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.