Tribeca Treats "Frosting Shot" of Vanilla Buttercream

On another beautiful Sunday, my best cupcake-tasting posse and I embarked on another Cupcake Crawl, this time farther downtown. This time it was unfortunately hovering around 100 degrees and I promptly wanted to melt, so the lounging-in-the-park-with-

cupcakes experience was more sweaty and melty and sticky and thirsty than last time around. However, a good time was had by all, until we all wanted to die from a combination of heat and cupcake-overdosing, that is. Importantly, I should mention that before I transcribed my cupcake rankings onto the computer, I took notes by hand on SPECIAL CUPCAKE RANKING PADS that my best cupcake-tasting friends (Caryn, Lawrence and Justin, along with fellow friend and sometime-cupcake taster Mike) specially DESIGNED for me and gave me for my birthday, complete with a special Caryn-designed logo. I am going to scan some of the cupcake-tasting pad sheets and upload them in a future post! And now, the results of Cupcake Crawl #2!

Tribeca Treats Vanilla Buttercream Frosting Shot. I would like to inform readers that Tribeca Treats is an ADORABLE store, more than just a bakery-- it is a confectionary as well that sells homemade chocolates, and it also has a little cupcake and candy-themed "gift shop" in the front that sells beautiful cards, books and assorted paraphernalia. It is decorated in a clean, crisp and modern way that I really appreciated, and it was refreshingly air-conditioned and cold on a hot August day.

Taste: Mmmm, buttery, sugary, sweet! An excellent stand-alone frosting!! Overall Taste Rating: 4.25 out of 5 Sprinkles

Texture: The texture is so smooth, it melts in my mouth, its almost drinkable! Overall Texture Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Aesthetic: What a concept, and what a presentation! Give me a frosting shot any day over a shot of alcohol! I like the clear, angular little "shot glass" and the decorative swirl of white frosting, dotted with colorful sprinkles. I especially appreciate the star design that you can see depicted in the aerial view. Overall Aesthetic Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Satisfaction: The frosting is very edible on its own as a shot-- delectable!! Overall Satisfaction Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Overall Cupcake [Actually Just Frosting] Ranking: 17.75 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)

Tribeca Treats Cinnamon Cream Cheese

On another beautiful Sunday, my best cupcake-tasting posse and I embarked on another Cupcake Crawl, this time farther downtown. This time it was unfortunately hovering around 100 degrees and I promptly wanted to melt, so the lounging-in-the-park-with-

cupcakes experience was more sweaty and melty and sticky and thirsty than last time around. However, a good time was had by all, until we all wanted to die from a combination of heat and cupcake-overdosing, that is. Importantly, I should mention that before I transcribed my cupcake rankings onto the computer, I took notes by hand on SPECIAL CUPCAKE RANKING PADS that my best cupcake-tasting friends (Caryn, Lawrence and Justin, along with fellow friend and sometime-cupcake taster Mike) specially DESIGNED for me and gave me for my birthday, complete with a special Caryn-designed logo. I am going to scan some of the cupcake-tasting pad sheets and upload them in a future post! And now, the results of Cupcake Crawl #2!

Tribeca Treats Cinnamon Cream Cheese Cupcake. I would like to inform readers that Tribeca Treats is an ADORABLE store, more than just a bakery-- it is a confectionary as well that sells homemade chocolates, and it also has a little cupcake and candy-themed "gift shop" in the front that sells beautiful cards, books and assorted paraphernalia. It is decorated in a clean, crisp and modern way that I really appreciated, and it was refreshingly air-conditioned and cold on a hot August day.

