Crumbs, NY

Crumbs
11 Wall Street
Huntington, NY 11743

Cupcakes tried: Elvis, grasshopper, squiggle and chocolate cupcake with peanut butter, white chocolate and chocolate mini chips

Overall Reaction: Let down of Titanic proportions!

















The shop is well designed with a cute logo and definitely has a welcoming, clean atmosphere, I will give it that. It was hard not to have googly eyes while choosing the cupcakes because there were so many amazing looking and interesting flavor options to choose from, not too mention – they are bigger than your average cupcake!

Once again, I had my New York taste testers with me along with my hubby. So thank you Kris, Kim and Steve for your solid input!




































Let's start off with the best one that we tried, the Elvis cupcake, which by the way does not say much. I'm looking online to make sure I have the flavors right and the cupcake we tried was made with different ingredients than what is described online. I guess some worker decided to improvise and switch out peanut butter mini chips for butterscotch ones. Basically the vanilla cake was yummy and the banana cream cheese frosting was great too but the butterscotch chips were so sweet that they overpowered the rest of the cupcake. The taste testers were divided on this one, half liked it and half didn't. I'm pretty sure it would have been better with the peanut butter mini chips instead.

The squiggle (hostess look alike) cupcake was a huge disappointment. The cupcake was bland and didn't taste like chocolate cake at all. The original hostess cupcake beats this one hands down!

I love anything mint so I was really looking forward to the grasshopper cupcake. The mint frosting tasted like mint ice cream which was fantastic but the cake, however moist it was, lacked that really great chocolate flavor. The mini chocolate chips around the edges was too much, they were hard and pretty much a mouth full, it would have been better with chocolate shavings or something like that instead.

The last cupcake we tried was the chocolate cupcake with vanilla buttercream topped with mini peanut butter chips, chocolate chips and white chocolate chips. This cupcake was a let down too, the icing was too sweet, the cake was a little dry and the chocolate cake was bland.

My words of advice: For a place that seems to pride themselves on that homemade baked goodness, their cupcakes definitely didn't deliver that taste wise. For $3.75-4.50 a pop, I was expecting a little more but then again it's a chain that keeps growing and the cupcakes are baked off site so eventually manufacturing is the name of the game and quality is left behind for quantity. We were all a bit bummed out and quickly lost our high even after all the sugar consumed.

Cupcake Gourmet, NY

Cupcake Gourmet
46-I Gerard Street
Huntington, NY 11743

Cupcakes tried: german chocolate, funfetti and apple pie

Overall reaction: Gourmet my Butt!















While my husband and I were visiting friends in NY we stumbled upon a this cupcake shop in downtown Huntington. I had 3 other tasters beside myself, so thank you Kris, Kim and Steve for willingly volunteering!


















The German chocolate cupcake was not so good. The cake was super dry and the traditional coconut ooey gooey frosting was dried up too. Everyone knows that that is the best part about german chocolate cakes so this cupcake left us all disappointed.

Funfetti looked really fun but actually wasn't. The cake was dry and the frosting looked and tasted like play-do.

A great idea for a cupcake was the apple pie mini cupcake. The execution of the frosting could have been a little neater but it had a nice cinnamon flavor and tasted like pie. The only bad part was that the cake was dry, which seems to be a reoccurring theme here.

My words of advice: Upon entering store, it seemed like a fun place to host your kid's birthday parties – lots of tables and chairs, bright and eclectic colors, not as neatly designed but perfect for kids. There were all kinds of different flavored cupcakes to choose from but beware because they obviously aren't all good. Mostly I would have to say that they should change the name of the shop to Cupcake Not So Gourmet.

That Takes The Cake, San Francisco

That Takes the Cake
2271 Union St.
San Francisco, CA 94123

Cupcakes tried: orange zinger, Elvis, strawberry, chocolate espresso

Overall reaction: It almost took the cake, but we ain't playing horseshoes here

I had been meaning to try this bakeshop since its not too far from where I live. I have to say that the design of the shop is really cute and well done. However the cupcakes left much to be desired. I bought the cupcakes and headed home, enlisting my sister, Diana to help along in the taste test and here's what we have to say about what we tried.



















