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)

One Girl Cookies Chocolate on Vanilla Sold by the Street Sweets Truck

Chocolate Frosting on Vanilla Cake from the Street Sweets Truck, www.streetsweetsny.com, which sells cupcakes from One Girl Cookies, http://www.onegirlcookies.com/

Yet another dessert-centric mobile food truck in NYC! Unlike the CupcakeStop, this truck is not cupcake-exclusive, and they don't sell their own brand cupcakes-- they sell One Girl Cookies cupcakes. So, this review is of One Girl Cookies cupcakes, but since the StreetSweets Truck doesn't sell any other cupcake brands, this is the deal for purchases from StreetSweets.

Taste: The frosting takes exactly like milk chocolate fudge. There is no other way to describe it than purely fudgy. The vanilla cake is not capable of stand-alone enjoyment... it has a slightly sour flavor to it, and other than that, no particular flavors to note. Eaten together, the cake tempers the richness of the fudge-- slightly. The fudge completely overpowers everything. This is very rich and, for me, not quite satisfying that cupcake sweettooth. Overall Taste Rating: 3 out of 5 Sprinkles

Texture: The chocolate frosting is SO THICK. Like, so thick it tastes and feels like FUDGE. In a blind taste test, I would absolutely mistake the frosting for fudge. The vanilla cake is dense and has a medium texture-- not moist but not dry either. I think the cake is so dense and the fudge so thick that this cupcake is too rich and heavy to enjoy. This is not a delicate, melt-in-your-mouth cupcake-- everything about it is HEAVY. Overall Texture Rating: 1 out of 5 Sprinkles

Aesthetic: This is a funny, spiky sort of cupcake-- it reminds me of the way some guys gel their hair into hardened little tufts. The cupcake wrapper is unique, with a circular ribbed paper wrapper inside, but a square-with-rounded-edges cardboard border around it-- very different. Kind of weird looking, but kind of cool. Very distinctive. Overall Aesthetic Rating: 3 out of 5 Sprinkles

Satisfaction: This cake is just all about chocolate FUDGE. Let me be clear, I mean FUDGE, like brick-of-fudge fudge, fudge you get at the boardwalk or in an old country general store. Some cakes or brownies or frostings are fudgy, as in having fudge-like qualities, which is generally an excellent accolade. I am not penalizing this cupcake for being fudgy, because it is not fudgy, it is FUDGE. As in, the "frosting" is like pure, unadultered fudge. I'm not talking ice cream sundae hot fudge, I mean like brick-of-fudge, comes-in-many-flavors fudge. And I like fudge-- truly, I enjoy a good piece of fudge-- but fudge is so rich that fudge is a stand-alone item. Fudge is best enjoyed with a beverage to temper the richness, but fudge is not an appropriate topping for cakes or other sweets of any kind. Between the rich taste and the thick, dense texture, is just overkill. It doesn't work on a cupcake. It's just not doing it for me. Points though for the fact that, as fudge, the "frosting" is quite a tasty milk chocolate fudge. Overall Satisfaction Rating: 2.75 out of 5 Sprinkles

Overall Cupcake Ranking: 9.75 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)

Baked by Melissa Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup

Baked by Melissa Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup, http://www.bakedbymelissa.com/, 12 mini cupcakes for $10

On a gorgeous summer Sunday afternoon, I went for a "cupcake crawl" in downtown Manhattan with my best cupcake tasing buddies, Caryn of Carebear's Kitchen, and Lawrence and Justin from My Two Nuts. Caryn recapped our day of adventure fantastically at her Caryn's 101 Things blog. We had an amazing afternoon of strolling, enjoying wonderful weather, hanging out in the park, and most importantly sharing many delicious cupcakes! This was one of the cupcakes that was a product of our first NYC cupcake crawl!

