Truthfully, they don't care if we eat cake or cupcakes (as long as we shop at their stores), but I am a cupcake blogger, not a cake one so I am pimping the cupcakes. Mmm...cupcakes! Red Velvet? Chocolate? Vanilla? How about all of the above? I snagged this originally from Jezebel.com, as I don't actually get the W-S catalog. Then I tuned to Williams-Sonoma.com directly. 
At the Williams-Sonoma online catalog, you can buy those very cupcakes shown above, for $60 (plus overnight shipping?). From the catalog in question:
Perfect Endings, the renowned Napa Valley bakery, makes these cupcakes for us from scratch, using fresh eggs, real butter and other premium ingredients. And they’re superb. Sam Godfrey, the founder, learned baking as a child under the strict tutelage of his Southern grandmother. This set includes three favorites re-created from her original recipes: rich chocolate, frosted with classic chocolate icing and scattered with dark chocolate sprinkles; red velvet, generously swirled with old-fashioned white icing and sprinkled with red velvet cake crumbs; and vanilla, slathered with vanilla icing and topped with shredded coconut. Set of nine, three of each flavor. A Williams-Sonoma exclusive.I wouldn't tell you not to do this, but for 60 dollars plus shipping (and possibly tax), and for only 9 cupcakes, I'd rather see what I could do. I bet I could do a decent job (with money left over and many more delicious cupcakes for eating) using similar "premium" ingredients. In fact...I feel a Bobby Flay-style throwdown challenge creeping up on me. We try both, with an independent judge or judges. Think the CTTC ladies (Rachel, Nichelle, and Allison) would sign off on that? I just work here...you'd have to turn to the Big Three "Tower Of Power."
You wanna see the results, appeal to them...But know, people, I won't let you down! I promise! Please, weigh in on this.
Your thoughts?
Comments
And I'm always looking for a good red velvet recipe. And an excuse to try it out. And an excuse to eat cupcakes. :)
I'm glad we ordered them, our curiosity has been satisfied, however, for the amount of money we paid with shipping, all in, I'd never do it again. I don't care how much Oprah loves these cupcakes!! They were mediocre at best.
3 out of 10.
Not nearly enough icing on all the cupcakes! However, I will say that the cake was moist and very fresh.
The red velvet cupcakes were undercooked as evidenced by the "U" shaped indentation on top of the cupcake that was filled in with plain vanilla buttercream and topped with red velvet crumbs.
The chocolate frosting was very weak and watered down, infact, it almost tasted like chocolate pudding vs. real chocolate frosting. The sprinkles were good though!
Finally, the coconut cupcake was just a basic, plain vanilla cupcake with vanilla buttercream and a dry, unsweetened shreds of coconut on top.
All in all, our experience was very, very disappointing. The cupcakes were also very small.
In the end, I couldn't even use these cupcakes for Thanksgiving. I had to make my own! I don't know what version of cupcakes Oprah gets; or Chuck Williams for that matter, but these cupcakes did not live up to our expectations at all.
My recommendation is for cupcake lovers to save their money!
*chanting*
Throwdown, throwdown, throwdown!!
I'm thinking I might try ordering them and comparing them with the Williams Sonoma cupcakes....
It would be neat to order cupcakes from all the mail order places and then have a tasting and rate them!
I think that would be way too expensive though! Especially just before Christmas. Drat!
I am seriously going to look at ordering those Saks cupcakes though...
I'll keep you posted!
*grin*
Many thanks to the anonymous reviewer who gave tasting notes on her experience with the Williams-Sonoma cupcake order. I truly feel I could do a better job (hint hint).