Cookie Dough, Champagne, Strawberry, OMG!

This week was another farmers market missing Heavenly Delight. Knowing it would be in the mid-90s again and the stand likely would be absent, I took advantage of a half personal day off work and made the trip to Petersburg on Monday for some cupcakes from OMGosh Bakery and Desserts. 

My main goal was to pick up OMG's Champagne cupcake, so I called a week in advance to be sure they would be able to make some. They kindly obliged, and I arrived mid-morning Monday to find them part of the offerings in the well-stocked display case. As long as I was there, I figured I might as well stock up, so I bought a Champagne, a Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, a Strawberry-Filled and an Oreo. (Not long after I left the store, I realized that I had already tried OMG's Oreo, and I regretted getting it instead of Lemonade, a flavor I hadn't tried.) 

I wanted to wait until Cupcake Wednesday to try them, so I stowed them in the freezer at home. Come Wednesday, I eagerly defrosted them, ready to try that Champagne for which I had longed. As much as I wanted to try that one, though, the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough grabbed me with its cookie-dough frosting (I've attempted eggless "dough" that lacked the flavor of real dough, so I was excited to try OMG's version). 

All I can say is "OMG..." The cookie-dough frosting was nearly perfect (it was a bit heavy on the dark-chocolate chunks, but it was easy enough to eat around those). Even the cake was just about right -- it was soft, moist vanilla with the same overload of chocolate chunks as the frosting, but I was pleased with the freshness in light of previous OMG cupcakes that have been on the drier side. I didn't want to stop eating this one, but I knew I had to so I'd be able to try the others. 

It was time for Champagne. Unsure what to expect but excited to find out, I pushed my fork through the light, fluffy pink frosting with candy pearls and matching pink-dyed cake. I took that first bite ... and encountered a flavor that was OMG in a not-so-good way. This cupcake tasted like Champagne, alright -- extremely dry Champagne. The bitterness overpowered the sweetness. For someone who likes their bubbly dry, this might be the ideal cupcake, but I prefer a sweeter Champagne. Cupcakes, furthermore, are SUPPOSED to be sweet. The frosting seemed to have a touch more sugar than the cake, but any sweetness was offset by the offending presence of shortening. I hate to say that I wasn't able to eat most of this one. I hate wasting cupcakes, but considering how many cupcakes I try, if I don't like it, it's not worth the calories. 

I pushed my Champagne letdown aside and moved on to the Strawberry-Filled. I was already suspicious of this one because the frosting was obviously the same shortening-based substance that had helped bring down the Champagne. One bite confirmed what I already knew, and I pushed the heap of worthless fat and calories off to the side so I could focus on the vanilla cake. The bottom half of the cupcake was a pleasant surprise. Much like the Cookie Dough, the Strawberry-Filled cake was light and moist. And  just like the name implied, a pocket of strawberry jam awaited inside, adding a pleasant fruity flavor to the delicious cake. I was happy to eat this one without that greasy frosting. 

As I said at the beginning, I mistakenly bought the Oreo instead of a fourth new flavor (find my OMG Oreo review at http://extremecupcaker.blogspot.com/2012/02/cupcake-commute.html), and I wished I had chosen the Lemonade instead. Upon later trying the Strawberry-Filled and Champagne, though, I realized that leaving the Lemonade was a blessing in disguise because I had noticed that it had the same type of undesirable icing. Everything happens for a reason, even with cupcakes!

Here's hoping next week brings Heavenly Delight back to the market!!

Cupcake code blue

When my friend Jen, a nurse, brought me a jumbo-sized cupcake from Memorial Medical Center’s cafeteria last week that she said she bought for just under $1, my first reactions were shock and disbelief. Most of the jumbo cupcakes I’ve found during my sampling journey have cost in the range of $3-$5. Another friend suggested that the low price might be due to a hospital food subsidy. A third thought it might simply be a day old.

I’m pretty sure the third friend nailed it.

In all fairness, I had to freeze the cupcake for a few days because of a surprise box of cream-filled Krispy Kreme doughnuts from my husband that needed to be eaten ASAP (a delicious story for a different post). I wasn’t too worried about freezing it because I could tell the day I received it that it wasn’t at its freshest.

Pulling it from its paper lining three days later and taking a nibble, I found the yellow cake to be dense and dry – so much so, in fact, that I left most of it, eating just enough to counteract the sweetness of the vanilla frosting. I loved the texture of the thick, creamy icing, and the flavor was rich, but it was too sweet for my taste. Considering the cake and frosting as a whole, I wouldn’t find it necessary to buy this one again. I’m curious about any other flavors Memorial might make, and Jen reported that the carrot cake is quite delicious, especially if you can overlook the posted calorie content.

In other news, the Heavenly Delight cupcake stand has not been at the downtown farmers market or the Illinois Products market the past two weeks. I would assume that’s due to the heat, and I can’t blame the owners for that. The last time I went to the stand, two Saturdays ago, the frosting was melting off of the sad-looking display cupcakes. No cupcakes should ever go to waste! With temperatures forecast to be close to 100 degrees again this Wednesday, I’m guessing it will be another HD-less week. I hope a cold front comes through, because the summer is quickly advancing, and the weeks for cupcakes tend to fly. 

Peanut butter paradise

This morning's trip to the farmers market was fruitless in the sense that I found it lacking Heavenly Delight's stand. I had been anticipating cupcakes all week after going sweets-less for three straight days, so when I got to the end of the three-block row of stands and found no giant Heavenly banner proclaiming the presence of my favorite treat, the increasingly boiling temperature felt that much more like hell.