Taste: This cupcake is very chocolatey, and the dollop of real peanut butter in the center makes it very peanut-buttery as well. It's rich, super chocolatey and peanut buttery-- not very sweet, but definitely tasty, a lot like a Reese's peanut butter cup except the peanut butter isn't sweetened, its just real old fashioned original peanut butter (smooth). Overall Taste Rating: 4.25 out of 5 Sprinkles

Texture: The peanut butter is sticky, the frosting is smooth, but the cake has an unfortunate rubbery texture on the outside. Baked by Melissa doesn't use paper cupcake wrappers and perhaps the way the cupcakes bake create a rubbery exterior, which is highly unfortunate. Since the cupcake is so tiny, the rubbery edges are basically the majority of the cake itself. Overall Texture Rating: 3 out of 5 Sprinkles

Aesthetic: Delightfully miniature! Rich chocolate colored cake, lighter milk chocolate frosting in a generous swirl in the center, and a dollop of real peanut butter smack in the middle. Symmetrical yet whimsically swirly. So cute! Mouthwatering! I like the little peanut butter "peak" you can see in the photo. Overall Aesthetic Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Satisfaction: This was very rich, but very tasty!! Shame about the rubbery texture. Overall Satisfaction Rating: 4.25 out of 5 Sprinkles

Overall Cupcake Ranking: 16 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)

Baked by Melissa Cookie Dough

Baked by Melissa Cookie Dough, http://www.bakedbymelissa.com/, 12 mini cupcakes for $10

On a gorgeous summer Sunday afternoon, I went for a "cupcake crawl" in downtown Manhattan with my best cupcake tasing buddies, Caryn of Carebear's Kitchen, and Lawrence and Justin from My Two Nuts. Caryn recapped our day of adventure fantastically at her Caryn's 101 Things blog. We had an amazing afternoon of strolling, enjoying wonderful weather, hanging out in the park, and most importantly sharing many delicious cupcakes! This was one of the cupcakes that was a product of our first NYC cupcake crawl!

Taste: A dollop of fresh cookie dough on top is pure cookie dough deliciousness. The vanilla cake it not very flavorful, but the chocolate buttercream is sweet and deliciously milk chocolatey. The cookie dough is so good, but mostly this cupcake left me wanting more cookie dough! Overall Taste Rating: 3.75 out of 5 Sprinkles

Texture: The buttercream is smooth and the cookie dough is soft and doughy. The cake is a bit rubbery on all sides, unfortunately. Baked by Melissa doesn't use paper cupcake wrappers and perhaps the way the cupcakes bake create a rubbery exterior, which is highly unfortunate. Since the cupcake is so tiny, the rubbery edges are basically the majority of the cake itself. Overall Texture Rating: 3 out of 5 Sprinkles

Aesthetic: Mini mini and so cute. Symmetrical and even application of a swirl of chocolate frosting atop a golden yellow cake, with a dollop of cookie dough centered in the middle. Sort of a three-tiered aesthetic here. Cute! Overall Aesthetic Rating: 4.25 out of 5 Sprinkles

Satisfaction: I was left craving more cookie dough!! Overall Satisfaction Rating: 3.25 out of 5 Sprinkles

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

Baked by Melissa S'mores

Baked by Melissa S'mores, http://www.bakedbymelissa.com/, 12 mini cupcakes for $10

On a gorgeous summer Sunday afternoon, I went for a "cupcake crawl" in downtown Manhattan with my best cupcake tasing buddies, Caryn of Carebear's Kitchen, and Lawrence and Justin from My Two Nuts. Caryn recapped our day of adventure fantastically at her Caryn's 101 Things blog. We had an amazing afternoon of strolling, enjoying wonderful weather, hanging out in the park, and most importantly sharing many delicious cupcakes! This was one of the cupcakes that was a product of our first NYC cupcake crawl!

Taste: This cupcake has graham crackers inside, marshmallow on top, milk chocolate buttercream, and chocolate cake. Lots of flavors going on! The chocolate frosting is milk chocolatey and the cake is not very sweet. The graham cracker flavor is strong, as are the chocolate flavors, and the marshmallow unfortunately isn't enough to be a strong taste. It's pretty tasty, though the taste isn't as much like a s'more as I'd have hoped, and it wasn't that sweet. Overall Taste Rating: 3.75 out of 5 Sprinkles

Texture: The graham crackers give a nice crunch amidst the moist chocolate cake and smooth frosting. The cake is strangely a little bit rubbery on the outside though-- Baked by Melissa doesn't use paper cupcake wrappers and perhaps the way the cupcakes bake create a rubbery exterior, which is highly unfortunate. Since the cupcake is so tiny, the rubbery edges are basically the majority of the cake itself. Overall Texture Rating: 3 out of 5 Sprinkles

