Designer Desserts: S'mores Cupcake

Happy New Years!  

Our goal for 2014 is to bring you more cupcake reviews!

The cupcake listed above is Designer Desserts S'mores Cupcake.

Presentation : 10/10 Sprinkles

We definitely feel like this cupcake looked like a S'more.  We like to see when cupcakes actually look like what they are named so we gave it a high score.

Taste & Texture: 6/10 Sprinkles

Cake:  The cake tasted like straight-up box chocolate cake.  Something your mom could have made in the kitchen after she was experimenting with dinner.

Frosting: The frosting was characteristic of designer desserts: vanilla butter cream with nuts.  However, that was just on the bottom layer of the frosting.  On the top of the cupcake sat a large jumbo marshmallow with an attached Hershey's piece of chocolate..

Overall:  

Shauna: 7/10 Sprinkles

Shauna believes that the presentation did not match up with the taste of this cupcake.  The presentation was so awesome but the actual taste of the cupcake wasn't too grand.

Katrina: 4/10 Sprinkles

Katrina doesn't like s'mores in general because she dislikes marshmallows.   Marshmallows aside, the Hershey's piece of chocolate was not stale but the cake was very generic tasting.  She would never order this cupcake again when there are so many other choices with Designer Dessert cupcakes.

To our followers (Sprinklettes):  Go try it and tell us how you liked it in the comments below or at splitstatecupcake@gmail.com.

Designer Desserts: Carrot Cake

The photo above is of Designer Dessert's Carrot Cake Cupcake!

Presentation : 6/10 Sprinkles

This cupcake had a little frosted carrot on top with sprinkled crumbs of carrot cake.  The presentation of this cupcake was elegant and super cute with the edible carrot.

Taste & Texture: 6/10 Sprinkles

Cake:  The cake was a very dry carrot spice cake.  We believe that this is not characteristic of carrot cakes in general so we were a little bit disappointed.

Frosting: The frosting on this carrot cupcake was a regular vanilla buttercream without any coloring except for the carrot on top.

Overall:  

Shauna: 6/10 Sprinkles

Shauna thought the cupcake was good but was not the best carrot cake she has had.  She believes that the frosting could have had more coloring to it in the presentation.  For example, perhaps an orange frosting with a green leaf on top would have had a more creative presentation.

Katrina: 5/10 Sprinkles

Katrina thought that this cupcake was super dry and she loves moist carrot cake.  It left her feeling disappointed and she thought that the cupcake needed more frosting to counterbalance the dryness of the cupcake.

To our followers (Sprinklettes):  Go try it and tell us how you liked it in the comments below or at splitstatecupcake@gmail.com.

Designer Desserts: Big Texan

Presentation: 5/10 Sprinkles
We thought this cupcake was very unoriginal in looks. In Texas, everything is big. This cupcake had a big chocolate mound on the top with heath bar bits inside the chocolate.

Taste: 9.5/10 Sprinkles

Frosting: The frosting for this cupcake is very true to most designer desserts "mousse" cupcakes. The top was a scoop of chocolate mouse covered with a hard shell chocolate covering with heath bar mixed inside.

Cake: The cake was very moist for being on sale for $2.75 today. It was a chocolate cake with chocolate fudge in the center. It tasted like a decadent chocolate dessert and not like something you could make at home.

Overall:
Katrina: 8 Sprinkles
The look of the cupcake wasn't that appealing to her. She thought that the chocolate mousse was amazing in the cupcake and that is why she gave a high score.

Shauna: 8 Sprinkles
Taste & texture was on point but the look of the cupcake would have never caught her eye if it weren't for the cool name.

Cardinal Cupcake & Coneys: Gingerbread

Another cupcake review from Victoria P. in Muncie, IN!

      

The pictures above are of the Gingerbread cupcake at Cardinal Cupcake & Coneys in Muncie, IN.

Presentation:  3/10 Sprinkles

This cupcake was pretty cute with little brown spinkles. However, I was a bit underwhelmed by its overall presentation and simplicity.   Since it was purchased from a cupcake shop, I expected a bit more “pizazz” from a holiday-flavored cupcake.