Taste: The frosting is strongly sweet, with strong flavors of both cream cheese and cinnamon, and the brown sugar dusted on top adds a delightful brown-sugar-cinnamon-cream-

cheese wonderfulness. This is a great combination, I can't believe it's not more common! The cake is tasteless but not offensive, so the delectable cinnamon sugar cream cheese frosting overwhelms the tastes. I am loving this!! The flavors are unbelievable! It is so close to delectable perfection, except for the cake which is not quite perfect. Overall Taste Rating: 4.99 out of 5 Sprinkles

Texture: The cake is fluffy and light, and the frosting is very light and ultra-whipped but I like it-- this is the best cupcake I've tasted all day!!!! Overall Texture Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Aesthetic: A clear beauty!!! A gorgeously swirled application of frosting, swired high vertically atop a golden-hued cake, dusted in cinnamon and brown sugar. I wish you could SMELL this cupcake through my blog too, because the aroma was phenomenal. The cake itself is so proportionate and even!! So attractive! Overall Aesthetic Rating: 4.75 out of 5 Sprinkles

Satisfaction: Best cupcake of the day!! I wish I hadn't eaten so many others and I could just enjoy this cupcake in its entirety on its own! I want a SHOT of cinnamon-brown-sugar-cream-cheese frosting-- no actually, I want a TUB of it!!!! Overall Satisfaction Rating: 5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Overall Cupcake Ranking: 19.24 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)

Tribeca Treats Lemon Raspberry

On another beautiful Sunday, my best cupcake-tasting posse and I embarked on another Cupcake Crawl, this time farther downtown. This time it was unfortunately hovering around 100 degrees and I promptly wanted to melt, so the lounging-in-the-park-with-

cupcakes experience was more sweaty and melty and sticky and thirsty than last time around. However, a good time was had by all, until we all wanted to die from a combination of heat and cupcake-overdosing, that is. Importantly, I should mention that before I transcribed my cupcake rankings onto the computer, I took notes by hand on SPECIAL CUPCAKE RANKING PADS that my best cupcake-tasting friends (Caryn, Lawrence and Justin, along with fellow friend and sometime-cupcake taster Mike) specially DESIGNED for me and gave me for my birthday, complete with a special Caryn-designed logo. I am going to scan some of the cupcake-tasting pad sheets and upload them in a future post! And now, the results of Cupcake Crawl #2!

Lemon Raspberry Cupcake from Tribeca Treats. I would like to inform readers that Tribeca Treats is an ADORABLE store, more than just a bakery-- it is a confectionary as well that sells homemade chocolates, and it also has a little cupcake and candy-themed "gift shop" in the front that sells beautiful cards, books and assorted paraphernalia. It is decorated in a clean, crisp and modern way that I really appreciated, and it was refreshingly air-conditioned and cold on a hot August day.

Taste: The icing is lightly lemony, not tart and not ultra-sweet, but just a perfect balance of lightly sweet and fresh lemon-y. There is a sweet real raspberry compote that adds a great raspberry flavor to the lemon. The cake is tasteless, but together its a refreshing lemon-raspberry flavorful delight. Overall Taste Rating: 4.25 out of 5 Sprinkles

Texture: The texture of the icing is very light, but where it failed on the cream cheese frosting, the light texture on the lemon icing works great, I'm loving the ultra-light frosting with the raspberry filling and the moist cake-- this is working together great for me! Overall Texture Rating: 5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Aesthetic: Beautiful presentation-- bright white frosting, swirled high in an artfully applied dollop, with a little droplet of red raspberry at the tip and a view of red raspberry compote in between the bottom of the frosting and the top of the golden-hued cake. Overall Aesthetic Rating: 4.75 out of 5 Sprinkles

Satisfaction: I like this a lot!!! Would have liked a more flavorful cake, but I really enjoyed this and found it extremely refreshing and light. Overall Satisfaction Rating: 3.75 out of 5 Sprinkles

Overall Cupcake Ranking: 17.75 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)

Tribeca Treats Red Velvet

On another beautiful Sunday, my best cupcake-tasting posse and I embarked on another Cupcake Crawl, this time farther downtown. This time it was unfortunately hovering around 100 degrees and I promptly wanted to melt, so the lounging-in-the-park-with-

cupcakes experience was more sweaty and melty and sticky and thirsty than last time around. However, a good time was had by all, until we all wanted to die from a combination of heat and cupcake-overdosing, that is. Importantly, I should mention that before I transcribed my cupcake rankings onto the computer, I took notes by hand on SPECIAL CUPCAKE RANKING PADS that my best cupcake-tasting friends (Caryn, Lawrence and Justin, along with fellow friend and sometime-cupcake taster Mike) specially DESIGNED for me and gave me for my birthday, complete with a special Caryn-designed logo. I am going to scan some of the cupcake-tasting pad sheets and upload them in a future post! And now, the results of Cupcake Crawl #2!

