Scouting out Springfield cupcakes

For a few months, I've been wanting to try cupcakes at a couple bakeries here in town -- Specialty Cakes (1560 Wabash, behind Famous Liquors), which specializes in, well, cakes, for weddings and that sort of thing, and Mrs. Kiddy's Cakes (917 Clock Tower Drive, No. 140), which also makes cakes for special occasions but offers an array of additional sweets. A colleague of mine is planning a cupcake crawl as part of an auction fundraiser for her son's school, and she's invited me along. Both of these bakeries are on her list to sample, so I decided that was another good excuse to scout them out.

At Specialty Cakes, I found a display case with several varieties of cupcake -- vanilla with vanilla frosting, vanilla with raspberry filling, chocolate with vanilla frosting, red velvet and lemon among them -- and, after much deliberation, chose a chocolate with vanilla frosting and a vanilla with raspberry. When the clerk told me how much they cost, I had reverse sticker shock: $1 per cupcake. Shockingly cheap compared to the $3.75 I paid for cupcakes at the snazzy bakeries in Chicago. Of course, those cupcakes were huge and much more deluxe than Specialty's, but sometimes it's nice to have a reasonable-sized cupcake for a reasonable price.

Next I stopped at Mrs. Kiddy's, which greeted me with a tempting aroma as soon as I opened the door. Upon stepping inside, I discovered a display case filled with goodies including cookies, brownies, cannolis, doughnuts -- you name it. And, of course, cupcakes. There was quite a variety of flavors, too. Other than the banana, chocolate fluff and bavarian cakes I chose, the shop offered vanilla, pina colada, red velvet, raspberry-filled vanilla and several others. I'd like to go back just to try some of the other treats. Those cannolis were especially attractive.

When I got back to the office, I gleefully emailed my colleague, Jayette, and the food editor, Kathy, who Jayette has also invited on the crawl, letting them know that I had bought the cupcakes for all of us to sample together. Here's what we discovered as we divided and conquered:

Mrs. Kiddy's bavarian cupcake: We were disappointed with the frosting, which coated our mouths and tasted like little more than shortening combined with sugar. We were expecting much better based on the rave reviews we had heard about Mrs. Kiddy's cupcakes. The vanilla cake and bavarian filling were pretty good, though. The light, creamy filling was a nice contrast to the heavy frosting.

Mrs. Kiddy's banana cupcake: This one almost won us over. Again, the frosting was a downer, but the banana cake and fresh, flavorful banana filling made us feel hopeful about Mrs. Kiddy's. We were also charmed by the adorable banana drawn in frosting as the garnish. We gave it "cupcake points" (rather than brownie points) for presentation. The only other banana cupcake I've tried was at Sugar Bliss Cake Boutique in Chicago, and it was marvelous due to its moist cake and light, buttery frosting. If only Mrs. Kiddy's had used a frosting more like Sugar Bliss, the banana cake would have been a winner.

Mrs. Kiddy's chocolate fluff cupcake: On the outside, it appeared to be a chocolate cupcake with marshmallow frosting (I assumed this based on appearance and name). When we cut into it, we found it had a white cream filling, which looked amazing. When we tasted it, though, the cake was dreadfully dry and the frosting was not marshmallow, but simply a whipped version of the shortening-based topping on the other two cakes. We rated this one the worst of the three.

All three of us hated to dislike Mrs. Kiddy's cupcakes because we're all in favor of local business, and we're sure Mrs. Kiddy's excels in its other sweet creations. In fact, Kathy, whose vet is just down the street from the bakery, said she planned to try it this weekend. We suppose it could have been a bad batch of cupcakes, and perhaps when we try the cupcakes again on the crawl, they'll be much better. Our tastebuds are resilient and ready to give Mrs. Kiddy's another chance.

Next up were the Specialty Cakes selections.

Vanilla raspberry-filled: This one was our favorite of all the cakes we tried. The white cake was so heavy with raspberry filling that it came apart as I cut it into quarters. We surmised that this could be a messy problem were we eating it without plates and forks, but we quickly forgot that concern as we each scooped up our share. The cake was moist and the raspberry filling smooth and scrumptious. The frosting was firm and just sweet enough to satisfy. Jayette's comment was that it tasted like wedding cake. No surprise there. I'm looking forward to the crawl so I can try this one again.

Chocolate with vanilla frosting: Again, we were impressed by the springy cake and the just-right frosting. This one ranked second place because of its classic quality -- no filling to dazzle us, but solidly good all the same.

Needless to say, today's sampling has whet our appetites for the crawl, which Jayette has planned for early November. I don't know who will place the winning bid, but I'm glad my spot is guaranteed.