Sage (sold by Dean & DeLuca) Carrot Cake Cupcake

Sage Carrot Cake Cupcake from Dean & DeLuca, $5, http://www.sagegeneralstore.com/ and http://www.deandeluca.com

Taste: This is a very cream-cheese-y cream cheese frosting, not as sweet and delicious as the Two Little Red Hens creamcheese frosting, but still decent. The cake taste is abysmal though-- it's essentially flavorless with a hint of nutmeg. It's not sweet at all, doesn't taste like the chock full of brown sugary goodness that a delicious carrot cake should taste like, this cake is totally lacking in flavor except the hint of nutmeg I mentioned, and I can't even taste any carrots! The icing is way better than the cake. Eating the icing and the cake together, the cake is just a vehicle with which the icing can be enjoyed, and together with the icing its not bad. Overall Taste Rating: 2.5 Sprinkles

Texture: The icing is a little crunchy and hardened on the outside, but smooth on the inside, although the crunchiness of the outside layer doesn't dissipate in my mouth and is a little odd. The carrot cake texture is okay, a little dry, nothing great but not horribly offensive. However, "not horribly offensive" is not exactly a glowing accolade. Overall Texture Rating: 2.5 Sprinkles

Aesthetic: This is a pretty big cupcake, even in height and width, with the icing a bit sloppily applied, and a cute but uneven smattering of something on the top, I think cake crumbs. Not super pretty, unfortunately. Overall Aesthetic Rating: 2 out of 5 sprinkles

Satisfaction: This was pretty unsatisfying-- a whopping $5 expense, for something I threw away most of in disgust as opposed to in self-restraint, and nothing in this cupcake was really up to par. The icing was the highlight, but still not stellar on the cream cheese frosting rating scale. Overall Satisfaction Rating: 2.5 out of 5 sprinkles

Overall Cupcake Ranking: 9.5 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)