Aesthetic: Aw, a miniature little cutie! Dark chocolate cake, a swirl of chocolate frosting, a dollop of marshmallow fluff and a graham cracker in the middle. Cute, but pretty lopsided. Overall Aesthetic Rating: 3 out of 5 Sprinkles

Satisfaction: Bite sized, mini, pretty yummy, a little rubbery, not very s'mores-y, I'm medium-satisfied. I want more marshmallow on this one! Overall Satisfaction Rating: 3 out of 5 Sprinkles

Overall Cupcake Ranking: 12.75 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)

Sugar Sweet Sunshine Chocolate on Vanilla

Sugar Sweet Sunshine Chocolate Buttercream on Vanilla Cake, http://www.sugarsweetsunshine.com/, $1.50 each

On a gorgeous summer Sunday afternoon, I went for a "cupcake crawl" in downtown Manhattan with my best cupcake tasing buddies, Caryn of Carebear's Kitchen, and Lawrence and Justin from My Two Nuts. Caryn recapped our day of adventure fantastically at her Caryn's 101 Things blog. We had an amazing afternoon of strolling, enjoying wonderful weather, hanging out in the park, and most importantly sharing many delicious cupcakes! This was one of the cupcakes that was a product of our first NYC cupcake crawl!

Taste: The chocolate frosting is very sweet yet still very chocolatey-- a delicious chocolate buttercream, distinctly milk chocolate. The buttercream is advertised as an "almond buttercream," but I can't claim to taste anything especially almond or marizpan-y about it, though it was very tasty nonetheless. The cake is not very flavorful, but it goes nicely with the frosting. Overall Taste Rating: 4.25 out of 5 Sprinkles

Texture: The frosting is creamy. The cake is soft but it could be moister. Overall Texture Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Aesthetic: This is the most attractive of the four cupcakes we sampled from Sugar Sweet Sunshine. The chocolate frosting has a nice gloss to it, and its application was the most impressive of all the Sugar Sweet Sunshine cupcakes we tried-- the most swirled and symmetrical. It has an appealing homemade aesthetic, even though the decor is imprecise. Overall Aesthetic Rating: 4 out of 5 Sprinkles

Satisfaction: A pretty satisfying cupcake! I enjoyed it, but wasn't blown away. Overall Satisfaction Rating: 4 out of 5 Sprinkles

Overall Cupcake Ranking: 15.75 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)

Maureen's Minis Chocolate Frosting on Yellow Cake

Chocolate Frosting on Yellow Cake, Maureen's Minis of West 76th Street, by appointment only

Maureen of West 76th Street baked some homemade delicious mini cupcakes for the July 4th festivities!

Taste: Oh delicious chocolately sweetness! These bite-sized cupcakes just pop in my mouth in a sweet chocolatey sensation! The frosting is sweet but with a distinct milk chocolate flavor, and the yellow cake is sweet and flavorful, a true and tasty yellow cake. Overall Taste Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Sprinkles.

Texture: Mmm! The cake is tender and succulent, baked absolutely perfectly. The icing is smooth and thick. The decorations on top are great-- the dinosaur decors especially add a nice little crunch. Great textures!! Overall Texture Rating: 4 out of 5 Sprinkles

Aesthetic: Maureen's Minis are so cute!! Tiny little bite-sized cupcakes, each decorated with a different array of pretty sprinkles-- some dots, some standard, some dinosaurs! Sous Chef Cindy helped Maureen with the decorating. Overall Aesthetic Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Satisfaction: These were SCRUMPTIOUS, and I confess to eating many a Maureen's Mini! So yummy, and they tasted deliciously homemade, because they were!!! Overall Satisfaction Rating: 4.75 out of 5 Sprinkles

Overall Cupcake Ranking: 16.75 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)