Tribeca Treats Red Velvet. I would like to inform readers that Tribeca Treats is an ADORABLE store, more than just a bakery-- it is a confectionary as well that sells homemade chocolates, and it also has a little cupcake and candy-themed "gift shop" in the front that sells beautiful cards, books and assorted paraphernalia. It is decorated in a clean, crisp and modern way that I really appreciated, and it was refreshingly air-conditioned and cold on a hot August day.

Taste: The frosting is very cream cheese-y and not very sweet-- I could use a little more sweetness here. The cake is distinctly chocolate-y, which I like in a red velvet cake. Overall Taste Rating: 3.25 out of 5 Sprinkles

Texture: The cake is a little bit dry. The frosting is very whipped and light, almost too light, a consistency that just is not right for a cream cheese frosting. Complaints all around from the whole cupcake-tasting posse about the texture of the frosting. Overall Texture Rating: 1.25 out of 5 Sprinkles

Aesthetic: Gorgeousness! This frosting is swirled to perfection and swirled HIGH, towering fabulously above the cake in a pure white, perfectly centered, perfectly swirled dollop. Simple, elegant, beautiful! Overall Aesthetic Rating: 4.75 out of 5 Sprinkles

Satisfaction: Not the best red velvet. Overall Satisfaction Rating: 2.5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Overall Cupcake Ranking: 11.25 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)

The Soda Shop Miniature Vanilla on Vanilla

On another beautiful Sunday, my best cupcake-tasting posse and I embarked on another Cupcake Crawl, this time farther downtown. This time it was unfortunately hovering around 100 degrees and I promptly wanted to melt, so the lounging-in-the-park-with-

cupcakes experience was more sweaty and melty and sticky and thirsty than last time around. However, a good time was had by all, until we all wanted to die from a combination of heat and cupcake-overdosing, that is. Importantly, I should mention that before I transcribed my cupcake rankings onto the computer, I took notes by hand on SPECIAL CUPCAKE RANKING PADS that my best cupcake-tasting friends (Caryn, Lawrence and Justin, along with fellow friend and sometime-cupcake taster Mike) specially DESIGNED for me and gave me for my birthday, complete with a special Caryn-designed logo. I am going to scan some of the cupcake-tasting pad sheets and upload them in a future post! And now, the results of Cupcake Crawl #2!

The Soda Shop Miniature Vanilla Cupcake

Taste: The frosting is like pure butter, and the cake is sour and unpleasant. Eh... Overall Taste Rating: 0.75 out of 5 Sprinkles

Texture: SLIMY! This cupcake is so moist it is slimy!!* The frosting's texture is OK, a little hard. Overall Texture Rating: 0.75 out of 5 Sprinkles

Aesthetic: Its miniature, its cute, it won me over with its teensy weensy itsy bitsy cuteness. And look at that beautifully swirled dollop of frosting!! It looked so adorable! Overall Aesthetic Rating: 4.25 out of 5 Sprinkles

Satisfaction: Not satisfied. Better to look at than to eat! Next cupcake, please! Overall Satisfaction Rating: 1 out of 5 Sprinkles

Overall Cupcake Ranking: 6.75 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)

*I would like to note that the cupcakes were retrieved from us from a back room, rather than a display case, and felt cold. While on a hot day a cold treat was appealing, a cold cupcake is not customary nor advisable. I suspect that some of the unfortunate texture issues related to the Soda Shop cupcakes resulted from erroneous refrigeration on the part of the store. I am not sure whether such refrigeration is customary or was a result of the extremely hot August day, but as any cupcake expert is aware, buttercream should NEVER be refrigerated! The refrigeration may have also added to the slimy, clammy texture of the cake. I'm not positive the refrigeration occurred or resulted in the bad texture, but I have my suspicions.

