Here's a guest post by our friend Jacqueline Colette Prosper of Yummicoco.
Greetings from Los Angeles! As all of you know, the cupcake craze is still going strong in the city of angels with these unstoppable morsels of impossibly cute confection icing their way to becoming as ubiquitous as burritos. “Are they, really?” my husband asks incredulously—my knowledge of both his hometown of Los Angeles and of food trends is limited at best. But I know a good sweet treat when I taste one, which is why I jumped at the chance to visit Frosted Cupcakery in Hollywood and Yummy Cupcakes in Santa Monica. And what better way to sample some of the Southland’s best delights than to do it with my husband and in-laws, Connie and Joe, on Swiss National Day (August 1). Joe is Swiss but born and raised in Los Angeles and a red velvet lover. Connie loves anything chocolate, while Sean, like me, loves it all. Here are our findings.
While Frosted Cupcakery offers deliciously slick, kitchy-cool varieties, including a delectable jumbo sized ice cream filled cupcake ($4.95), Yummy Cupcakes keeps it simple with less fanciful-looking delights that punch out the competition with super moist creations that make you want to be a better baker. Our sugar rush express took off at Frosted Cupcakery on Highland, which expanded from Long Beach to Hollywood earlier this year. From colorful cupcake containers to complimentary birthday candles, Frosted is an adorable bakery. With cupcakes starting at $2.95, Frosted offers about 17 flavors daily. Connie and Joe immediately zeroed in on the Royal White Nutella Buttercream in honor of Switzerland, while I instinctively puckered up with glee as I indulged in Frosted’s flavor of the month, Key Lime.
Sean’s selection of the mint chocolate chip ice cream filled dark chocolate cupcake, topped with gooey-good dark chocolate ganache was worth the extra calories. We also purchased chicken-flavored corn pupcakes for Pancake, the family Boxer/Staffordshire, which he gobbled up in milliseconds upon our return home.
After our Swiss Day feast of Weisswurst sausages and Spätzle, our next stop was Yummy Cupcakes on Wilshire in Santa Monica. An unassuming baking house, cupcakes cost between $2.75-$4.75 depending on size; and coming soon, expect a 3rd branch in Brentwood later this month. We were amazing by the wide array of treats like Cupcake in a Jar, Cupcake Truffles and Cupcake Biscotti. Two out of the five daily flavors, Summer Lemonade and Vegan Arnold Palmer (made with black tea and lemon) were too cute but they didn’t make our take-away box.
I chose Vanilla/Chocolate while Sean opted for Old School—a Hostess cupcake-inspired creation that’s tastier than the high fructose corn syrup-laden counterpart. As a family, it was a unanimous vote on their red velvet flavor with thick coatings of cocoa and regular cream cheese, which may have looked like a poorer relation to a black and white cookie but tasted like a million dollars. We took our order to go and devoured our selections while watching “True Blood”. The sugar high was almost as unbelievable as the revelation about Sookie presented in this week’s episode. It was that good.
Greetings from Los Angeles! As all of you know, the cupcake craze is still going strong in the city of angels with these unstoppable morsels of impossibly cute confection icing their way to becoming as ubiquitous as burritos. “Are they, really?” my husband asks incredulously—my knowledge of both his hometown of Los Angeles and of food trends is limited at best. But I know a good sweet treat when I taste one, which is why I jumped at the chance to visit Frosted Cupcakery in Hollywood and Yummy Cupcakes in Santa Monica. And what better way to sample some of the Southland’s best delights than to do it with my husband and in-laws, Connie and Joe, on Swiss National Day (August 1). Joe is Swiss but born and raised in Los Angeles and a red velvet lover. Connie loves anything chocolate, while Sean, like me, loves it all. Here are our findings.
While Frosted Cupcakery offers deliciously slick, kitchy-cool varieties, including a delectable jumbo sized ice cream filled cupcake ($4.95), Yummy Cupcakes keeps it simple with less fanciful-looking delights that punch out the competition with super moist creations that make you want to be a better baker. Our sugar rush express took off at Frosted Cupcakery on Highland, which expanded from Long Beach to Hollywood earlier this year. From colorful cupcake containers to complimentary birthday candles, Frosted is an adorable bakery. With cupcakes starting at $2.95, Frosted offers about 17 flavors daily. Connie and Joe immediately zeroed in on the Royal White Nutella Buttercream in honor of Switzerland, while I instinctively puckered up with glee as I indulged in Frosted’s flavor of the month, Key Lime.
Sean’s selection of the mint chocolate chip ice cream filled dark chocolate cupcake, topped with gooey-good dark chocolate ganache was worth the extra calories. We also purchased chicken-flavored corn pupcakes for Pancake, the family Boxer/Staffordshire, which he gobbled up in milliseconds upon our return home.
After our Swiss Day feast of Weisswurst sausages and Spätzle, our next stop was Yummy Cupcakes on Wilshire in Santa Monica. An unassuming baking house, cupcakes cost between $2.75-$4.75 depending on size; and coming soon, expect a 3rd branch in Brentwood later this month. We were amazing by the wide array of treats like Cupcake in a Jar, Cupcake Truffles and Cupcake Biscotti. Two out of the five daily flavors, Summer Lemonade and Vegan Arnold Palmer (made with black tea and lemon) were too cute but they didn’t make our take-away box.
I chose Vanilla/Chocolate while Sean opted for Old School—a Hostess cupcake-inspired creation that’s tastier than the high fructose corn syrup-laden counterpart. As a family, it was a unanimous vote on their red velvet flavor with thick coatings of cocoa and regular cream cheese, which may have looked like a poorer relation to a black and white cookie but tasted like a million dollars. We took our order to go and devoured our selections while watching “True Blood”. The sugar high was almost as unbelievable as the revelation about Sookie presented in this week’s episode. It was that good.
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