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)

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)

Crumbs Watermelon Cupcake

Crumbs "Watermelon" Cupcake, www.crumbs.com

Taste: The green frosting on top of this cupcake DOES, indeed, taste like watermelon flavoring. Unfortunately, watermelon frosting is totally weird and not that enjoyable. It tastes like candy-- think of a watermelon Jelly Belly-- but very artificial and, in my opinion, unpleasant. (Although note that I take issue with artificial flavorings more than many others do-- I find artificial flavorings unpleasant and, personally, they leave me with an aftertaste. ) I had the same complaint on artificial flavoring regrarding the Crumbs Banana Frosting. Anyway, the cupcake did have redeeming qualities-- the pink frosting INSIDE the cupcake was, gloriously, STRAWBERRY flavored, and absolutey delicious, a scrumptious, perfectly sweetened buttercream. The cake was delicious Crumbs sponge cake, sweet and delightful. I found myself ignoring the green watermelon frosting and just eating the inside of strawberry frosting and cake-- which was delicious. But, the "watermelon" cupcake failed on its watermelon-distinctive flavorings. I wonder if the bakers knew the watermelon frosting was questionable, which is why they put strawberry frosting inside instead, rather than a watermelon-flavored pink frosting. Overall Taste Rating: 2.75 out of 5 Sprinkles

Texture: Can't complain on account of texture! The frosting on top was very smooth, and the filling inside was so fluffy and creamy it melted in my mouth. The cake was tender and moist. The sprinkles adorning the cupcake added a nice little sugary crunch. Overall Texture Rating: 5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Aesthetic: Not bad-- green isn't the most appealing of colors for frosting, but the kitsch of the watermelon theme-- green frosted outside with a pink frosting inside-- was totally adorable. Also, I do appreciate Crumbs not going overboard to make the colors a true "Watermelon"-- fluorescent green and pink frosting would have really grossed me out from color dye overkill. The rim of red sprinkles is festive, but in my opinion, they should have used PINK sprinkles, not red!! Overall Aesthetic Rating: 3 out of 5 Sprinkles

Satisfaction: Well, my first watermelon cupcake. I guess I now understand why watermelon is not a popular flavor in cupcakes, or in baked goods at all, for that matter. It wasn't really working here. However, asides from the watermelon frosting, this cupcake was delicious. Conveniently, Crumbs is so generous with the icing heaping inside the cupcake, that the frosting-to-cake ratio was plentiful even when only eating the strawberry filling and cake together. So, I was let a satisfied customer, even though the "watermelon" angle wasn't a big hit with me. Overall Satisfaction Rating: 4 out of 5 Sprinkles

Overall Cupcake Ranking: 14.75 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)

Crumbs Bake Shop Cherry Blossom Cupcake

Crumbs "Cherry Blossom" Cupcake, $3.75, http://www.crumbs.com/

Taste: Mike loved this cupcake-- he thought the icing had a "subtle cherry flavor" that he very much enjoyed. The icing is cream cheese icing, but its cherry cream cheese icing, and its pretty wonderful-- think a cherry-cheesecake sort of sweet yet tangy deliciousness. The cake is delicious sweet vanilla, and there are cherry preserves inside the cupcake which are tart and dotted with plump cherries. The tart preserves complement the sweet cherry cream cheese frosting perfectly, so that eaten together this cupcake has the perfect balance and is sweet but not too sweet, thanks to that perfect slightly tart cherry center. The candied cherries on top are nice-- my cupcake came with two candied cherries, which may have been an accident. Those cherries were sweeter than the preserves, but actually not as ultra-sweet as I had feared, and surprisingly not dried out, either-- the cherry on top was juicy when I bit into it! It was more like the maraschino cherry you find on top of an ice cream sundae than a too-sugared candied dry cherry. Overall Taste Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Texture: The textures here were quite pleasing-- smooth, creamy frosting coupled with soft, moist, fluffy cake, filled inside with juicy preserves in a compote that burst into cherry juices in my mouth. The candied cherries on top were candied sugar coated on the outside, but juicy inside! Not dry at all like most dried fruit. Overall Texture Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Aesthetic: This cupcake is large, even , proportionate, and the cake has a pretty golden color while the frosting is a soft pink that connotes cherry, with a perfectly centered cherry on top (and a random smaller cherry imbedded in the icing off to the side-- accident?) Two slight problems with the aesthetic here-- one is that on top the icing appears a bit cracked, it doesn't look perfectly smoothed or swirled. But the bigger issue for me is that the icing isn't applied all the way down to the top of the cupcake wrapper. I like cupcake icing to cover the entirety of the top of the cupcake, not stop short and leave naked cake top showing! Overall Aesthetic Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Satisfaction: The taste of this cupcake was stellar-- I really enjoyed it. It was creative and different, and yet had a classic taste at the same time, and the tartness and sweetness together were delectable. I don't think the recipe on this could have been any better! I also like the name-- the "Cherry Blossom Cupcake." I was exceptionally satisfied-- with a cherry on top! Overall Satisfaction Rating: 5 out of 5 Sprinkles!!