Fortunately, I had a back-up plan. At home in the freezer was an HD Reese's Peanut Butter cupcake from a couple weeks ago, and on the daily menu at nearby Cafe Moxo was that eatery's Peanut Butter cupcake. The time had come for another of my side-by-side cupcake comparisons. (Slow HD weeks are always good for these extracurricular cupcake activities.)

 Left: Heavenly Delight's Reese's Peanut Butter. 

Right: Cafe Moxo's Peanut Butter

This was my favorite side-by-side comparison to date. Peanut butter is high on my list of irresistible cupcake flavors, and I had tried both of these at least twice prior to today -- never together, though. The first thing I noticed, alternating bites, was that the salty peanut flavor stood out in Moxo's peanut buttercream frosting, compared to the more dominant sweetness of HD's. No right or wrong here -- both were rich and creamy with luscious flavor. I can't say I liked one more than the other, although I did appreciate the emphasis on peanuts in Moxo's. 

And now, moving on to the cake: Both were chocolate, but one was much better. Moxo's was quite dry compared to HD's, which incorporated bits of peanut butter. My history with these two places has shown me that moist cupcakes are about as common at HD as dry or stale cupcakes are at Moxo. I can count on one hand the number of times I've been disappointed with the texture of an HD cupcake. That doesn't mean I love all of their varieties, but not many HD cupcakes, whether I've cared for the flavor or not, have disappointed me in the category of technical quality. That said, I've had Moxo's Peanut Butter when the cake was fresh and moist, and I could find no flaws. The quality of Moxo's cupcakes tends to vary depending on the day, which is why I've retried several flavors. I've found HD's quality to be consistently good.

I also liked each cupcake's garnishes -- the mini Reese's Pieces on HD's and the peanuts and drizzle of chocolate syrup topping Moxo's. Each establishment took a different approach with its peanut butter cupcake, and I can appreciate both. In the end, though, quality counts, and since Moxo's cake wasn't as moist this time as it has been in the past, I have to base my judgment on today's tasting. Therefore, I give HD the prize in this cupcake battle royale. 

Doughnut detour

I know this is typically a cupcake blog, but when I found out that Friday, July 13, was Krispy Kreme doughnuts' 75th birthday, my craving started kicking in. Then I saw a picture on Mel-O-Cream's Facebook page of a commemorative coin marking that company's 80th anniversary. That's when I knew I had to work in some sort of doughnut post.

The problem: Krispy Kreme's nearest store is Bloomington, and I knew I wouldn't be taking any roadtrips this weekend. My only options were a local grocery store or gas station that sells shipped-in Krispy Kremes.  It happens that Shop N Save, my regular grocery store, carries boxes of several varieties.

On the other hand, it would be easy to swing by a local Mel-O-Cream store and pick anything I wanted from the menu. I decided, because cream-filled doughnuts are my favorite and Shop N Save carries "chocolate-covered, kreme-filled" Krispy Kremes, that I would put that doughnut head to head against Mel-O-Cream's chocolate-covered cream-filled. I've had both of these doughnuts many times, but I've never had the chance to taste them together.

 

Viewed side by side, Mel-O-Cream's doughnut, left, took the prize in terms of size and generosity with frosting. Both doughnuts' chocolate frosting was rich and fudgy.

But let's face it: The part of the cream-filled doughnut that matters most is, hello, the cream! I can say, after alternating several bites of each, that the Mel-O-Cream and Krispy Kreme are on an even playing field cream-wise. Double yum.

Really, these two are pretty comparable. I have to cut the Krispy Kreme some slack because I wasn't able to buy it fresh from the store like the Mel-O-Cream. I could tell it had been around a little longer. But it wasn't a deal breaker for me by any means. Taking freshness and size into account, the Mel-O-Cream would come out ahead. But otherwise, this is pretty much a draw. I must say I would be happy with either one any time.

Happy birthday, delicious doughnuts!

Where's the toffee?

My stop at Qik-N-Ez after work tonight yielded two Java Express cupcakes -- the Chai Latte I wrote about in  my last blog post and a Chocolate Toffee. Both were flavors I'd never seen at Java. I suspect the coffee shop has expanded its selection since it started selling cupcakes at the gas stations around town.

The devil's food cake wasn't the freshest or moistest, which I attribute at least partially to the fact that the guy behind the counter said the batch had been in the store for two days (albeit in the refrigerator while not in the display case). And overall, I liked it a lot. The frosting was especially good -- creamy and light with a milky chocolate flavor. What puzzled me was the lack of detectable toffee. Guy Behind the Counter had said the toffee was in the frosting. It must have been ground up to a fine powder, because I sure didn't taste it or feel the crunchy texture. It was quite good as chocolate cupcakes go, but it didn't live up to its name. Somebody get these cupcakes some toffee bits!

Chai, chai again

I started out today with the intention of picking up a Chocolate Peanut Butter cupcake from Cafe Moxo for a side-by-side comparison with Heavenly Delight's Reese's Peanut Butter, which I've had in the freezer since last week's market. But silly me got my days confused and forgot that Moxo offers Chocolate Peanut Butter on Wednesdays, not Thursdays. This means that I will most likely pit the peanut butters against each other next week instead.

Not all was lost, though. Moxo did have the final two spring/summer menu cupcakes I hadn't tried yet -- Pina Colada and Chai Tea -- and I decided to go with the Chai.

Fast forward to later in the day, when I stopped at the Qik-N-Ez by our house to check out the tip I'd gotten that the gas station and convenience store was carrying cupcakes from Java Express on Peoria Road, the coffee shop from which I've tried cupcakes several times. I've had my ups and downs with the cupcakes there, although I've mostly loved what I've had (there was a Chocolate Peppermint cupcake last winter that was so stale  with frosting so overloaded with shortening that I had to throw most of it away). Favorites I've had from Java include Lemon Raspberry, Cherry-Almond and Pumpkin. I'm on the lookout for a peanut butter that I've heard great things about from a coworker.

