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.

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!

Give low-cal cupcakes a chance

After splurging on two Cafe Moxo cupcakes last week and not exactly making the best food choices over the weekend, I decided yesterday that it was time to head back to Grand Avenue Deli for a couple of D'Lynn's Delights' low-calorie cupcakes.

I tried D'Lynn's Chocolate Fudge several weeks ago, and although it was extremely dry, the frosting was decent. It was good enough to lure me back for seconds. I had been craving orange for several weeks, so I went with D'Lynn's Orange Creamsicle and added a Vanilla Bean for good measure (since they're low-cal, after all!).

I had a feeling the cake would be dry, considering that it's reduced fat. Anticipating the dryness helped, I think, because I didn't have the same expectations that I'd have for cupcakes from other bakeries.

While both cupcakes were dry, I realized as I sampled the Vanilla Bean that its density reminded me of a cake doughnut. It wasn't unpleasant once I made that association, especially in combination with the top-quality frosting. Thick and sweet, I never would have guessed it was low-fat or low-calorie. D'Lynn's owner Debra Swihart has said she uses yogurt and applesauce in her cake and tofu and spun sugar in her frosting, and that each cupcake has 60-65 calories. These cupcakes are pretty dang good considering the calorie count is that low. Imagine no more than 130 calories for two -- TWO! -- cupcakes! For that, I can forgive some dryness.

I do have to point out that I was a bit disappointed to find the Orange Creamsicle was made with yellow cake, and only the frosting was orange-flavored. I had hoped for a touch of orange in the cake, too. But overall, I was pleasantly surprised by this pair, and I'm looking forward to returning for the final two, Strawberry Cream and Caramel Spice. (Together! For 130 calories!)

Leap Day cupcake

This week's cupcake day just happened to fall on Feb. 29, Leap Day. I would leap great distances for cupcakes, and although I was only required to step through Cafe Moxo's front door to purchase the Bistro, I gladly would have bounded several feet to get my hands on that simple but scrumptious yellow cake with a mountain of chocolate buttercream frosting.

The Bistro has no fancy fillings or extravagant garnishes, but the falling-apart fresh yellow cake and airy chocolate buttercream frosting topped with a fistful of white chocolate chips combined for the type of taste sensation that makes you want more even if your stomach is protesting. When Moxo's cupcakes are fresh, they're divine. The last several I've tried have been so outstanding that I'm tempted to retry the few I bought near the holidays that disappointed me with the dryness or staleness of their cake -- namely the red velvet and the pumpkin spice. I'm unsure of Moxo's baking schedule, but I've often wondered if those particular cupcakes had been baked a day prior to when I bought them.

While I'm waiting for Moxo to unveil its spring menu, I plan to look elsewhere around town for some new cupcakes to try. D'Lynn's Delights, which originally resided at the southwest corner of Fourth and Monroe streets, has relocated to inside Grand Avenue Deli, 330 South Grand Ave. E. D'Lynn's makes five varieties of cupcakes available individually on a daily basis -- Vanilla Bean, Chocolate Fudge, Caramel Spice, Orange Creamsicle and Strawberry Cream, as well as an array of specialty flavors available by the dozen when ordered in advance. For the full listing of flavors, visit http://dlynnsdelightscafe.comcastbiz.net/14701.html.