Peppermint pizazz

It was another marvelous Cafe Moxo day. I had tried the Peppermint Swirl back in November, after refrigerating it overnight, and didn't have the highest-quality result. I knew I needed to try it again fresh, and I finally got that opportunity today.

The Peppermint Swirl was fresh and fabulous. The chocolate cake was soft, if not overly moist, and the touch of peppermint in the whipped vanilla frosting was flavorful without being overwhelming. Too much peppermint is the taste equivalent of a calf cramp. Painful!

A side note from Moxo: When I mentioned my blog to the young woman behind the counter, she told me that Moxo is planning to introduce several new varieties of cupcakes in April, including a bacon-maple cake. The bacon cupcake I tried at More Cupcakes in Chicago over the summer while fresh and high quality in its ingredients, was a flavor combination I ultimately could not handle. I suppose, in the interest of trying as wide a variety of cupcakes as possible, I'll give it a whirl. Sizzle, sizzle!

Simply sensational

Whew! It's been a busy long weekend. I'm lucky enough to be off work this Presidents Day and have a chance to catch up on my cupcake reviewing. I designated this past Friday as a cupcake day so I could sample a couple of Cafe Moxo flavors that are only available on Friday or Saturday. I liked the idea of trying the I Do! (white cake with vanilla frosting and wedding-inspired candy "pearls" -- Friday and Saturday on Moxo fall/winter seasonal cupcake menu) and the Chocolate Bombe (chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and chocolate sprinkles -- available Fridays only) at the same time since they're basic flavors with a sort of yin-yang relationship.

These are both visually pleasing cupcakes, and I love them as a pair. (I had been waiting all week for my cupcake fix, so I didn't feel a bit guilty for polishing off both in the same sitting.)

I tried the I Do! first, and I was delighted to find that it was freshly baked with soft, moist cake and Moxo's light, fluffy frosting. The only aspect of this one that I wouldn't say "I do" to again is the hard, crunchy candy "pearls" Moxo used as a garnish. They resembled tiny jawbreakers. I would warn anyone who has sensitive teeth or fillings to bite into this one with great caution (or even scrape off the "pearls" altogether). Sometimes less is more, with wedding dresses and wedding-themed cupcakes.

The Chocolate Bombe was equally delicious, without the hazardous garnish. Like the I Do!, the Bombe featured fresh cake and airy frosting. I loved the delicate chocolate flavor of the Bombe's icing -- it wasn't too rich or too chocolatey. In fact, it was perfectly subtle. I generally prefer milk chocolate over dark or overly fudgy chocolate, and the moussy quality of Moxo's chocolate frosting hit my sweet spot. If you want a chocolate cupcake without a pack of Rolaids, the Chocolate Bombe is for you.

A Specialty kind of day, part 2

This cold Saturday was the perfect time to stay in and pull a cupcake out of the freezer. I was looking forward to trying the vanilla cupcake I picked up from Specialty Cakes last Saturday. It had looked pretty fresh when I bought it, and I expected it would freeze well since Specialty's well, specialty, is wedding cakes.

I couldn't escape the unpleasant memory of last weekend's stale yellow cake with chocolate frosting, but as soon as I started peeling the lining from the white cake with vanilla frosting, I knew it has held up well.

The cake was falling-apart fresh, and the frosting was just as thick and creamy as the vanilla frosting on the fresh lemon cupcake I sampled last weekend. Specialty's white cake with vanilla frosting is pretty standard fare as far as wedding cakes go, but it's good stuff. I could eat way more of it than I should. Simple but dependable.

Cupcake commute

Today was a perfect day for a mini-road trip. It was clear and not too cold, and I was off work for a doctor's appointment. I was craving some cupcakes from OMGosh Bakery in Petersburg, so I decided to hit the open road in the afternoon. 

I was hoping to find the Champagne cupcake I noticed at OMGosh the last time I was there but didn't buy. (Suffice it to say that it got lost in the shuffle of my cupcake sensory overload.) Unfortunately, the Champagne was not among the large crop of cupcakes in the display case today, but the helpful woman behind the counter took my name and number and promised the bakers would call me the next time Champagne shows up on the menu.

Nevertheless, there were plenty of other appealing choices. Since I had driven such a long way, I knew I wanted to buy several to take home. It was a hard decision, but I settled on a Heath, an Oreo and a strawberry cake with buttercream frosting. I wound up eating part of each of them because I wanted to make sure I tried each flavor fresh before freezing the leftovers.

The Heath looked scrumptious, with its toffee bits covering a thick swirl of chocolate frosting. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: OMGosh's chocolate frosting is my favorite of all the chocolate icing I've tasted. It's rich -- but not too rich -- and wonderfully thick. It worked in perfect concert with the Heath bits and the chocolate cake, which harbored tiny pockets of baked-in toffee.

Just when I thought it couldn't get any better than the Heath, I sank my fork into the strawberry cupcake with buttercream frosting. There were almost equal amounts of cake and frosting in this sweet, Valentine's-themed treat, and it was all I could do not to inhale the whole thing at once. The cake: Moist and light. The frosting: Creamy and buttery with just the slightest hint of strawberry. And the candy conversation heart as a playful finishing touch. I'm going to need to put a lock on the freezer to keep from attacking the rest of this cupcake before my next sweets day.

