Yesterday M and I decided to do some impromptu cupcake tasting.
(Yes, cupcakes. We're not really into traditional cake, and cupcakes are cute and easy.)
(And yes, they're popular right now, but apparently Utah is a little behind the times, and we'd actually be setting the trend, not riding it. Who knew?)
These were impromptu because we just walked into store-fronts, we didn't make appointments. So we didn't really get the full "cake-tasting" experience, but we saw enough to count. lol (And who knew cupcakes could cost so much?!?)
The first bakery simply drew us in because they are ENTIRELY GLUTEN FREE. Yes, for celiac folks, you read that right, GLUTEN FREE!
Which is important (to me, not so much M) because several guests and one member of the bridal party are Celiac*, so I need to make sure I have something for them to eat so I'm not poisoning them day of. :)
Their storefront is a little different, they are in an industrial area, and their "cafe" area is a little confusing. (When you first walk in you are faced with a hallway to a door to the backroom. You have to go through a different door to get to the "cafe" area.) M was a little skeptical, they make a lot of claims about the quality of their gluten free cupcakes, namely, that no one will be able to tell the difference. We tried a vanilla-strawberry cupcake and a peanut butter cupcake. Well folks, it would be tougher than usual, but at the end of the day you are still eating a gluten-free cupcake.
They were good, especially for gluten free. (Which usually is very dense and drier than a usual cake/cupcake.) The icing was killer, which is saying something because neither of us like a lot of icing. But M's cupcake was closer to a muffin, and tasted like a cookie. And they just weren't killer. So although we'll keep it in the back of our minds for providing for our Celiac guests, I don't think we'll be ordering too much from there.
The other bakery we visited is a little bit better set up. It's in a strip mall, and they've got better branding. (It's the graphic designer in me. :D) And their shop is really cute!
We tried peach cobbler, lemon raspberry, and cheesecake. Our definite favorite was the peach cobbler! So tasty! The lemon (icing) raspberry (cake) was good, but it needed just a tad less lemon. The icing overwhelmed the cake. The cheesecake was okay. But not killer. It was more like an ordinary cupcake.
I've had other cupcakes from this location before, so I know the cheesecake cupcake is a fluke. :)
We still have a couple places that we are trying to get in contact with to do real tastings, so the adventure continues, but I think we're off to a good start!
