Seattle's Cupcake Adventure

I love cupcakes. In fact, in my old stomping ground of Boston, I went on an adventure to find the best cupcakes. So I figured its about time to make a repeat here in Seattle. I put the four most blogged/tweeted/talked about cupcake shops to the test, and have come up with a winner. The test is simple: bake the best red velvet cupcake. I judge on the cake and icing individually, then  together, and of course the ever important icing to cupcake ratio. I am looking for something worth those calories. So the contestants: Cupcake Royale, Trophy Cupcakes,  Yellow Leaf Cupcakes, and The Sugar Rush Bakery.

Shop #1: Cupcake Royale is probably the best known cupcake shop in Seattle, with 4 different locations throuhgout the city. I happend upon the Ballard location on a gorgeous rare sunny day. Most locations also have the Verite Cafe incorporated in it, that serves a decent espresso (see my thoughts about Seattle's espresso scene in a later post). And the inside of the shop itself is so cute, there is a separate section for Cupcake Royale merch, with their clever sayings such as "frostitute". There is such a great atmosphere within this shop that it really makes an afternoon. Also this location is located in the awesome neighborhood of Ballard. Here there are quite a few things to do, such as visit the Ballard Locks, where you can watch the boats come in the from ocean and go out to the sound or vis-a-versa, or find the ever elusive Ballard Fish Lader where on a good day you can watch the salmon jump upstream.

So to the cupcake: it costs the running street price of 3.50 (with a cappuccino you're looking at almost 8$), and was a traditional "southern" buttermilk cake with a hint of coca, with a pink cream cheese frosting and a candy heart (it was Feb after all). The issue here was that it tasted like it was a day old cupcake. Unfortunately the frosting was hard, as was the top layer of the cupcake. I have a feeling that these guys are awesome when you get fresh ones, but alas I did not. The cake was almost moist, and there was the perfect frosting to cupcake ratio, however, that hard outside really put me off. For the "Best Cupcake Ever" it was really disappointing.

Shop #2: The Yellow Leaf Cupcake Shop, this bakery is less known, and yet was featured on the Cooking Channel's show Unique Sweets for their very special "Tomato Soup Cupcake"  (for those very daring individuals). This cupcake shop is located in the trendy neighborhood of Belltown, and is quite a short walk to many main tourist attractions in Seattle. In one direction you have the EMP (Experience Music Project) and the famous Space Needle, and in the other direction you have Pike Place Market.

So the famous Tomato Soup Cupcake was not in the shop when I went, they change their flavors daily, but I was able to get my hands on their take on a red velvet cupcake. Again, this was during February so the Valentines related decorations were ever present, but that aside this was a delicious cupcake. The frosting was a cream cheese frosting, with something extra that I can not put my finger on. The cake itself was just perfection. I also got a cup of their local coffee, and let me tell you, don't even bother. That stuff was not drinkable. Skip the coffee and indulge in the cupcakes.




Shop #3: Trophy Cupcakes another Seattle cupcake "chain" has quite a few stores in the area. I actually stopped in their February only "pop up" shop in Pacific Place and then went to an actual shop at a later date, so I could talk about both experiences. The actual shop was running out of cupcakes by the time I stopped in and it was only around 4, they only had vanilla cupcakes with either chocolate or vanilla frosting, the Pop Up shop had a little bit more variety, albiet still limited. The actual shop located in University Village, has some of the most amazing shopping in Seattle, while the Pop Up shop is located in Pacific Place with even more shopping. Also maybe a 10 minute walk to Pike Place, you really can't get too far away from it here. You really cant go wrong, shopping and cupcakes is the perfect afternoon.

This cupcake was good overall, a traditional red velvet cake with a cream cheese frosting. There was nothing outstanding or special about this cake despite its quality. There were a couple of good things and bad things about this cake.  The actual cake was extremely crumbly and hard to eat but at the same time super moist. The frosting was smooth and almost melting into the cake. It seems like this cake was frosted while hot, but was totally fresh, and made that day, even though it was bought at the pop up shop.

