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. 

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.