Crumbs for You, Crumbs for Me

Rumored to have beaten out Sprinkles in a double-blind, triple tongue taste test, Crumbs does not disappoint. Located just down the street from Sprinkles in Beverly Hills, steer your car away from Sprinkles and towards Crumbs. It's moved to position #1 for me.

Pictured here is the fabulous Key Lime Pie cupcake, which is a CupMyCakes first. In fact, there are a lot of firsts at Crumbs, and they were all available at the time of our purchase. I can't comment on the decor because Sean made the trek over the hill for us.

CAKE: Wow. Delicious yet simple. It wasn't too dry, wasn't too moist, it was just right. The cake for the Key Lime is a basic vanilla. Did I mention these cupcakes are huge? Totally worth the $3.50 price tag. They're about a Sprinkles-and-a-half in size. It didn't fall apart when I cut it with a knife. Smooooth.

ICING: Double WOW. Very complimentary cake to icing ratio, with a very tart key lime flavor and a bright green color. There's a little more sugar in this icing than most, but it was great. I would say there was about 1/2" of icing on top.

All in all, this cupcake is more exciting, more satisfying, and most delicious.

-Sugar Sweet LoLo

Puddin Out In the Strip Mall

As you can see from the picture, the variety at Puddin' Out isn't that stellar. In fact the place itself looks like someone's garage of old stuff thrown around a glass case of cupcakes and other things. I say other things, because in addition to cupcakes, they have ice cream, pastries and if I'm not mistaken, wraps and crepes? Everything is a mish mosh in there, but despite it all, we had to try the cupcakes.

I had the cinnamon bun cupcake and it was surprisingly delicious. I haven't been anywhere else that has a cinnamon bun cupcake and I feel they hit it right on the nose. A little sweet, but that works in this type of cupcake. Lori had the strawberry, which she was fond of, but Andrew felt the cake was a bit dry. If they would just tone it down and focus more on the cupcakes and less on EVERYTHING else, this place would work. Also the owner is a plastic surgeon. If his operating room looks anything like this store, I would run for Dr. 90120 FAST!

-cupcakegal

My Little Cupcake - Studio City

Thus far, My Little Cupcake is my FAVORITE cupcake in the LA area.

We've been to My Little Cupcake on Ventura Blvd (next to Lala's) three times now. All three times I ordered my favorite, the Strawberry.

CAKE: The first visit the cake was very moist, but the last two times it's been a little more dry. Maybe they weren't made that day? It was the perfect amount of strawberry flavor without any annoying chunks of strawberry.

ICING: The icing is fantastic. It's piled high on the cupcake, and it's cream cheese but it's colored pink. It isn't piped on, so it doesn't look like a hot pile of dog poo. It's just the right amount of sweet, and it's a whipped sugar icing, not whipped cream. Whipped cream icing is just a waste, in my opinion. Some people (ahem, Martin) might think it's too much icing, but I didn't feel that way. I also didn't get that sugar-sick feeling that some of the other icings give me. I was ready to go back and get another, I didn't have that "Cupcaked Out" feeling.

DECOR: It's spacious and cool inside, and all of the cupcakes are prominently displayed. They even have mini cupcakes that taste as good as the large ones! The kitchen is very clean, and if you park in the back you can enter through the kitchen. I feel good about a cupcake place that lets you see their kitchen.

HOURS: Boooooo. Although they are open during the week, they close at 5 or 5:30.

SERVICE: The first visit was great, the baker / saleslady was very friendly. The second time it was a man, and he was curt and annoyed. He was completely insulted when I asked if the Strawberry cupcake had vanilla icing. "No! It's cream cheese!!!" Rude!

All in all, I can say confidently that My Little Cupcake is my favorite yet.

- Sugar Sweet LoLo

Cupcakes and Co. - Dry as a Bone

As we've continued our tour of the Valley's ever growing bake shops, we had to try Cupcakes & Co. - a brand new outpost that popped up in Burbank.  Now, Burbank is a bit far out of our normal cupcake radius, but hey, we're writing a blog here! Of course, I had to try the red velvet first - a staple of the cupcake world.  If you can get that right, then your cupcakes must be pretty good.  Well, guess what? Cupcakes & Co. got it WRONG.  The cake was dry as a bone and the icing tasted like it was made with cheap, cafeteria-style cream cheese.  Lori tried the lemon curd and she could barely get past the icing!  She claimed it tasted like plastic (I thought it tasted like nothing - which is still pretty terrible in a cupcake).  I will say they had nice customer service, but the place looked very corporate.  No "home-style" bakeshop atmosphere.  

Avoid this place, unless you are desperate for a cupcake at 9:30pm....they are open until 10.

I have seen the light!!! Red Velvet Cupcake at Auntie Em's Kitchen! Mmmm...!!!

I had always heard that Auntie Em's had good food, but I was skeptical (as always!) surrounding all the hype.  Plus, I didn't want to trample through the hipsters of Eagle Rock just to score a table.  But, when I heard it had the best Red Velvet cupcake in town, I figured it was worth a try.  Now, I've tried almost everyone's red velvet cupcake in town and I must say this truly is the BEST.  The cake is moist and not too chocolaty, and the icing is the PERFECT mixture of sweet and cream cheese - and it's whipped to perfection.  It's a good size cupcake that will fill you up, but the taste will linger on your palate -  forcing you to dream of the next time you can sink your teeth into one.  Ohh and they come in mini-versions too!

-MZ

Yummy Cupcakes -- OK

I have to say the folks over at Yummy's do care about their cupcakes. From the moment you walk in to the exposed kitchen, you feel like you are immersed in your favorite aunt's kitchen. They offer an array of different flavors (I think I counted 10 or 12) with some daily specials. Their red velvet did hold it's own compared to some of our favorites. Two thumbs up to the extra cream cheesy frosting. And the cake itself was pretty moist. Definitely order the red velvet here as I felt the frosting on the other cupcakes was too sweet and the cake itself is a bit dry.

-mh

http://www.yummycupcakes.com/