Early this morning I went over to the South End Buttery with my friend Andrew who, I must add, was looking fantastic. Andrew and I hadn't hung out in months! We tried two cupcakes in Day 4 of Cupcake Week at the Tasty Show:
Bakery: South End Buttery
Cupcake 1: Simon Devil's Food Chocolate Cupcake
Cupcake 2: Madison Vanilla Cupcake
The above two cupcakes (and also their Harriet Carrot Cupcake) are named after the South End Buttery's owner's dogs. A portion of the sales of these three cupcakes go to local animal rescue efforts.
Price: $3
Accompanying Friend: Andrew
Presentation: Elegantly classic. Andrew also noted that rather than having frosting spread evenly over the surface of the cake, the frosting was applied over a smaller surface area with a higher overall volume leaving the outer edges frosting-free - different than what he usually expects with cupcakes.
Cake: The chocolate cupcake was excellent in every respect. It was dense and moist, structurally cohesive with a fabulous decadent texture. It had a deeper and more intense cocoa flavor than any other chocolate cupcake so far this week. I totally loved it. The vanilla was a whole different experience. Both Andrew and I found that the vanilla cupcake, while also dense, was kind of muffin-y. It was a bit drier with a more concentrated texture than the chocolate cupcake.
Frosting: Both cupcakes had sweet, super creamy, soft butter cream frosting (chocolate and vanilla, respectively). The chocolate frosting went extremely well with the chocolate cake. The vanilla frosting wasn't as good a match. It seemed a little too sweet and light for the density of the vanilla cake.
Overall experience: We both loved the chocolate cupcake. It was incredibly good in every respect. The cake itself was perfection. I can whole-heartedly declare that the chocolate cupcake at the South End Buttery is everything a chocolate cupcake should be. But then, in great contrast to our excitement over the perfection of the chocolate cupcake, neither of us were really into the vanilla cupcake. It wasn't all that cupcakey.
Click here to see the 5-day plan and read the original Cupcake Week post.
