Sprinkles Cupcakes

Update Reviews, 2019

Yes, I know I've never cared for Sprinkles cupcakes before, and have reviewed several times.

Abandoned Box of Cupcakes ...

But, when you find an abandoned box of cupcakes in the microkitchen at work ...

So many to try!

Yes, the cupcakes were a bit ... let's just say, handled?  People clearly had decided to cut them all up to try many kinds.  Which, I was fully behind, and decided to try all 5 kinds that remained, not knowing what any were as I tried them, but they were fairly easy to identify once I tasted them.

Front row:

Chocolate Marshmallow (bottom)
"Gather 'round the campfire for a spooky tale,
Of a dark chocolate cupcake lost on a haunted trail!
He noticed a shadow creeping and let out a scream,
There appeared a ghost of fluffy white marshmallow cream!
He ran so fast, his frosting could not take the heat
And melted into a ganache, so rich and bittersweet!"

There was only a tiny chunk of this left, and I can safely say that I didn't really get to appreciate it fully.  The cake was a dark chocolate, fairly moist, and I only got a tiny dollop of marshmallow cream and chocolate ganache, clearly the most important elements of the cupcake.  I can't fairly evaluate this one.

Black and White (middle)
"Yin and yang explains that light cannot exist without darkness, hot without cold, and chocolate without vanilla. Sprinkles Black and White cupcakes create a harmonious balance between Belgian dark chocolate cake and creamy vanilla frosting. As the proverb goes, two parts united together give rise to something better!"

This was fine, but not particularly novel.  The cake was a bit dry, not the most intense chocolate cake.  The vanilla frosting was sweet and fairly tasty, but, very one note, just, sweet.  A standard, decent enough, basic cupcake, but I didn't care for a second bite.

Peanut Butter Chocolate (top)
"As a child, you discovered how to dunk chocolate into the peanut butter jar and became convinced you invented a new food. Sprinkles pays tribute to your ingenuity with our Peanut Butter Chocolate cupcakes. This chocolate chip-studded cake is made with creamy, all-natural peanut butter and topped with fudgy milk chocolate cream cheese frosting. With just the right combination of salty and sweet, you should brace yourself for the onslaught of fan mail!"

Um.  I didn't know what this was when I tried it, but I was immediately in love.  This was amazing.

The best part was the intense peanut butter flavor in the cake.  I loved the tiny chocolate chips throughout the base, for texture, and for, well, chocolate.  And for the magic of chocolate and peanut butter together, of course.  It was like chocolate chip cookie dough, cake, and delicious spoonful of peanut butter all wound into one.  Loved it.

Oh yeah, and then there was frosting too.  Thick, creamy, chocolate cream cheese frosting, which was very rich, and went well with the peanut butter flavors.

Definitely a winner, and I turned right back around to claim the rest of this one.  The best Sprinkles cupcake I've ever had.

Salty Caramel.

"Sprinkles Salty Caramel cupcakes are an irresistible salty-sweet flavor combination using fleur de sel crystals hand harvested from the pristine seas off Brittany, France. These fleur de sel granules are a delightful complement to the sweet, buttery caramel which flavors both the cake and frosting. Taste the rich, delicious complexity of Sprinkles take on this classic French duo."

I didn't read my notes before diving into these, but, wow, my notes this time completely match the other two times I tried this cupcake.  I do NOT like it.

It was just way too sweet for me - the frosting was just sweet, sweet, sweet, and, given Sprinkles’ generous application of frosting, was too much.  The cake was fairly dry, and just sweet too.  Did not care for this at all.

Carrot.

"Children may run upon hearing a vegetable has made its way into their cupcake, but do you know the secret? Carrots' hidden sugar content make them a baker's ally! Our recipe blends fragrant spices with freshly grated carrots and toasted walnuts. Coated with a generous heap of cinnamon cream cheese frosting, you might even convince the kids to eat their vegetables!"
And finally, a classic, carrot cake.

