Cake Works- Oahu Hawaii

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It’s a tough job~ but somebody’s gotta do it!  I know I know… who wants the daunting task of traveling to the Hawaiian islands to hunt cupcake shops?  Well~ if you read my bio… I already admitted I’m a giver:)

I knew cupcake shops were the trendy thing on the mainland (again~ thus this blog:)  BUT I didn’t expect the trend to be such a big deal way out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.  I stand corrected!

While visiting the island of Oahu~  I  popped into cakeworks.org right outside of Waikiki in Honolulu.

Cake Works is not a cupcake “boutique”, it did not have pink splattered all over the walls like many of the shops we’ve hunted.  This is a bakery~ a legit bakery… where baking flour seemed to be strewn all over the baking table in the work area, frosting piping tubes covering the table, and yes the owner/baker in the middle of it all hard at work! Hospitality was overwhelming right from the start.

The display case was dominated by yummy looking cupcakes~ but as I said already… this place is a bakery~ so there were all kinds of yummy treats in the display case as well. AND… to my delight~ they  not only sold regular cupcakes… but mini’s too.  Mini’s have become a favorite of those on our cupcake hunters team~ enough to share a few tasty bites but NOT have to be rolled out of the shop.

I picked up a 1/2 dzn baker’s choice mini’s (meaning: I let the baker select the cupcake flavors she thought best) .  Here were the cupcake’s the bakery selected:

  • Lemon Lilikoi (which is Passion Fruit): lemon butter cake, lemon curd filling
  • Mocha Macadamia Nut: Mocha cake w/chocolate gnash filling, coffee buttercream frosting, & macadamia nut brittle crumbled on top
  • Red Velvet: White Chocolate Cream Cheese filling, red velvet crumbled on top
  • Coconut Houpia: Coconut cake, coconut pudding filling, coconut buttercream frosting, & toasted coconut on top
  • Devils Food: Devils Food cake, french vanilla cream inside, fudge frosting, chocolate & vanilla cookie sprinkles on top
  • Strawberry Guava: A strawberry guava cake, guava buttercream frosting
Here’s my review~
  • Ambiance of the Shop 3: again, this is not a boutique so their goal isn’t to be all ‘cutesy’ rather to bake a great  product which they did.  They did have tables & chairs outside to sit & enjoy your tasty treats… which we did in true Hawaii style… it was warm raining on us.  They also offer complimentary water, & do have drinks to accompany your treats available for purchase.
  • Look of the Cupcakes 4.5: the cupcakes were really cute, they were each topped to highlight their unique flavor
  • Taste of the frosting 5:  The frosing here is to date MY (Tammy) favorite.  The frosting was very light… not only in texture but in taste.  LOVED IT!
  • Taste of the cake 4.7 (The Choc Mac Nut was a 5): This baker knows how to get it right.  Almost all 6 were very moist.
  • Cake to Frosting ratio 4: These cupcakes did not have too much frosting!  They each have filling so it was a lot to have the frosting and the filling on some~ but If I had to choose one over the other… I couldn’t because they were both fantastic!
Cake Works has fantastic cupcakes.  IF you live in Oahu~ this shop should be a must for your special occassions OR just an afternoon treat.  Need a second opinion… they have over 100 amazing reviews on yelp.  One thing I LOVED about this shop was how in addition to the basics: white birthday cake, chocolate, red velvet… they had such ‘local’ flavors.  Isn’t that what one should expect on a hawaiian island.  The Lilikoi, Passion fruit, Guave, Macadamia Nut, Coconut… all local flavors found right here on the island.
OK OK~ I have got to highlight 2 of Cake Works cupcakes that were AMAZING!
First: The Mocha Macadamia Nut (not pictured because I didn’t know it’d be one that demanded a highlight… & after my sample bite (and remember it was a mini)…the family scarfed it down before I could get a picture of it)~ to date… my favorite cupcake EVER!  The cake was like chewy fudge, The frosting was like coffee flavored whip cream & to get the crunchy macadamia nut… Soooooooo YUM!  *for coffee lovers, non coffee lovers may not enjoy
**The Mocha Macadamia Nut is one I will be having Lori & Brandi recreat in their kitchens at home & post the recipe so EVERYONE can enjoy!
 Second: (and even my non-cake eating health snob husband LOVED it) is The Devils Food (shown above).  It was like a hostess ding dong… except not gross, packaged, & plasticy (yep Kim, I just made plasticy a word:).  Again, the cake was chewy moist, the cream filling was incredible!  *My kids went back and bought a whole one for themselves after we sampled!
Pictured here is a mini cupcake. When sampling (and I will admit I (we) all learned this the hard way) is the best way to go when sampling multiple cupcakes to review.  And… as seen in the photo above~ to keep myself from turning into a cupcake on these adventures… I take one sample bite from each.  Buttttttttttt then… to be completly honest….I do usually finish off the one that was my fav:)
Anyone going to Oahu?  If so, let us know YOUR review.

