New in Belltown: Yellow Leaf Cupcake Shop

The Yellow Leaf Cupcake Company opened for business in Seattle today (May 15, 2009)

To celebrate, I invited several friends down for a cupcake tasting. However when we got there (1pm), unfortunately they had already ran out of cupcakes. The owner, Mike Hein (absolute sweetie) was standing outside apologizing to all those who tried to open the locked door. He wasn't going to have new cupcakes for another half hour.

Luckily since we had been exchanging emails, he invited us to come in for a cup of French Press coffee and some of their unique teas. While we enjoyed our tasty beverages, we admired how cool, clean and urban the place was. It was a very unique style from the other cupcake shops in the Seattle area which typically have brighter colors. They are also very focused on being eco-friendly so almost everything is recyclable.

Unfortunately the half hour turned in to an extra hour and a half wait. So while waiting we chatted and noticed they had these great comment postcards you could fill out and they would send them to whomever you addressed it to. So I sent one to Mom!

However as soon as they were ready, the tasting began. We tried Tomato Soup, Coconut, Vanilla, Black Forest and Lemon Drop.

Tomato Soup
It had a surprisingly good flavor. Most of us however didn't really taste the main ingredient; tomato soup. It seem to taste more like a pumpkin cake. The frosting was very light and creamy. It may even be a bit more tasty with a cream cheese frosting. The part that got the most attention was the chocolate covered rice krispy treat sprinkles on top. Sooo tasty. Check out CakeSpy's recent article about this cupcake and its background.

Coconut
One of the smaller cupcakes but with a big flavor. It wasn't overpowering it had a very delicate coconut taste. A few people who didn't like coconut just took off a bit of the the topping and really enjoyed its light flavor.

Vanilla
We loved this one (and not only because Tony let me frost it myself). They had just come out of the oven so the top of the cupcake had a bit of a crunchy crust. I actually thought it may have a cream of tartar in it because it was almost like a crunchy snickerdoodle top; however it did not. The frosting was very light and creamy as well.

Black Forest
This was a smaller cake but had a really nice cake flavor. It was very moist and almost tasted like eating one of the chocolate lava cakes. The berry topping was good but was very light that we didn't taste a lot of it. We all wished there had been a little more.

Lemon
Saving the best for last. We all agreed this was our favorite. The lemon cake and frosting was very light (and I wouldn't even mind a bit more tart if they wanted). Our favorite parts was the fresh lemon curd and crushed lemon drops dusted over the top. Again these were fresh out of the oven and delightful.

Added bonus
That evening I also took four more to an event. We additionally tried the Chocolate and the Almond. Chocolate had an amazing frosting but the cake was a bit dry yet still flavorful. The Almond was a big hit (for those who liked almond). The flavor of the frosting and cake really complimented themselves. My two favorites of the day was the Lemon and Almond with Vanilla as a close third.

In conclusion, both the owners were super sweet men and we were happy to spend a couple hours with them. I'm eager to try there Rootbeer cupcake next time. And I appreciated my gal pals joining me to check them out. Thank you Candice of Fashion Ethic, Melody of CRAVE, Renee of It's Eventful for sharing your time and opinions of Yellow Leaf Cupcakes.

"The world is a better place with cupcakes!"
- Michael Hein (owner, The Yellow Leaf Cupcake Co.)