A Quick Fix!

If you’re craving a cupcake, you may be a bit hesitant to go to the grocery store and grab cupcakes from the bakery. Grocery store cupcakes are usually too sweet, heavy and have a manufactured flavour, never completely satisfying one’s desire for the ultimate cupcake. I discovered the FSB cupcakes at Metro on one of my usual late night dessert outings with my roommate, C. After a day of classes, we would have a lengthy dinner at home, and to prolong our eventual return to our desks and books, hit up the grocery store for something sweet with our after-dinner tea. The FSB cupcakes were adorably packaged in single containers and came in a multitude of flavours. Naturally, I couldn’t resist. I first picked up a couple of milk chocolate cupcakes and my roommate and I happily devoured them. The chocolate cake was incredibly moist and featured a creamy, milk chocolate centre, which was slightly toffee flavoured. The frosting had a strong chocolately flavour without being overly sweet, and was fairly light, with an almost whipped consistency. Over the next few weeks, my roommate and I sampled a few other flavours, and they were all pretty scrumptious: the salted caramel, red velvet, and Boston cream among others. I’d say the best cupcakes were the ones with the chocolate cakes.

After I finished writing the bar exam, and was ready to crawl out of hiding, J and I met up for lunch at a little Italian joint near her workplace. I wanted to bring along some cupcakes in keeping with our tradition. I didn’t have much time to go to a speciality bakery that we hadn’t already tried yet, so I popped by Metro and picked up four different flavours for us: Red velvet, salted caramel, milk chocolate and peanut butter chocolate. After we finished our meals of veal and chicken parmesan, we dug into the cupcakes. J was pretty impressed by the richness of the cakes and the perfect symmetry of light and sweet in the frosting.

Bottom line: if you are ever in a pinch and want that gourmet cupcake experience, don’t think twice about grabbing some of these FSB cupcakes from Metro!

- G

A Cupcake Fail

G is finally finished law school (yay!) and is now back in the GTA which means... more cupcakes!!!  Given that it has been a while since our last post - which, coincidently is the last time I've eaten a cupcake - I decided to jump at the first opportunity to get back on the cupcakewagon.  G suggested that we visit Sweet 'n Sinful, located in Bolton.  It was to our dismay that we arrive to our destination, only to discover closed doors!! It's unclear whether the shop is temporarily or permanently closed as there was no sign or notice.  What a disappointment.

Trying to salvage our day, we found our way to the only bakery in Brampton that vaguely resembled a cupcakery, as per Google.  We wound up at Rashmi's Bakery, located on the north west end of Brampton.  We weren't entirely sure what to expect and after browsing their fresh baked goods, we certainly did not have high expectations.  Their selection was limited to chocolate and vanilla cake - both with white 'grocery store looking' frosting.  

We were surprisingly pleased with the texture of the cake and the quality of the icing.  The cake, especially the vanilla, was adequately moist and flavourful.  G felt that the chocolate was a tad on the floury side and could have used more chocolate (disclaimer: G is looking for a chocolate cupcake that actually tastes like chocolate!).  The icing was much better than expected; sometimes I find that generic icing can taste almost like plastic, especially in the aftertaste.  This icing was very light, with the right amount of sugar... almost like whipped cream.  What is more impressive is that these cupcakes were vegan!  I've had vegan cupcakes before and despite how my peers felt about them, I did not like them as it seemed as though the bakers overcompensated with sugar, especially in the icing.

So today's lesson - call the cupcakery prior to visiting to avoid potential disappointment.  That and Brampton really needs to step it's cupcake game up!

Until next time...

- J

Cupid's Gourmet Cupcakes

It was my good friend, Google, who helped me find Cupid's Gourmet Cupcakes.  I happened to be dropping off my board at the pro shop in Oakville for some tuning when G suggested that I pick some cupcakes up for our planned get together that evening.

Cupid's was founded by a young mother who found herself wanting some 'grown up time' during her time off from her teaching career.  One thing lead to another and before she knew it, she had a full blooming business to run!  Cupid's, like many other cupcake bakeries, is a peanut free zone.  However, this wasn't always the case.  It was upon receiving her son's peanut allergy diagnosis that the owner decided to switch gears and move in this direction.

First impressions - the bakery was very cute, cozy and busy!  There was even a quaint wooden table, painted white, with matching chairs conveniently placed by the window for those customers who wished to dine in.

There were six flavours available that day; naturally, I selected one of each in the mini-cupcake variety.

Starting from the top left, we have Prince - a signature chocolate buttermilk cake with dreamy blue vanilla frosting, topped with chocolate shavings.  The cake was nothing short of chocolatey but was a bit on the dry side.  The frosting was... fine.  As G put it, nothing special; just generic buttercream.

The red velvet (to the right), was rather disappointing.  The cake was not moist nor was it very flavourful.  Let's back up a few steps.  When I think of a froth worthy red velvet cake, I imagine an ultra moist, rich chocolate cake.  Quite frankly, it's what I picture heaven to be made out of..... mmm.  Okay, back to the cake.  Yeah, it wasn't spectacular.  However, the frosting was delightfully delicious.  I think it was the best cream cheese frosting I've tasted so far in our adventure!