The Soda Shop Coconut Cupcake

On another beautiful Sunday, my best cupcake-tasting posse and I embarked on another Cupcake Crawl, this time farther downtown. This time it was unfortunately hovering around 100 degrees and I promptly wanted to melt, so the lounging-in-the-park-with-

cupcakes experience was more sweaty and melty and sticky and thirsty than last time around. However, a good time was had by all, until we all wanted to die from a combination of heat and cupcake-overdosing, that is. Importantly, I should mention that before I transcribed my cupcake rankings onto the computer, I took notes by hand on SPECIAL CUPCAKE RANKING PADS that my best cupcake-tasting friends (Caryn, Lawrence and Justin, along with fellow friend and sometime-cupcake taster Mike) specially DESIGNED for me and gave me for my birthday, complete with a special Caryn-designed logo. I am going to scan some of the cupcake-tasting pad sheets and upload them in a future post! And now, the results of Cupcake Crawl #2!

The Soda Shop Coconut Cupcake

Taste: The frosting is sweet and strongly flavored with coconut, and its refreshing and sweet, quite lovely really. The cake however is sour and unpleasant, reminiscent of Tonnie's Minis. Overall Taste Rating: 2.25 out of 5 Sprinkles

Texture: The icing has a nice smooth texture, and the real shredded coconut on top adds a chewiness and authenticity, but the ultra-moist cake is too moist so that is actually slimy and wet and gross. Overall Texture Rating: 1 out of 5 Sprinkles

Aesthetic: I like the advertisement of the coconut flavor in the form of shredded coconut on top, but this is not a particularly artful or beautiful cupcake, although not heinously ugly either. Overall Aesthetic Rating: 2.75 out of 5 Sprinkles

Satisfaction: I really liked the coconut frosting on this, if they had gotten the cake right we really would have had a decent cupcake.* A shame... Overall Satisfaction Rating: 2.5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Overall Cupcake Ranking: 8.5 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)

*I would like to note that the cupcakes were retrieved from us from a back room, rather than a display case, and felt cold. While on a hot day a cold treat was appealing, a cold cupcake is not customary nor advisable. I suspect that some of the unfortunate texture issues related to the Soda Shop cupcakes resulted from erroneous refrigeration on the part of the store. I am not sure whether such refrigeration is customary or was a result of the extremely hot August day, but as any cupcake expert is aware, buttercream should NEVER be refrigerated! The refrigeration may have also added to the slimy, clammy texture of the cake. I'm not positive the refrigeration occurred or resulted in the bad texture, but I have my suspicions.

The Soda Shop Strawberry Frosted Vanilla Cake

On another beautiful Sunday, my best cupcake-tasting posse and I embarked on another Cupcake Crawl, this time farther downtown. This time it was unfortunately hovering around 100 degrees and I promptly wanted to melt, so the lounging-in-the-park-with-

cupcakes experience was more sweaty and melty and sticky and thirsty than last time around. However, a good time was had by all, until we all wanted to die from a combination of heat and cupcake-overdosing, that is. Importantly, I should mention that before I transcribed my cupcake rankings onto the computer, I took notes by hand on SPECIAL CUPCAKE RANKING PADS that my best cupcake-tasting friends (Caryn, Lawrence and Justin, along with fellow friend and sometime-cupcake taster Mike) specially DESIGNED for me and gave me for my birthday, complete with a special Caryn-designed logo. I am going to scan some of the cupcake-tasting pad sheets and upload them in a future post! And now, the results of Cupcake Crawl #2!

Strawberry Frosting on Vanilla Cake from the Soda Shop

Taste: Ahhhh! My mouth, ahhh, stop! The frosting tastes like butter and artificial strawberry flavoring and makes me want to gag. The cake is even worse, and has a sour, unpleasant taste that is hard to put my finger on, but it reminds me of Tonnie's Minis. Ack! Overall Taste Rating: 1.25 out of 5 Sprinkles

Texture: EW EW EW, the cake is SO moist that it's wet, clammy, SLIMY, not cake-like, like some sort of cold, bastardized bread pudding mush, this is just WRONG, its like someone poured water or milk all over the cake and made it into a sopping, slimy heap. The frosting is ultra-dense. Overall Texture Rating: 0.25 out of 5 Sprinkles