Overall Cupcake Ranking: 17.5 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)

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)

Crumbs Red Velvet Cupcake

Crumbs Red Velvet Cupcake with Cream Cheese Frosting, $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: YUM!! This is a delicious mouthful of cupcake!! As my friend Lawrence noted, "the icing is perfect because it's not too cream chees-y and not too sweet to overwhelm," and I concur wholeheartedly, it's a cream cheese frosting done to excellence, because it's distinctly a cream cheese frosting, and perfectly sweetened, but not so sweet its cloying. The red velvet cake is also delicious-- it's not overly sweet and doesn't overpower, but it's softly yet distinctly chocolatey, and paired with the cream cheese frosting is just wonderful. The sprinkle of cake crumbs atop the icing is also a nice touch! Caryn from Carebear's Kitchen thought "the red velvet was SCRUMPTIOUS!" She said she tends to like the icing very cream cheesy, which I do as well, but we both agreed this frosting was "very yummy" even though not ultra-cream cheesy. The three of us agree the taste is very excellent and close to a "5 sprinkles," but not quite perfection-- Caryn thought it was a 4.5 Sprinkle taste, but Lawrence thought it was so perfect it was much closer to a 5, and I'm a little bit torn in between 4.5 and 5 myself. To settle it, I'll give an Overall Taste Rating out 4.75 out of 5 Sprinkles

Texture: The cream cheese icing is nice and creamy. I thought the cake texture was excellent, but my friend Lawrence felt it was "slightly dry" at the edges, and we all know a red velvet cake must, above all, be velvety. Overall Texture Rating: 4 out of 5 Sprinkles

Aesthetic: Nice large size, icing heaped high, deep red velvet cake, a cute smatter of red cake crumbs coating the top of the cupcake, although the icing application was not perfect nor were the sprinkled crumbs arranged symmetrically. Definitely a mouthwatering cupcake, but not a gorgeous work of cupcake art. Overall Aesthetic Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Satisfaction: Very satisfying! I would absolutely get this again, and I think it's one of the best red velvet cupcakes I've tried-- I liked the frosting on the Two Little Red Hens Red Velvet better, but the Crumbs Red Velvet cake blows Two Little Red Hens out of the water! I was definitely satisfied! Overall Satisfaction Rating: 4.5 out of 5 sprinkles.