Bedford Village Pastry Chocolate/Vanilla on Chocolate

Taste: The frosting on this cupcake is really different and really wonderful!! As you can see, the top is a smooth, shiny hardened surface that I believe is a poured fondant glaze (as opposed to a rolled fondant, which is much thicker and has a different consistency), like the icing that coats most petit fours. The chocolate glaze is sweet yet chocolatey at the same time-- just how I like it! From all outward appearances, this is a CHOCOLATE cupcake-- but SURPRISE! Inside that tall bulb of chocolate fondant glaze lies a large puff of delicious WHITE buttercream frosting! This a superb buttercream-- this is perfect, melt-in-your-mouth, ultra-whipped, sweet (but not sickeningly sweet) and perfect buttercream-- it is WONDERFUL. The cake is lightly chocolate. Eaten together with the frostings, this is a fantastic mix of chocolate and vanilla all at once! Overall Taste Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Texture: I think it's a French Buttercream inside, it's so light and fluffy and smooth, the texture on the white buttercream is unbeatable. The texture on the glaze fondant is thick and fudgy and smooth. The cake is unfortunately a tad dry. Overall Texture Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Aesthetic: Is this cupcake cute, or is it ugly? I'm having trouble deciding! The buttercream puff hidden under the fondant glaze makes for a bulbous cupcake top, on which the bakery has painted a smiley face. I can't decide if the smiley face is cute and fun, or a little creepy. Isn't something about it a little bit creepy? There's definitely precision here, the glaze is bright and glossy, the application is neat, the fondant and cake have a rich chocolate color and the buttercream inside is pure white. This is an interesting-looking cupcake, but I like it. Overall Aesthetic Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Satisfaction: I really enjoyed this more than I expected, in large part due to the whopping dose of buttercream hidden inside that big ball of fondant on top, which surprised me by being VANILLA. Everyone knows chocolate and vanilla mix great together! The cake wasn't anything special, but overall this was a pretty tasty treat. Overall Satisfaction Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Overall Cupcake Ranking: 15 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)

Raspberry Jam-Filled Vanilla Cake with Chocolate Frosting, baked by Carebear's Kitchen

Raspberry Jam-Filled Vanilla Cake with Chocolate Frosting, baked by Caryn from CareBear's Kitchen using a recipe by Martha Stewart.

My friend Caryn from Carebear's Kitchen baked some delicious homemade cupcakes when she hosted a group of friends at her apartment over the weekend! She used a recipe from Martha Stewart to make chocolate frosted raspberry jam filled cupcakes, and posted all about it!

Taste: Mmm! The raspberry and chocolate complement eachother so nicely!! The chocolate frosting is cocoa-y and the raspberry filling is super sweet and full of raspberry deliciousness! The vanilla cake is actually somewhat salty (when I observed this, Caryn confessed she accidentally used 1/4 teaspoon too much salt in the cake recipe), but the saltiness is sort of nice with the super-sweetness of the raspberry jam and chocolate frosting-- sweet and salty complement eachother well, doesn't everyone love kettle corn for just that reason?! And the fresh raspberry on top is a nice touch, a little tart but full of natural raspberry flavor. Overall Taste Rating: 4 out of 5 sprinkles

Texture: The frosting is very creamy and smooth, and the raspberry jam filling is thick and sticky. The vanilla cake is a touch dry, but the raspberry jam filling in the center moistens it all up nicely! Overall Texture Rating: 4 out of 5 sprinkles

Aesthetic: Caryn's cupcakes looked JUST like the picture in the recipe!! A very impressive reproduction! Nice light golden color on the vanilla cake and deep chocolate brown on the frosting. Excellent precision and symmetry on a homemade cupcake, too! Overall Aesthetic Rating: 4.5 out of 5 sprinkles

Satisfaction: A very tasty cupcake all around, although I would have liked some more frosting on top! (Luckily for me, Caryn brought me the bowl of leftover frosting to enjoy!) And you can't beat fresh out of the oven! The recipe called for the jam to be inserted in the center of the cupcake after the cupcakes had baked and cooled, but Caryn and I discussed the possibility of baking the jam into the cupcakes with the batter-- that might be a fun way to try doing it next time! Overall Satisfaction Rating: 4.5 out of 5 sprinkles

Overall Cupcake Ranking: 17 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)

Amy's Bread Chocolate Frosting on Vanilla Cake

Amy's Bread Chocolate Frosting on Vanilla Cake, $2.50, http://www.amysbread.com/, 9th Ave and 46th Street

Taste: My first thought when I taste the chocolate frosting is that it tastes like real milk chocolate. Most other chocolate frostings I've tried taste like either cocoa powder or bittersweet chocolate, but this tastes like delicious milk chocolate, sweet while at the same time ultra-chocolatey. It's so chocolatey it definitely requires the accompaniment of a glass of milk, but luckily I'm prepared with milk to wash down the chocolate goodness! The flavor of the vanilla cake is also fantastic-- it's lightly sweet, with a nice vanilla flavor, so tasty that it could be enjoyed alone without frosting! (Something that won't have to be done with this particular cupcake given the great quantity of icing it has!) Overall Taste Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Sprinkles!