Aesthetic: The beautiful pale pink frosting swirled in the shape of a rose is what attracted me tot hos cupcake-- look how gorgeous the aerial view of the frosting swirl is! Doesn't it just look like it would taste SO GOOD?!??! It didn't, looks were deceiving, but the aesthetics were exellent. Overall Aesthetic Rating: 4.75 out of 5 Sprinkles

Satisfaction: I am completely grossed out, but it sure was pretty to look at.* Overall Satisfaction Rating: 1.5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Overall Cupcake Ranking: 7.75 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)

*I would like to note that the cupcakes were retrieved from us from a back room, rather than a display case, and felt cold. While on a hot day a cold treat was appealing, a cold cupcake is not customary nor advisable. I suspect that some of the unfortunate texture issues related to the Soda Shop cupcakes resulted from erroneous refrigeration on the part of the store. I am not sure whether such refrigeration is customary or was a result of the extremely hot August day, but as any cupcake expert is aware, buttercream should NEVER be refrigerated! The refrigeration may have also added to the slimy, clammy texture of the cake. I'm not positive the refrigeration occurred or resulted in the bad texture, but I have my suspicions.

Kitchenette Hostess Style Cupcake

On another beautiful Sunday, my best cupcake-tasting posse and I embarked on another Cupcake Crawl, this time farther downtown. This time it was unfortunately hovering around 100 degrees and I promptly wanted to melt, so the lounging-in-the-park-with-

cupcakes experience was more sweaty and melty and sticky and thirsty than last time around. However, a good time was had by all, until we all wanted to die from a combination of heat and cupcake-overdosing, that is. Importantly, I should mention that before I transcribed my cupcake rankings onto the computer, I took notes by hand on SPECIAL CUPCAKE RANKING PADS that my best cupcake-tasting friends (Caryn, Lawrence and Justin, along with fellow friend and sometime-cupcake taster Mike) specially DESIGNED for me and gave me for my birthday, complete with a special Caryn-designed logo. I am going to scan some of the cupcake-tasting pad sheets and upload them in a future post! And now, the results of Cupcake Crawl #2!

Hostess-Style Cupcake from Kitchenette

Taste: Ick. The cake is bland, the cream filling is utterly tasteless with not a trace of sweetness, and the rich bittersweet chocolate topping is the only dominant flavor. This cupcake has no sweetness whatsoever. Overall Taste Rating: 0.5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Texture: The cake has a medium texture, the cream filling inside is ultra-dense and not at all fluffy, and the layer of chocolate on top is fudgy and thick. Overall Texture Rating: 2.75 out of 5 Sprinkles

Aesthetic: It looked so homemade and mouthwatering!! All the cupcakes lined up in the case at Kitchenette called out to me and looked so tempting and delectable! Oh, how deceptive looks can be! I found this cupcake so attractive from the outside!! Overall Aesthetic Rating: 4 out of 5 Sprinkles

Satisfaction: What a boring, inferior Hostess-style cupcake. Blah. Overall Satisfaction Rating: 1 out of 5 Sprinkles

Overall Cupcake Ranking: 8.25 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)

Kitchenette Vanilla Hostess Style Cupcake

On another beautiful Sunday, my best cupcake-tasting posse and I embarked on another Cupcake Crawl, this time farther downtown. This time it was unfortunately hovering around 100 degrees and I promptly wanted to melt, so the lounging-in-the-park-with-

cupcakes experience was more sweaty and melty and sticky and thirsty than last time around. However, a good time was had by all, until we all wanted to die from a combination of heat and cupcake-overdosing, that is. Importantly, I should mention that before I transcribed my cupcake rankings onto the computer, I took notes by hand on SPECIAL CUPCAKE RANKING PADS that my best cupcake-tasting friends (Caryn, Lawrence and Justin, along with fellow friend and sometime-cupcake taster Mike) specially DESIGNED for me and gave me for my birthday, complete with a special Caryn-designed logo. I am going to scan some of the cupcake-tasting pad sheets and upload them in a future post! And now, the results of Cupcake Crawl #2!

