of cream cheese frosting. Cream cheese is a very assertive flavor, and this frosting certainly had a lot of it, so combined with the fact that it was applied with such a heavy hand, it was to be expected that it overpowered the delicately flavored moist cake.
Luckily, the CPB cupcake fared a little better. Again, the peanut butter frosting had huge peanut butter flavor, but the flavor wasn't strong enough to overpower the chocolate cake, enabling it to shine through to create a balanced combination of chocolate and peanut butter flavor. I also loved how the peanut butter frosting was sticky and had the appearance that it was applied with an ice cream scoop. I appreciated the added peanut butter cup crumble on top, but if Flavor really wanted to send this cupcake to another level they would consider putting chopped peanuts into the cake itself. That would rock.
So the bottom line is: Do I recommend Flavor Cupcakery? Why yes, yes I do. Considering the size/price ratio is decent for the area combined with the fact that they pretty much have the cupcake market cornered, I would definitely recommend that you stop by and check them out, or check them out online. Next visit I will venture into the more adventurous offerings... I caught that Turkish Coffee winking at me. In front of my wife no less. Some nerve, that cupcake.
Allow me to conclude this post with a poem by Stimpson J. Cat:
"Gritty Kitty ain't so pretty, but it's really thick
It fills my cat box oh so snug, it always does the trick
I like to rub it on my toes and squish and squish and squish
It ne'er offends my tender nose, like a smelly fish
Its texture is a joy to me, it's just as smooth as silk
It makes my little whiskers twitch, it stays crunchy even in milk
I may not be the president, I may not be the pope
But as long as I have Gritty Kitty, I shall never mope"
Until next time, Micro--out.
2 comments:
You really don't seem like a cupcake guy at all. :)
Yeah, I'm definitely more of an ice cream/milkshake guy. Cupcakes can be ruined in so many ways I just rarely bother with them. Luckily, these could be quite good with a few slight adjustments.
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