Cupprimo

Kudos to Cupprimo Cupcakery and Coffee for creating their culinary cake concoctions. How cheesy of me.



So to kick start the rebirth of my cupcake reviews, Hoan and I drove twenty minutes across town to try Cupprimo. I was a bit surprised at its location in a small, less-than-inviting concrete shopping center near a major highway and right next to a Valero. I guess I've just been so used to quaint little cafes and bakeries. But! Don't let that fool you. And if you still don't believe me, their cupcakes should change your mind.

The one I got (pictured above) was their Black & White, a slightly rich chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream and an additional dollop of chocolate buttercream on top for good measure. Although I do prefer light, airy cakes in order to offset the rich frosting (because 'light frosting' is an oxymoron), their version wasn't unbearably sweet at all. To be honest, I had been craving cake for a REALLY long time prior to this visit, and the Black & White really hit the spot.

Hoan got three mini cupcakes--Longhorn Brownie, Primo Vanilla, and Snickerdoodle. None of them are really worth mentioning except the Snickerdoodle, which is the one he's getting ready to eat in the photo. It tastes JUST LIKE THE COOKIE OMG. No lie.

They don't have a very extensive menu worthy of say, Sugar Mama's, and yeah, Cupprimo's location isn't exactly CupPRIME (heh heh), but they are most definitely worth driving twenty minutes for.

Then you can dinner eat at Asia Cafe (yes, AFTER dessert), which is located in the same shopping center. Hoan will vouch for them. Because I'm not qualified to write that review.

Delishous

I have definitely been slacking on these cupcake reviews. To be honest, I have no excuse. Better late than never is what I always say. Kind of.



So last month, Hoan and I went to Delish, a bakery on 3rd Street. The area itself is a bit, oh how should I put this, haughty? No, that's not it. Just a bit more polished and sophisticated than I'm used to. But what can I say, I'm less of a city girl and more of a suburbanite. Not by choice, however.

Back to the cupcakes: Hoan got the Black & White, a chocolate cupcake with a Mexican vanilla buttercream, while I tried out their Red Velvet. Not too bad. The cakes themselves were very moist and we ate that up. But once I was finished, I realized I had about half of the frosting leftover. Now maybe this is just a personal issue, but I have yet to find a cupcake with the perfect frosting-to-cake ratio. I can't eat frosting on its own, and even having paid 2.75 for a cupcake can't justify me putting all of that excess sugar in my mouth.

Aside from the cupcakes, the bakery itself was very aesthetically pleasing--tall windows, dark color scheme, clean lines. However, the seating wasn't very efficient, with few places to sit down and enjoy my dessert, save for a red lounge chair and a few feet of counterspace.

Delish definitely blends in with its downtown surroundings. If you're looking for a cupcake to quickly grab-and-go, then I'd definitely recommend them. However, you'd be hard-pressed to find someone hanging out and having a conversation with friends here. That is, unless they don't mind standing.

One-year old Mama

This Saturday is Sugar Mama's birthday! I hope I can make it! I mistakenly told Hoan it was last weekend. Hmm.. maybe I did it on purpose.. subconsciously.

Nah.

Polkadots

It was 7:30PM when we got to Polkadots. Thirty minutes before closing time. Maybe that's why. Maybe I should go again during the daylight hours. Maybe all the goods were long gone by then. Maybe it was just a long day for everybody. Maybe.

There was no one else in there when Hoan and I arrived, but I didn't take that as a bad sign, seeing as how it was a weekday and school hadn't started yet, meaning the clientele for this location (Rio Grande & 21st, smack dab in the middle of Longhorn-ville) was still on vacation or busy moving into apartments, dorms, etc. I preferred it that way, thinking I'd get a better feel for the place and its employees without other customers around.

Not so much.

The woman behind the counter gave us our Mint Chocolate Chip and Vanilla-Chocolate cupcakes with a timid smile and not much else, retreating back to the kitchen as soon as she got the chance. The cupcakes were also lacking, considering the ratio of frosting to cake was about 50/50. Personally, I prefer more cake. The prices were also a bit steep--I paid almost seven dollars for two cupcakes.. okay, there was a dollar tip, but I digress.

Like I said, maybe I just came on a particularly bad day. Maybe all the people who have raved about this place were right. Maybe I should give it a second chance. Maybe I will.

It's a good thing I don't put much value in first impressions because if I did, I know for a fact that I would not come back, no "maybe" necessary.

I didn't like ANY of the photos I took, so here's just one. Whoops. I'll try harder next time.

Sugar Mama's

I've begun my scavenger hunt of local Austin bakeries, starting with one closest to me on South First Street: Sugar Mama's. The name is cute enough, but seriously, once you step inside, you are bombarded with cuteness--the cute decor, the cute people, the cute cupcakes, not to mention the owner's cute cute son with cute hair and cute blue eyes. What a cutie.

But anyways. The cupcakes.



This one, the Fluffernutter, was the most aesthetically pleasing, in my opinion. It's a peanut-butter-chocolate-chip cake with marshmallow frosting. It's too cute for its own good, I tell you, because both Hoan and I thought it fell short of what its looks brought us to expect. Oh well.

We also tried the Black and Tan, a moist and heavenly Guinness-flavored cupcake with cream cheese frosting (A+++), and the Pin-Up, which was your basic chocolate buttercream over vanilla. Of these three, the Black and Tan definitely takes the cake.

Huh. There's a title name for you. Takes the cake.. "Taste the cake?" I need help titling this baking adventure of mine.

Overall, I think Sugar Mama's has this awesome, friendly, laid-back, Austin vibe going for it. It's in close proximity to a handful of cafés and local vintage stores, and they even sell aprons that are, what else, really cute. I'm definitely coming back, if only to try the Southern Belle (red velvet + cream cheese) and the Vegan Mint Chocolate Chip.



A bit off topic, but Hoan ordered a birch beer, which got him a lot of attention because apparently, everyone is really curious as to what the hell birch beer actually is. The question was left unanswered.