Vanilla Hostess-Style Cupcake from Kitchenette

Taste: The vanilla frosting is lightly sweet and is winning me over. The cake tastes like a pound cake, rich and buttery but enjoyable. The cream filling in the center is tasteless and adds nothing-- I want more of the very sweet icing on the pound cake, though! Overall Taste Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Texture: The cake is very dense but moist-- like a pound cake. The cream filling inside is very dense and I think is adding moisture to the cake itself. The frosting on top is thin and sugary. Overall Texture Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Aesthetic: The aesthetic is largely why this cupcake appealed to me-- it looked truly homemade, not mass-produced, it was large with a fun pink colored swirl across the top, and the cake had a nice white color with a fluffy look to it. It looked better than it tasted, to be honest! Overall Aesthetic Rating: 4 out of 5 Sprinkles

Satisfaction: The best of the cupcakes from Kitchenette that I tasted, for sure, and I liked the originality of a Hostess-Style vanilla cupcake. But, could definitely be improved upon-- that cream filling should be light and creamy and sweet, not dense and tasteless!!! Overall Satisfaction Rating: 3.25 out of 5 Sprinkles

Overall Cupcake Ranking: 14.25 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)

Kitchenette Red Velvet

On another beautiful Sunday, my best cupcake-tasting posse and I embarked on another Cupcake Crawl, this time farther downtown. This time it was unfortunately hovering around 100 degrees and I promptly wanted to melt, so the lounging-in-the-park-with-

cupcakes experience was more sweaty and melty and sticky and thirsty than last time around. However, a good time was had by all, until we all wanted to die from a combination of heat and cupcake-overdosing, that is. Importantly, I should mention that before I transcribed my cupcake rankings onto the computer, I took notes by hand on SPECIAL CUPCAKE RANKING PADS that my best cupcake-tasting friends (Caryn, Lawrence and Justin, along with fellow friend and sometime-cupcake taster Mike) specially DESIGNED for me and gave me for my birthday, complete with a special Caryn-designed logo. I am going to scan some of the cupcake-tasting pad sheets and upload them in a future post! And now, the results of Cupcake Crawl #2!

Red Velvet Cupcake from Kitchenette

Taste: The frosting is sweet and cream cheese-y, but the cake is completely tasteless! Together, the frosting is the strong, dominant (and good) taste, but the cake adds nothing-- it is a mere vehicle for frosting-- and I want more frosting! Overall Taste Rating: 3 out of 5 Sprinkles

Texture: The cake is moist and the frosting is smooth and creamy, but nothing special going on here, and its not velvety, as a red velvet cupcake should be. Overall Texture Rating: 3 out of 5 Sprinkles

Aesthetic: This is really more of a PINK velvet than a red velvet-- the color is exceptionally pink! Also it the appearance of the texture looks strangely un-cupcake-like-- it reminds me of when I made a recipe once called "Sugar cookie frosting cups" in which the sugar cookie cups had the appearance of that red velvet cupcake-- something about it looks more hard than soft and cakelike. Overall Aesthetic Rating: 3 out of 5 Sprinkles

Satisfaction: A middle-of-the-road, average red velvet cupcake that's not even red velvet-y. More like pink un-velvet! Overall Satisfaction Rating: 2.75 out of 5 Sprinkles

Overall Cupcake Ranking: 11.75 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)

Crumbs Nestle Crunch Cupcake

Crumbs Nestle Crunch Cupcake

Taste: Crunchy! Nestle crunch balls on top of ultra sweet white frosting blend the taste of candy and baked goods into one and the same. The cake is sweet Crumbs vanilla sponge cake. Inside the cupcake there is a big pocket of milk chocolate frosting that is swirled with more Nestle Crunch balls. This is an ultra ultra sweet melange of candy and cupcake and chocolate and vanilla. Overall Taste Rating: 3.75 out of 5 Sprinkles

Texture: The cake if fluffy and soft, and I'm so tired right now I'm thinking that this cake would make an excellent pillow if it were large enough to nap in. The frosting is completely coated with Nestle Crunch balls so that the top of the cupcake and inside of the cupcake are a chocolate-coated-rice-krispie crunchfest. Crunchy! Overall Texture Rating: 3.75 out of 5 Sprinkles

Aesthetic: This is a big cupcake, coated on top in Nestle Crunch ball candies, advertising its theme and decorative indeed. Overall Aesthetic Rating: 3 out of 5 Sprinkles

