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)