Shop #4: Coffee to a Tea with Sugar (aka Sugar Rush Bakery) is a real bakery located in West Seattle. They have huge kid friendly shop, with a separate back playroom area, as well as a front patio with a couple of tables for those rare nice seattle days. This shop also has a full menu of soup and sandwiches for those lunch time hunger pains. Their coffee/espresso wasn't bad, but not great, with all the other locations this isn't somewhere I would specifically go for coffee.  This place is about a half an hour bus ride from downtown Seattle and maybe a 15 min bus ride from an amazing national park. Lincoln Park is a great way to spend those rare gorgeous Seattle afternoons. This has a pretty rocky "beach" and awesome hiking trails. This is a great park for families, dogs, and those beginner hikers. The awesome thing about this shop was that they sell mini cupcakes at $1.50 and you can actually just get 1! Most shops in Seattle only do mini cupcakes to order and you must order at least 1-2 dozen, so that was a nice surprise to find.

The cupcake, was really quite disappointing, especially after the sign that said "voted best cupcakes in Seattle!" I was expecting a mouth orgasm from these cakes, and needles to say I was left wanting. This bakery used normal frosting, that did not even have a hint of cream cheese anywhere to be found. Also, there was not even enough of this unsatisfying frosting to go around on this cupcake, it was an extremely thin layer. The red heart was also done in plain cake frosting with food coloring, and was an unpleasant surprise to say the least.


And the winner is......
THE YELLOW LEAF CUPCAKE CO!!!!!

So, if you are in the mood for a cupcake, or something to satisfy that sweet tooth, make your way down to the Yellow Leaf Cupcake Co, sample a "unique sweet" and walk those calories off at the EMP! 

Adventure On!
-Amanda

Pike place chowder

So I made the mistake of thinking that getting chowder on the weekend would be a simple thing. And hence the chowdhaaa adventure. I got to the market at 2pm on a Saturday, and decided to go to the world famous Pike Place Chowder after failing to go after work during the week because they close when the rest of the market does (5pm). The line was huge!!! It wrapped down the store and around the corner. And when one has a hungry stomach it only makes for a cranky experience. But I was hoping this "world famous" chowdhaaa would be worth the wait and hold its own against my Boston favorite. A word to to the wise, this is a food stand, yup that means barely anywhere to sit! Maybe 4 tables, most sitting is outside an let's be honest in Seattle that means there's no seating. Even with that long line it only took about 20 min to get my food they have mass service down to an art, it's impressive.

I got their famous "Traditional New England Clam Chowder" in a bread bowl the first time (if you're a real adventurous person try the 4 bowl sampler). I paid 11 for the bread bowl, which I don't think was worth it. Get a large bowl for 3 dollars cheaper, you get a huge hunk of sour dough bread anyway. And also you don't want to fill up on bread, because you're going to want to devour the whole bowl of chowder.Yup that's right, it's THAT good.

All those awards are well deserved. My only complaint if I had to have one would be too many potato pieces and not enough of that amazing broth. In this chowder you get hug hunk of clams, basically whole clams, so you know they came from the famous fish market just a couple of steps away. But in each bite I was getting more potato than clam,  and by the end I was fishing around the potatoes trying for just the clams and broth. But enough negativity, that broth. O MAN. It was creamy perfection, there were subtle hints of bacon, but not too over powering, it had the right texture, creamy but not chunky. It was down right perfection, and I could eat more than a large bowl of that soup. There was something else about this soup that I just could not pin point, some other main ingredient that just added to it. Also, the broth did not over power the delicate clams when you got one on your spoon, they were able to handle their own. This really was the best chowder I've ever had. Kudos!

So "Pike Place" Chowder, yup thats right the best thing to do around this shop is explore the world famous Pike Place Market. This is an intricate labyrinth of levels of indoor markets, which include seafood stands, fresh farm produce, flowers, and local Seattle artists. You can spend the whole day exploring the many hidden treasures located in Pike Place/Post Alley. The lower levels (below street have many interesting craft and hobby shops, where the locals are extremely nice and helpful, you can come out of here with not only a unique experience but gifts and treasures. Pike Place is my favorite spot in Seattle, and is the great start place to explore downtown Seattle. There are so many great food options here that this is a hot spot in Seattle not to be missed!

So on those inevitable cold and rainy Seattle days, grab a cup of chowder and see what mysteries the Pike Place Market has to offer. 

Adventure On!
-Amanda