Satisfaction: I love sweet, you know how I love sweet. But adding candy to cupcakes kind of pushes me over the edge on sweetness. This cupcake was a little too much for me to handle. Definitely a good cupcake to satisfy a major sweet tooth, though. Overall Satisfaction Rating: 3 out of 5 Sprinkles

Overall Cupcake Ranking: 13.5 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)

White Frosting on Chocolate Cake by Eleni's, sold by the American Girl Place

American Girl Place has a little bakery, where you can purchase all sorts of adorable treats-- all of which are sold with a "regular size" item and a "doll size" item-- so every purchase comes with a treat for you AND a matching small-scale treat for your doll. Completely adorable. Some of the other treats looked absolutely delicious (e.g., a stick with three full-sized marshmallows, coated in chocolate and candies, and a corresponding stick of three mini marshmallows coated in chocolate and candies, for your doll), but as a cupcake-ranker, I had to try the cupcakes! I was told they are baked by Eleni's in Chelsea Market.

White Frosting on Chocolate Cake by Eleni's, sold by the American Girl Place

Taste: The white frosting is sweet, it's not too rich, it's a light sweetness and its nice, but not overpowering. But the chocolate cake is bitter and not sweet at all, I find it completely vile and gross on its own. The sweet frosting balances it somewhat, but isn't strong enough to overpower the bitter cake. What a shame!! Overall Taste Rating: 2.25 out of 5 Sprinkles

Texture: The frosting melts in my mouth and its very light. The cake is firm and a little dry. Overall Texture Rating: 3 out of 5 Sprinkles

Aesthetic: Miniature, cute, a nice bright white frosting with festive pink sprinkles and a nice swirl to the frosting, fairly centered but a bit messy on the edges, with naked cupcake top peeking out at the edges. Overall Aesthetic Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Satisfaction: Good frosting, awful cake. Adorable mini-cupcake for doll concept. Overall Satisfaction Rating: 3.25 out of 5 Sprinkles

Overall Cupcake Ranking: 12 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)

Miniature Strawberry Frosting on Vanilla Cake by Eleni's, sold by the American Girl Place

American Girl Place has a little bakery, where you can purchase all sorts of adorable treats-- all of which are sold with a "regular size" item and a "doll size" item-- so every purchase comes with a treat for you AND a matching small-scale treat for your doll. Completely adorable. Some of the other treats looked absolutely delicious (e.g., a stick with three full-sized marshmallows, coated in chocolate and candies, and a corresponding stick of three mini marshmallows coated in chocolate and candies, for your doll), but as a cupcake-ranker, I had to try the cupcakes! I was told they are baked by Eleni's in Chelsea Market.

Miniature Strawberry Frosting on Vanilla Cake by Eleni's, sold by the American Girl Place

Taste: The pink frosting is distinctly strawberry flavored! That was a fun surprise! The frosting tastes like strawberry ice cream!! The white cake is delicious, sweet and delectable. Scrumptious!! Overall Taste Rating: 4.25 out of 5 Sprinkles

Texture: The frosting is smooth and very light, and the cake is fluffy and tender. What a delectable little fluffy treat! Overall Texture Rating: 4 out of 5 Sprinkles

Aesthetic: I like the miniature size and the pink color with festive sprinkles, but as my readers know, I hate that "bare naked cupcake top" showing around the edges, and the icing is rather smushed. Overall Aesthetic Rating: 3 out of 5 Sprinkles

Satisfaction: A little doll-sized cupcake? Amazingly cute. Amazingly tasty. So satisfying! Overal Satisfaction Rating: 5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Overall Cupcake Ranking: 16.25 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)

Crumbs Peaches and Cream Cupcake

Last year, before I started CupcakeRankings.com, I had a Crumbs Blueberry Cobbler cupcake, and I recall it being basically the best thing I had ever eaten. Yesterday on the subway, I overheard people talking about getting Crumbs Blueberry Cobbler cupcakes, and it made my mouth water. So today, I went to Crumbs, right at NOON, to get my cupcake-- and I was told they were sold out! By noon! And the woman told me that they sell out almost every day in the morning! Who are these people buying cupcakes before noon? Because I fully support cupcakes for breakfast, but didn't know there were so many like-minded individuals out there who felt the same way as me! But what time do I have to wake up in the morning to get a Blueberry Cobber cupcake from Crumbs! Alas, I had to settle on two other flavors of cupcake.

