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Friday, February 4, 2011

The Cupcake Tour


Long ago, Chris and I decided to have a small cake that we'll cut, but then do the rest of the cake-provisions cupcake style.  I scoped out all the cupcake places I could hear of in the Concord/Walnut Creek area (chosen due to it's proximity to the venue) and make a list and driving directions to minimize drive time and maximize deliciousness.
We chose the following cupcake shops/bakeries to hit-up:

  1. Alpine Pastry and Cakes
  2. A Sweet Affair
  3. Walnut Creek Baking Company
  4. Kara's Cupcakes
  5. Frosting's
We toured around to each of these places in turn and purchased a few from each place as our own sampler plates.  Then we went home to taste all of our options - in order - and make our determination.
Here's what we thought:
  1. Alpine Pastry and Cakes: both the frosting and the cake itself were a bit grainy, and the cake was a little dry.  The presentation wasn't very good -- the cupcakes didn't look particularly appealing.  I quickly crossed them off the list.
  2. A Sweet Affair: the overall feeling was "meh" with their cupcakes. Nothing that interesting and a very small selection...they definitely weren't a cupcake specialty shop (which we knew going in).  Everything was just....fine. I didn't immediately dismiss them as an option, but I was ready to try the remaining cakes.
  3. Walnut Creek Baking Company: they were closed when we went by so......outta luck, buh-bye!
  4. Kara's Cupcakes:  we were immediately optimistic about this place when we walked in; they're an all-cupcake shop and a highly-lauded multi-location shop. The shop itself was cute and the branding and presentation very good.  Chris was so excited about the very many and interesting flavor options that he ordered 6 cupcakes (as opposed to the 3-4 at the other shops....and what we had discussed).  When we tried them, they were easily better than both Alpine and Sweet Affair.  Even so, I wasn't as blown away as I wanted to be.  Some of the cake was very dense and some of the flavors were....not flavorful...like, at all.  The sweet-tart balance was good, and none of the frosting was over-sweet, and they all looked very good.
  5. Frosting's: when I started trying these after having had bites of about a dozen cupcakes already, I was immediately impressed.  The cake was moist, the frosting the perfect amount of sweet, the flavor balance was very good (the lemon was perfectly tart & sweet), the presentation was super cute (and looked easily personalized), and the flavor options were many.  Overall, when I finished trying all the cupcakes, Frosting's was easily my favorite.  

Chris tried the cakes later due to schedules, so I was nervous that he would like Kara's better and we would have a fight on our hands.  Fortunately, he agreed with me on the major drawbacks of Kara's (low flavor and cake density).  I also realized later that....Kara's Cupcakes look like Kara's Cupcakes.....not necessarily Chris and Carolynn wedding cupcakes. Which, maybe that sounds silly, but I like the idea of having more decorating options and more say-so in the overall look of the cupcakes.  Plus, the different flavors are more discernible from one another.

Thus, we have a decision and a cupcake vendor selected:
Frosting's in Walnut Creek.

Next up in Cakes: sampling the actual wedding cake options with our selected cake-baker and former roommate, scheduled for next week.

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