Yesterday at around 6 in the evening I went to Sprinkles Cupcakes in Manhattan to buy the s'mores cupcake designed by Blake Lively, which benefits the charity Oxfam International Somalia. I'd been reading and blogging about it and it was the first day it was on sale, and s'mores is one of my favorite cupcakes flavors, if not the favorite, so I was very excited. I also found they had two new flavors out that day, The King (peanut butter frosting on banana cake) and German chocolate, so I bought those too ($3.50 each). Sad to say, my overall experience was disappointing. Here's why.
clockwise: The King, s'mores, German chocolate cupcakes
s'mores cupcake designer and Gossip Girl star Blake Lively
Now, these cupcakes looked gorgeous and amazing and the s'mores topping, which I have to find out more about but I overhead a staffer saying doesn't contain gelatin because it's not actually marshmallow (anyone with more information can email us at cupcakestakethecake at gmail.com) was gooey and sticky and sweet and amazing. Delicious. There was lots of it, and while a lot of people find marshmallow too sweet, I don't, I love it. So that part of the cupcake was awesome.
But the graham cracker crumb bottom and the cake started crumbling the minute I unpeeled the wrapper and it got worse from there. It was so crumbly I had trouble eating most of it, but the top part of the cake was okay. The inside though was mushy, and at first I thought maybe it was supposed to be like that or was filled or something, but it just wasn't doing it for me.
Then I tried the German chocolate cupcake and again, the topping was delicious. Very sweet also, more so than lots of German chocolate cupcakes I've tried, but that was okay, but that cake was completely undercooked and wet and not appealing. I kept trying it, thinking maybe it was just me, but I couldn't really handle it. It was a shame because I was excited about them, and I rarely say a bad word about cupcakes on this blog, but these just weren't up to the standard they should've been. I don't know if they weren't cooked long enough or what, but a good frosting and an undercooked cake do not a good cupcake make. I would be willing to try them again, and I may today because I also bought an assorted dozen cupcakes to take to a family event, and I'm curious to hear if others have had this experience. I ran into a Cupcakes Take the Cake reader on the way out, so maybe she'll have something to report.
graham cracker bottom of the s'mores cupcake
In happier news, I did like The King cupcake a lot. The peanut butter frosting was very sweet, definitely peanut butter-y but sugar-y too. The banana cake was moist and dense and fully cooked and a great pairing the with frosting. So that one I wholeheartedly recommend.
inside The King cupcake
Visit sprinkles.com for locations and hours, and @sprinkles on Twitter and their Facebook page for daily specials.
clockwise: The King, s'mores, German chocolate cupcakes
s'mores cupcake designer and Gossip Girl star Blake Lively
Now, these cupcakes looked gorgeous and amazing and the s'mores topping, which I have to find out more about but I overhead a staffer saying doesn't contain gelatin because it's not actually marshmallow (anyone with more information can email us at cupcakestakethecake at gmail.com) was gooey and sticky and sweet and amazing. Delicious. There was lots of it, and while a lot of people find marshmallow too sweet, I don't, I love it. So that part of the cupcake was awesome.
But the graham cracker crumb bottom and the cake started crumbling the minute I unpeeled the wrapper and it got worse from there. It was so crumbly I had trouble eating most of it, but the top part of the cake was okay. The inside though was mushy, and at first I thought maybe it was supposed to be like that or was filled or something, but it just wasn't doing it for me.
Then I tried the German chocolate cupcake and again, the topping was delicious. Very sweet also, more so than lots of German chocolate cupcakes I've tried, but that was okay, but that cake was completely undercooked and wet and not appealing. I kept trying it, thinking maybe it was just me, but I couldn't really handle it. It was a shame because I was excited about them, and I rarely say a bad word about cupcakes on this blog, but these just weren't up to the standard they should've been. I don't know if they weren't cooked long enough or what, but a good frosting and an undercooked cake do not a good cupcake make. I would be willing to try them again, and I may today because I also bought an assorted dozen cupcakes to take to a family event, and I'm curious to hear if others have had this experience. I ran into a Cupcakes Take the Cake reader on the way out, so maybe she'll have something to report.
graham cracker bottom of the s'mores cupcake
In happier news, I did like The King cupcake a lot. The peanut butter frosting was very sweet, definitely peanut butter-y but sugar-y too. The banana cake was moist and dense and fully cooked and a great pairing the with frosting. So that one I wholeheartedly recommend.
inside The King cupcake
Visit sprinkles.com for locations and hours, and @sprinkles on Twitter and their Facebook page for daily specials.
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