Icing On The Cake – Los Gatos, CA

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Los Gatos has become one of my favorite cities in California. It is cute and quaint and has that really cool, main street-hip feel. It’s one of those towns where you want to shop and strut and pretend that you are a local. It also has the bocce ball restaurant Campo di Bocce, which just makes the town that much cooler.

I stopped in at Icing On The Cake on Main Street. It is a full on bakery, and I haven’t had the best cupcake experiences at full on bakeries- usually their cakes are their specialty and cupcakes are just an offering to appease the trend. This bakery offers much more -cookies, breads, pies, brownies, muffins – you name it, they bake it. (store picture taken from their website)

I had the luscious lemon cupcake at the recommendation of the gal behind the counter, since it was the freshest cupcake in the display. My favorite cupcake is lemon so I may be a lemon snob but it was kinda dry and disappointing. And I had also stopped at NothingBundtCakes (a concept we don’t have in our town so it was new and exciting to me) and their lemon bunt cake was extremely moist so there was possibly an unfair comparison going on but I can’t turn down lemon-anything and I cant bake a bundt cake to save my life so it was just an appealing venture.

The chocolate buttermilk was good but not totally amazing and the red velvet was…red velvet.

I do love that they offer flowerless Raspberry Truffle and Peanut Butter Truffle, wheat free banana (picture below from their website-the lemon picture is mine but I did borrow the others), chocolate, vanilla and red velvet and vegan chocolate and brownie bites. I think next time I am in town and not on a cupcake mission, I would like to try their breads and pies. ~Lori


My Rating:

  • Appearance of the Cupcake: 4.5- Very cute.
  • Moistness of the Cake: 3.0- Not as moist as I would have liked especially the lemon since it was their freshest.
  • Taste of the Frosting: 3.5- Sweet. I did leave it on the uneaten portion of cake which is usually unlike me.
  • Flavor of the Cake: 4.0-  It had good flavor and would have been really good if it was more moist.
  • Frosting to Cake Ratio: 4.5-  There was plenty of frosting for all the cake.
  • Shop Ambiance: 4.5- Well decorated bakery. Very busy decor but they have so many offerings that it seems acceptable.

Sweetcakes – Redwood City, CA

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When you go to a place called “Redwood” City, you kinda figure there will be monstrous sequoias towering overhead and lumberjacks in flannel and deer and bunnies frolicking on the sides of the roads, right?  Yeah, not treally. Turns out, history buffs, that Redwood City was first inhabited by the Ohlone ,was originally called Mezesville (due to the vanity of Simon Mezes, an early settler) and was a lumber port town. It’s name was changed to Redwood City due to the redwoods that came through the port and apparently people were tired of Simon calling it “my place.” (Ok, there is not historical data pertaining to Simon Mezes’ ego issue, I made that up)

What I did find was a cute downtown square and a cupcake shop named Sweetcakes. The highlight of the visit was the incredible buttercream frosting. It was light and not too sweet. Honestly one of the best buttercream frosting I have had yet. They have a traditional red velvet which was really good, but my favorite had to be the Pineapple. It was light, moist and just sweet enough to want more- plus the buttercream topped it perfectly. The other plus was the owner, Ray. His wife does the baking but he had great customer service qualities and a friendly, welcoming demeanor.  We talked for a few minutes and I enjoyed my cupcakes on the patio. ~Lori

My rating:

  • Appearance of the Cupcake: 4.5- They all looked really appetizing, I liked the specialty paper on the pineapple.
  • Moistness of the Cake: 4.5- Very moist. The red velvet was not as moist as the pineapple, though.
  • Taste of the Frosting: 5.0 – The best buttercream I have had yet. Light and not too sweet.
  • Flavor of the Cake: 4.5-  Very good flavor. The pineapple tasted like pineapple.
  • Frosting to Cake Ratio: 4.5 –  Probably because it was so good, I wanted more…
  • Shop Ambiance: 5- Very cute. Interior decorations weren’t too pink or too over the top. I loved that they had a patio with tables and umbrellas. The “topping on the cake” was the friendliness of the owner.