Taste and Texture: 6/10 Sprinkles

This is a gingerbread cupcake and most definitely tasted like a gingerbread cupcake.  I would rate its taste a bit higher than its texture. This was a dense cupcake, similar to the vanilla cupcake I tried. However, as this is a gingerbread flavor, the density did not bother me very much. The icing was also pretty heavy and dense but did add a nice cinnamon-gingery note to the sugary flavor. The sprinkles on top added a nice crunch to the cupcake.

Overall: 5/10 Sprinkles

Compared to the other cupcakes I saw at the storefront, this was one of the cuter cupcakes. It had a nice flavor for the holiday season and would be a nice addition to a holiday party.  Since this was a smaller, more modest cupcake than what I am used to seeing in cupcake shops, I could easily mistake this cake as a homemade dessert instead of a cupcake from a cupcakery. 

Cardinal Cupcake & Coneys: VANILLA

Review from a guest cupcaker!!  

Victoria P. from Muncie, IN

Presentation 2/10 sprinkles

As this cupcake came from a standalone cupcakery shop, I was very underwhelmed by the presentation to the point of being a little disappointed. The icing, though a pretty blue color, was very flat.  It did not cover the whole top of the cupcake, which made it look a little naked to me. However, there were a few pearl white sprinkles on top to help try to dress it up.

Taste and Texture: 5/10 sprinkles

This was a very dense cake. I was actually surprised at its density and expected a lighter, airier cake. The icing was also very dense, heavy, and VERY sweet. With that said, the cake itself did taste good and was pretty moist.  The edges on the top were a tad hard (perhaps over-baked or sat out too long?) but not inedible. The icing tasted a lot like thick sugar.

Overall: 4/10 sprinkles

This cupcake tasted okay and was rather moist. I was just very underwhelmed by its presentation and didn’t expect such a dense cake from a vanilla cupcake. To me, this cupcake would be great to purchase and pass off  as a “homemade” cupcake from my personal kitchen, but I would not expect it to be from a commercial bakery.  On the up side, this cupcake was only $1.00 as I believe they were having a dollar sale this past weekend.

Designer Desserts: Caramel Macchiato

The cupcake pictured above is Designer Desserts: Caramel Macchiato.

Presentation : 7/10 Sprinkles

We thought the presentation of this cupcake was unique, but did not remind us of our favorite drink at Starbucks: Caramel Macchiato.  The pirouette cookie was cute and reminded us of being in a cafe.  Additionally, there was a messy looking caramel drizzling all over the frosting.

Taste & Texture: 7/10 Sprinkles

Cake: The cake was hard and dry, which isn't the best thing to taste when you're hungry for a cupcake!  However, the actual taste of the cake hit the nail on the head of the famous Starbucks drink.  The inside of this cupcake had actual caramel baked into the center, which is not characteristic of a Designer Dessert cupcake.  (*We must admit we got this cupcake a few days after it was made at a reduced price so that may be why the cake was so hard and dry.)

Frosting: The frosting was buttercream with caramel flavoring.  Actual caramel was drizzled on top for the added effect of a macchiato.  

Overall:  

Shauna: 8/10

Shauna thought that Designer Desserts did a good job on this cupcake taste-wise.  She believed that it tasted like the actual drink and that is why she gave a high score.

Katrina: 6/10 Sprinkles

Katrina thought that this cupcake was too sweet and she would rather have the actual drink than the cupcake flavored like one.  However, the pirouette cookie on top was very soft and she would get it again just for the cookie!

To our followers (Sprinklettes):  Go try it and tell us how you liked it in the comments below or at splitstatecupcake@gmail.com.

stay sweet!!

Designer Desserts: Caramel Apple Pie

The cupcake pictured above is Designer Desserts: Caramel Apple Pie.

Presentation : 6/10 Sprinkles

We think the presentation was okay.  However, we think that an apple slice would have spruced things up.  The frosting looked like chocolate while we were picking it out, but it wasn't chocolate at all!

Taste & Texture

Cake: The cake tastes like apples because it has actual apple bits baked into it.  The cake had medium moistness because the apples added a lot of moisture to the cake.

