Miles Traveled: 684
States Entered: 5
Cupcakes Consumed: 6
After losing a day on Monday, we had to tighten our schedule a bit to make sure we could still hit every cupcake store during operating hours. This meant we ended up driving fifteen hours on Wednesday, finally stopping for the night in Perry, Oklahoma at 3:30am CST. We had to get up at 7am to make sure we could drive to both Kansas City and Omaha before the last store closed at 5pm. Needless to say, we were both a bit cranky in the morning.
BabyCakes
Kansas City, MO
We arrived at BabyCakes around noon after a slightly harrowing drive through Kansas City that involved changing freeways about five times in two miles. I'm glad we arrived outside of rush hour because that was some crazy merging! BabyCakes isn't the easiest place to get to for non-locals but luckily our Google Maps directions were spot-on. BabyCakes is located in an urban shopping district next to the Missouri river. Parking is scarce -- after circling for a bit we found a spot four blocks away. A large cupcake on a sidewalk board points patrons in the right direction.
We weren't permitted to take pictures inside the store, and unlike other places we've visited in the past they were really polite about it. The inside of the store is long and narrow with most of the space being taken up by two refrigerated display cases that make an "L". The one across from the entrance contains cupcakes while the other contains chocolate truffles in all sorts of delicious flavors. It took pretty much all of my willpower not to buy any! In addition to cupcakes and truffles BabyCakes also sells various cupcake-related merchandise including t-shirts, cupcake toppers, and candles.
They had some delicious looking Carrot Cake cupcakes but both Baron and I were pretty carrot-caked-out. We opted instead for our standard Vanilla Chocolate (vanilla cake with chocolate "fluff" frosting) as well a Lemon (lemon cake with lemon frosting). Unfortunately these cupcakes weren't very good. The lemon cake was so wet that it had a doughy consistency, leading us to believe it was undercooked. The lemon frosting had an artificial lemonhead-like flavor, and when combined with the cake made for a bitter, gooey confection. The Vanilla Chocolate fared only slightly better -- the cake was rough and dry with a vague vanilla flavor, while the buttery, rich chocolate frosting was pretty salty. Overall the cupcake tasted like "salty butter" with a mild chocolate aftertaste. It's the first cupcake of the trip that I didn't finish. You can read more about the cupcakes on BabyCakes' profile page.
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Cupcake Island
Omaha, NE
We were a bit worried when our directions had us driving through a residential neighborhood on the outskirts of Omaha, but after a couple of blocks we popped out into the parking lot of a strip mall containing Cupcake Island. Cupcake Island is one of the bigger bakeries we've visited, but almost all of the space is taken up by an enormous kitchen in the back. A long counter with a refrigerated display case at the end separates the kitchen from the queue area. A two-person table (with the cutest wooden chairs evar) is nestled in the corner next to a bookshelf containing various cupcake-themed merchandise for sale.
All of the cupcakes looked so delicious that we spent several minutes pondering our selection until I noticed that Cupcake Island sells mini cupcakes of all of their flavors in addition to standard-sized cupcakes. I think Baron turned a little green when I ordered four: For The Love of Chocolate (vanilla cake with chocolate frosting), Twirl for Me (marble cake with vanilla frosting and a chocolate swirl), Italian Dream Cake (italian cream cake with cream cheese frosting), and Not Your Mother's Brownies (brownie cupcake smothered in chocolate ganache).
The For the Love of Chocolate's cake was rough and dry with a sweet vanilla flavor, while the chocolate frosting tasted exactly like Duncan Hines, though I know it was fresh because I saw them making it in giant vats in the back. (I know a lot of people hate tubbed frosting, but I actually like the thick, rich flavor.) The Twirl for Me consisted of a moist, airy cake with a salty, buttery flavor topped with a heaping mound of overly sweet flavorless frosting. The Italian Dream cake gave off an aroma of rum and nuts, and had a sweet flavor accentuated by bursts of shredded coconut hiding inside. The super sweet cream cheese frosting added a rich flavor to the nutty cake. And lastly, the Not Your Mother's Brownies had a rich, decadent dark chocolate flavor, which was not surprising as it consisted of a fudgy brownie with huge chocolate ships baked inside topped with a sheet of chocolate ganache. It had a slightly bitter aftertaste, as well as another odd, waxy subtle flavor that I couldn't quite place. You can get the full details on all these mini-cupcakes on Cupcake Island's profile page.
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As we headed back towards our car we noticed a restaurant at the end of the strip mall that was emanating loud Gregorian Chant music. It was called Brother Sebastian's Steak House and Winery. We almost decided to stop and have a late lunch, but we didn't want our cupcakes to melt in the car and we figured there wouldn't be much on the menu for a vegetarian anyway. We'll definitely have to check it out the next time we're in Omaha!
Next stop: Chicago!
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