Saturday, December 31, 2011

Cupcakes in Charlottesville

For the record, I’ve never been a huge fan of cake, but I sympathize with followers of the cupcake craze (actually, I prefer pumpkin whoopie pies, but I’ve accepted the fact that they’ll never attain the status that cupcakes or frozen yogurt have, simply because they can’t be dressed up as elegantly as the latter two confections can). After much anticipation, I visited Cappellino’s Crazy Cakes at the Downtown Mall in Charlottesville (3rd St. by Rapture) after tasting one of a sparkly dozen generously brought by Katie B. to one WLDP Committee meeting when it was her turn to bring in snacks. Needless to say, it was a tough act to follow (it was my turn to bring in snacks the next week).
I intuitively chose the red velvet because I’m a fan of cream cheese frosting, but was disappointed to find that the frosting, though pleasantly creamy and not at all dense, didn’t even hint of its key ingredient. Though the cupcakes are certainly not the best I’ve had or made, they are very cute and at $2 a pop, they are tough deal to beat.
A few weeks later, I tried a chocolate bordeaux CHARLOTTESVILLE CUPCAKE from Para Coffee during one of their Cupcake Wednesday specials. At exactly $3 each (including tax), the cupcake tasted much more decadent and was very much what a cupcake ought to be: it was moist, elegantly decorative, and tasty. I’m looking forward to tryingtheir red velvet on a future Wednesday afternoon.
Where NOT to get cupcakes: the Corner Starbucks or any on-Grounds cafe. I’ve tried cupcakes at Alderman Cafe and Starbucks and they were tastelessly dry and disappointing on both occassions. Save your calories for a CHARLOTTESVILLE CUPCAKE.

(Originally posted May 31, 2010)

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