maybe the new owner will fix the buttercream. A queijo can dream....

LOL I live right down the street from Cupcakes and thought - hmm, maybe I should buy it and change the frosting!

BTW, the last few times I've been in there, the place seems to have developed an off smell. Very sharp, very - electrical? Burnt rubber? Not unlike in gradeschool when the balast in the flourescent lights would act up. Almost makes me gag. The really sad part is that the packaging has absorbed the smell, and one of the cakes I had did too. Wonder what's up with that??

Hmm....burnt electrical...I don't know what could cause it but I noticed that the time I went in they were running their Kitchenaid countertop mixer nonstop...and that can certainly smell like burnt rubber if it gets too hot. But it could be something else entirely. Rancid butter perhaps ?

Perhaps things have changed at Cupcakes (other than merely ownership) since I posted my comments in August. When I first tried it, I thought it was awful. Today I stopped by and tried the pear cupcake w/ pear buttercream and it was excellent. Perfectly smooth and flavorful buttercream (and not too sweet) and a nice moist and flavorful cake itself. Good enough to want to go back soon.

Glad to hear that the quality's improved. Are they still charging $3 for a cupcake?

chgoeditor wrote:Glad to hear that the quality's improved. Are they still charging $3 for a cupcake?

Indeed $3 . . . perhaps a slightly hefty price (IMO), but oh well -- a small splurge.

I've had cupcakes from both Magnolia in NY, Sweet Mandy B's and Southport Grocery. Southport Grocery wins hands down in both quality and value. The cupcakes are large and cost $2. I had the vanilla cupcake with vanilla frosting and it was wonderful. My husband who does not likes desserts thought it was delicious as well. The buttercream is rich and fluffy. I agree that there's nothing worse than hardened shell-like buttercream. Sweet Mandy B's cupcakes were ok but overpriced and tasted like a boxed mix with jar frosting. Magnolia's are better but I think there's a nostalgia factor there that makes people think they're better than they actually are.

Rudy wrote:I've had cupcakes from both Magnolia in NY, Sweet Mandy B's and Southport Grocery. Southport Grocery wins hands down in both quality and value. The cupcakes are large and cost $2. I had the vanilla cupcake with vanilla frosting and it was wonderful. My husband who does not likes desserts thought it was delicious as well. The buttercream is rich and fluffy. I agree that there's nothing worse than hardened shell-like buttercream. Sweet Mandy B's cupcakes were ok but overpriced and tasted like a boxed mix with jar frosting. Magnolia's are better but I think there's a nostalgia factor there that makes people think they're better than they actually are.

Rudy, it sounds like you spend some time in Andersonville, so I'll pimp out the cupcakes at M. Henry's storefront. (It's a couple of blocks north of that cruddy Jewel.) $2.75 a pop, but I've really been caught off-guard by how good they are. Even the vanilla cupcake that I expected to be lowest-common-denominator was rich and moist and really vanilla-y. (I'll admit I've never been a cupcake fan, so anything that exceeds my expectations might get this kind of review from me, and a reality check from another person isn't a bad idea. )

Bob S., thank you. I've been planning to check out M Henry for quite some time now, especially since they added the take-out bakery counter. I'll give the vanilla cupcake a try and post my thoughts. I felt the same way before I tried one at Southport Grocery--I'm a chocolate fan so I wasn't expecting anything special but it far exceeded my expectations.

I am also a major cupcake fan. However, I have to respectfully disagree with the assessment of the M. Henry cupcake. First of all..no buttercream -- a whipped cream topping instead and I didn't find it that flavorful and there's not much of it. The cupcakes have the topping just sort of dolloped on top and they are also filled, a la Ding Dong fashion. The cake was fine -- but i found it rather unexciting. Granted...i'm picky when it comes to cake -- but this was just not worth the money spent on them. And I honestly don't recall how much they were but they were more than I wanted to spend.

on the subject of cupcakes -- I'll report in on the cupcake at A Taste of Heaven. I tried three kinds -- chocolate, marble and vanilla/yellow. I found the cake to be very very heavy. First of all...they're huge! Gigantic. And they cost about $2.50 which was a bit more than I wanted to pay but I was definitely jonesing for a cupcake. The buttercream was rather lackluster as well -- I've had plenty of homemade buttercream that way tastier than this. I think what added to my disappointment was that the cakes i've had at a Taste of Heaven have always been quite lovely. I'm not sure what happened with the cupcakes.

I've got to get over to Southport -- everything you guys say about them makes my mouth water...

shan

earthlydesire wrote:I am also a major cupcake fan. However, I have to respectfully disagree with the assessment of the M. Henry cupcake. First of all..no buttercream -- a whipped cream topping instead and I didn't find it that flavorful and there's not much of it. The cupcakes have the topping just sort of dolloped on top and they are also filled, a la Ding Dong fashion. The cake was fine -- but i found it rather unexciting. Granted...i'm picky when it comes to cake -- but this was just not worth the money spent on them. And I honestly don't recall how much they were but they were more than I wanted to spend.

on the subject of cupcakes -- I'll report in on the cupcake at A Taste of Heaven. I tried three kinds -- chocolate, marble and vanilla/yellow. I found the cake to be very very heavy. First of all...they're huge! Gigantic. And they cost about $2.50 which was a bit more than I wanted to pay but I was definitely jonesing for a cupcake. The buttercream was rather lackluster as well -- I've had plenty of homemade buttercream that way tastier than this. I think what added to my disappointment was that the cakes i've had at a Taste of Heaven have always been quite lovely. I'm not sure what happened with the cupcakes.

I've got to get over to Southport -- everything you guys say about them makes my mouth water...

shan

Well, there's a reality check! I have to concur with the Taste of Heaven cupcakes, and note that I too really enjoy their cakes. As for M. Henry, some of this is taste -- I'm fine with the whipped cream topping (which has held up for over a day, unrefrigerated, in my third-floor apartment, so I assume it can't be just whipped cream, but it's still lighter than buttercream), and I like filled cupcakes. (Although my least favorite at M. Henry is the raspberry-filled chocolate cupcake.) We may have been there at different times -- the three times I've bought cupcakes from them, the topping's swirled on, looking almost like a soft-serve cone. But this is almost more defense than they deserve, even I admit -- I think it's a decent neighborhood spot.

Just want to clarify -- M. Henry is a fine place. Love their breakfast and I"ll say that their blisscakes are absolutely amazing. Light and luscious and incredible -- I wish their cupcakes were that way!

But....to each his own.....