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

Crumbs "Good Guy" Rainbow Sprinkle Funfetti Cupcake

Crumbs "Good Guy" 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: First let me explain this cupcake to you, because it's AWESOME-- It's vanilla cake with rainbow sprinkles baked into it, like Funfetti, and filled with a vanilla buttercream center, and then topped with cream cheese frosting, which is covered in a super-dense blanket of rainbow sprinkles and then drizzled across the top with white chocolate. Wow! A lot going on in this cupcake, but all the tastes together are just unbelievably delicious!!! Caryn from CareBear's Kitchen said the dense top layer of sprinkles reminded her of those delicious cookies you get at bakeries with the densely packed sprinkles baked on top. Mike tasted a bite and could only say "Wow, that is good!" The cake is sweeter than regular vanilla cake because of all the sugary rainbow sprinkles baked in, so the cake is just a sweet deliciousness that I can't get enough of. The vanilla cream filling is very thick and very sweet, and wow, I wouldn't have thought all these different elements work together, but somehow they do! The cream cheese frosting is sweet and not too cream chees-y, so it doesn't add any flavors that overcomplicate the cupcake. The sprinkle coating is just pure deliciousnsess, it's like turning a cupcake into an ice cream sundae coated in rainbow sprinkle sweetness. The white chocolate drizzle is as delicious as it sounds-- such good white chocolate, it reminds me of a bakery white chocolate lattice cookie! I am in cupcake heaven!! This might be the most I've ever written about the taste of a cupcake! This is a clear Overall Taste Rating of 5 out of 5 Sprinkles!!!

Texture: This cupcake has a lot going on, but somehow it all works together! The cake is perfectly moist, this sprinkle-filled cake is just to die for. The buttercream center is perfectly smooth, the cream cheese frosting is smooth too but inextricably combined with the sprinkles and white chocolate drizzle on top, which together provide just the perfect amount of softly crunchy sugar. Overall Texture Rating: 5 out of 5 Sprinkles!!!

Aesthetic: The top of cupcake is gorgeous! It reminds me of a Jackson Pollock painting! (If Jackson Pollock had used better colors) A gorgeous rainbow sprinkle-packed top layer drizzled in white chocolate, and the rainbow colored cake inside is beautiful too! Colorful, bright, cheery, artistic, and just the type of good-lucking cupcake that should put a smile on anyone's face!! And clearly this cupcake is a work of art in the form of abstract expressionism. Unfortunately, the side view of this cupcake isn't as perfect as the aerial view, and from the side appears to be a bit lopsided. I hate to deduct points off anything so delicious, but as you can see for yourself in the picture, it has to be done. Overall Aesthetic Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Sprinkles!!

Satisfaction: WOW. There is a lot going on in this cupcake, but it all works together like MAGIC, I have never been so satisfied!! My only sadness is that this is a "special edition" cupcake, so it might not be around for long! Perhaps Crumbs will read my review and consider adding it to the permanent collection! This cupcake is going in my Cupcake Hall of Fame, but I sure hope Crumbs doesn't retire it!!! Overall Satisfaction Rating: 5 out of 5 Sprinkles!!!

Overall Cupcake Ranking: 19.5 Sprinkles!!!! (out of 20 possible)

Crumbs Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcake

Crumbs Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcake, $3.75, http://www.crumbs.com/

Taste: Icing that tastes like cookie dough-- how does Crumbs do it?! They somehow make the magic happen, because the frosting tastes like chocolate chip cookie dough, and as I'm sure you know, chocolate chip cookie dough is utterly delicious. Cookie dough frosting is GENIUS! The cake is delicious and flavorful Crumbs vanilla classic cake. Inside, the cupcake is filled with a chocolate cream filling-- this chocolate cream filling is not frosting, and isn't super sweet-- it tastes a bit like chocolate pudding, but slightly bitter-- I'm not really enjoying the chocolate filling at all. There's a delicious chocolate chip cookie on top though. The cookie dough frosting is delicious and incredible, but this chocolate filling in the middle is abundant and I don't care for it much at all. Overall Taste Rating: 3.5 out of 5 sprinkles.

Texture: The cake is so moist, the cookie dough frosting is so smooth and creamy, even the unpleasant chocolate filling is smooth and creamy, and the chocolate chip cookie on top is soft and goes great with the rest of the cupcake. Overall Texture Rating: 5 out of 5 sprinkles.

