round 2 or can you say bias?

Let me elaborate on the rules we (I) set up for this. Only vanilla or chocolate cupcakes, no specialties allowed. Shanel did bring in a strawberry cupcake from Crumbs but since we (I) ate that one in addition to my chocolate cupcake, for which I submitted my ruling, it didn't count. Red velvet cupcakes are strictly prohibited. I mean it. If someone brings one of those in, I will eat it, and enjoy it, and not rate it, and no one else can have any! Type of frosting is up to the buyer but is usually also vanilla or chocolate. The mix of cupcakes and frostings is also up to the buyer. When we first started I said, to keep things completely fair, that everyone must eat the same type of cupcake from each bakery. So if you started with a vanilla cupcake with vanilla frosting, that's what you'd eat for the whole contest. That idea was quickly vetoed on account of its sucking.

Clear things up? Okay then.

2. Cupcake Café
545 9th Avenue

August 22, 2007
$3.50 each





Comments on Cake
-tastes like an actual piece of cake
-a little dry and crumbly
-too dense
-a little too sweet
-nice consistency, thoroughly cooked
-nicely moist and dense

on Frosting
-tastes like eating straight butter
-flat, hard and slick
-not nearly enough
-too creamy
-rich, not too sweet, smooth
-too smooth, unnervingly thin
-the frosting flower tasted gross

on Presentation
-cute, neat and inviting
-interesting but in a kind of bland Midwest way
-fabulous
-the flowers are pretty
-just the right size
-looked like it was sweating and had been sitting out for a while

on Overall Enjoyment
-spilled all over the place, frosting got on my pants and face
-cupcake too big
-eating this made me mad
-end product did not meet expectations of eating a cupcake
-frosting to cake ratio perfect; perfect size for a dessert
-lovely to look at
-not as bad as I thought it would be
-threw away last 1/4

on The Scene
The front and back of the café are bright and well lit but the middle section (where the cupcakes are kept) is dark and cramped. It has the feel of a pleasant coffee shop and it’s nice to have the space to sit down. Unfortunately, when you walk in that doesn’t make it seem like it has a lot of cupcakes. The types and prices of the cupcakes are not listed but the staff is nice.

As we visit more and more bakeries and I continue to demand specific comments from the judges (I don't allow any "it was good" blather), each person's preferences become more apparent. It's pretty clear who favors this bakery.