Baked by Melissa Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcake

Baked by Melissa Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcake, 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: Real jelly, real peanut butter, and vanilla cake without much flavor. The frosting is just real peanut butter (smooth), which is delicious, but rich. The jelly is sweet and balances the peanut butter-- just like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich! Oh, peanut butter and jelly, you go so well together. The 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis that introduced the peanut butter and jelly sandwich was a momentous moment in history. Love my PB&J! Overall Taste Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Texture: The peanut butter is creamy and smooth, but sticky, standard for peanut butter. The jelly is, well, jellied. No surprises here. The cake is dry. The textures here are pretty close to a PB & J sandwich. Overall Texture Rating: 3.25 out of 5 Sprinkles.

Aesthetic: Such a mini cutie! The peanut butter is neatly ringed around the jelly in the center, which frames it in a peanut butter border. There's no mistaking that this is a PB&J cupcake! The cake is a nice golden color to it. Sweetly tiny. Overall Aesthetic Rating: 4 out of 5 Sprinkles

Satisfaction: So here's the thing: I LOVE peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I truly do. But I could just make myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. This cupcake needs to add something more CUPCAKE-esque to the peanut butter and jelly sensation to be a peanut butter and jelly CUPCAKE. I love peanut butter frostings that blend sugar into peanut butter to create a peanut butter flavored frosting, rather than just frosting in pure real peanut butter. Or perhaps a sweeter, moister more cakelike cake, or a cake with the jelly baked into it rather than just inserted atop the center post-baking. So although this cupcake tasted just like PB&J, which I loved, it wasn't very cupcake-y, leaving my cupcake craving unsatisfied, though my PB&J carving was fulfilled. Overall Satisfaction Rating: 3 out of 5 Sprinkles

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

Buttercup Bake Shop Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcake

Buttercup Bake Shop Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcake, buttercupbakeshop.com, $2.25 each

I love PB&J, but would I love it in cupcake form?

Taste: Pleasantly delicious! The icing had a distinct peanut butter flavor, and yet was also sweet and was clearly icing and not peanut butter-- I would guess they took vanilla icing and blended it with real peanut butter to create the flavor. The vanilla cake was unremarkable, but it didn't need to be, because the awesome peanut flavor of the icing and the yummy jelly found in the center of the cupcake made the cake just our bread-like vehicle for PB&J deliciousness! I think the jelly in the center was grape, and it was sweet but balanced nicely by the not-very-sweet cake and peanut butter frosting. Overall Taste Rating: 5 out of 5 sprinkles!!
Texture: The icing unfortunately had a major grittiness due to the fact that real peanuts were ground into it (or chunky peanut butter was used in its creation)! Points for authenticity, but the grittiness ruined the icing's texture a little bit for me. The jelly in the center nicely moistened the cake, which otherwise was a little dry. Overall Texture Rating: 4 out of 5 sprinkles
Aesthetic: From the outside, unfortunately, this was not the most attractive cupcake-- it just didn't look very appetizing. I think the pictures above demonstrate this cupcake's plainness and lack of beauty. Overall Aesthetic Rating: 2 out of 5 sprinkles
Satisfaction: My main complaint was that there was not enough jelly in the middle! I was left craving more jelly, and after eating the delicious jelly center was left with a PB cupcake lacking in J! But the jelly-included bites were utterly delish! Overall Satisfaction Rating: 4 out of 5 sprinkles

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