On this particular day, I found three flavors: Lemon Raspberry, Chocolate Toffee and ... Chai Latte! Who knew I'd stumble on two chai cupcakes at two different places in one day? Just like that, I had recovered my side-by-side experiment.

Cafe Moxo's Chai Tea  

Java Express' Chai Latte

Even though I wasn't able to try the two cupcakes at the same time (I had the Moxo Chai in the afternoon while at work and the Java Chai when I got home a couple hours later), my memory of Moxo's was still pretty clear when I tasted Java's. They were similar in cake and frosting: both featured a lightly spiced cake covered in vanilla frosting dusted with a bit of the spice. Moxo's was a bit more creative in appearance, with a mini straw emerging from the frosting. 

Neither cupcake was particularly moist, but Moxo had a bit of an edge in that category. When I asked the guy behind the counter at Qik-N-Ez how often Java delivers the cupcakes and when today's had arrived, he told me they come twice a week and this batch had been in the store since Tuesday. Two days seemed a bit iffy to me, but he insisted they'd kept the cupcakes fresh in the refrigerator until they put them on display in a plastic case at the registers. I have to admit I was skeptical when he said they keep the cupcakes in the refrigerator. I've had bad luck with cake hardening in the refrigerator, so I usually store it in the freezer. (My one exception so far is Moxo, whose cupcakes I only eat fresh the day I buy them since I had a series of cupcakes from there dry out and otherwise lose their freshness in the freezer.)

I also noticed that the Java Express Chai's icing had become slightly crusty, although that doesn't bother me with frosting as much as it does with cake. Moxo's frosting was the restaurant's usual light, fresh and fluffy vanilla, which nicely complemented the spice cake. I had never tried chai tea, so I wasn't sure how well the cupcake represented the drink. My coworker and co-sampler Marilyn, who loves chai tea, reported that, while the cupcake didn't taste exactly like the drink would, the spices were reminiscent of the drink. That was good enough for me. 

One major difference between the two cupcakes was size; Moxo makes traditional-size cupcakes while Java deals in the jumbo variety. But the biggest difference of all, and the one that put Java's Chai a nose above Moxo's in my opinion, was the cream cheese filling in the Chai Latte. Delicious and just the right complement to the rest of the cupcake. It also helped offset the cake's dryness, as did the generous topper of frosting. 

I'm a sucker for a good filling, so I have to give props to Java Express for going the extra mile in that regard. Both bakeries need to work on being consistent with moistness and freshness of cake, but overall these were both quite tasty.

Mounds of goodness

It was a one-cupcake day at the farmers market today, with the majority of Heavenly Delight's selection comprised of cupcakes I'd already tried. They were offering Mounds, however, and I'd passed that one over  on a couple occasions for flavors that looked more interesting.

I do believe I underestimated the Mounds.

It's a rather simple concept -- dark chocolate cake topped with creamy vanilla frosting and a sprinkling of coconut shavings, as well as a few bits of coconut inside the cake. But oftentimes the simplest cupcakes are the most satisfying, and this little beauty was perfection. I don't like cake to be smothered in coconut, but this cupcake had just enough to impart the flavor without forcing my jaw to work overtime chewing it all. My biggest issue with coconut is the texture.

My coworker, Kathy, split this one with me, and we both agreed it was yet another delectable selection from HD. One thing we did notice, however, was that the ingredients label listed cream cheese. The frosting was undoubtedly vanilla, so we couldn't figure out where the cream cheese was hiding.

I also realized, while eating this one, that HD has never had a traditional chocolate cupcake with vanilla frosting. The bakery has several with that combination of cake and frosting, but they all have some sort of extra ingredient, like this one. A classic "tuxedo" cupcake seems like something every bakery should offer. HD's basic flavors are so strong that I think the bakers should offer them consistently. HD's farmers market stand sells White (vanilla cake with vanilla frosting) and Chocolate Dream (chocolate cake with chocolate frosting) cupcakes most weeks, but HD also makes an excellent yellow cake with chocolate frosting that I've only seen at the stand once. I wish I could buy all four of the basic combinations (including chocolate cake with vanilla frosting) any week if I wanted to.

Bacon strikes again

It's not often you hear the phrase, "Breakfast for dessert." It applied to my choice of cupcake yesterday, when I took a break from Heavenly Delight cupcakes just long enough to make a long-awaited return to Cafe Moxo. It was Saturday, and Moxo had a spring/summer menu cupcake that I hadn't tried yet -- the Wakin' Bacon.

I'm not gonna lie -- I wasn't exactly looking forward to trying another bacon cupcake. The last time I tried one, More Cupcakes' Bacon Bacon Bacon during the Chicago cupcake crawl last July, I took a few bites and had to throw away the rest. The combination of vanilla, bacon and maple syrup very nearly tested my gag reflex. I'm a fan of pancakes and bacon with maple syrup, but that's not exactly the same as mixing it all together in a cupcake.

So I was wary as I had my Wakin' Bacon packaged up to go. Presentation-wise, it was pretty cute -- two small strips of bacon criss-crossed over white and yellow frosting made to look like a sunny-side-up egg.

