Crumbs Hostess-Style Cupcake

Crumbs Hostess-Style Cupcake, $3.75, http://www.crumbs.com/

For a wonderfully fun Friday lunch treat, I met with a group of friends for a quick midtown lunch during which we picked up an array of cupcakes from Crumbs! We each got a different cupcake and then shared and sampled, allowing the opportunity to review a wide array, and take into account the much-valued tasting opinions of my fellow cupcake-eaters!

Taste: After two unimpressive Hostess-style cupcake tastings, this one is a big improvement. The chocolate icing on top has a nice mocha-y flavor, there's definitely some sort of coffee taste involved with the chocolate on top. The chocolate cake is subtle but chocolate-y (though I wouldn't mind if it were a little sweeter), and the cream filling is super sweet and ultra-sugary. A bite of cupcake with chocolate frosting, cake AND cream filling is definitely a good tasting cupcake, though not out-of-this-world. Overall Taste Rating: 3.5 out of 5 sprinkles

Texture: Cake is moist and cream filling is smooth and fluffy. The chocolate frosting on top is thick and fudgy. The textures definitely work together. Overall Texture Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Aesthetic: This is a nice looking cupcake! Large, proportionate, rich chocolate colored cake, glossy brown frosting, white classic squiggle on top. The squiggle is neatly squiggled, albeit not perfectly centered. The inside of the cupcake looked nice too! A little messy inside, but the inside of a cupcake doesn't have to look good, and bursting with cream filling is a good aesthetic in my opinion. Overall Aesthetic Rating: 4 out of 5 Sprinkles

Satisfaction: Definitely the tastiest of the Hostess-Style Cupcakes I've sampled so far, although I think my own personal recipe is still better! :) This cupcake was enjoyable but not out-of-this-world-gasping-for-

breath-cupcake-joy-inducing. My friend Caryn, who is a big fan of the Crumbs Hostess-Style cupcake, told me that today's cupcake wasn't as good as others she's tried in the past, so perhaps these are hit-or-miss. This wasn't a miss, it was a hit, but not a full hit out of the park. Overall Satisfaction Rating: 3.5 out of 5 sprinkles

Overall Cupcake Ranking: 15.5 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)