First up was the Elvis cupcake. This cupcake tasted the way it was supposed to – peanut butter, honey and banana, exactly like the sandwich. The bad part, was that the cake was dry. Poor Elvis.

The chocolate espresso cupcake was not much better. The frosting was heavy and the cake was dense and dry. The espresso flavor was good but overall this cupcake was intense and what I mean by this, is that it just lumped in your throat and stomach.

The strawberry cupcake was ok. The cake was yummy, moist and tasted like strawberries. The frosting ruined it. Too sweet in a sickening sort of way.

The worst cupcake of all was the orange zinger. It takes the cake for the most horrible tasting cupcake! The frosting overpowered the cake which tasted like an orange rind and was incredibly dry. We couldn't even finish it!

My words of advice: In the shop you have the option of buying day old cupcakes for less money. The cupcakes we tried tasted like a few days old so I can't imagine what the actual day old ones would taste like! Maybe we just hit a bad day but I just don't think there is an excuse when each cupcake we tried was dry. My advice is to steer clear of this shop as the cupcakes did not take the cake!

Shubert's Ice Cream

Shubert's
178 East 7th Street
Chico, CA




























There is nothing more satisfying as a summertime treat than ice cream. In downtown Chico there is an ice cream & candy shop called Shubert's which has been there for a really long time. It's as cute as can be with jars of candy lining the walls along with their own line of chocolates and truffles. But of course, the best part about Shubert's is their ice cream. I dived into a waffle cone consisting of one scoop Strawberry Cheesecake and another scoop of Pistachio ice cream. It was heaven! The ice cream was so creamy and fresh. The Pistachio ice cream was amazing and I'm sure my grandma was looking down from heaven enjoying it along with me. My husband, Steve had the most wonderful scoop of Rocky Road ice cream. The marshmallows were plump and soft and not freeze dried and shrunken like most Rocky Roads. I'd have to say, both our bellies were very content after devouring all the ice cream.

So, if you happen to be in Chico, don't forget to stop by Shubert's for a scoop or two.

My Little Cupcake, Studio City

My Little Cupcake
11925 Ventura Blvd.
Studio City, CA 91604

Cupcakes tried: hi hat, Reese's, opera, strawberry and red velvet cake balls

Overall reaction: Oh My!

While my husband (Steve) was in Los Angeles he stopped at My Little Cupcake with my sister Gina to try out their cupcakes and bring some home for me to try as well. Lucky me! Their cupcakes were definitely eye candy, large and scrumptious looking. I was told that the guy managing/running the shop was really nice and gave them free samples.

I dived into the Hi Hat cupcake first which is devil's food cake topped with marshmallow and then dipped in chocolate. It was most definitely high. If you like marshmallow fluff then you will like the topping, however the cake was miserably dry...such a shame.

































Next, I tried the Opera cupcake. This cupcake was much better. It's a vanilla cake soaked with coffee syrup and layered with chocolate ganache and coffee frosting. My only gripe is that I had hoped that it would have a distinct coffee taste and there was only a hint of it.

















The Reece's cupcake had the same problem as the Hi Hat...dry, dry and more dry. They must have been baked at the same time or they were just plain old. The peanut butter mouse filling was really yummy though.

The Strawberry cupcake proved to be the winner out of the four. It was a vanilla cake with chunks of strawberry baked in. This cake was moist, light and delicious!

















And of course I saved the best for last...
TA-DA! Red Velvet cake balls! These were bite sized cake balls dipped in chocolate. And they really were the most perfect bite.

My words of advice: If you are traveling along Ventura Blvd., definitely make a stop at this little cupcake shop and don't pass up on the cake balls.

Boniere Bakery, Alameda

Boniere Bakery
1417 Park Street
Alameda, CA 94501

Baked goods tried: vanilla cupcake with chocolate buttercream, pecan tart and apple pandowdy

Overall reaction: This is definitely an old school bakery

I happened to be in downtown Alameda and a bakery caught my eye so I decided to go check it out. The bakery was called Boniere Bakery and it was established in 1876. Holy long time ago! They mostly sell pastries, pies, cakes and cookies.