As I strategized how to eat it, I debated taking the bacon off and eating it first, then tackling the cupcake. But  then I realized that taking it apart would defeat the whole purpose of the cupcake. Alas, it was time to be brave and take an all-encompassing bite. I have to admit, with that first bite I liked the flavor combination more than I had expected. The saltiness of the bacon sort of complemented the sweetness of the vanilla frosting, and the bacon bits baked into the cake were subtle. As I continued to work my way toward the middle, I discovered maple syrup soaking the cake. I had gotten that far, so I was committed to finishing, but the combination of the vanilla frosting, bacon and maple syrup was starting to get to me. Thankfully, Moxo's cupcakes are a smaller, more traditional size compared to More's jumbo cupcakes, so it wasn't such an undertaking to finish the Wakin' Bacon.

All things considered, this cupcake was one I never need to try again. I'm glad I did, though, because one of my goals in writing this blog is forcing myself to try new things, even if they're not my taste (or I think they won't be my taste). I know there are lots of people out there who love bacon cupcakes (my friend and former colleague Jayette Bolinski one of them), and for those people I would highly recommend Moxo's Wakin' Bacon.

Breakfast for dessert, baby!

Nuts and berries ... and zucchini

I had some catching up to do on new cupcake flavors after my visit to Heavenly Delight's stand at the farmers market this week, so I once again recruited some help from a coworker. The trio of the day: Lemon Blueberry, Italian Cream and Zucchini.

Lemon Blueberry took the best-of-three award for both of us. This was pretty much a perfect cupcake. Moist lemon cake with a filling of fresh blueberries; creamy, zesty lemon frosting; and a little dollop of blueberry jam on top. We also loved the combination of flavors. HD's Lemon Drop is one of my favorite cupcakes, and it's hard to say which I love more between it and its blueberry cousin. I guess I'll just have to try them side by side sometime and find out. Oh, what a hardship!

We also really liked Zucchini. I had had zucchini bread but never cake, and I really like HD's carrot and pumpkin cakes, so I was looking forward to trying this one. The cake was very spicy, and we could see the tiny bits of zucchini in it. I wondered if the frosting might be cream cheese, but it was vanilla. Although I love cream cheese frosting, I wasn't at all disappointed because HD makes an excellent vanilla and it complemented the cake quite well.

We wrapped things up with the Italian Cream. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about this one, with all the nuts. I'm not a huge fan of pecans, and the cake was full of big chunks of them, as well as coconut. I like coconut better than nuts in cake, so that didn't bother me. I don't mind nuts in cake as much when they're ground up or chopped smaller. But the chunks bothered me with this cupcake. Nuts aside, though, it was a high-quality cupcake. The white cake was moist, and the vanilla frosting, of course, was great. Again, I wasn't crazy about the nuts on top. But Italian Cream apparently is all about coconut and pecans, so I have to give HD  props for doing the cupcake up right even though it wasn't my taste. (I have to note that Kathy loved it. She likes nuts in cake, though.) So to all my friends who love their nuts, I recommend the Italian Cream!

Independence Day cupcake

I love mid-week holidays, and I love them even more when they include cupcakes. I had picked up a Chocolate Butterscotch from Heavenly Delight at the farmers market last week, and I was saving it to try this week. (I also picked up several new flavors; more to come on that in my next post.)

Although the cupcake was good overall, the butterscotch promise came up a bit short. Mini butterscotch morsels covered the vanilla frosting (which had no butterscotch flavor I could taste) and the chocolate cake, while moist and delicious, also had no traces of butterscotch. I was hoping for the flavor to be more incorporated into the body of the cupcake. Alas, this was one that wouldn't stand out to me at future farmers markets, although if I were in the mood for a basic chocolate cupcake with vanilla frosting, I'd certainly consider it.

Tasty trio

This week at the farmers market brought a variety of new flavors to try, so I recruited a few of my trusty tasters yet again -- in this case: Kathy, Natalie and Marilyn. The flavors of the week: Twisted M&M, Chocolate-Covered Almond and Neopolitan.

Chocolate-and-vanilla marble cake, as we discovered, was the Heavenly Delight flavor of the week. Two of the new flavors featured it, including Twisted M&M. This was a solid cupcake in terms of moist cake and creamy, flavorful vanilla frosting. However, we were a bit perplexed by the name. I had expected M&Ms to be somehow incorporated into the cake, but they were limited to the garnish. 

Neopolitan's name was fairly dead-on, except that the marble cake was a little light on chocolate. The strawberry frosting was dynamite, though, and the flavor combination did remind us of Neopolitan ice cream. A scoop of it would have been ideal next to this moist, tasty treat.

I was most excited to try Chocolate-Covered Almond. I love almond flavoring and was hoping it would come through in the cake. The flavor was lacking a bit in the vanilla cake, which wasn't as moist as the week's other selections. But the almond slivers baked into the cake elevated the cupcake in terms of innovation, in our opinion. I had never tasted cake with almonds in it, and although I normally dislike nuts in cake, the pieces were so thin and soft that the texture didn't bother me a bit. I loved HD's out-of-the-box thinking on this one. The four of us also agreed that the light, moussy chocolate frosting was perfect. 

All in all, this was a pretty good bunch, with only small complaints. I was able to grab a few old favorites at this week's market, as well -- Peanut Butter Cookie, Snickerdoodle and Chocolate Mint. I couldn't resist dipping into PB Cookie after we had divvied up the other three, and it was just as phenomenal as I remembered from last summer. It was clear why I ranked it No. 1 out of all the HD cupcakes I've tried, and why it's stayed at No. 1 for the past year. In fact, I hit the Thursday evening Illinois Products Farmers Market at the Illinois State Fairgrounds last night to buy one more for the freezer. While I was there, I noticed yet another new flavor -- Chocolate Butterscotch. I love butterscotch, so I can't wait to try that one next week. Gotta love cupcakes!

