Archive for the 'Reviews' Category

Portland Maine Cupcakery

By on Monday, February 25th, 2013

I recently paid my first visit to East End Cupcakes, which is, I believe, the only cupcakery in Portland, Maine. (If there’s another one, let me know, because I couldn’t find it!)

East End Cupcakes is ideally located right in the Old Port. Somehow, eating a cupcake while walking down cobblestone streets just feels right. On the day I visited, they had an offering of classic hits, including chocolate, vanilla, and red velvet. I chose the “chocolate salted caramel,” a chocolate cupcake topped with lightly flavored caramel frosting and sprinkled with sea salt.

We cupcake reviewers have noticed a trend toward creamier frostings, and away from sweeter frostings. East End Cupcakes seems to be on that bandwagon. Their frosting was airy and smooth. (Granted, had I tried the red velvet, I may have found a more substantial frosting there).

The store itself is adorable and seemed like a cool place to hang out. There was more seating than I’ve seen in a lot of similar sized bakeries.

Also, if you’re planning to plan a Portland area party soon, you might like to know that East End offers cupcake decorating parties! This strikes me as a fine idea. Here’s what they have to say on it:

Perfect for a unique birthday celebration for a 5 year old or a 50 year old! At your cupcake decorating party an East End representative will come to the event location with baked cupcakes and frosting in a variety of colors and flavors. Your party guests will get to create their own cupcakes using piping bags and edible decorations. We will provide aprons, guidance and clean up. At the end of the event, your guests will be able to take home their creations in one of East End’s signature pink boxes!

Wilton Color Cups

By on Thursday, January 3rd, 2013

You slave all day to make the perfect chocolate cupcakes, and then when they come out of the oven, your white wrappers have turned to an unappetizing shade of brown. Or worse, you spend a bunch of money on Elmo cupcake wrappers for your kid’s birthday party, but when they come out of the oven, you can’t see Elmo. All you can see is the color of the cupcake. Because of these tragedies, I’ve been using foil cupcake wrappers for any cupcakes that will leave the house. And I’ve just discovered a pretty snazzy version of foil wrappers–Wilton Color Cups. There are many cool patterns to choose from, and they work! The wrappers come out of the oven just as pretty as they went in. I tested them out!

ATC Review: Women’s Cupcake Costume

By on Wednesday, July 4th, 2012

 

 

Halloweencostumes.com offers a huge selection of costumes, including several cupcake costumes.  There are cupcake costumes for babies, kids, and adults, ranging in price from $21.99 to 51.99.  ATC was sent the Women’s Cupcake Costume to review.  The costume costs $42.99, and there’s a matching toddlers cupcake costume if you were looking to match your child!

The costume arrived very quickly after it had been shipped.  My first recommendation to anyone who buys this costume is to follow the first instruction as soon as you get it.  That means taking the costume out of the bag and hanging it up!  The costume definitely needs to be hung up so it can take shape and to get the wrinkles out.  I loved the bright pink tulle top and the fun turquoise bottom.  I also liked the multicolored sparkling sprinkles although from up close they do look like Band-Aids.  I have to admit I thought the costume, which is a size 4-10 was short.  I am 5’5” and the bottom of the costume was more than halfway up my thigh.  I think if I were to wear this costume outside my house I would buy the suggested matching fishnet tights or the knee-high legwarmers. Read the rest of this entry »

The Flying Cupcake of Indianapolis

By on Thursday, April 26th, 2012

This past weekend, I made my first visit to the great city of Indianapolis! And I learned that there’s more to Indianapolis than football and race cars. The folks in Indianapolis know their cupcakes, as is evinced by The Flying Cupcake Bakery, which has four locations in and around the city. The Flying Cupcake’s slogan is “We eat all we can and then sell the rest.” Isn’t that great?

