So Sad: Cupcake Fail

It rarely happens, but occasionally it does. I had a bad, bad cupcake. A truly awful cupcake. Inedible. A cupcake that would not bring a smile to your face.

At the home of the $750 cupcake, Sweet Surrender in the Palazzo, Vegas, I had the strawberry:



Sweet Surrender


The strawberry.






They don't look bad, do they?

Sweet Surrender




The frosting tasted like a raw blend of Crisco, extract and possibly lard. The cake is chewy and tasteless. I couldn't choke it down, and ended up trying to discreetly spit the thing into my napkin. Gross. The only thing this cupcake had going for it was the findings: a white chocolate square and a dried strawberry.

I was with another cupcaker, and her reaction was similar to mine (less discreetly).

I can't understand how this happened. Did no one in the bakery taste the cupcake? Was this just a bad batch? It didn't bode well for the other half-dozen cupcakes I had purchased.



Sweet Surrender




Sweet Surrender






The next cupcake turned out to be the best of the bunch, and a decent cupcake.

Sweet Surrender


The carrot cake.




The frosting was good, almost very good, and the cake was good but could have used something to brighten/lighten it up, like pineapple.


Sweet Surrender




The frosting was totally different from the Crisco monstrosity. A dense, firm cream cheese frosting. Tasty. Sweet. Pretty piping.



The red velvet was also okay.


Sweet Surrender


It had the same frosting, so no problem there.




The chocolate cupcake was very pretty:


Sweet Surrender


But the frosting tasted like Cool Whip. The cake was chewy.



I'm so disappointed in the Palazzo.





Palazzo's Sweet Surrender
Sweet Surrender is located on the Palazzo casino floor next to guest elevators.

Sunday – Thursday
10:00 am – 10:00 pm

Friday - Saturday
10:00 am – Midnight



You can see all the images here.




Comments

Unknown said…
Oh I know what you mean...there are bad cupcakes out there. Too many places make enticing looking cupcakes but it's style over substance.
I like the ones I make at home best!
Xoxo Alison
Anonymous said…
You need to head over to Retro Cupcakes!
Gillian said…
Oh wow... how disappointing! We are staying there in 2 weeks and I know now what to avoid. And I must say- it would have been my first stop! Lame!

Thanks for the 411!
Lucy said…
That's such a shame, cause they DO look really nice. I wonder if anyone has tried the $750 cupcake yet and could vouch for how it tastes.
How sad indeed! They look so pretty too. It's a reminder not to judge a cupcake by its frosting! :) Love your blog, you need to come do the NY cupcakeries.
Unknown said…
wow, and they look so pretty!
Sarah said…
It makes you wonder what their $750 cupcake tastes like. You can describe it however you like, it's still a cupcake! They make it sound like it's taken years for this cupcake to form and someone discovered it in King Tut's tomb! Put it in the Smithsonian if it's that rare! But, back to the post at hand. Apparently their cupcakes are just like the city in which they are found, all show and no substance.
So embarrassed. I meant Long Island, not New York.
Unknown said…
That's too bad - they DO look delicious. I find a lot of places in Toronto are guilty of the same thing - beautiful looking cupcakes draw you in, but they have zero taste. I mean, I get it - if they look pretty, people will want them. But if they don't taste even close to as good as they look, you're not going to get repeat business!
I love the raw truth! Nice to know you can't judge by it cover, in this case a "cupcake"!
Tracy said…
I just returned from 3 nights at Palazzo last Thursday - I am a cupcake fiend but only could completely eat one of their cupcakes. The coconut was okay but the frosting was weird and unsatisfying - yeah, coolwhippy. The vanilla with strawberry lemon frosting was horrid and therefore I chose to not go back again. Sadness.
Jennifer said…
They DO look so pretty...what a bummer. Maybe they'll hear about this and change!
Catherine said…
This reminds me of my wedding cake tasting. We had to buy the cake, it was lovely and elegant, and it was so bad that only one of the 12 people tasting it could actually eat it! What a waste of a $46 cake.

We went with another baker, obviously.
bella beans said…
The problem with taste is that it's subjective, whether we're discussing movies or food. So when I read reviews like this I often wonder is the product awful...was it a bad batch...or am I reading the opinion of a person with a palate different than my own?

There's only one way to find out the next time I am out there. I've never eaten one of their cakes, but the presentation seems very nice.