So-so selection

This week's farmers market coincided with another group taste-testing day at work. On our afternoon break,  four of us gathered to split six Heavenly Delight cupcakes -- three that I had been storing in the freezer at home, one that I bought this morning and two that my colleague, Kathy, also bought today.

The freezer trio consisted of Rocky Road, S'more and Root Beer Float. Today's purchases: Elvis, Cheesecake and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. We noted, as we gathered all the cupcakes for cutting, that there was a lot of brown, beige and white.

I had tried the Cheesecake and Cookie Dough before, although I noticed something this time with the Cheesecake that I hadn't noticed last time: the graham cracker crust on the bottom of the cupcake. Great idea, but I thought it blended so much with the cake that it lost its distinguishing texture. I liked the creativity, though.

But on to the new cupcakes. First up: Elvis.

Banana cake with peanut butter frosting and a garnish of banana chips and peanut butter morsels, the Elvis ranked highest for me of the cupcakes we tried today, but it didn't come close to touching my all-time favorite HD cupcakes. For one thing, the cake's banana flavoring was artificial. (And we weren't sure if there was peanut butter in the cake -- it's possible, but it was subtle if it was there.) I love HD's peanut butter frosting, and that was the highlight for me. I'd rather have it with chocolate or peanut butter cake than artificial banana. If the cake had been real banana, that likely would have bumped it up several notches. I liked the banana and peanut butter together. 

I was curious about the Root Beer Float, which Kathy had tried before and liked a lot. Root beer isn't the first flavor I'd crave, but I enjoy one once in a while. The yellow cake had a brownish tinge, as if some root beer had been mixed into the batter, but we couldn't detect the flavor. Kathy said she tasted it more in the last one she had, so maybe it was just an off batch. My quarter of the cupcake had the root beer barrel candy garnish, and it was a bit jarring to bite into the hard, crunchy candy along with the soft cake and creamy frosting, which was drizzled with a root beer syrup. HD's vanilla frosting is always good and the cake was moist, but overall this was a cupcake I could easily live without.

I've never had any particular interest in rocky road ice cream, so when I saw the Rocky Road cupcake at the HD stand, I knew I was trying it only for the sake of the blog. Normally I'd pass over that type of cupcake, but writing this blog has taught me to try things that fall outside of my favorites. I've found some things I never expected to like, but I've also had to force down more than a few flavors or flavor combinations that nearly tested my gag reflex. HD's Rocky Road was chocolate cake with walnuts baked in, topped with vanilla frosting, walnuts and marshmallows. I normally shy away from cake with nuts, and although I didn't think this was a bad cupcake, it's one I wouldn't need to try again. We felt that the cake was a tad dry and spongy, but not to a fault.

Finally, we tackled the S'more. I knew as I tried this one that I would compare it to Cafe Moxo's S'more, which is my second-favorite cupcake from that eatery. In this face-off, HD couldn't keep up. All the appropriate ingredients were there: chocolate cake, marshmallows and graham cracker cookies, plus vanilla frosting. But it was hard to tell if there was anything other than vanilla in the frosting; Moxo's S'more is topped with a luscious marshmallow creme frosting (and filled with more of the same) that makes the cupcake. I'd pass on HD's version. 

This quartet of new flavors makes me want to revisit some of my old HD favorites and put the obligatory samples on the back burner for a while. I'm thinking it's time for a Reese's ...

Cupcakes in the Windy City

When Camille and I embarked on our trip to Chicago with another couple this past weekend, it had been four years since I last stepped foot in a Magnolia Bakery shop. That time was in New York, during a trip with my friend Sara. Since then, I've probably tried a hundred different types of cupcakes from at least 20 bakeries. But Magnolia ( http://www.magnoliabakery.com/home.php), which I first tried on a trip to New York in 2001, has always stood out in my mind as the best place for cake and cupcakes.

My only priority for our Chicago trip was to stop at the Magnolia shop that opened last September on State Street, in the Block 37 mall across the street from Macy's. Sara, who lives in Gurnee and has visited the store a couple times since it opened, had told me that the quality of the cake at the Chicago shop is the same as in New York. That was reassuring because you never know, when food places become chains, how the goods will hold up.

As much as I love the cupcakes, the first thing I wanted, right there in the store, was a slice of layer cake -- chocolate cake with vanilla frosting. Magnolia's vanilla frosting was what made me fall in love with the place in New York, and to this day it's still the best I've ever tasted. The fact that my taste for it has held up after the past year-plus of cupcake tasting makes me happy because I can't count the number of times I've raved about Magnolia to anyone who wanted to have a conversation about cupcakes. 

One of the reasons I love the layer cake is the divine thickness and creaminess of the buttercream frosting. Chocolate cake with vanilla frosting is my favorite combination at Magnolia. I also bought several cupcakes to go, and one of them, which I tried the next morning at the hotel -- yellow cake with chocolate frosting -- was very good, but I've preferred the chocolate frosting at other bakeries I've tried. Magnolia's was a bit too cocoa-y for my taste. That's not to say that I won't savor the other chocolate-frosted cupcake I brought home (with chocolate cake), but on return trips I'll stick with vanilla. 

In addition to the yellow cupcake with chocolate frosting and the chocolate with chocolate frosting, I had them box a vanilla coconut for Camille and a white cake with vanilla frosting for me. I love how the chocolate cupcakes are garnished so delicately with the little flower candies. So simple, but so sophisticated. I love the retro, 1950s feel of Magnolia's shops and the cupcakes themselves. 

I can't wait till my next sweets day so I can pull the remaining two Magnolia cupcakes out of the freezer and consume a bit of heaven once again!

