Austin Cupcake Tasting

I recently visited Austin, Texas and of course had to visit some of the local cupcake shops. Here is a review of three local cupcake bakeries.

SUGAR MAMA'S BAKESHOP

First stop, Sugar Mama's Bakeshop. I was looking forward to going here since my last visit to Austin a year ago. During that visit, they weren't quite open as the result of construction delays. It was well worth the wait!

The storefront is darling with a sweet old-fashion feel. Their logo is darling with the red, white and black cupcake with a little Texas star on top. When we walked in we saw all these darling designer aprons hanging on the walls. Then, we saw their bakery case full of delicious cupcakes.

Each cupcake had it's very own style and design. You can tell a lot of work, thought and heart went into creating these masterpieces. Each had a star-quality name; Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemon, Hemingway, Frida and more.

One of the owners was there, Steve O'Neal (unfortunately his wife Olivia was out this day) who shared the history of all Olivia's hard work. She spent years perfecting the recipes. Boy, did she do an outstanding job.

Here is what we chose (note: this was over 2 different days):

Odd Couple cupcake: This sweet and salty delight consists of a rich moist chocolate cupcake topped with salted caramel cream cheese frosting. Opposites attract in this Sugar Mama's favorite! It was another crowd favorite. It was such a great flavor combo.

"Hula" : Moist coconut cupcake topped with coconut cream cheese frosting and a generous sprinkling of toasted coconut.This frosting was DREAMY!

Elvis: Moist banana cupcake with creamy peanut butter buttercream with edible gold sparkles. "Thank you very much" this was a very nice light treat. The two together was a good combo and the peanut butter frosting was very creamy.

Mud Pie: This one gets the record for the "most ingredients". It is a chocolate cake covered in whipped coffee buttercream frosting, crushed chocolate cream sandwich cookies, whipped cream, and a drizzle of dark chocolate syrup. It was VERY delicious. I'm not a big coffee fan but it wasn't to overwhelming.

Jack Lemon: This had a very unique cake. It almost seemed like a chewey cookie crust (like a snickerdoodle texture) with a moist lemon cupcake. Then it was topped with tangy lemon buttercream.

The Hemingway: Saving the best for last....this was my ULTIMATE favorite. Buttery vanilla cupcake filled with fresh key lime curd and topped with key lime cream cheese frosting and crushed graham crackers. A true masterpiece. (Wish they shipped to Seattle).

DELISH CUPCAKES

Next we visited Delish Cupcakes. As we approached the shop we saw a nice selection of outdoor seating on the tree-lined sidewalk. It was very sophisticated and had this cool sofa chair which was made of hard plastic but was surprisinlgy comfortable. The shop seemed very modern from the exterior.

We were greeted by very friendly staff and the decor had a very hip, trendy feel to it. They had lots of great artwork which we were informed was all done by the owner.

We chose two cupcakes:

Ginger Carrot Cake: It was a very moist cake and the ginger wasn't to overwhelming. The cake was topped with a cream cheese frosting. It had candied ginger pieces on top as well. We really enjoyed the cream cheese frosting.

Milk and Honey: The cake seemed light with a bit of dryness and vanilla-honey flavor. It was topped with a sweet Mexican vanilla frosting. It seemed a bit too sweet but maybe it was because we had sample three other cupcakes a half hour before hand.

WICKED CAKES

Wicked Cakes does not have a storefront, so the owner Nicole McGarry, was sweet enough to bring several of her cupcakes to our Austin Cupcake-meet up which occured on July 7th.

Nicole had the sweetest personality. You can tell she really cares about her customers and is passionate about cake. I'm so glad she could attend and bring us all her scrumptious treats.

Wicked Cakes provided the following:

Coconut: This had a chocolate cake with a coconut cream frosting. All her cakes were a great size and easy to eat. I really enjoyed the coconut frosting. I secretly wished for a coconut cake as well but it was very delicious combination.

Red Velvet: The cake was a wee bit dry but the cream cheese frosting was soooo good.

Peanut Butter Chocolate : This was my favorite! The peanut butter frosting was creamy and delicious. The cake was moist and tasty. She had these cute sugar flowers on top and we dressed up all the cupcakes with some Bella Cupcake Couture.

It was a delicious day of cupcake tasting, even in the 102 degree weather. Thank you Austin! Look forward to our next visit to try more shops. For more photos visit our Facebook site.