Cupcakes, Cupcakes..... cupcakes?

Let's talk cupcakes.


A very fitting subject for this week after a disappointing outcome to the Superbowl. But I digress... it's almost time for Baseball... and I know the Mariner's will provide appropriate excitement to take us all the way to the start of Football season again. Add in 2 vacations and some weekends away and oh yeah, I'll be set.


So... cupcakes. 


Salted Caramel cupcakes to be exact.  Now, I probably don't have to actually say that I adore cupcakes. collect cupcakes and cupcake things. They're just perfect... and cute. and usually for the most part, at least the ones you can eat are totally yummy.


So, a favorite flavor of mine is Salted Caramel and there were 2 cupcake stores in the area that I've had the chance to extensively sample and this week I popped into the 3rd place, that I'd noticed is now selling cupcakes and French macarons in addition to doughnuts now. So I thought I'd drop a bit of money and try a few things. 


Word to the wise... make sure your service person GIVES YOU THE CUPCAKES YOU WANT!  Fortunately, it was a buy 2 get one free day and since they gave me one I cannot stand - RED VELVET ...  yuck. seriously. if I'd actually wanted it I would have actually ordered it.


The side note is - the macron's are fantastic and I am going to be hard pressed to remind myself that they are too expensive and too out of my way to get a macron fix. But they were super yummy and a total match to the ones at honore.


But again, I digress.


Salted Caramel Comparison was the point here. And I am totally ready to weigh in on my favorites.


First up... Cupcake Royale. Now... the best part about this one for me is the frosting. It's a lovely thick caramel ganache almost... oooh... so good I'd like to just eat an entire bowl of it with a spoon. The chocolate cupcake isn't bad, it's a bit too dense for my liking. I do like their cupcakes but all in all they are usually too dense. This one comes with small dark chocolate curls and visible sprinkling of salt crystals on top.


Next... Pinkabella cupcakes.  I like the frosting, its' a caramel buttercream drizzled with caramel and sprinkled with sea salt. But what I truly love about the Pinkabella cupcakes is the cake is really good. nice and soft, not too dense or dry. To be honest, I've always wanted the cupcake royale caramel frosting on top of the Pinkabella cupcake. ... :)


and this week's audition to get in the ranks... Frost... To be honest... totally disappointed. The cupcake is dry and barely more than a cake mix ... seemingly. The frosting is uninspired. It doesn't appear to be a caramel butter cream and I'd have to say that ... if I guess... it's almost more of a whipped cream frosting that is usually found piped into the center of a Bismarck in their donut case than suitable for being on top of a cupcake.  It was drizzled with caramel and sprinkled with salt. There may or may not have been a caramel filling in the cupcake. if there was, there wasn't enough of it because THAT would have redeemed what I was thinking about the cupcake itself. 


So there you have it... I'd still like cupcake royale's frosting on the pinkabella cupcake... or maybe Trophy's cupcake. hmm. I will have to check the Pacific Place cupcake spot tomorrow. I can't remember if I've had a salted caramel from them.


Hmm... I could go to cupcake royale too and see about just getting some frosting. hmm. Or a bacon crack chocolate chip cookie.


Ohh ohhh... being downtown will be dangerous to my diet tomorrow. I also have a huge addiction and weakness for the divinity cookies at the Pike Place Bakery... mmm... those are things from my childhood. The bakery in town used to make them and it's been years since I have had them consistently. I do absolutely need to find a recipe and get cracking on them... they need to be shared.


This counts as this week's blog post... I honestly just forgot to blog yesterday... this is the one I planned though. :)