Cupcake Camp 2011

Posted on by kimmysun
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Hi, it’s Kim! On Sunday, September 11th,  the Hunters spent the afternoon in Orange County at The Cupcake Camp. The Cupcake Camp was a fundraiser for anti-human trafficking efforts, in which bakers from all over Southern California donated cupcakes and “Campers”, I will call them, come and pay to get in and taste their share of cupcakes based on an allotted amount of tickets they receive. You basically go table to table and trade tickets for cupcakes from over a dozen bakers/bakeries from the area.

I loved the idea for this event, buying cupcakes for a good cause! Heck, we buy a lot of cupcakes anyway, why not donate that money toward anti-human trafficking efforts. It was a win-win situation.   For more info on Children of the Night, the non-profit that was supported at this event, click here.  

We headed out and first stopped at a Starbucks in Irvine, who knew that some Starbucks are closed on Sunday?? Well, some are… this one included.  Bummer, thankfully Coffee Bean was at the event with my drink of choice for tasting cupcakes–black coffee.  Moving on. We arrived at the camp and stood in line to get in at the Atrium Hotel in Irvine. The line was hot… and crowded. There were a slew of pushy, sugar addicted ladies ready to devour cupcakes. Then there were the other people in line. Kidding… I’ll throw the Hunters in with that category, although we all waited patiently. I promise!

Anyway, we get in and it was chaos!  We had to basically push our way through crowds to get to the front of the tables of cupcakes. The room had no flow to it, but being “hunters” we are fierce, tough and out for the kill…so we survived. We split up, scoured tables and emerged with 32 cupcakes to taste.

Since it was kinda crazy in the cupcake room, we were all not able to keep track of which bakery made which cupcake, Lori had the genious idea to grab the business card from each shop and stick it in the cupcake carrier she had with each cupcake.  The rest of us did not have that forethought, so the cupcakes we grabbed were jumbled. … plus we tried almost 32 of them… so I will leave you with pictures from our day… and a few highlighted cupcakes that Lori remembered.

Some mentions of cupcakes we did try and like, based on Lori’s amazing organization/business card idea were…

-The Salted Caramel from Bubba Sweets was delicious, they are a new shop that just opened up in Huntington Beach last week.  This cupcake won the grand prize at the event!!  Sadly, I can’t remember what it tasted like.  I guess that means I have to go back!

-The Orange cupcake from Dolce Vista Cupcakes–this was my personal favorite!

-The Salted Carmel from Sweet September Cupcakes.

-The Snicker Jack, from Hollicakes.

All of these shops were so kind to donate their services and were so kind and patient with the pushy crowds!  Thanks :)

Hopefully they will have Cupcake Camp again, like I said, the idea is brilliant! We will just make sure we are there early to make sure we are prepared with our steel toed boots and bony elbows!

Hope you’re all having a great week, I can’t believe we had 32 cupcakes!  Now we know which shops to go visit in Orange County next time we go on a hunt!!

What is the largest amount of cupcakes you’ve purchased?

A Special Treat-Georgetown Cupcake, delivered from Washington D.C. with love!

Posted on by kimmysun
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Kim here. Apologies for the lack of blogging, all of the Hunters have been on vacation or busy with summer activities!  Now that kids are in school and normalcy is finding us, we have a ton of shops to update you on from all of the states we collectively travelled to this summer!

A few weeks ago though, we had a special treat.  Our friend Melinda, you know, the lady responsible for giving me my first gourmet cupcake ever? Yeah,  the one who started this whole problem.  Well, she did a really sweet and generous thing.  She hosted the Cupcake Hunters at her home and shipped in a dozen Georgetown Cupcakes for us to taste!  If that doesn’t make us feel loved, not sure what does?!