They obviously don't specialize in cupcakes because there was only two types to choose from, a chocolate cupcake with vanilla buttercream or a vanilla cupcake with chocolate buttercream. I choose the latter. I have to say that it was actually pretty good. The cupcake was fluffy and the frosting was really fudgy.












I really had a hard time choosing what to try next because there was so many baked goods to choose from. I went with the pecan tart since I'm a sucker for pecan pies. The crust on this tart was a shortbread cookie with a wall of vanilla frosting covered in chocolate. It definitely was not the best shortbread cookie I've ever had but the frosting part was yummy. I was disappointed in the pecan center, it was not gooey enough, and that is a quality that all great pecan type pies should have.



















Lastly, I tried the Apple Pandowdy. This is an old time southern bread pudding type of deep dish dessert. There was so many delicious layers of goodness – apple chunks, bread, raisins, cinnamon, and raspberry jam topped with a crumb topping. Ooh-la-la. I could have eaten this all day! I will be looking up how to make one of these real soon.

My words of advice: If you like morning or anytime pastries, this is your place to go.

Love At First Bite, Berkeley

Love At First Bite
1510 Walnut Street, Suite G
Berkeley, Ca 94709

Cupcakes tried: pretty in pink, lemon pistachio, mud pie, and matcha green tea

Overall reaction: Like at first bite

Along with my taste buds, I had another taster with me to help rate these lovely cupcakes. Thanks Shannon Linquist!

Let's start with the pretty in pink cupcake which was soooo pinkalicious! This cupcake consisted of strawberry cake and pink strawberry buttercream. It had a nice balance of tart and sweetness and tasted just like strawberries. The cake was baked perfectly. Strawberry Shortcake herself would be proud.

The lemon pistachio cupcake was a little disappointing. The cake was dry and you could hardly taste the lemon. It might as well have just been vanilla. The pistachio buttercream had the same problem with not enough of a distinct pistachio flavor. I love pistachio and lemon, so I was quite sad that this cupcake claimed to be both.

The mudpie was a yummy devil's food cake with mocha frosting and Oreo crumbs. The cake was nice and fudgy, a chocolate lover's delight. The Oreos were slightly smashed in the buttercream making them soft and I think it would have been better if they had a little crunch to them. I also would have liked a little more buttercream on top. Still, it was quite yummy.

The disaster of the afternoon fell upon the matcha green tea cupcake. First off, the color of the cupcake was hardly desirable. In the photo I took, it looks like a nice mint green color but in real life it looked like green puke/green pea baby food. Not good. The cake was dry and the icing was horrible tasting. I have to quote Shannon on this one, "Keep the green tea to mochi balls!"

My words of advice: It seems the cupcakes might be hit or miss here but definitely worth a try. The pretty in pink cupcake is for surely going down in my book of favorites.

Alpine Bakery, Concord

Cupcakes tried: chocolate with fudge frosting, vanilla with vanilla frosting, chocolate with mocha mousse, carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, mango vanilla cake with mango mousse and shredded coconut
Also tried: variety of pastries

Overall reaction: Grocery store upscaled

These cupcakes were courtesy of my friend Lesley who was buying pastries for a baby shower and noticed that they also sold a variety of cupcakes. And, voila, she picked some up for me. Many thanks Lesley!

Their pastries were quite yummy...apple turnovers, cookies with fillings and other such danishes. However, the cupcakes left much to be desired. What a bummer!

Both the vanilla cupcake with vanilla frosting and the chocolate cupcake with fudge frosting were your typical grocery store cupcake. Slightly better but not by much. They were a little dry and the cake was rather bland. The vanilla cupcake was reminiscent of a Twinkie, it tasted almost exactly like one. I think I'd rather have a Twinkie though.

The chocolate mocha mousse cupcake was the same exact cake as the chocolate, so see above for description. The mocha mousse topping was actually quite delightful, light and fluffy.

Everything nice except sugar and spice describes the carrot cake. The cake was bland and it just lacked all those great cinnamon and nutmeg flavors of a really good carrot cake. The cream cheese frosting was decent.

The worst cupcake of the bunch was the poor mango vanilla cake. Same exact cake as the vanilla, so see above for description. The mango curd filling was actually pretty good, but the mango mouse on top with the shredded coconut was awful. For some reason the mango and the coconut turned on each other and created a disaster of a combination.

