Phoebe's Cupcakes - more cupcakes in town

As posted in the Openings and Closings thread, there's yet another cupcake shop in town. Although I'm generally against the cupcake format (not to mention the cupcake craze), the place is 1 block from my house so I decided to stop by on my bike ride home and grab a cupcake to try it out. Two options were on offer, Sparkling Pear and Carrot Cake - I went for the pear. The cake itself was quite good - moist, obviously fresh, not too sweet, a noticeable and pleasant crust along the crown. The icing, on the other hand, not my thing. Light, airy, almost mousse-like, yet kind of greasy on the tongue. I guess I prefer a classic buttercream and apparently this is an Italian buttercream (which some quick Googling shows is a cooked meringue made with a hot sugar syrup then beaten with butter). Perhaps it's a great example of that style and I just don't care for Italian buttercream.

At $2.50, they're probably cheaper than some other fancy cupcakes in town, but for my money, I'm still in search of good layer cake. Based on the location and the line that had formed, I'm sure they'll do just fine without me being a regular.

Phoebe's Cupcakes
3327 N. Broadway Ave.
Chicago, IL 60657
773.868.4000
www.phoebescupcakes.com

-Dan

dansch wrote:I'm generally against the cupcake format (not to mention the cupcake craze),

Why?

iblock9 wrote:

dansch wrote:I'm generally against the cupcake format (not to mention the cupcake craze),

Why?

I generally find them a bit awkward to eat, out of proportion (frosting/cake) and quick to go stale. Eating layer cake with a fork lets you get the mix of cake, frosting, fillings (assuming something different between the layers than on the outside) exactly how you want it in each bite.

The other issue, which is a generalization about cupcakes as they exist in cupcake bakeries more than it is the format itself, is that cupcake places tend to be more focused on looks than flavor.

If a bakery popped up that only made icebox cookies or croissants or pie, you'd expect them to make incredibly delectable icebox cookies, croissants, or pies; I think that since cupcakes are kitschy and popular, some places get a bit of a pass on deliciousness as long as they look great. I actually appreciate restaurants that focus on one thing (or a small set of things) and do them incredibly well, I just hold places that only make one thing to a particularly high standard for that one thing. If you opened a birrieria and your birria was only so-so, it'd be odd to have a line out the door.

Some cupcake places obviously crank out delicious elements (cake, fillings, frosting), but I feel like the format holds it back. For instance, Molly's Cupcakes on Clark - their brown butter frosting in particular is incredibly delicious, but eating it on top of a cupcake leaves me unsatisfied with the overall experience.

-Dan

n.b. To be clear, as I talk about places with so-so cupcakes or focus on looks over flavor above, I'm really talking about the cupcake format and cupcake industry as a whole, not any one cupcake joint (Phoebe's or otherwise) in particular.

dansch wrote:I generally find them a bit awkward to eat, out of proportion (frosting/cake) and quick to go stale. Eating layer cake with a fork lets you get the mix of cake, frosting, fillings (assuming something different between the layers than on the outside) exactly how you want it in each bite.

I'm totally with you there...either you get all-frosting bites followed by no-frosting bites, or you try to take a big bite with the correct ratio of the two, and end up with frosting all over your nose.

This is why I like to eat my cupcakes by pulling off the entire top frosting & all, flipping the top half upside down, and putting it back on the bottom half, making a cupcake sandwich with frosting in the middle and dry, finger-friendly cake on the top & bottom. This way each bite has a consistent & pleasing balance of cake & frosting.

As you can see, it's a science

I like to eat my cupcakes by pulling off the entire top frosting & all, flipping the top half upside down, and putting it back on the bottom half, making a cupcake sandwich with frosting in the middle and dry, finger-friendly cake on the top & bottom.

Call the venture capitalists! I think you've just written the business plan for the Next Big Thing. Khaopaat's Cupcake Sammies, coming soon to a trendy boutique street near you!

elakin wrote:Call the venture capitalists! I think you've just written the business plan for the Next Big Thing.

Speaking of which, it would appear that Phoebe's Cupcakes is actually VC-backed. A press release on April 9th announced "Ascent Equity Capital is committing up to $1.5 million to fund the national rollout of Phoebe's Cupcakes, with an expected opening of locations in 15 to 20 cities."

elakin wrote:Khaopaat's Cupcake Sammies, coming soon to a trendy boutique street near you!

Khaopaat may have been beaten to the punch! An article I saw about Phoebe's mentioned, "Susan Friedman, owner of Fraiche (formerly called Kim's Kitchen, 815 Noyes St., Evanston, 847-475-5467, fraicheevanston.com), sells superbig and superdelicious Whoopie Pies (above, $3 each)—easily shared by two." A quick Google News search shows that these whoopie pies also got coverage in The San Jose Mercury News.

Of course, this is LTH; It appears that gastro gnome was way ahead of the curve calling out the Spiced Pumpkin Whoopie Pie from Kim's (now Fraiche) back in '08, with additional coverage from Mhays in the Cookie Gazette

-Dan

I picked up a half dozen as a friend's belated birthday gift. They are cute and normal-sized. By normal size, I mean the size you remember when you were a kid and your mom made cupcakes.

The flavors are not "normal". When I arrived there was not a regular chocolate cupcake available. There was a root beer float, cherry almond, red velvet, salted caramel, tuxedo (chocolate cream frosting w/ vanilla cake), vanilla vanilla, S'mores, and Oreos.

I tried the salted caramel. There were actual coarse bits of salt on the frosting. There was more frosting than I like (but I gather most folks love frosting piled high) but it was good. It was also pretty. The cake was moist. I would do this again.

Khaopaat wrote:

dansch wrote:
This is why I like to eat my cupcakes by pulling off the entire top frosting & all, flipping the top half upside down, and putting it back on the bottom half, making a cupcake sandwich with frosting in the middle and dry, finger-friendly cake on the top & bottom. This way each bite has a consistent & pleasing balance of cake & frosting.

Do you also open your bananas like this?

I agree cupcakes are pretty awkward to eat, but I'm a bit jealous of those of you who can eat them at all - since I can't eat wheat (though I do it anyway once in awhile).

Sweet Cakes is another cupcake place - by my place, in East Village. Here's a few cupcakes from Sweet Cakes:

(I'm pretty sure "The Egg" is just a joke )


The Egg


Mint Chocolate Chip Mini


Vanilla Vanilla Mini


Vanilla Cake, Strawberry Buttercream


Lemon Lavender Coffee Cake

Khaopaat wrote:

dansch wrote:

This is why I like to eat my cupcakes by pulling off the entire top frosting & all, flipping the top half upside down, and putting it back on the bottom half, making a cupcake sandwich with frosting in the middle and dry, finger-friendly cake on the top & bottom. This way each bite has a consistent & pleasing balance of cake & frosting.

As you can see, it's a science

Oh My God. I thought I was the only who did that. Yowsa.