Counting cupcake calories

In the process of running some errands over the weekend, I managed to pick up cupcakes from a couple spots, one of them new to this blog -- D'Lynn's Delights.

Debra Swihart, the woman behind D'Lynn's, which sells lower-fat lunch items as well as a variety of "everyday" cupcakes available for individual purchase that she says have 60 to 65 calories. The State Journal-Register's food editor, Kathy Rem, wrote a story about Swihart in March 2011 (http://www.sj-r.com/features/x855935956/Cupcake-baker-and-local-restaurateur-loses-387-pounds?zc_p=0) detailing how Swihart lost 387 pounds and opened a restaurant, D'Lynn's Delights,  in downtown Springfield. Eventually she closed the downtown location and moved her lunch and cupcake operation to Grand Avenue Deli at 330 South Grand Ave. E. I decided on Saturday that it was time to start trying Swihart's low-cal creations for this blog. Her "everyday" selections include Vanilla Bean, Orange Creamsicle, Strawberry Cream, Caramel Spice and Chocolate Fudge. I chose the latter.

I wondered how fresh a cupcake bought on a Saturday, 10 minutes before closing time, would be, and I found out when I got home: Not very. The cake, which, according to Kathy's story above, is made with applesauce and yogurt, was crusty. The frosting, made with spun sugar and tofu, was thick and a pleasing consistency, but it was a bit too sweet when I first tasted it. I have to say, though, that the flavor grew on me with every bite. Maybe it was the knowledge that I was only consuming 65 calories at most. I've heard from other people who have tried Swihart's cupcakes that the cake tends to be dry, but I still want to go back sometime during the week, when they're more likely to be fresh, and try more for myself. For 65 calories, why the heck not?

I happened to detour down Wabash during my errands, so I stopped in at Specialty Cakes to troll for new flavors. I came upon red velvet and banana, neither of which I'd tried, so I scooped up one of each.

Both were freshly made. The red velvet was tasty and attractive, with bright-red cake and red, glittery sprinkles topping a thin layer of cream cheese frosting. The frosting was the only complaint I had about the red velvet: It was quite skimpy. In fact, it's been a long time since I've seen such a thin layer of frosting on a cupcake. For many people, this would be just fine. But I'm a frosting girl, so I was a bit disappointed. Taste-wise, though, this ranked in the upper echelon of red velvet cupcakes I've tried.

And then there was the banana. The first bite of the bright-yellow concoction brought a burst of banana that took me by surprise. There clearly was some artificial flavoring present in the cake and possibly even the frosting. Upon examining the cake, I found some bits that appeared to indicate real banana was mixed into the batter, but true banana cake doesn't have such a strong aroma. It wasn't a bad cupcake; I'm just not sure why Specialty's bakers would feel the need to inject banana flavoring (and coloring, it seemed) into a cake made from an ingredient that's readily available and quite flavorful in its own right. Banana cake shouldn't need help from a bottle.

Farmers market finale

It was a rainy, gloomy end to the Old Capitol Farmers Market today, and the end of my access to Heavenly Delight cupcakes for the season. Time to move on to Cafe Moxo for the winter.

I made the most of my last Heavenly Delight Wednesday, springing for a half-dozen cupcakes, half new and half repeats of some favorites. The new: Chocolate Carmel, Banana Flip and Lemon Drop. The repeats: White, Reese's and Pumpkin.

Lemon Drop is in the freezer with the repeats, but I splurged on my other two newbies. First up: Chocolate Carmel. This one is the sibling to one I really want to try, Chocolate Carmel Surprise.

Chocolate Carmel

The difference between the two is that "Surprise" has a caramel filling. That filling, I believe, would have helped to set Chocolate Carmel apart from HD's yellow cake with chocolate frosting, which I love and would choose over Chocolate Carmel. CC was good, don't get me wrong -- the cake was caramel-flavored and the frosting was HD's luscious moussy chocolate -- but the cake flavor didn't knock me off my feet, and I could have lived without the little caramel balls that HD typically uses to garnish its caramel-flavored cupcakes. I wouldn't buy it again unless I could try the "Surprise."

Banana Flip

Next up: Banana Flip. I fell in love with the name and was excited to finally try a banana cupcake from HD. I had a scrumptious banana cupcake with a stellar butter frosting at Sugar Bliss Cake Boutique on the Chicago cupcake crawl, and I was eager to see how HD would measure up. Along with its banana cake, the Flip sported vanilla frosting with marshmallows as a garnish. Whether or not the frosting had marshmallow flavoring added, I was never able to pinpoint. It did seem a bit sweeter than HD's regular vanilla frosting, but that could have been due to the marshmallows. I liked it, but not as much as the Sugar Bliss cake. I remember that cupcake being moister, and the butter frosting was definitely better suited to the banana cake. All in all, it was a good cupcake, but not one that I'll probably repeat in the near future. Maybe midway through next summer, after I've had a second chance at getting some of the selections I missed this year.

Next week: Moxo!

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.