Frosting: What frosting?  This cupcake just had tons of thick melted caramel "frosting" on the top to have a frosting appearance.  There is "apple pie filling" in the center of the frosting, which was amazing!  However, the caramel part was just TOO MUCH SUGAR!

Overall:  

Shauna: 3/10 Sprinkles

Shauna did not like this cupcake because she thought this cupcake was just a piece of apple pie, which she does not like.  

Katrina: 7/10 Sprinkles

Katrina is a caramel and apple pie junkie so she ended up eating this whole cupcake after Shauna taste tested it.  If you are looking for a fall cupcake, this one is for you!  However, this cupcake is more of a dessert than a cupcake.  Beware of the sugar!

To our followers (Sprinklettes):  Go try it and tell us how you liked it in the comments below or at splitstatecupcake@gmail.com.

Stay sweet!

Designer Desserts: Vanilla

 This cupcake review is for Designer Dessert: Vanilla.

Solo Reviewer:  SHAUNA

Shauna reviewed this cupcake without Katrina, because of the fact that she was really craving a cupcake at the time. Katrina had also heard that Designer Desserts' cupcakes were $2 on Mondays because they are from the day before. There wasn't enough to choose from at all so Shauna went with one of their "original" flavors.

Presentation: 7/10 Sprinkles

The look of the cupcake is very "welcoming" it looks like a cupcake and makes you want to eat it.

Taste & Texture

Cake: Everything you think vanilla should taste like. This cake had a fluffy and light vanilla texture and flavor.

Frosting: Heavy pink frosting with a hint of cherry flavor with colorful rounds sprinkles and a cherry topper...WAIT A MINUTE. Pink frosting and a cherry topper for a vanilla cupcake? If this cupcake wasn't labeled I would have thought it was in the cherry family.

Overall rating: 8/10 sprinkles

Shauna rated this cupcake pretty high on the sprinkle scale. It was very delicious for just a plain vanilla cupcake, it just doesn't present itself as a vanilla cupcake but leans more toward cherry.  Sometimes you just need vanilla ;) For my 50 Shades fans!

To our followers (Sprinklettes):  Go try it and tell us how you liked it in the comments below or at splitstatecupcake@gmail.com.

Stay sweet!

Flirty Cupcakes: For The Love Of Chocolate (Mini)

The cupcake pictured above is Flirty Cupcake: For The Love Of Chocolate.

 HAPPY NATIONAL CHOCOLATE CUPCAKE DAY!!!!!!!

Katrina got this from the Flirty Cupcake Truck.

Solo Reviewer: KATRINA

Presentation : 6/10 Sprinkles

Katrina believes the decoration is pretty boring for a chocolate cupcake.  

Taste & Texture

Cake: The cake is a dense, deep chocolate.  It tastes a little manufactured, like store bought cake mix.

Frosting:  The frosting was butter cream with nutella flavoring dashed across.  However, this wasn't the best tasting butter cream.

Overall:  

Katrina: 5/10 Sprinkles

Katrina gave a low rating because she did not like the way it tasted at all.  Even though it was a bite sized cupcake, she could not finish it.

To our followers (Sprinklettes):  Go try it and tell us how you liked it in the comments below or at splitstatecupcake@gmail.com.

Stay sweet!

Flirty Cupcakes: Devil in Disguise (Mini)

The cupcake pictured above is Flirty Cupcake: Devil in Disguise.

Awesome name, right?

Solo Reviewer: KATRINA

Presentation : 8/10 Sprinkles

This cupcake is super cute because it's a mini cupcake!  Katrina could definitely tell it was red velvet from the presentation alone.  She really liked the red velvet crumbs on the top of the frosting.  

Taste & Texture

Cake: The cake was moist and bite sized!  It tasted like A PERFECT mini red velvet cupcake!  It is sinfully good!

Frosting:  The frosting was a cream cheese frosting.  The ratio of cake to frosting was amazing for being a bite size cupcake!

Overall:  

Katrina: 9/10 Sprinkles

Katrina thinks that Devil in Disguise is in her top 10 red velvet cupcakes!  She would really like to try a larger size of the cupcake.  It is amazing!  If you live in the Chicago area, please look for the Flirty Cupcake Truck!