Triple chocolate threat - here we come!  Chocolate cake with chocolate chips, topped with chocolate frosting and chocolate shavings.  Now that's a lot of chocolate!! We loved the idea of chocolate chips being incorporated into the cake.  Creativity points awarded! The added texture, not to mention flavour, was very tasty.  Unfortunately, the cake seemed to be lacking in chocolate flavour.  This was a chocolate cake, right?  To make matters worse, the frosting had a liquor flavour to it... it almost reminded me of those terrible brandy/rum filled chocolates offices have during the Christmas season.  Who even likes those things??  

Pucker up! Lemon yogurt cake with freshly squeezed lemon juice and zest, accompanied with lemon frosting.  I don't think I've ever seen yogurt incorporated into a cake before.  Truthfully, I wasn't sure how I would feel about this but I was delightfully surprised when my tastebuds exclaimed after having my first bite.  Five stars on delicious cake!  It was very rich, moist and filled with lemon flavour.  It texture was more on the dense side, which we chalked up to the yogurt base.  The icing was very light and complemented the cake very well.  That being said, it wasn't as lemony as expected but I almost feel like it would have been too much lemon if it was.  Definitely a judges favourite!

Princess - a vanilla buttermilk cake topped with strawberry puree frosting and sparkly sprinkles.  My vanilla goddess was gravely disappointed with this cake.  I mean, how can you go wrong with vanilla?? Sigh.  We found that the cake was very dry and floury.  If it wasn't for the strawberry filled frosting (it REALLY did taste like fresh strawberries), this cupcake would have been a complete write off.

Last but not least, the nutless German.  Keeping with the peanut free concept, this German chocolate cake is made without pecans and is topped with vanilla cream cheese frosting, a pool of homemade salted caramel and a mount of toasted coconut.  At least that's what their menu says.  The cake was good; the frosting was decent - run of the mill cream cheese frosting.  But we couldn't help but ask ourselves, where were the promised salted caramel and toasted coconut?? 

Overall experience - 6.5/10 

Many hit or misses - too many misses to drive across Ontario for!  

- J

The Social Cupcake

What an appropriate name for a cupcake shop.  I mean, what better way to socialize than over a cupcake?!

The Social Cupcake is neatly tucked away into one of Mississauga's many historic neighourhoods, Port Credit.  This bakery prides itself in its eco friendly products, only using organic free trade cocoa, free range eggs and the freshest of ingredients.  Moreover, it is both a peanut and treenut free environment which is a something that cupcake enthusiasts are seeing more frequently.

The Social Cupcake features sixty, I repeat SIXTY, cupcakes!! With traditional flavours such as vanilla chocolate to more complex varieties like strawberry rhubarb cheesecake and chocolate guinness with bailey's swiss meringue , you can only imagine how excited I was to visit this bakery!

To keep with the theme, birthday twin and I ventured on a cupcake tasting date to celebrate our birthdays and catch up (ah hem - socialize!) since some time had passed since we had last seen each other.

Given that the bakery offers a combo of 6 minis for $10 and that there were 6 readymade varieties on display today, it seemed like the perfect idea to sample one of each!  And oh did they ever look and smell soooo delicious! Side note: why don't they make cupcake flavoured perfume????

So for the moment of truth...... The Social Cupcake is a real winner!!!!!

Flavours tested:

• Vanilla
• Cookies and Cream
• Strawberry
• Marble
• Red velvet (of course!)
• Chocolate

Birthday twin and agreed that the top contenders were tied between the chocolate and red velvet.  Given that neither of us are huge fans of icing and that I am no lover of chocolate cake, the fact that this chocolate cupcake has snuck it's way into our number one demonstrates what good value it was!  You could truly taste the richness of the chocolate in both the cake and the icing without being overpowered with sugar.  The red velvet - WOW!  I really don't know if I have ever had cream cheese icing that tasted so good!  It was light, creamy, and cream cheesy - what else can you ask for in a cupcake?!  

Vanilla ranked as a close second.  It's buttery buttercream icing melted in your mouth like ice cream on a hot summer's day.  The cake was nothing short of moist.  This is what my dreams are made of... delicious vanilla cake.  

Sadly, strawberry came in as our least favourite.  Truthfully, there was nothing wrong with the cupcake.  The icing was extra light and the cake was filled with the goodness of strawberries.  I'm just not entirely sure if I like strawberry flavoured cake.  No disrespect!

As you can see, we ate all of our six minis - and no, we did not have a tummy ache after.  Hurrah! 

Overall experience - 9/10!

If you're ever in the Port Credit area and in search for a delightful treat, I highly recommend The Social Cupcake! Just be sure to arrive with an appetite because this bakery will not disappoint.  Disclaimer: expect a queue as there were five customers during our short wait on a Thursday afternoon!

- J