If you’re not familiar with Georgetown Cupcake, it is a very well known cupcake shop in the D.C. area.  The shop is owned and run by two Greek sisters and has a T.V. show of it’s own on TLC.  I’ve watched the show before, it’s like a Cake Boss, with some sister drama mixed in.

The Goods.

Melinda, our hostess with the mostess.

We ordered a ton of cupcakes!  Blueberry Cheesecake, Red Velvet, Key Lime, Lemon Blossom, Chocolate, Vanilla, Banana Split, Carrot Cake, Tofee…

The cupcakes overall were good.  Not like,  ”Whoa, this is amazing!!!!”… but good.  I wonder  if the fact that they were shipped,contributed to my lack of being impressed?  Have any of you had a fresh Georgetown Cupcake before?  If so, post your thoughts!

Anyway… I would like to highlight the Key Lime Cupcake, because in my opinion, few cupcake shops do fruit flavored cupcakes right.

The Key Lime

Generally I steer clear of the fruit flavored cupcakes.  They usually taste very poundcake-ish to me and are always too dense.  It’s like they are baked with too much fruit mush, causing them to be overly dense and buttery.  Kind of like, well– a pound cake.  Not sure about you guys, but I am not a fan of pound cake.

Anyway, the fruit cupcakes from Georgetown were perfectly moist and fruity, but also still maintained the cake consistency that a cupcake should have.  The frosting made my mouth water… and is still making my mouth water as I type. Pathetic, I know.

Here’s how it rated:

  • Appearance of the Cupcake: 4.0- Cute, but nothing too spectacular.  They did have a little gummy lime topper.  It tasted good too!
  • Moistness of the Cake: 5.0- What a pleasant amount of moisture, especially in comparison to other fruit cupcakes I’ve had.
  • Taste of the Frosting: 5.0 – Sweet, tangy, buttery and perfect.  I am a fan of buttercream; add lime juice and zest in the perfect portions and I’m happy.
  • Flavor of the Cake: 5.0-  Like I mentioned before, I was very pleased with the cake flavor.
  • Frosting to Cake Ratio: 4.5 –  I almost always can use more frosting, but that’s just one of my many issues.  Any other normal cupcake consumer would probably be happy with the amount allotted.
  • Shop Ambiance: 5- based on their website I say it’s a 5.  They have definitely invested in their branding, I mean, they do have a show and all, so I guess it better be a 5.

Leftovers.

All of the other cupcakes we tried were good, none of them really left me in awe though.  I think I am getting repetitive here so I will just post a few more pictures and be gone!

Lori, Tammy, Brandi, Melinda & Kim

yum yum.

Lastly, I wanted to post a picture of their storefront.  I would feel so happy if I were inside that beautiful shop with all those cupcakes!!

The Best Thing I Ever Ate – Cupcakes – Miss Mamie’s in Marietta, GA

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This is Lori and I have been to the Promise Land! The land of butter-milk and honey… or Guinness and Lavender, really.

Miss Mamie’s Cupcakes, Cakes and Such (long A not short) in Murietta, Georgia is hands down the best cupcakes In. The. World.  It was recommended by Martha Darley who lives in GA. Thank you Martha.

The town was precious.

The shop was adorable.

It was, in my opinion, perfection. I am not going to list the typical rating scale because it was a 5 all the way down.

Perfect frosting. Perfect texture. Perfect flavor.

Perfect absolutely everything. Smores, Blueberry and Guiness!

I was so giddy, I even made a iphone video complete with no makeup, nappy  hair and arm fat flapping, which if you know me, you know I don’t like being on camera or being looked at at all for that matter. So you know I must have thought this place was extraordinary to put my mug out there. I say the name wrong in the beginning but redeem myself in the end. It was the sugar talking!

I took the family back a few days later on our way to Nashville. It just so happened to be on our route so we had to stop for more. Peanut Butter and Chocolate, Mint, Cookies and Cream, Rocky Road, German Chocolate and another Smores.