Another side note from the weekend: While looking for parking downtown on Sunday, we stumbled upon Sugar Bliss Cake Boutique (http://sugarblisscakes.com/), which was the second stop on Sara's and my Chicago cupcake crawl last summer. Of course, I couldn't resist running in. The cupcake that stands out in my mind from our stop there in 2011 is a banana mini-cupcake with a buttery vanilla frosting that knocked my socks off. Unfortunately, that cupcake wasn't on the Sunday menu, but there were quite a few other tempting choices.

My picks: Lemon Coconut (for Camille), Orange Creamsicle, Chocolate Milk Chocolate, Margarita, Cinnamon Carrot and Chocolate Peanut Butter. When we arrived home Sunday night, I dipped into the Orange Creamsicle and Chocolate Peanut Butter. Both were delicious, with moist cake and creamy frosting. The Orange Creamsicle was refreshing, and the two-bite size was just enough. The Chocolate Peanut Butter frosting was rich and absolutely delectable. I wouldn't have minded a full-size version of that one. I like that Sugar Bliss offers mini cupcakes in all the same flavors as its regular-size cupcakes, though. It was great to be able to choose several flavors to try. The rest are in the freezer, to be pulled out this weekend, most likely, when I'll be hanging out at home, wishing we were still in Chicago.

Daiquiri daze

I was long overdue for some cupcakes from Tracy Cowee of TLCuppycakes in Petersburg, and yesterday was my day. For a group of friends, I ordered a dozen of her Cupcake In Paradise (margarita) and Strawberry Daiquiri cupcakes.

This is what was left after everyone attacked the strawberry daiquiri and Cupcake in Paradise treats from TLCuppycakes.

The Daiquiri was delicious, as are pretty much all of TL's cuppy -- er, cupcakes. The strawberry cake was incredibly moist and the strawberry frosting thick, smooth and creamy. There was some filling that seemed to be vanilla pastry cream. The only thing that gave me pause about this cupcake was my inability to detect the difference between this and a regular strawberry cupcake. The only difference between this and TL's Strawberry Fields (which I've never had but can look up on her website, http://www.tlcuppycakes.com/Flavor-Menu-and-Ordering.html) is that the Strawberry Daiquiri has strawberry cake instead of white cake, and the Fields has a strawberry cream filling instead of vanilla. I'm not sure if she put any daiquiri mix in the cupcake batter.

Either way, it's splitting hairs because this was a tremendous cupcake. And when it comes down to it, that's all that really matters.

Strawberry letdown

I woke up with a sweet tooth this morning, so I decided to do something rare for me: Eat a cupcake for breakfast. I had been craving the Strawberry from Heavenly Delight with strawberry cake and strawberry frosting. So I eagerly pulled it out of the fridge.

My heart sank a little when I transferred it from container to plate and noticed the dark coloring around the edges of the cake. The first bite confirmed my suspicions -- overbaked cake. It wasn't the worst cake I've ever had, but it was dry enough to be disappointing. Had the cake been moist, I probably would have ranked the cupcake as a whole in my top 20 because the frosting was perfection. The sprinkling of sugar on top perfectly complemented the creaminess and the strawberry flavor. If I see this one at the stand again, I'll give it another chance because my cupcaking instincts indicate high potential. 

Strawberry Shortcake showdown

For months, I've been wanting to do a side-by-side comparison between similar cupcakes. The stars just never aligned quite right until yesterday, when I was able to bring together a Cafe Moxo Shortcake cupcake with Heavenly Delight's Strawberry Shortcake.

As you can see, these two cupcakes look nothing alike. Moxo and HD have different cupcake styles -- Moxo with its tower of frosting and HD with its overflowing cake cup. 

I had tried Moxo's Shortcake last summer and liked it a lot. The vanilla frosting, light but rich, left me in a sugar-happy haze, and I was also a fan of the white cake and chopped-strawberry stuffing. This time, however,  I didn't get the quality of cupcake I was expecting. This Shortcake's cake was dry and stale-tasting around the edges, though the middle was better. I still loved the frosting, but the lack of fresh cake put this one in the negative category for me. 

Meanwhile, HD's Strawberry Shortcake lived up to HD's typical standards for moist cake and thick, luscious buttercream frosting. The Strawberry Shortcake lacked a filling, but I liked the combination of vanilla and strawberry frosting (and the pink glitter sprinkles on top didn't hurt, either). 

I have to point out that while Moxo cupcakes tend toward a more gourmet style, HD's are the kind of cupcakes you'd expect to come out of Grandma's kitchen, especially if Grandma likes to experiment with every flavor under the sun (as I can attest from having sampled nearly 40 HD cupcakes over the past year). Both of those approaches to cupcakes are stellar as far as I'm concerned, and a lot of times my taste depends on my mood. And I'm sure that if Moxo's cake had been fresher, it would have been a more serious contest. I can only judge what's in front of me, though. 

There's no doubt that, between these two, HD reigned. 

Just the right day for blueberry

There were too many great-looking new cupcake flavors to choose from at this past Wednesday's farmers market, so I just bought 'em all. Of course, most of them are in the freezer. But I did select one to try that day at work -- Blueberry.

This cupcake felt like an appropriate choice on a day when containers of fresh blueberries were available at several farmers market stands, and HD didn't disappoint. The vanilla cake was moist and accented with fresh blueberries. The blueberry buttercream frosting was scrumptious. And the ribbon of blueberry jam curled around the top was an attractive and tasty garnish. I've loved most of the fruit-flavored HD cupcakes I've tried, and this one was no exception. I'd definitely buy it again. I hope they'll put it in the rotation.