To our followers (Sprinklettes):  Go try it and tell us how you liked it in the comments below or at splitstatecupcake@gmail.com.

Stay sweet!

Designer Desserts: Pumpkin Spice

Our first pumpkin!

The cupcake pictured above is Designer Desserts: Pumpkin Spice.

Presentation : 7/10 Sprinkles

The pumpkin candy corn looked tacky, but we still love the look of the cupcake! We would have liked to see some more "spice" on the cake.

Taste & Texture

Cake: The cake was a moist and dense spice cake.

Frosting: The frosting was actually too much for this cupcake.  There were 2 layers of a toned down pumpkin butter cream.  The pumpkin candy corn looked melted into the cake and was a little stale.

Overall:  

Shauna: 7/10 Sprinkles

 Shauna gave this rating because she thinks this cupcake is exactly what she had expected for a pumpkin spice cupcake.  However, she would have liked more spice on the cupcake.

Katrina: 7/10 Sprinkles

Katrina gave this rating because she loved how moist the spice cake was but thought the frosting was too much to handle with each bite.  

To our followers (Sprinklettes):  Go try it and tell us how you liked it in the comments below or at splitstatecupcake@gmail.com.

Stay sweet!

Flirty Cupcakes (Truck): 4 cupcake sampler

Flirty Cupcakes on Wheels is a cupcake truck in Chicago that travels around and sells cupcakes!  

Flirty Cupcakes Website

Katrina's boyfriend (Tim) works in Chicago and gets to experience many cupcakes while the hygienists are slaving away cleaning teeth!

So we struck a deal with her boyfriend to bring us cupcakes in exchange for free cleanings!  Yess!!!  

Tim brought us back the Flirty Cupcake sampler.  Four mini cupcakes for around $6.00

Shauna couldn't review these cupcakes with Katrina due to time restrictions on freshness of the cupcakes.

Reviews for each individual cupcake will be posted soon.  We just wanted to show you some of the coolest cupcakes!

Designer Desserts: Cookies & Cream

  The cupcake pictured above is Designer Desserts: Cookies & Cream.

Presentation : 9/10 Sprinkles

It pretty much just looks like Oreos towering over a cupcake.  Who doesn't love Oreos?

Taste & Texture

Cake: Soft oreos baked into a soft vanilla cake.  Simple!

Frosting: The frosting just melts in your mouth!  The taste is similar to dirt pudding/zebra pudding.  It had whipped cream frosting with oreos that have turned soft.  Great texture for frosting!

Overall:  

We gave this cupcake 9/10 Sprinkles! This cupcake is in our top Designer Dessert cupcakes!  If you love Oreos, this cupcake is for you!

To our followers (Sprinklettes):  Go try it and tell us how you liked it in the comments below or at splitstatecupcake@gmail.com.

Stay sweet!

Forever MORE Cupcakes: Hazelnut

The cupcake pictured above is MORE: Hazelnut.

What the heck is this?  Super weird!  But we LOVE IT!

Shauna was super excited to review this one!

Presentation : 10/10 Sprinkles

We thought this cupcake, like other MORE cupcakes, was very unique in presentation.  We think that it looks sticky in a way with the big piece of toffee on top.

Taste & Texture

Cake: The cupcake was very tall, which is MORE signature shape.  The cake was a dark chocolate cake.  We try the cake first before we try the frosting and there wasn't a hint of hazelnut in the cake.  However, a few minutes later we got to the center of the cake and there was a warm & creamy hazelnut center! YUM!

Frosting: The frosting on top was a chocolate mousse type butter cream.  Let's talk about the candy on top!  It was AMAZING!  Soft hazelnut brittle with dark chocolate on the back.  We could eat handfuls of this candy!  

Overall:  

Shauna: 7/10 Sprinkles

 Shauna gave this rating because she was disappointed by the lack of hazelnut flavor.  She thought this cupcake tasted more like a brownie. The chocolate mousse was a surprise to her.

Katrina: 6/10 Sprinkles

Katrina gave this rating because it tasted similar to a slice of chocolate cake from Costco.  However, the candy on top was the highlight of the cupcake!  Can we get the brittle in bulk??