My words of advice: They are obviously better at making pastries, so stick to that.

Teacake Bake Shop, Lafayette

Baked goods tried: lemon buttermilk cupcake, chocolate sour cream cupcake, peanut butter chocolate cupcake, chocolate chip cookie sandwich, snicker doodle cookie

Overall reaction: "I think it tastes pretty good."*

So again, I have some friends to thank that helped out by being such willing taste testers. Thanks Mike and Lesley Schooler!

The first cupcake tried was the chocolate sour cream cupcake with vanilla buttercream. This cupcake was moist with a light crunch on the
top. The cake had a subtle chocolate flavor which lent well to the sugary vanilla buttercream. There was a nice balance.

You could smell the peanut butter cupcake before even taking a bite out of it. This is definitely for the pb lovers. The cake was slightly dry and needed more peanut butter frosting but the flavors were great, so I can over look that.

I have a slight bone to pick with the lemon buttermilk cupcake. If it wasn't for its yummy lemon cream cheese frosting it would have just tasted like a vanilla cupcake instead. However it was light and fluffy and was well liked by all of us.

The chocolate chip cookie sandwich had such potential sitting as cute as can be in the display. What a mistake! This was the wrong type of cookie to make a sandwich out of. It was more like a shortbread cookie so it just crumbled when you took a bite. The frosting in the middle was way too sugary. Sad to say that none of us wanted to finish the cookie.

Snicker doodle this! The best snicker doodle I've ever had! This cookie was huge and had the perfect crunchy outside and soft inside. I wish I had tried some of the other cookies that looked equally as good.

My words of advice: Skip the cupcakes and head straight for the cookies. You can buy 3 cookies for the price of 2 cupcakes!

*Quoted by Mike Schooler.

Dots Cupcakes, Pasadena

Cupcakes tried: strawberry lemonade, almond coconut, red velvet, and peppermint swirl

Overall reaction: X marks the dot

On my last visit to Los Angeles, one of my dear friends so graciously bought me some Dots cupcakes. So many thanks Pearlin!

The strawberry lemonade cupcake was oh so yummy. Chunks of strawberry mixed into the cake topped with cream cheese frosting...what could be better? My only gripe is that I wished the lemon flavor was stronger.

The red velvet cake had a lovely fluffy texture, however in the flavor department, it was lacking.

The almond coconut cupcake was really moist with a nice subtle almond taste.

Best of the bunch was the peppermint swirl. The chocolate cake was extra moist and the pink peppermint frosting was fun and delicious.

Overall, the cupcakes needed a little extra frosting. Don't be so stingy, everybody loves frosting!

My words of advice: These cupcakes are worth a shot, there's no dot about it!

Starbucks, San Francisco

Cupcakes tried: red velvet, lemon meringue

Overall reaction: not so Grande

Lo and behold the famous coffee shop on every street corner sells cupcakes! The red velvet cupcake was a big disappointment. Basically it tasted like dyed red cornbread. Its only saving grace was the bit of chocolate filling in the middle. The lemon meringue cupcake was pretty good but not great. The lemon curd filling and dollop of meringue on top was a nice compliment. However, both cupcakes were stingy with their toppings.

My words of advice: Obviously cupcakes aren't their forté. Don't quit your day job Starbucks, stick to your factory made coffee not your factory made cupcakes.

Miette, San Francisco

Cupcakes & cakes tried: old fashioned, gingerbread, mini sharffen berger, chocolate creme cake, lemon tart

Overall reaction: C'est Marveilleux!

This little bakeshop/pâtisserie is so sweet and petite! I'm sure that Napoleon would have declared, "C'est une victoire!" as he nibbled on a bit of cake.

The Old Fashioned cupcake was wonderful. The chocolate cake was perfect and paired with a delicious marshmallow creme topping. Visions of sugarplums definitely danced around inside my head.

The Mini Scharffen Berger cake was richly elegant. Bravo, Bravo! Encore, Encore!

The Lemon Tart had a good crust but was a little thin on the curd, which could have been a bit tangier. Still tasted great though.

