Cupcakes

My out of town sister would like to have cupcakes in lieu of a wedding cake for a 'post-wedding day celebration here next summer. Does anyone have suggestions for a great cupcake bakery in Chicago? Thanks for your help.

check out this thread:

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=4836&highlight=trip+cupcakes

a number of folks weigh in with their favorites

I never contributed to the other thread, but I have always been pleased with the quality of the cake and buttercream from Sweet Mandy B's. They're also used to dealing with large orders.

Sweet Mandy B's
1208 W. Webster Ave., Chicago
(773) 244-1174

Best,
Michael

Ditto on Sweet Mandy B's. Best cupcakes I've had in years.

; )

I'll third Sweet Mandy B's but you might also want to check out Alliance bakery on Division. Last week s4shon recommended the pumpkin cupcakes there. I tried one and thought it was excellent: very moist, pumpkin-y cake with a healthy layer of dee-licious cream cheese frosting (you could smear that stuff on just about anything and I'd eat it). They had all kinds of cupcakes there and they were very pretty but I can only vouch for the 4-star taste of the pumpkins. I'm computer illiterate so I don't know how to add a link to that post but you can search for Alliance bakery. The price ranged from $1.75 to $2.

I'm a cupcake fan, and my go-to places are Sweet Mandy B's, Fox & Obel's (for their Red Velvet Cupcake, which some might consider non-traditional since it doesn't contain nuts) and Southport Grocery & Cafe. Of the three, I consume the most cupcakes from Sweet Mandy B's, though it's by no means the closest or most convenient.

Red velvet without nuts non-traditional? In which way? Garnish? Because it certainly isn't in the batter or icing.

Queijo wrote:Red velvet without nuts non-traditional? In which way? Garnish? Because it certainly isn't in the batter or icing.

Queijo, some recipes include pecans in the icing. I admit that I'm only a relatively recent fan of red velvet cake, but I assumed that with pecans was more traditional than without. I couldn't find a red velvet cake recipe in any of my cookbooks, but I did a recipe search online, and came up with a fairly even split of recipes with and without pecans.

In my experience baking red velvet cakes in bakeshops in the south (I was a pastry chef in my past life), we never used pecans or any other nuts in the icing. Hence I asked. I think it is a chef-to-chef decision, not a question of tradition, because pecan-free is also acceptable.

I've seen a couple of recipes that call for nuts in the cake batter itself, but never in the frosting. I make my red velvet without nuts -- one of my favorite treats!

Wow...I never meant to start to a nuts-in-red-velvet-debate, but it appears that the following are all acceptable variations:
1. No nuts
2. Nuts in frosting, but not in cake
3. Nuts in cake, but not in frosting

(No one's mentioned red velvet with nuts in both the cake and the batter, but I'm sure if this were a southern food board, that variation might pop up soon, too.)

I grew up in the south Atlantic (Carolinas and Georgia). The Red Velvet I grew up eating had nits in the cake batter. But, none in the cream cheese frosting.

I never cared for the cake myself. Instead, on my birthday or other special day, i'd ask for mom's yellow cake from scratch with caramel icing.

AM's Sweet Lil Me Me's Bakery at Western and 118th does an excellent version of the caramel cake. I need to make a trip down there soon.

YourPalWill wrote:AM's Sweet Lil Me Me's Bakery at Western and 118th does an excellent version of the caramel cake. I need to make a trip down there soon.

Do you know if they still exist? They don't answer their phone. The number I have is 773/233-7230.

Alas, it appears that Alliance has joined ranks with Cupcakes in offering dry, tastless cupcake concoctions, I sadly report. Alliance is my local, so I really wanted to give the place a break. But after the last few visits, I noticed that, as their demand had clearly gone up (they have been rather busy as of late), the quality has decreased. However, I kept giving them chances as I have had, in the not-so-distant past, good experiences with them (my very delicious birthday cake came from there!).

But my experience last night closed the book on them - at least for a while. My red velvet cupcake was not only dry, but downright stale! There was no chocolate taste. The cream cheese frosting was rock hard. The cupcake was unsaleable, in my opinion. It was so bad that I would have returned it had I not brought it home first.

Sorry to hear that about Alliance. I have had their cupcakes in the best and they have been delicious ( it has been months though) As far as their cakes, they did my wedding, where we had a different cake on every table, and they did the best job I could imagine. This past august they made me a cake for our 1st anniversary and it was also very yummy. Hopefully they get their quality back.

Louisdog

For those of you who can still eat gluten (I temporarily, am forbidden):

We have to add Bleeding Heart's cupcakes to this list. So someone go over and give us a report. I'm dying to hear how they are.

There's also another bakeshop I noticed on Damen between Chicago and Augusta. Has anyone been there?

That would be Just Baked. Shared a double chocolate cupcake and apple tart with my wife on Friday night. Both very tasty. The sandwich, salads, and sides menu looks very good but pretty expensive. They do however offer money back if you're truly unsatisfied with your sandwich.