Other cupcakes I bought and have yet to try: Root Beer Float, Rocky Road and Strawberry. (HD has four strawberry varieties that I know of -- Strawberry Shortcake, Strawberry Delight and Strawberry Swirl in addition to the aforementioned. This particular one is strawberry cake with strawberry frosting.) I'm not sure when I'll get around to trying them, but stay tuned for a post about my new endeavor: Side-by-side cupcake comparisons. First up: HD's Strawberry Shortcake vs. Cafe Moxo's Shortcake.

A drink of cherry cola ... cupcake

I had a never-before-seen (at least, by me) choice at this past Wednesday's farmers market: Cherry Coke. I love Cherry Coke, especially the old-fashioned fountain variety, so I was intrigued.

It was hard to tell if the Cherry Coke cupcake had any cola flavoring. The cherry frosting dotted with cherry chips was quite scrumptious, but Heavenly Delight might as well take "Coke" out of the name. As for the yellow cake, it was a bit dry by HD standards, but the cupcake as a whole was pretty good all the same. HD's frosting almost always saves the day on the rare occasions the cake is dry.

My other weekly selection was Caramel Chaos, which was pretty much what it sounds like: Caramel cake and caramel frosting. With chewy little caramel balls on top, of course. This is going to sound strange, but this cupcake actually tasted better to me AFTER I had eaten it. Initially, the frosting was way too sweet (not to mention that the cake, once again, was a tad dry). Once the half I ate had passed my tonsils and was on its way to my digestive tract, and once the flavor had settled into my taste buds, the over-sweetness subsided and I noticed the buttery flavor left behind. I wished it had been more upfront. And even with the pleasant aftertaste, I'm not likely to seek this one out again. There are too many other great choices at the HD stand.

Nuts for Nutella

I love Wednesdays. It's so great to have the farmers market back and know I'm going to be able to indulge in Heavenly Delight every hump day. It's always a little easier to get out of bed 10-15 minutes earlier than usual when I know the result will be a sweet treat, and I love arriving at the HD booth to find out which new and unexpected flavor I get to try.

When my husband Camille and I went to Paris two years ago to visit his cousin, Alain, and his wife, Severine, we learned about the French penchant for the chocolate-hazelnut spread Nutella. I had never tried it until Severine served it one morning with croissants. It was quite tasty, and we ultimately bought some here at home to use as filling in homemade crepes, too.

You can probably figure out where this is headed: Upon arriving at HD's stand yesterday, what did I find? Yep! Nutella cupcakes. I had never seen that variety from HD, or from any other bakery, for that matter, and let's just say I snatched up that bad boy.

Was it really that good? In a word, yes. The cake and frosting were both flavored with chocolate and hazelnut, and the cake was gooey-moist. I had wondered, as I often do about HD cupcakes, if there would be a filling, but I wasn't even disappointed not to find one. It wasn't necessary in this cupcake. I would try this one again in a second. Out of 30-some HD cupcakes I've tried, this one cracked my top 10.

Later last night, I realized I wasn't going to be able to wait to try my other HD selection for the week, Chocolate Chip. Much like HD's traditional Heavenly White cupcake except with chocolate chips baked into the cake and sprinked over the vanilla frosting, the Chocolate Chip was an easy eat, much like a really great chocolate-chip cookie. Another quality cupcake.

It's good to be a cupcaker!

Cupcake BONANZA!

I got more cupcakes than I bargained for this past Wednesday, and I'm not complaining one bit! First things first: With opening day of the Old Capitol Farmers Market that morning, I was able to indulge in my second new Heavenly Delight cupcake of the season -- German Chocolate.

I highly recommend this cupcake. With moist, milk-chocolate cake; smooth, creamy caramel frosting; and a topping of coconut slivers and chopped pecans, this was a pretty accurate take on German chocolate cake. Rich but not too sweet, it was just the right balance of all the ingredients. I would definitely try this again down the road, after I've had the chance to try more new HDs and repeat some of my dearest favorites.

I was expecting the HD to be my only cupcake of the day, until I got an awesome surprise in the afternoon -- a Facebook message from a fellow CrossFitter, Josh Becker, letting  me know he had gone to St. Louis and was bringing me a cannoli cupcake from Jilly's. I was so excited! I had been drooling over that cupcake for a couple of weeks, since Jilly's posted it on Facebook as one of its May cupcakes. 

This one was just as amazing as it looked. The mini-cannoli on top was divine, and my favorite part of the cupcake, which was chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream frosting trimmed in chocolate ganache and sprinkled with mini chocolate chips, was the ricotta filling that mimicked that of the filling inside the cannoli garnish. This creation, like many of Jilly's selections, is a good candidate for splitting with a friend or at least eating in two sittings. I split it with my niece, who also loved it. 

But that wasn't all. Josh had bought quite a few cupcakes while at Jilly's and was generous enough to insist that I take not even two, but three! I was beside myself to say the least. One was similar to a favorite of mine from Jilly's -- the Reese's Chunkage with vanilla cake (the one I've tried had chocolate cake). But the most unusual and unexpected of the three was the Chicken and Waffles. Yep, you read that right. Another May specialty, the Chicken and Waffles is made of vanilla-corn cake and is topped with maple buttercream frosting, a chunk of oven-fried chicken, a wedge of Belgian waffle and maple drizzle. 

I decided the best strategy to trying this trio would be to tuck away the Reese's for later, since it would freeze the best, and try the chicken cupcake fresh. 

My photo doesn't do justice to the craftsmanship of the Chicken and Waffles cupcake. It was quite a thing of beauty before I took off the chicken and waffle to eat separately. Yep, there was no way I was taking a mouthful of cake, frosting AND chicken. (I did eat the chicken and waffle together, and the chicken on its own was surprisingly tasty, considering that it wasn't heated.)