Sprinkles Cupcakes- A Summer Review

Posted on by kimmysun
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Kim here… ok, if I was honest, and I am, I’d say that Sprinkles Cupcakes are my favorite cupcakes of all time.  Their Red Velvet, was the first gourmet cupcake I’d ever tried and I was instantly in love.  It still stands today as my favorite Red Velvet cupcake of all time.  It pretty much scores perfect in my book.  Since Sprinkles was the first gourmet cup I had, I kind of have stuck loyally to them as far as my preference goes. While not all of their flavors are my favorite in each category, they still all rate pretty high in my book.

All that to say, I have my regulars and rarely stray from them.  When I go to Sprinkles, you can always count on me ordering a Red Velvet for myself and a Chocolate Marshmellow for my husband. Then depending on who I’m buying for I’ll usually throw in a Vanilla Milk Chocolate, Carrot Cake or Chai Latte.  On Sunday I had to pick my husband up from the airport in Orange County, so I took the boys by Sprinkles for some treats.  Since starting this blog, I figured I should be a little more well-rounded when it comes to Sprinkles flavor selection, so I decided to get flavors I’ve never tried before.  I chose 3 new summer flavors: Key Lime, Summer Cherry and Salty Caramel.  All were amazing!!  In lieu of a traditional Cupcake Hunter review on my favorite of the 3, I will post a small “words only” review of each delicious cake.

My Sprinkles Summer Flavors Review:

Key Lime: Yummmmm…so tangy and delicious.  A PERFECT refreshing summer cupcake, with just enough lime and a sweet buttercream frosting.  They even figured out how to pull off making the cake lime flavored.  I will get this cupcake again before summer ends… for sure!

Summer Cherry:  Cherry isn’t my favorite, but this cupcake was Good!  I probably won’t order it again, but the frosting was perfect.  It tasted like a sweet, buttercreamy, dreamy cherry.  If you’re a cherry lover, I highly recommend!

Salty Caramel: For some reason this seems more like a fall cupcake to me.  Regardless, it was heavenly.  The frosting was really thick and full of caramel and the cupcake was made with fancy hand harvested fluer de sel crystals from France.  Doesn’t that sound expensive?  I feel like the fluer de sel crystals alone should cost 40$ imported…   Anyway, the cupcake was moist to perfection with a slight caramel flavor and the frosting was so thick and buttery and caramelly I could have passed out right there.  I will go back for this one as well!

Me & my cuppies, while the boys played in the sand.

Key Lime, Cherry & Salty Caramel...after the first taste.

Thank you Sprinkles for rarely disappointing, I enjoyed my visit with you Sunday!

I Left My Heart (and a big chunk of change) in San Francisco – Citizen Cake

Posted on by thecupcakehunters
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One of the perks, and probably the only perk, to my husband working in Northern California is the chance to get to fly up there with him for a mini vacation. I have stated that San Francisco is my second favorite city and to be honest, it may be edging ‘ol Franklin, TN out of the top spot. The weather and the walking and the shopping and the eating!!! While my hubby works, I wander. And by wander I mean eat like a cow.

I had the opportunity to visit several cupcake shops in and around the Silicon Valley (post on those later). I was most excited about visiting Citizen Cake in San Francisco. The chef, Elizabeth Falkner, and the shop has been featured on The Food Network and the Cooking Channel so, of course, it was a must to stop in. I made the mistake of not calling first to make sure they were open before parking miles away and then hoofing it over to Fillmore St. (when you find a parking spot in SF, you take it). Unfortunately, it was a holiday and they were closed. Luckily, Fillmore is a very cool street with lots of cute boutiques, a coffee shop every 15 feet and only a couple of miles from the wharf (1.7 miles actually but it is all down hill) so I figured I might as well work off some calories in anticipation for the cupcake feast that was to ensue in the next 5 days. Fast forward to Citizen Cake actually being open:

I ordered the Citizen Signature cupcake. Cocoa genoise cake filled with marshmallow fluff and a chocolate ganache glaze.

Sooooo disappointed.  It was dry and flavorless. I wanted to love it. I wanted to be able to say that I ate at Citizen Cake and it was FABULOUS! but to be honest a Hostess Cupcake has more flavor. Now to be fair, she is not a “cupcake” shop. She is a cake baker… so I’m struggling with grace.  But a few factors may have played into the way less than extraordinary offering: 1. It was late. Maybe 8pm-ish so the bakers had been done for hours and the cup had probably been sitting for hours. 2. They are not baked at that location. 3. Okay, I don’t have a third. 4. Wait, I do… the dessert my hubby ate, the After Midnight, was divine. The mousse was amazing. We dipped it in the latte and each bite was perfect – so possibly – more time is being spent on the whole offering of patisseries and not as much on the cakes alone. Yeah, yeah, that it.