The Flying Cupcake is charming and spunky, just like the city where it was born. Not only do they sell an impressive variety of cupcakes, but they also offer cute t-shirts and even cupcake-inspired baby attire! We choose to sample the Black Bottom, a dark chocolate and cheesecake cupcake that seemed to weigh at least five pounds; the Pucker Up, a lemon chiffon cake filled with lemon cream and topped with lemon butter cream icing; and the Bart Simpson, a chocolate cupcake topped with rich peanut butter cream cheese frosting and then rolled in Butterfinger chunks. These. cupcakes. were. perfect.

Their red velvet cupcake, which they call the “Red Velvet Elvis,” claiming it is “fit for a king,” is loaded with chocolate chunks and topped with cream cheese frosting and white chocolate shavings. My daughter tried the Boston Cream Pie, a vanilla cupcake filled with Bavarian cream and topped with chocolate ganache. I admit, I stole a bite of it, and was happy that I did.

At The Flying Cupcake, the flavors change daily, so I can’t wait to go back for another round. I recommend you do too. You’ll find their daily flavors on Facebook. You can also follow them on Twitter.

Sweet Memories Cupcakes

By on Thursday, April 12th, 2012

Several Tuesdays in a row now I have parked in a plaza near a store front with a sign that reads Sweet Memories Bakery.  I have been intrigued to see what the bakery offers but until today had not ventured inside.  I was extremely happy I made decision to check out the bakery when I realized it was a cupcake shop!  Sweet memories had a case full of cupcakes, all were unique flavors.  I decided to ask for some advice on which flavors are popular to help make my choice a little easier.  It was definitely a good idea to listen to the suggestions because I loved  the four cupcakes I purchased.

Oreo Cupcake

White Chocolate Raspberry

The four flavors I chose were Oreo, Southern Aristocrat, Casada, and White Chocolate Raspberry.  Each cupcake had a mousse filling which wasn’t overly sweet, making it a nice compliment to the sweet cake and frosting.  The Oreo cupcake was a chocolate cake with buttercream frosting and Oreo mousse.  Southern Aristocrat was a sweet potato cake filled with caramel and white chocolate mousse, topped with dulce leche buttercream.  Casada was a white cake with a chocolate chip cannoli cream and topped with an amaretto buttercream.  The white chocolate raspberry was a white cake filled with raspberry and white chocolate mousse, topped with buttercream frosting. Read the rest of this entry »

ATC Review: Cupcake Memo Pad

By on Wednesday, April 11th, 2012

Living Royal is a unique and unusual gift idea website.  If you are looking for a funny gift or a gag gift this is the website for you!  The website has tons of fun items like this fingertip microwave grip which I could use every time I reach into the microwave.  The best part is the website offers several cupcake items including the cupcake memo pad that ATC was sent to review.  The memo pad measures 3.5 inches tall and includes 150 little sheets of paper that half a cupcakes.  The memo pad is currently on sale for $3.50.

I really liked the memo pad.  I thought it was a great size, it’s big but not too big and the sheets of paper are just the right size for a quick note.  At the current sale price of $3.50 the memo pad is a great buy.  The one flaw I noticed was that in my little test of the paper I notice that my marker pen bled through the paper.  It’s not a big deal since ballpoint pen did not run through.  I would also caution people to be careful when ripping off the pages; it’s easy to end up with a ripped cupcake. Read the rest of this entry »

Colorado Cupcakes

By on Thursday, March 29th, 2012

Last week I visited my friend in Colorado and was lucky enough to see both Boulder and Denver while on my trip.  In Boulder we stopped into Tee and Cupcakes to try three of their cupcakes.  I loved the outside of the cupcake shop, which is shown above, and since we were there pretty early in the day there was a wide selection of cupcakes to choose from.  We decided on the following flavors: girl scout cookie samoas, chocolate with salted caramel frosting, and white on white or vanilla with vanilla frosting.

My friend and I agreed that while we liked the creative flavors and the appearance of the cupcakes we didn’t love the consistency of the frosting or the cake.  The frosting we almost like whipped cream or cool-whip with a very airy texture.  We also weren’t crazy about the cake consistency and flavor so overall we thought they were good cupcakes but not great. Read the rest of this entry »