Aesthetic: This cupcake is large in size and pleasantly adorned on top with a chocolate chip cookie, with white frosting heaped on top an inch high, with some of the chocolate filling peeking out from below-- not sure if that was intentional or sloppy! The cupcake has an appealingly edible aesthetic, but is not gorgeous in its presentation. Overall Aesthetic Rating: 3 out of 5 sprinkles

Satisfaction: The cookie dough frosting was HEAVENLY. But the cupcake would have been WAY better without the chocolate filling inside! I am positive I've had this variety of cupcake from Crumbs before where the inside of the cupcake is filled with more cookie dough frosting instead of this chocolate cream filling-- they should DEFINITELY go back to the old recipe!! I was so busy avoiding the chocolate filling and eating around it while eating this cupcake that it definitely impeded my satisfaction! Overall satisfaction rating: 3.5 out of 5 sprinkles.

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

Crumbs Strawberry-Banana Cupcake

Crumbs Strawberry-Banana Cupcake, $3.75, http://www.crumbs.com/

Taste: The frosting is banana-flavored and tastes artificially flavored-- I think probably the same frosting as on the Banana Split Cupcake. The cake is AWESOME though-- it's strawberry flavored cake with real strawberries baked into it!! The cake doesn't taste artificial at all, it's full of fresh strawberry flavored deliciousness. There are also strawberry preserves in the center of the cupcake that are delicious-- not too sweet, with chunks of real strawberries in the compote. Taking a bite of the banana frosting, strawberry cake and strawberry preserve filling together, it's pretty tasty-- it really pulls together into a strawberry-banana flavor! Makes me wonder if Crumbs has thought about doing a reverse banana-strawberry cupcake with banana cake and strawberry frosting! The best tasting component is by far the strawberry cake on this one, though-- strawberry cake, so innovative, utterly delicious! Overall Taste Rating: 4 out of 5 sprinkles

Texture: Crumbs really knows how to get the textures perfect on their cakes-- the cake is so moist and soft and delectable. The frosting is creamy and smooth, and the strawberry preserves inside are smooth with real strawberries swirled in. The pink and red sprinkles are also a pleasant addition. However, the strawberry gummy candies adorned on top are much better served for decoration than consumption-- in general, I don't think gummy candies and baked goods really go together, and it especially kills the texture to have a chewy gummy candy in a bite of your cupcake! I'd advise leaving these gummy candies off to the side or consuming them separately. Overall Texture Rating: 3.5 out of 5 sprinkles

Aesthetic: Crumbs cupcakes are so pretty!! I love the jumbo size of the cupcake, the rim of densely packed red and pink sprinkles, and the cute gummy strawberries on top (they didn't work with the texture, but they looked cute, and let the world know the cupcake was going to involve strawberry flavors!) But, a deduction needs to be taken because the application of the sprinkles, frosting, and other components are not perfectly even or symmetrical. Overall Aesthetic Rating: 4.5 out of 5 sprinkles

Satisfaction: I'm feeling pretty satisfied! The strawberry cake was just stellar, and left me craving more. The banana icing on its own tasted too artificial for me to enjoy it, but together with the other cupcake components, it was pretty tasty. The gummy candies on top just didn't work for me with the textures, but I do think they looked nice as decoration! Overall Satisfaction Rating: 3.5 out of 5 sprinkles

Overall Cupcake Ranking: 15.5 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!

Cupcake Packaging

Above, Buttercup Bake Shop's box of cupcakes













Above, Crumbs Bake Shop's box of cupcakes













Above, Magnolia Bakery's box of cupcakes













Above, Crumbs Bake Shop's shopping bag

















Above, Buttercup Bake Shop's Shopping Bag
















Above, Magnolia Bakery's Shopping Bag


So the hand's down packaging award between these three prominent New York cupcakeries hands down goes to Crumbs! I think the pictures speak for themselves, but Crumbs has by far the best shopping bag, and also the most aesthetically pleasing and functional cupcake boxes!

Crumbs Bake Shop: Banana Split Cupcake

So, this cupcake caught my eye-- the Crumbs Banana Split cupcake. Pretty, right? Unfortunately, it looks better than it tasted.