Texture: The frosting is very soft and smooth, and the cake is slightly moist and a bit spongey, like a sponge cake. I like the textures in my mouth, but the cake is a little bit crumbly and I make a slight mess in eating the cupcake. Overall Texture Rating: 4 out of 5 Sprinkles

Aesthetic: This cupcake is a beauty! The frosting has a rich chocolate brown color with a nice gloss to it, and it is generously applied in a perfectly even swirl, with a few sprinkles adorning it for decoration. The frosting is so generously applied that the cake part is small in comparison, a little stump holding up a a giant heap of frosting! Overall Aesthetic Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Satisfaction: This cupcake was very tasty!! It was also a large cupcake, and at $2.50, the same price charged for many smaller cupcakes at other bakeries, I felt it was an excellent value. I would definitely return to Amy's Bread for more cupcakes anytime! It looked great, tasted great, and the price was right!! Overall Satisfaction Rating: 5 out of 5 Sprinkles!

Overall Cupcake Ranking: 18 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)

Zaro's Boston Cream Cupcake

Zaro's Bread Basket Boston Cream Cupcake, $2.95, Grand Central Terminal, http://www.zaro.com/

I love Boston Cream pie, I love Boston Cream donuts, but how would I enjoy a Boston Cream cupcake? This is my first one ever, and although I did not enjoy it, I blame the cupcake itself more than the concept-- I think Boston Cream cupcakes can be delicious if well executed, and I'll make it a personal goal to find a good one and let you know where to find it!

Taste: The chocolate icing on top is not at all sweet, but is richly chocolatey, though tastes like dark chocolate which is not typical for boston cream. The custard inside is lightly sweet and egg-y, and has a good taste for boston cream filling, a traditional custard taste that is just right and similar to tastes I've experienced in boston cream pies-- The taste of the cream filling is truly delicious, although unfortunately its awful texture ruins it (see below), but on pure taste alone, excellent custard. The cupcake taste is pretty good too-- yellow cake, slightly sweet but not too sweet, a nice complement to the custard inside. Overall Taste Rating: 4 out of 5 sprinkles

Texture: OK, the texture is this cupcake is just BIZARRE! The cake is a little dry, which isn't the craziest thing in the world, but the icing and the custard are RUBBERY. The cream is gelatinous, and when pulled on with a fork does not break and stays firmly together when pulled on, stretching like a rubber band! The texture is so weird and creepy and is grossing me out!! The chocolate icing on top also sticks together and comes off in one piece when tugged at with a fork, but in a less gross way-- the top frosting is similar to the texture of the type of frosting on top of a black & white cookie, thick and fudgy. But the texture of the custard filling is seriously revolting, custards should not be gelatinous and rubbery all at the same time. Gross! Overall Texture Rating: 0 out of 5 sprinkles

Aesthetic: The aerial view of this cupcake is nice, a layer of smooth dark colored chocolate frosting with pretty white stripes marbling the top. From the side, the appears the chocolate frosting is atop puff pastry that sits like a lid atop of the custard frosting, revealing the cream inside. It's not perfectly symmetrical or precise, but it is charming enough. Overall Aesthetic Rating: 3 out of 5 Sprinkles

Satisfaction: Although I was impressed with the custard taste (and the custard quantity was generous, because in addition to the middle being filled with custard inside, there was also a thick layer of custard directly below the chocolate frosting layer and on top of the cake), the texture of this cupcake was seriously GROSS, mostly the texture of the custard. I could pick up the entire layer of custard on my fork and it just dangled there in one solid piece and jiggled. It was disgusting. And doesn't custard need to be refrigerated? This cupcake was definitely not refrigerated, I hope I don't get sick from this. The texture was seriously problematic. Please see below for a photo of the custard dangling from my fork after I pulled on it to break it apart and it refused to budge but instead stretched out like a rubberband:


