Cupcakes from Cups and Cakes Bakery

I've been having fun over the past few weeks using my credits from LevelUp, particularly when businesses are running special promotions and adding even more free credits.  This past week, a cupcake bakery that I'd heard about ages ago was running a promotion where they gave $10 to spend.  Since I'd wanted to check them out at some point anyway, this was a great motivator to finally do so.  Their full size cupcakes are $3.25 and the minis are only $2.15, so this allows one to try a lot of cupcakes, particularly if they combine forces with another LevelUp user! (which, I obviously did, and visited several times this week).

The always have a few classic flavors (vanilla, chocolate, red velvet, etc) and then rotate through other flavors daily.  The website has a cupcake calendar listing which flavors will be offered on any given day, so you can prepare.  They also carry a few different cookies and caramels.

Yelpers seem to generally love these cupcakes.  I really don't see why.  Yes, they have some interesting flavors, and the minis are a nice size and reasonable price, but the cupcakes themselves are just not very good.  Each and every one had incredibly dry cake, and way too much way too sweet frosting.  Maybe I'm just spoiled by getting awesome cupcakes at work all of the time, but this place is a cupcake bakery, they should do better than this!

The service was really great however, and I really liked the staff on each visit.  They were friendly, chatty, and really quite nice.  I'd almost go back just because I liked them so much.

Peppermint Patty: Chocolate Cake, Peppermint Buttercream Filling, Dark Chocolate Ganache, Green Swirl.  $3.25.

I got this one for someone else, but I couldn't resist trying a bite.  This was a full size cupcake.

The ganache was pretty generic, runny, with decent chocolate flavor.  The cake was dry and uninteresting.  The bite I had didn't have any of the peppermint filling, but he said that there actually was a ton, it just wasn't centered in the cake.

I didn't care for this at all, but, I did only have that one bite.

Strawberries & Champagne, mini: Strawberry Cake, Champagne Buttercream.  $2.15.

The first mini cupcake I tried.

The cake was again pretty dry, but it did have a nice strawberry flavor to it.  The frosting on top was hard and not very creamy.  I did not detect the champagne flavor, just found it to be fairly sweet.  I liked the crunch from the little balls on top.

This cupcake was ok, but nothing special.  I did like the balance of flavors, and it wasn't too sweet.  I'd eat another one if someone gave it to me, but I wouldn't go purchase one.  My favorite of all that I tried.

Bella Nutella, mini: Vanilla Cake, Raspberry Filling, Chocolate Hazelnut Buttercream.  $2.15.

Another mini.

And another fairly dry, uninteresting cake part.  And more hard frosting.  I didn't taste the hazelnut in the frosting.  There was also more frosting than cake.  The raspberry filling was sweet and fairly flavorful, and it helped add moisture to the otherwise dry cake.  The filling was the best part of this cupcake.

I didn't like this much, and would not get again.

Lemon Meringue Pie, mini: Sweet Lemon Cake, Lemon Curd Filling, Toasted Marshmallow Frosting.  $2.15.

This one suffered a little bit in transit :)

The toasted marshmallow frosting was incredibly sweet, but I liked the creativity of something other than buttercream frosting.  It looked like meringue, but it was far sweeter than any meringue I've ever had.  I kept wanting to like it, since I love meringue, but it was just too sweet.

There wasn't much lemon curd filling at all, just a tiny dollop in the top center.  Perhaps this was due to being a mini cupcake and they can't fit much in?  I really wanted more of it, as I could barely taste it at all.  It was sweet and lemony, although it also had a strange eggy flavor to it.

And the cake, was again, very dry.  It had a very slight lemon flavor.  I wouldn't get this one again, although it was a fairly interesting cupcake.

Luscious Vanilla, mini: Vanilla Cake, Vanilla Buttercream.  $2.15.

I wanted to try one simple, classic cupcake: vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream.  It seems like this is the most basic cupcake there is, and if you can't get this one right, then you shouldn't be making cupcakes :)

Given my other reviews, you can probably guess how this is going to go.  Dry, uninteresting cake.  Didn't really taste vanilla.

Hard buttercream, and more buttercream than cake.  The buttercream was very sweet, but did have a strong vanilla flavor.

Perhaps I would have liked this with a scoop of ice cream or something, but on its own, it was very boring and generic.  Would not get again.

Cookies & Cream: Chocolate Cake,
Vanilla Buttercream, Chocolate Cookie Crumbles.  $3.25.

Cookies & Cream, mini.  $2.15.

And yet another, dry, uninteresting chocolate cake.

The buttercream was very sweet, not really all that vanilla-y, but went well with the cookie crumbles the cupcake was rolled in.  Had the cake part of this been moister or more chocolatey, this could have been pretty good.

Peanut Butter Cup, Mini. Chocolate Cake, Peanut Butter Buttercream, Mini Peanut Butter Cup.  $2.15.

I got this one on election day, as they were giving out free mini cupcakes if you wore your voting sticker.

Like all the others I tried a few months ago, the cake was again dry and not very good.  I did like the peanut butter buttercream, although, again, like the others, it was kinda hard and not really creamy.  I mostly just love peanut butter :)  The little peanut butter cup on top was a cute touch.

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Rich Red Velvet, Mini, Red Velvet Cake, Cream Cheese Frosting.  $2.15.

I'm never a huge fan of red velvet, but they were giving these out at my office one day, so I tried it.  The cake was again not very moist nor flavorful.  The cream cheese frosting had mild cream cheese flavor, but nothing special.

Totally unremarkable.

Salted Caramel.  $1.50.

This was a soft style caramel.  It was ok.  I liked the salt level in it and it went well with a cup of coffee.