Taste: The cake just tasted like (and may have been) regular vanilla cake, and was delicious. Inside, there was a bonus pocket of filling that was yummy and vanilla and a bit like vanilla ice cream. Yum! But, the icing on top is where the taste went wrong. It was very artificially banana flavored, and the banana was very strong and not very pleasant. I couldn't even taste the chocolate, and the cherry was candied and ultra-ultra-sweet. Being like a banana split appears to be where the banana split cupcake went wrong! I had hoped it would be banana cake inside, with perhaps a chocolate fudge filling inside and whipped vanilla icing on top. Overall Taste Rating: 3 out of 5 sprinkles.
Texture: Despite the taste being unsatisfying, the icing and filling inside were both creamy and melt-in-my-mouth, and the texture of the inside filling was especially pleasant and felt like ice cream in my mouth! The cake was Crumbs delicious moist vanilla cake. Overall Texture Rating: 5 out of 5 sprinkles!!
Aesthetic: The appearance was what lured me into purchasing this cupcake at all! Big, beautiful, over an inch of white frosting on top and latticed with chocolate and topped off with a cherry! Overall Aesthetic Rating: 5 out of 5 sprinkles!!
Satisfaction: As pleased as I was by the appearance and texture of the cupcake, the taste was a big disappointment, and I was left with an aftertaste of artificial banana flavoring. Yuck! But, had I wanted to enjoy the cupcake, I could have eaten the cake and inside filling and left the banana icing to the side and it would have been yummy. Overall Satisfaction Rating: 4 out of 5 sprinkles

Cupcake Ranking: 17 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)

Crumbs Bake Shop: Vanilla on Vanilla

Crumbs Bake Shop Vanilla on Vanilla was up next, and I just have to illustrate for comparison the size difference between a Crumbs cupcake and a Buttercup cupcake:
A Crumbs cupcake ($2.95 each) basically dwarfs a Buttercup (and a Buttercup and a Magnolia are the same size), making other cupcakes look puny in its shadow.
Taste: OMG, after sampling the disappointing Magnolia and Buttercup vanilla on vanilla cupcakes, I thought I was too nauseated to possibly enjoy another cupcake. But Crumbs really came through in the clutch. The icing was perfect-- I'd love to know how they do it, but it struck the perfect balance of being sweet yet light, and actually tasted vanilla (whereas the Buttercup and Magnolia frostings just tasted the flavor of sugar with no hint of vanilla). The cake also hit the mark on taste perfection-- the cake easily could stand alone as a delicious cake with no need of icing, and yet with the icing and cake together it just tasted like heaven! The flavors together were just perfect. Overall Taste Rating: 5 out of 5 sprinkles!!!
Texture: The icing was creamy and melt-in-my-mouth delectable, and the cake was perfectly moist and yet light and not too dense. The icing and cake together made for a perfect combination in my mouth! Overall Texture Rating: 5 out of 5 sprinkles!!!
Aesthetic: The cupcake was really big, perfectly even, and the icing was creamy and heaped over an inch high on top in a perfect swirl. Rather than haphazardly scattered sprinkles on top, the sprinkles were neatly arranged in a circle around the edge, creating a border, and the rainbow sprinkles were densely packed together, yet the non-sprinkled middle of the circle remained pure white with icing. Now that's precision! Overall Aesthetic Rating: 5 out of 5 sprinkles!!!
Satisfaction: There was one disappointment with my Crumbs cupcake-- in the past, when I've had large Crumbs cupcakes, inside there has been a delicious shot of extra frosting in the middle! But today, my Crumbs cupcake only had cake in the middle. Luckily, there was so much icing heaped on the top of the cupcake that the icing-to-cupcake ratio was great just as it was. The cupcake was so large it was enough to save the rest for one, if not two, snacks later on. And at $2.95, compared to $2.50 for the smaller and inferior Magnolia and $2.25 for the smaller and inferior Buttercup, I felt it was a great value for my money! I feel 100% satisfied! Overall Satisfaction Rating: 5 out of 5 sprinkles!!!

Cupcake Ranking: 20 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)!!!!!!!!!! This cupcake can enter the Cupcake Hall of Fame as our first Perfect Scoring 20 Sprinkle Cupcake: The Quintessential Cupcake!