Flour & Sun Bakery Vanilla on Vanilla

Vanilla on Vanilla, Flour & Sun Bakery, Pleasantville, NY, http://www.flourandsunbakery.com/, $2.75 each

Taste: The icing is like a mouthful of confectioner's sugar! Imagine eating a spoonful of confectioner's sugar and wanting to gag from the untempered sweetness, and that's what this icing tastes like. The cake is bland and doesn't have much flavor. Very disappointing. Overall Taste Rating: 2 out of 5 Sprinkles

Texture: The frosting is a little bit chalky, like too much powdered sugar and not enough other ingredients to balance it out. The cake is a little dry. Overall Texture Rating: 2 out of 5 Sprinkles

Aesthetic: This cupcake tried-- the icing is a pure white (all that powdered sugar!) and the ring of rainbow sprinkles is a nice, festive idea-- but as you can see, its lopsided, uneven, unattractive, and the top of the frosting is hardened and cracked and uneven. Not very pretty. Overall Aesthetic Rating: 2 out of 5 Sprinkles

Satisfaction: VERY disappointing. When I went to the Sun & Flour bakery, I was so excited and had read about their menu of fun flavors and looked forward to trying them, but when I got to the bakery they only had about five flavors available-- the standard combinations of chocolate and vanilla, the red velvet, and the lemon poppy. I wish I could have tried some of the more fun flavors the menu claims they have! But it appears they only offer a small selection each day. The vanilla on vanilla was a big letdown. Overall Satisfaction Rating: 1 out of 5 Sprinkles

Overall Satisfaction Rating: 7 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)

Flour & Sun Bakery Red Velvet

Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Frosting, Flour & Sun Bakery, Pleasantville, NY, http://www.flourandsunbakery.com/, $2.75 each

Taste: This is a very sweet cream cheese frosting-- delicious, but very sweet for a cream cheese frosting. Cake is not overly flavorful, but pleasant, and eaten together with the icing, this is a sweet treat! Overall Taste Rating: 4 out of 5 Sprinkles

Texture: The frosting isa little grainy, I can feel the crystals of sugar mixed in with it, but it is fluffy and light, and the cake has a good medium texture, not dry at all though I wouldn't call it moist. Overall Texture Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Sprinkles.

Aesthetic: I like the look of this cupcake!! I love how there is such a large quantity of icing, and I love how decadently its swirled, the way its swirled reminds me of a rose! The cupcake is even and proportionate, and the icing application is just swirled in a beautiful and generous way. The red velvet cake has a rich red color, and the frosting is a beautiful pure white. Overall Aesthetic Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Satisfaction: Not the best Red Velvet cupcake I've had-- Two Little Red Hens and Crumbs were superior-- but a pleasant treat, and I enjoyed it well enough. Overall Satisfaction Rating: 3 out of 5 Sprinkles

Overall Cupcake Ranking: 15 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)

Bedford Village Pastry Vanilla on Vanilla

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. Then, underneath the layer of icing with the firmer consistency, is a large puff of HEAVENLY white buttercream frosting. When I say this buttercream is HEAVENLY, I mean HEAVENLY-- this is perfect, melt-in-your-mouth, ultra-whipped, sweet (but not sickeningly sweet) and perfect buttercream-- it is WONDERFUL. The cake is sort of unremarkable-- spongy, lightly sweet, pleasant enough but not outrageously good. Eaten together with the frostings, this is a super-sweet cupcake. Overall Taste Rating: 4 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 buttercream is unbeatable. The texture on the glaze fondant is thick and smooth. The cake is unfortunately a bit dry. Overall Texture Rating: 3.5 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 white is bright and glossy, the application is neat, the cake has a nice golden color. I guess this is a pretty cute cupcake. Overall Aesthetic Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Satisfaction: This was a fun cupcake! I really enjoyed it more than I expected, in large part due to the whopping dose of buttercream hidden inside that big ball of fondant on top. The cake part left something to be desired, but I liked that it was a classic cupcake and yet was something different at the same time. Overall Satisfaction Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Sprinkles

Overall Cupcake Ranking: 14.5 Sprinkles (out of 20 possible)