Finally, to make the day three-for-three, I sampled the Oreo. It was no less impressive than the other two. Chocolate cake with a whole Oreo baked right into the middle (note in photo above), plus a generous slathering of vanilla buttercream that reminded me of Oreo cream filling. And, of course, the mini Oreo and cookie crumbles on top. All of the flavors were conspiring to force me to eat way more than I should have.

I'd happily eat any of this trio again, except that there are still so many to try from OMGosh and I don't get there often enough to imagine that I'll be able to repeat any time soon. Between this place and TLCuppycakes (which is a little easier to sample because the owner, Tracy, delivers to Springfield), Petersburg is definitely a hot spot for cupcakes.

A Specialty kind of day

A late-morning excursion to the Wabash area was the perfect opportunity to stop and check out Specialty Cakes' selection of cupcakes on this chilly, rainy Saturday. I had stopped there a couple times recently only to find them closed, and I hadn't had any for a while, so I was happy to walk in and find several varieties of cupcakes I hadn't yet tried.

Hanging out in the display case were five choices: Lemon cake with vanilla frosting, chocolate with vanilla frosting, carrot, yellow with chocolate frosting and white with vanilla frosting. Since I had already tried the chocolate with vanilla, I skipped that one and had them box up one each of the other four.

Of the five, I noticed that the yellow cake with chocolate frosting was the only one left on its platter. Hmmm, that one must be really popular, I thought.

Back at home with the cupcakes, I was faced with the decision of which to try today. Since I had logged my morning workout, I figured, why not? The lemon was calling out to me, so I tucked into that one right away.

I'm really starting to change my mind about lemon. It was never one of my favorite cake flavors until I started this cupcake-tasting journey. I've had some I've loved, though. Specialty's was one of them. I could tell as soon as I picked it up to unwrap it that it was fresh. The cake was perfectly moist and light, and the lemon flavor was subtle, just the way I like it. The vanilla frosting was Specialty's usual outstanding wedding buttercream -- thick but not too rich, with a delicate flavor. The gold edible glitter lightly sprinkled over the top was a nice touch.

For my second sample, I was torn between the carrot and the yellow with chocolate frosting. The more I looked at the yellow-chocolate, though, the more I started to think that it might not be as fresh as the lemon. I picked it up and started to peel the lining and sure enough -- the paper didn't want to separate from the cake. That's a sign of dry, stale cake that I've picked up on throughout my tasting. Fresh, moist cake tends to fall away from the lining and doesn't take much effort to remove. It's those stubborn linings you have to look out for. As I struggled to free the yellow cake, I realized why it had been the only one of its kind left in the display case -- it had probably been there at least since the day before.

Sure enough, the cake was stale. The frosting wasn't bad, but it reminded me of the type you'd buy at the grocery store in a can. It had a bit of a fudgy quality as well. I regret not being able to try this one fresh. I'd give it another chance if I knew it had been baked the same day.

Rock bottom

Cupcake day was all over the spectrum this week -- good, bad and mediocre.

I wound up with a trio to try yesterday -- one from Cafe Moxo and two from Java Express, my most recent discovery.

I was most excited to try one of the pair from Java, a cherry-almond cupcake with cherry pie filling and cherry-almond buttercream frosting.

It tasted fantastic. The yellow cake was fresh and moist (the batch had been baked that morning at Java), and the frosting was thick and rich. And then there was the fresh cherry pie filling. It was just the right touch. I ate only half of it because it was the first of three, and the Java cupcakes are jumbo-size.

I chose to try Cafe Moxo's Hostess With the Mostest next. It's exactly what it sounds like -- a gourmet version of the snack-cake classic.

The chocolate cake was reasonably fresh for Moxo, and the marshmallow filling was delightful. I'm not a fan of dark or bittersweet chocolate, so the ganache icing didn't thrill me. But overall it was a good cupcake, and it was in the upper tier as far as Moxo cupcakes I've tried.

I had saved the other Java Express selection -- chocolate peppermint -- for last because I didn't want the peppermint flavor to linger on my palate for the other cupcakes.

I knew something wasn't right when I ran into a struggle while trying to peel the paper lining away from the cake with my fork. My suspicions were confirmed when I went for the first bite: Hard. The cake wasn't just dry -- it clearly had been sitting out for more than a day at Java. Still, I wasn't ready to give up. After all, the frosting is my favorite part of any cupcake. So I dipped my fork into the pretty, pink-tinted whipped topping ... took a bite ... arrghhh! It tasted almost like plastic. When my coworker Kathy tried it, she reported an overwhelming amount of shortening. I was shocked, considering the quality of the two other cupcakes I'd tried from Java (the first was a lemon-raspberry that I wrote about in my last post). I had to throw away the majority of the chocolate peppermint. It pains me to toss out a cupcake, but it just wasn't edible.

Java Express still has a few cupcakes I haven't tried, and I'm eager to go back and sample the rest. I'm convinced that the chocolate peppermint was an isolated bad experience. It can happen to anybody. It does bring up a point worth stressing, though: Freshness is everything. I wish all the bakeries and shops would consider that.