The cake part was ... fine.  The cake was fairly moist, and the carrots were quite obvious, good sized gratings.  I liked the crunch from the walnuts, and they were well distributed.  But the cake was a little too spiced for me.  Still, fine, but not great.

The frosting is where this one lost me.  I didn't like the cinnamon and other spices in it, just too much spicing for my taste, and I didn't taste cream cheese at all.

Not a fan.

Update Review, December 2018

Sprinkle: Birthday cake topped with vanilla buttercream and colorful non pareil sprinkles.

"This cheery birthday cake is loaded with rainbow sprinkles and topped with vanilla buttercream frosting. Adorned with crunchy rainbow non-pareils, your only birthday wish will be for many more!"

It has been years since I've reviewed Sprinkles cupcakes, because, well, I never really liked them before.

But I recently attended an event where the only sweet item was mini Sprinkles cupcakes, and they had a flavor I never tried before, so, I gave them a try.  I went for the most exciting flavor: sprinkle!

I pulled off the garnish on top, and, uh, I really loved it.  Yes, just printed on fondant, but it was sweet, crispy, and, well, totally what I wanted it seems.

This was a good sign?

The frosting was quite sweet, and I think I liked it.  It wasn't bad, but it also wasn't particularly good.  I mean, it was sweet, and there was lots of it, so, that was good?  I think I was indifferent to the frosting.  I did love the crunchy non-pareils on top.

Sprinkle: Inside.

The cake was "birthday cake", so, funfetti style, little pops of rainbow color throughout but no flavor from the colors, no texture difference either.  The cake had a decent crumb to it, but I didn't care for the flavor, it tasted slightly stale to me.

So, overall ... yeah, still not into these cupcakes.  Nothing *wrong* with it, but really not a particularly good cupcake.

Original Review, February 2015

I love desserts, you know this.  But cupcakes are rarely near the top of my list.  Even during the height of the cupcake craze, they never did it for me.  Believe me, I tried, but all the top places on Yelp in the area failed me, like Sibby's Cupcakery, Cup and Cake's Bakery, Cako, or Delessio.

Sprinkles was one of the originators of that craze, credited with being one of the first cupcake bakeries in the US, and certainly the first on the West Coast.  It took a while for them to reach the Bay Area, and even though the general cupcake fad had passed, I remember people being very excited for the Palo Alto location opening.   They even make cupcake ATMs.  I figured if any cupcakes were going to be good, these would be it.

Spoiler: I didn't like them.  The cake was always too dry, and the cupcakes were all homogenous throughout, lacking the moist interior and crispy exterior I prefer.  The frostings were all too sweet, and there was too much applied.

I won't be trying more.

Salty Caramel.

"These fleur de sel granules are a delightful complement to the sweet, buttery caramel which flavors both the cake and frosting."

I didn't care for the cake at all.  It was fairly dry, and I really didn't taste caramel.

The frosting was super sweet, I guess caramely, and it seemed a bit cream cheesy.  The salt crystals on top were really good however, and complemented the sweet well.

[ Subsequent review: I again found the cake really dry and uninteresting.  The frosting however was nicely sweet, and I certainly detected cream cheese in it.  The edible decoration was also tasty. ]

Red Velvet.

"Southern style light chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting."

This is their signature flavor, made with Callebaut chocolate.  Also available in gluten-free or sugar free, although, if you want a gluten-free cupcake, I recommend the vanilla ones from Kara's Cupcakes.

I'm never a big fan of red velvet.  This was no exception.  It had a decent chocolate flavor to it, but way too much sweet cream cheese icing.  Meh.  My least favorite of the flavors I tried.

Strawberry.

"This juicy cupcake is made with ripe, succulent strawberries pureed into both its cake and frosting."

This sounded promising.

But ... the cake was still a dry, consistent style that I don't really like, and it didn't have any flavor.   Where were the strawberries pureed in it?

The frosting was really lovely however, with a strong strawberry flavor, although still a bit too sweet.  The strawberry flavor in the icing was very ... fruit forward!