As you can see, it dangles from my fork in a congealed mass. And although the photo doesn't reveal it, the consistency was rubbery. Custard should not behave in such ways!!! Overall Satisfaction Rating: 0 out of 5 sprinkles

Overall Cupcake Ranking: Sprinkles (7 out of 20 possible)

Sage (sold by Dean & DeLuca) Hostess Style Chocolate Cupcake

Sage Hostess-Style Cupcake from Dean & DeLuca, $5.00,
http://www.sagegeneralstore.com/ and http://www.deandeluca.com

I have an amazing recipe that I use to make delicious Hostess-style filled cupcakes at home, so I don't usually buy them elsewhere because few cupcakes can live up to my home-baked ones, but as the Cupcake Connoisseur it is my duty to sample what else is out there! So, I tried this Hostess-style cupcake from Sage.

Taste: The chocolate icing is bitter, and not sweet at all, although probably made with real bittersweet chocolate and not cocoa powder, judging by the taste. The cake is also slightly bitter and has not the slightest hint of sweetness and barely any chocolatey taste. The vanilla cream inside the cupcake is bland and not tasty-- it's the same white cream as in the zig-zag on top of the cupcake, and its somewhat tasteless and gritty. A Hostess style cupcake isn't meant to be super sweet, and my personal chocolate icing recipe does use real bittersweet chocolate, but my vanilla cream filling is really sweet and so together they strike a nice balance. In contrast, the Sage cupcake has bittersweet icing, bitter cake, and tasteless cream filling, and so together there's no sweetness to the cupcake. Blech! Overall Taste Rating: 0 out of 5 sprinkles

Texture: The cake texture is dry, not at all moist like the Sage Vanilla Cupcake, but instead very dry and maybe even a bit stale. The chocolate icing has a good texture despite the bad taste, very smooth and silky on my tongue. There is barely ANY vanilla cream filling in the middle of the cupcake, and the filling (which is also the zigzag on top) is VERY gritty. Blech! Overall Texture Rating: 2 out of 5 sprinkles

Aesthetic: Aesthetics is the only place this cupcake is going to win any major points with me. It's bigger than the traditional commercial Hostess cupcakes, with dark chocolatey colored cake and rich, glossy dark chocolate colored frosting, and a cute white zig-zag across the top, albeit sloppily applied, but the cupcake has that appealing homemade look as opposed to the from-the-box mass-produced look. The exterior appearance of this cupcake is what compelled me to buy it in the first place! Overall Aesthetic Rating: 4 out of 5 sprinkles!

Satisfaction: In addition to the fact that this cupcake didn't taste very good and had a bad texture, there was barely ANY chocolate icing on the top, although I can accept the fact that a Hostess cupcake by design only has a thin layer of icing across the top. BUT, what is unforgiveable is that there was hardly ANY cream filling inside the cupcake! And topped off by the racket price of $5.00 for this abomination of a cupcake, my satisfaction was practically negative! Overall Satisfaction Rating: 0 out of 5 sprinkles

Overall Cupcake Ranking: 6 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)

Buttercup Bake Shop Chocolate Frosting on Vanilla Cake

Buttercup Bake Shop Chocolate Frosting on Vanilla Cake

buttercupbakeshop.com, $2.25 each

Taste: The frosting is very cocoa powdery and very buttery, and not as sweet as Magnolia or Crumbs' chocolate frosting, and tastes less like real chocolate. The cake was unremarkable, not possessed of any distinct flavors but not unpleasant... not particularly sweet. The frosting and cake together are not sweet enough for me-- it tastes too much of unsweetened cocoa powder and butter. Overall Taste Rating: 2 out of 5 sprinkles.

Texture: Happily, the frosting's texture is very smooth and buttery. The cake's texture was also not particularly good or bad-- not moist but not dry, somewhere in between, but generally unremarkable. Overall Texture Rating: 3 out of 5 sprinkles.