I could only manage a small portion of the cake and frosting, as I was sampling it in the same sitting as the cannoli. But the frosting was extremely sweet -- too sweet for my taste. I can handle maple syrup on pancakes, waffles or French toast, but I'm not a fan of it as part of a cupcake. I loved the vanilla-corn cake, though. It was a lighter, smoother and less dense version of cornbread and easy to eat plain.

Jilly's cupcakes tend to be the culinary equivalent of Donald Trump -- filthy rich and best in small doses. The ingredients are the highest quality and undoubtedly please the pickiest of palates. I've liked or loved most of the Jilly's varieties I've tried, but sometimes I wish they came just a little smaller. 

Thanks again, Josh, for your generosity with the sweet treats!

Banana no pudding

Thursday night was the long-awaited return of the farmers market to Springfield (the Illinois Products Farmers Market, that is -- the Old Capitol Farmers Market, which runs on Wednesdays and Saturdays, starts this week). It was also the long-awaited return of Heavenly Delight cupcakes. Anyone who's read my blog consistently knows that I spent last spring-fall sampling HD cupcakes on a weekly basis. The bakery, based in Windsor, has a pretty good lineup, and they usually bring about 10 flavors to the market each week.

The 2012 premiere brought one HD cupcake I hadn't tried -- Banana Pudding. My first thought upon seeing this one and reading the name: creamy filling!

Wrong.

Not only was there no creamy filling, there was no filling at all. I can't lie: I was a little disappointed, although the cupcake was quite tasty anyway. The cake was moist (though hard to tell if it was made with real banana or artificially flavored), and the frosting was thick, creamy and banana-y. The mini-vanilla wafer on top was a nice touch, although it was soft by the time I ate it. I don't know that I would get this one again if I had choices such as the Snickerdoodle (cinnamon divinity -- my second-favorite HD cupcake after the Peanut Butter Cookie).

Welcome back, farmers market!

Strawberry surprise

Feeling the need for low-fat cupcakes again this week, I decided to hit up D'Lynn's Delights in Grand Avenue Deli for the final two flavors I needed to try: Strawberry Cream and Caramel Spice. I had tried Strawberry Cream a year or so ago and remembered liking it, so I was curious how it would measure up against the other D'Lynn's cupcakes I'd tried, all of which had been dry and obviously "diet."

Deciding to save what I suspected would be the best for last, I dug into the Caramel Spice first. It turned out to be similar to the others I'd tried -- the spice cake was dense and dry, although the flavor was pretty good.  The frosting was thick and delicious, as D'Lynn's frosting has been on all the cupcakes I've tried. And the mini caramel candy on top was a nice touch. Although I'm not a fan of chewy caramels and avoid them in favor of the smooth, flowy kind of caramel in, for instance, a Caramello bar, I liked the extra effort to dress up the cupcake. Without the garnish, I would have had a hard time identifying the cupcake as caramel because I didn't think the flavor was particularly detectable in the frosting. It tasted more or less like vanilla to me. Overall, I would rank this one toward the bottom of D'Lynn's selection, just above her Chocolate Fudge, which was especially dry and stale-tasting on the Saturday afternoon I bought it a couple months ago.

Moving on to Strawberry Cream was the best decision I could have made. It was as if this cupcake had come from a different bakery. The white cake was light and fresh and moist, with a delightful filling of cut-up strawberries. The texture of the cake was such a departure from the other cupcakes I've tried there that it made me wonder if the others had just been sitting around longer. The frosting, colored a pleasant pink, might have had strawberry flavoring added to it, or it might have just been vanilla. I couldn't tell, and I didn't care that much because the cupcake as a whole was so tasty. Had I not gotten it from D'Lynn's, I would have had no idea it was a low-fat cupcake. I highly recommend this one off of D'Lynn's menu. Don't even waste your time with the others, unless you don't mind your cupcake tasting more like a cake doughnut. (And that's not to say I hated all the others -- I thought the Orange Creamsicle and Vanilla Bean were decent, considering the calorie content -- D'Lynn claims around 70 calories per cupcake.)

So, all you dieters, go ahead and spring for a Strawberry Cream!

Hot mama!

I'm usually not one for spicy food, so I wasn't sure what to think when I heard about one of Cafe Moxo's new spring cupcakes, the Hot Mama. It's chili pepper-infused chocolate cake with cinnamon buttercream frosting.

Although the cupcake overall was great quality -- fresh, with Moxo's typically great frosting -- I could have lived without the kick. And I was disappointed with the weak cinnamon flavoring in the frosting. I love cinnamon, and that was what I was looking forward to most with this cupcake. I think it's great that Moxo is doing something different, and I'd recommend the Hot Mama to anyone who likes heat in their food. I'll be sticking with strictly sweet cupcakes.

I also decided to try one of Moxo's Furry Friends cupcakes.

These are clearly for kids, but I couldn't resist the bright colors and simple recipe -- the four varieties of "Sesame Street"-inspired treats come in red (Elmo), yellow (Big Bird), green (Oscar the Grouch) and blue (Grover), the one I chose. Each came in chocolate or white cake, and I loved the clever touch of chocolate chips to accent Grover's eyes. I wolfed this one down after getting through only half of the Hot Mama. Without the mound of frosting topping most Moxo cupcakes, Furry Friends are ideal for a small indulgence that won't leave you with a bellyache or in a sugar coma. And they're great for a smile, too! I recommend them to kids AND grownups who are kids at heart. Like me. :-)