The Chocolate Cream cake was made up of alternating layers of chocolate cake and whipped cream. Everything about this cake was excellent except for the tiny pieces of cacao nibs scattered throughout. The cacao nibs interfered with enjoying this cake completely and to boot, they kept getting stuck in my teeth.

The Gingerbread cupcake was actually my least favorite treat. The cream cheese frosting was yummy on top but the cake tasted only of molasses. Four of my friends tried this cupcake as well and the first thing they said but not in unison was, "Whoa, too much molasses." This eased my mind, as I thought maybe I was acting a little harshly towards this cupcake. I think Ginger was definitely not happy with Molasses having the entire spotlight.

My words of advice: Très Yum! Will definitely be going back.

Citizen Cupcake Cafe, San Francisco

Cupcakes tried: lem-ania and chocolate chip mania cupcake

Overall reaction: not impressed

First off there weren't many cupcakes to choose from, it was more of a cafe than a cupcake shop. I'd have to say the name of the place is quite deceiving. The cookie cupcake was ok. The miniature cookie on top was a nice touch and the chocolate chips that lined the bottom of the cupcake was yummy as well. All this helped to mask the fact that the actually cake part of the cupcake was dry and lacking in flavor. It reminded me of an over baked cookie. So I guess it achieved its intended purpose – a chocolate chip cookie (which most people over bake).

The lemon cupcake was strange. The lemon curd filling was the best part about this cupcake, lemony and tangy. However the cake didn't have a lot of flavor and the lemon zest frosting was a bad combo leaving a really weird aftertaste in my mouth. gross.

My words of advice: Just stick with a cup of coffee.

Aroma Cafe, Studio City

Cupcakes tried: extra large chocolate oreo cupcake, various layer cakes and pies

Overall reaction: charming and delightful

My eyes were easily dazzled as I walked in to view the display case of oversized desserts and cakes piled with chopped candy bars. The cupcakes looked really fun, they were piled high with frosting that was slightly disarrayed adding to the appeal because they weren't so perfect. I decided I had to try one. The cupcake proved to be disappointing. The cake was very dry and the frosting was too shortening based, (like supermarket cake frosting).

Most of the cakes and pies are really good, some cakes are a little dry but overall you can't go wrong with a slice. Their blueberry heart scones are wonderful, especially warmed and with a little bit of butter. It's always hard to find a good scone.

My words of advice: Skip lunch and head straight for the desserts.

Kara's Cupcakes, San Francisco

Cupcakes tried: meyer lemony lemon, chocolate velvet, rasberry dazzle, sweet vanilla

Overall reaction: Didn't Kare for them

Kara's cupcakes seem to be the rave of S.F. A couple good things that I can say about the cupcakes is that the cake was really moist, had nice flavor and the presentation of the cupcakes and the shop had a sweet simplicity about it. The downfall is the buttercream on top. The buttercream was just not right for any of the cupcakes. Talk about eating a bite full of butter. It was more of a traditional buttercream, which is fine, but there wasn't enough flavor added to the buttercream to steer it away from tasting like a hunk of butter. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE buttercream. I think that this kind works great in cakes when there is other fillings and elements to go hand in hand with it, making it taste wonderful. But on top of a cupcake – no thanks! The lemon cupcake was absolutely horrible and not enough filling for $3.25.

My words of advice: Scrape off the tops of the cupcakes and put your own frosting on top. I guarantee it will taste better.

Sprinkles, Beverly Hills

Cupcakes tried: chocolate, strawberry, carrot, and coconut

Overall reaction: Way too much hype

The presentation of the cupcakes are wonderful, simple, contemporary and packaged very nicely. That however is the one positive thing I have to say about it. It's no wonder the hoity-toities of LA love these cupcakes, as they are beautiful on the outside and quite empty and soulless on the inside. I have had these cupcakes on numerous occasions, as they like to show up at parties and other events. The cake part can never be predictable, it's moist sometimes, dry other times, and usually lacks good flavor. On one occasion, I decided to try a chocolate cupcake and a strawberry cupcake. I took a bite of the chocolate one and thought it was OK, and then I took a bite of the strawberry cupcake and lo and behold they tasted exactly the same. How is that possible, they are two completely different flavors? Plus, the frosting is way tooooo sugary.

My words of advice: Don't judge a cupcake by its cover.