Aesthetic: The chocolate frosting has an interestingly light color compared to the frosting from Crumbs or Magnolia, which you'd think would connote more sugar in the recipe, and yet their chocolate frosting was the least sweet! The cupcake also unfortunately looked hideously deformed, as you can see in the picture above, although I liked that it looked like it had lots of icing before I tasted the icing and was underwhelmed. The cake was golden and the cupcake was even, but the icing was applied sloppily albeit generously. Overall Aesthetic Rating: 3 out of 5 sprinkles

Satisfaction Rating: The cupcake was just didn't do it for me. There was no pleasant chocolate taste like in Magnolia and Crumbs' chocolate frostings. There was nothing extra to redeem this cupcake either. Overall Satisfaction Rating: 2 out of 5 sprinkles

Cupcake Ranking: 10 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)

Crumbs Bake Shop Chocolate Frosting on Vanilla Cake

Crumbs Bakery Chocolate Frosting on Vanilla Cake, $2.95 each, http://www.crumbs.com/

Taste: The icing is sweet but chocolatey, with excellent flavor-- very similar to Magnolia's chocolate buttercream, but without that mouth-full-of-confectioner's-sugar taste. The cake is the same delicious vanilla cake that I gave such favorable reviews to in the Crumbs Vanilla-on-Vanilla Cupcake review-- flavorful, vanilla-y, delicious. The taste of the vanilla cake blended together with the chocolate frosting hits the perfect note. Overall Taste Rating: 5 out of 5 sprinkles!!
Texture: The icing is creamy and smooth, the cake moist and soft, as I've been coming to count on from Crumbs! Overall Texture Rating: 5 out of 5 sprinkles!!
Aesthetic: The only place I can possibly find fault with the cupcake is in the aesthetics department-- as you can see from the photo, the cupcake was a bit lopsided, and the icing was unevenly applied and there is a slight scuff on the surface. I noticed this as I was paying for my cupcakes and wished the gentleman helping me in the store knew I was planning to critique the cupcakes so he'd offer me one of the more presentable cupcakes available in the display, but alas, my identity as the Cupcake Connoisseur cannot be known. I am forced to judge each cupcake as I find them, and so despite this cupcake's grand scale, beautiful golden colored cake and chocolate-hued frosting, and cheery inch-high band of densely packed rainbow sprinkles, the sloppiness in its execution loses it a critical point. Overall aesthetic ranking: 4 out of 5 sprinkles.
Satisfaction: Like with the Crumbs vanilla, I was surprised to find there was no extra shot of filling hidden inside, as I've experienced with many of their cupcakes in the past, but luckily the large heaping of icing provided on top more than did the trick. This cupcake was rich and satisfying, and so big that eating half or less was enough to satisfy, and the rest could be saved for later or shared with friends. Completely yummy! Overall Satisfaction Rating: 5 out of 5 sprinkles!!

Overall Cupcake Ranking: 19 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)-- Just one sprinkle away from perfection!

Magnolia Bakery Chocolate Frosting on Vanilla Cake

Magnolia Bakery Chocolate Frosting on Vanilla Cake, magnoliabakery.com, $2.50 each

Taste: The chocolate frosting was very tasty-- sweet but the sweetness was tempered by the cocoa powder for a pleasant overall flavor, although savoring the frosting in my mouth I could distinctly taste the components that made up the icing: butter, confectioner's sugar and cocoa powder. But the vanilla cake was disappointing-- dry, flavorless, not sweet at all. Luckily, eaten together, the chocolate frosting taste was overpowering, and therefore quite tasty! Overall Taste Rating: 4 out of 5 sprinkles
Texture: The chocolate frosting's texture was excellent-- smooth, creamy, not too dense, light and soft. The cake texture unfortunately was dry and crumbly and really ruined things. Overall Texture Rating: 3 out of 5 sprinkles
Aesthetic: Although the cupcakes have that cute homemade look that makes everyone nostalgic about childhood cupcake-eating, the execution on this cupcake was sloppy-- the cake was lopided and the icing wasn't applied particularly evenly. The chocolate frosting did have a nice, rich chocolate color that I appreciated, and from an aerial view the frosting was beautifully swirled. Overall Aesthetic Rating: 3 out of 5 sprinkles
Satisfaction: Overall, the yumminess of the chocolate frosting is what saved this cupcake and led to my decent satisfaction with it, although the cake part was borderline inedible. Overall Satisfaction Rating: 4 out of 5 sprinkles

Cupcake Ranking: 14 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)