My Rating:

  • Appearance of the Cupcake: 4.5 – The “signature” cupcake had a signature on it. Clever and cute.
  • Moistness of the Cake: 1.0 – Dry. Not even a little on the dry side but dry-dry.
  • Taste of the Frosting: 3.5 – The ganache was good. Not good enough to just eat the top and leave the cake though.
  • Flavor of the Cake: 2.0 – Blah.
  • Frosting to Cake Ratio: 4.0 – The ratio was fine. This is a hard one to judge because I took two bites and decided to save the calories.
  • Shop Ambiance: 4.5 – Very cool, hip and Neon-y. Not a typical “cupcake” shop. They serve food and wine so it is less a dessert shop and more of an eatery anyway.
The next day, I did try and find the other restaurant she has and even the bakery that bakes the cakes to try and be as fair and as thorough as I could, but I never found either of them. Every other street in SF is one way and it got to the point where I actually gave up trying to find it. I blame myself and my inability to drive and navigate at the same time, I needed a wing man on this one. Next time. ~ Lori

Dots Cupcakes-Pasadena, CA

Posted on by thecupcakehunters
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Kim here, with an update on a recent group hunt we had.  A few weeks ago the four of us spruced ourselves up a bit and went down to Pasadena for the day.  Our mission was to pursue that perfect cupcake and of course to have fun together.  We were all pretty pumped to get out and eat cupcakes, what kind of person wouldn’t be??

Anyway, we headed out to Pasadena, which is a 30-40 minute drive from home and had a great drive out.  We chatted about our blog, our summer plans and our favorite cupcakes. When we arrived at Dots Cupcakes…I found the shop just so happens to be located in my favorite area of Pasadena, right off of Colorado Avenue.  Colorado is filled with fun shops and a billion little cafe’s & restaurants.  They have your usual chain restaurants and some more mainstream uppity stores.  I’m an admirer of the city, and this downtown area is very city like and cute. My husband and I have had many a date night in this area.

Doesn’t Dots have a cute logo?  

Once inside we took our time looking around and chatting with the girl at the register.  We ordered the Fluer de sel, Chocolate Mint, Red Velvet, Vanilla, Chocolate Toffee and Cookies & Cream.  They were all  pretty delicious, some more than others.

Chocolate Toffee

The Vanilla, Red Velvet and a mini I took home for my babysitter.

Brandi, taking notes.

Our favorite cupcake was hands down the Fluer de sel… their description was: chocolate cake with condensed milk and chocolate buttercream frosting with a caramel swirl and french sea salt sprinkles.  I know, your mouth must be watering…I’m drooling too, so don’t feel bad!

Here’s how it rated:

  • Appearance of the Cupcake: 4.0 The Fluer de Sel was pretty cute, kinda flat looking, but it still had charm.  Some of them had fondant toppers made out of shapes that were very Lisa Frank-esque.  I personally would like to forget my awkward Jr High years, which is all I can think of when I see Lisa Frank stuff.  Is she even around anymore??
  • Moistness of the Cake: 5.0– Can you say, sweetened condensed milk?!
  •  Flavor of the Frosting: 4.7 – Chocolatey buttercream with a caramel swirl… so good.
  • Taste of the Cake: 5.0-Super moist and chocolatey. By the way, I’ve just made “choclatey” a word.
  •  Shop Ambiance: 4.0 – loved the logo, and their custom made bake case was very cool.
  • Frosting to Cake Ratio: 5.0 – Perfect!

The star of the day, the Fluer de Sel!

One of the cool things about this shop, was that they offered mini cupcakes as well.  The girls and I decided in the future we’d go for the mini’s because the regular size were so rich!  Also, when you’re making a day out of tasting cupcakes, you have to pace yourself.

Overall it was a good good day. I suppose any day involving cupcakes is a good one!

chowing down. yum.

The 4 of us with our Dots box! Kim, Tammy, Lori & Brandi