To our followers (Sprinklettes):  Go try it and tell us how you liked it in the comments below or at splitstatecupcake@gmail.com.

Stay sweet!

Designer Desserts: Tiramisu

The cupcake pictured above is Designer Desserts: Tiramisu.

Warning: We didn't like this one!

Presentation : 5/10 Sprinkles

We were really confused with this cupcake.  Is that a diving board in the middle of my cupcake?  We really didn't understand what the cookie was in the middle of the cupcake (lady finger? small tiramisu?)  

Taste & Texture

Cake: We felt like the cake was awful, which is very uncharacteristic of Designer Desserts.  The cake was not moist.  Shauna has never had tiramisu in her life and this cupcake left her not wanting to ever try it.

Frosting: Butter cream frosting on the top of the cake with a hint of cinnamon.  The cookie on the top of the cupcake was weird tasting.  We couldn't even finish because it was so dry.

Overall:  

We both gave this cupcake 4 /10 Sprinkles.  

We felt that this cupcake had a very bad taste and it had a dry cake.  We did not like the presentation at all either.  Maybe we got a dud?

To our followers (Sprinklettes):  Go try it and tell us how you liked it in the comments below or at splitstatecupcake@gmail.com.

Stay sweet!

Sprinkles ATM: Almond Dark Chocolate

Did you guess what flavor this was yet?

If you guessed Sprinkles: Almond Dark Chocolate, you are correct.

We purchased this cupcake out of the Sprinkles ATM! It's open 24/7 and gets loaded with fresh cupcakes daily!  Amazing!

Presentation : 7/10 Sprinkles

It looks like a typical Sprinkles cupcake with the button sprinkle, but we have no indication that this is almond!  We would have liked to see some almonds on the top!

Taste & Texture

Cake: The cake was vanilla with almond extract. This cupcake was SUPER dry! We are guessing that it's because it was in the ATM for a little too long.  You can definitely tell a difference in freshness between the ATM & the actual Sprinkles store.  There was a lot of almond extract in this cupcake and actual slices of almonds inside.  

Frosting: The frosting on top was a cherry almond flavor.  There was a hint of dark chocolate in the frosting and it was very creamy. The frosting melted in our mouths.  The sprinkle in the center of the cupcake was so hard that we both couldn't even eat it.  It was made out of sugar.

Overall:  

We both gave this cupcake 6/10. 

Shauna gave this rating because it was very dry.  She believes the presentation needs more almonds!  This cupcake reminded her of making Christmas cookies with almond extract.  

Katrina gave this rating because it tasted TOO strongly of almond extract.  She thought the flavor knocks you in the face the minute you take a bite of the cake part.  She loved the frosting because it was very creamy and tasted like a light chocolate.

To our followers (Sprinklettes):  Go try it and tell us how you liked it in the comments below or at splitstatecupcake@gmail.com.

Stay sweet!

Designer Desserts: Mint Chocolate Chip

The photo above is of Designer Desserts: Mint Chocolate Chip cupcake.

Presentation : 9/10 Sprinkles

Another green cupcake!  We love the chocolate mint shavings on the top of the frosting.  The Hershey's kiss in the middle is milk chocolate.  The chocolate is a muted mint green and there are mini chocolate chips on the top. 

Taste & Texture

Cake: We felt like the cake tasted like a dull mint flavor.  We were afraid of this cupcake being TOO minty but it did not overwhelm us!  The cake was dense and moist, which is common with Designer Dessert cupcakes.

Frosting: The flavor of the frosting was mint and it was colored green.  The only "chocolate chip" part of the cupcake was in the chocolate chips on the top of the cupcake and the Hershey's kiss. 

Overall:  

Shauna: 7/10 Sprinkles because she is not a fan of mint but enjoyed the chocolate chips and Hershey's kiss on the top of the frosting.  Shauna thinks that this cupcake needs MORE CHOCOLATE!

Katrina: 8/10 Sprinkles because she loves mint everything.  She believes the frosting was great but it did not taste as good as an Andes Mint.  

To our followers (Sprinklettes):  Go try it and tell us how you liked it in the comments below or at splitstatecupcake@gmail.com.

Stay sweet!