Crumbs Peaches and Cream Cupcake, www.crumbs.com

Taste: The frosting is a sweet vanilla buttercream, and on top of it, peach compote and preserved peaches add a peachy sweetness. The cake is a sweet vanilla sponge cake, and is scrumptious. Inside, the cupcake is filled with sweet peaches-- they remind me of the canned peaches from a "fruit cocktail." The peaches and the frosting and cake go nicely together, but it's really ultra, ultra sweet. Overall Taste Rating: 4 out of 5 Sprinkles

Texture: The frosting is creamy and smooth, and the peaches are juicy and burst into fruit juice in my mouth. The cake is moist, and the peach filling inside the cupcake makes it even moister around the center. Overall Texture Rating: 4.25 out of 5 Sprinkles

Aesthetic: Kind of some ugliness going on here! It's a big cupcake, but white frosting unattractively applied with my least favorite "bare naked cupcake top" peeking out on the edges, and a gross slimy pale yellowish peach gel kind of smear un-artfully across the top. I'm not sure if the top of the cupcake reminds me more of mucus or of a runny, raw egg. Overall Aesthetic Rating: 1 out of 5 sprinkles

Satisfaction: This cupcake is really good, but honestly perhaps even a little too sweet even for ME-- the peaches are so sweet that it's like sweetness overload here! Overall Satisfaction Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Overall Cupcake Ranking: 12. 75 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)

Crumbs "Devil Dog" Cupcake

Last year, before I started CupcakeRankings.com, I had a Crumbs Blueberry Cobbler cupcake, and I recall it being basically the best thing I had ever eaten. Yesterday on the subway, I overheard people talking about getting Crumbs Blueberry Cobbler cupcakes, and it made my mouth water. So today, I went to Crumbs, right at NOON, to get my cupcake-- and I was told they were sold out! By noon! And the woman told me that they sell out almost every day in the morning! Who are these people buying cupcakes before noon? Because I fully support cupcakes for breakfast, but didn't know there were so many like-minded individuals out there who felt the same way as me! But what time do I have to wake up in the morning to get a Blueberry Cobber cupcake from Crumbs! Alas, I had to settle on two other flavors of cupcake.

Crumbs "Devil Dog" Cupcake, www.crumbs.com

Taste: The frosting is super sweet and marshmallow-y. It's different than the regular vanilla buttercream at Crumbs-- it's lighter and sweeter and distinctly marshmallow-y. The chocolate cake is sweet yet chocolatey, truly a delectable chocolate cake. Inside there is a sweet white cream filling that is delicious. Ooh do I love when there is extra frosting in the middle of a cupcake!! The chocolate chips on top add some authentic chocolate flavor when they burst in my mouth! Overall Taste Rating: 5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Texture: The cake is very moist. The frosting on top is so smooth it melts in my mouth, and delectably light. The filling inside is smooth and creamy. This cupcake is REALLY doing it for me, I am loving it!!! Overall Texture Rating: 4.75 out of 5 Sprinkles

Aesthetic: A big cupcake, rich chocolatey colored with bright white marshmallow topping, and a chocolate artfully drizzled across the top, a ring of cake crumbs as a border, and a sprinkle of chocolate chips on top. An attractive cupcake! Not the most stunning I've ever seen, but perfectly mouthwatering! Overall Aesthetic Rating: 4 out of 5 Sprinkles

Satisfaction: So, this sort of tastes like a devil dog, except it's way BETTER than a devil dog. Devil dogs are unpleasantly dry, in my opinion, and I've never been a huge fan. This is clearly SUPERIOR to a devil dog, but it does retain similar flavors. It's a great balance of super-sweet, but still chocolate-y, but also not too rich for me. I know it's an amazing cupcake, because I really want to eat the entire thing right now, and I have to stop myself because its enormous and I must force myself to save some for later. Overall Satisfaction Rating: 5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Overall Cupcake Ranking: 18.75 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)