Beantown Cupcakes is in Winthrop, MA. But they deliver cupcakes daily to La Luna Caffe in Central Square in Cambridge, MA, and that's where I went to pick them up. One thing I've noticed this past week is that going to a different place for a different cupcake with a different person every day for 5 days is kinda tough to manage when you have a full time job that has nothing to do with cupcakes. In order to fit the South End Buttery into my day yesterday I made my poor friend Andrew meet me there at 8 am - which is not all that early, but is a little early in the morning to be eating cupcakes. Not that I'm complaining. Here are the results of Day 5, the final day of Cupcake Week at the Tasty Show:
Bakery: Beantown Cupcakes
Cupcake 1: Razzle Dazzle
Cupcake 2: Madison (Vanilla) Cupcake
Cupcake 3: Apple Pie Cupcake
Price: $2.50
Accompanying Friend: Dan
Presentation: Cute all around. I was instantly attracted to the way each cupcake had its own style and personality. The showy Madison promised a whole different experience than the earthier, homemade style of the Apple Pie.
Cake: The cake is pretty fluffy. A tiny bit crumbly as well - except for the Apple Pie, which was sticky with apples and super super moist. Lots of flavor and sweetness all around. (Sometimes a little too much for me.)
Frosting: The theme here is light. All three frostings were very light and soft. Razzle Dazzle is topped with a raspberry mousse and the Madison with a vanilla butter cream. The Apple Pie cupcake is topped with a cinnamon sugar crust and whipped cream.
Overall experience: Beantown's cupcakes are lovable and quite easy to eat. One of the first things I noticed was that they really put a whole lot of each recipe's starring ingredient in each cupcake. The Razzle Dazzle, which has dark chocolate cake, is very very chocolaty. The Appie Pie, which is a cinnamon cupcake with granny smith apples, is chock full of cinnamon. And then the Madison, as well, is all about the vanilla. The flavors are pretty strong and these little cupcakes are quite sweet. A guaranteed sugar fix. The chocolate and vanilla cakes were slightly on the crumbly side for my taste and less moist than I would like, though their frostings were soft and smooth and went nicely with their respective cakes. The Apple Pie cupcake was totally different. It was squishy, sticky, and ultra moist. Lots of apples, lots of cinnamon - I liked it, but it reminded me more of an apple pastry (like apple pie) than a cupcake. And knowing that it's called an Apple Pie cupcake, I'd imagine that that was the point. But I'd probably go for a more cupcakey cupcake if I have the choice. And apparently I do, since they have more than 25 different flavors to choose from.
Click here to see the 5-day plan and read the original Cupcake Week post.
