Cupcake Crawl: Chicago, IL

Two weekends ago I flew to Chicago for a friend's wedding.  Mybest friend, his fiance Cherry Tops, and I rented a car together, andspent Sunday afternoon exploring Chicago.  It didn't take mucharm-twisting at all to convince them to go cupcaking withme.

The last time I went to Chicago, the guys atDozen recommended Istop by Sweet Mandy B's andBittersweet, but Ididn't have quite enough time to squeeze them in.  Luckilythey were both open on Sunday, and our first stop was at Sweet MandyB's.

Sweet MandyB's
Chicago, IL
My firstimpression of Sweet Mandy B's was that it reminded me of a mutedversion of bake-a-boo in London.  The decoris comprised of soft pastel colors and warm, inviting lightingfixtures, and the entire bakery has a "grandma's kitchen" sort offeel.  A stained glass cupcake is perched in the window overthe door, and the front of the bakery is packed with patrons queued upalong two display cases.  Small tables are nestled against thelength of the right wall, and there is a long bar with barstools alongthe left in the back.  Awards, accolades, and glowing magazinereviews are framed on the walls.

When we entered thebakery there were only a couple of other patrons clustered around thedisplay cases.  No neat queue had formed yet, and the bakerystaff seemed to be a bit disorganized.  It took about fiveminutes before anyone asked if I'd been helped yet, even though therewere only two other customers in the store, and a customer who walkedinto the bakery after I did was helped before I was.  Notexactly my best customer service experienceever.

When they did finally notice me, the staff wasvery friendly, and quickly accommodated my request to try each of theirtwo "special flavors" that day: Creamsicle and Pumpkin.  Inaddition to their special flavors, Sweet Mandy B's seemed to have alarge stock of the standard vanilla and chocolate combinations onhand.  My favorite part of the entire bakery was the hugemetal rack bursting with trays of colorful cupcakes, hiding a young manwho was rapidly frosting a pile of nakedcupcakes.

I don't like Creamsicles, but mybest friend and Cherry Tops had purchased their own non-cupcakedesserts, and were dying for "just one bite" of the Creamsiclecupcake.  They shared one half of the cupcake while I ate theother half.  The cake was soft and fluffy and tasted likesalty creamsicles.  Though the sign proclaimed the sugaryfrosting to be a vanilla buttercream, it too had a strong orangecreamsicle flavor.  I couldn't quite place it, but somethingabout the cake or frosting (or both) gave the overall texture aslightly greasy feel.  The combination of the creamsicleflavor and the greasy texture turned me off this cupcake, but both myfriend and Cherry Tops loved it, proclaiming it "veryauthentic".

The super cute Pumpkin cupcakehad a rich aroma of pumpkin and cream cheese.  The pumpkincake was dense, and unlike most "vegetable" cakes (carrot, zucchini,etc.) the texture was very smooth.  There weren't any pumpkinchunks or nuts in the cake, which led me to believe that they'd usedpureed pumpkin in the batter.  The pumpkin flavor of the cakewas quite nice, but I wasn't a fan of the rough texture of the cakegranules.  The real treat was the cream cheese frosting --super smooth with a sweet, cool, refreshing flavor. Yum!

You can read more detailed reviews of thesecupcakes on Sweet Mandy B's profilepage.


Bittersweet
Chicago,IL
Our next stop was Bittersweet, a pastry cafe thatalmost overwhelms the senses.  As you step through the dooryou are presented with a super long display case that takes up almostthe entire width of the cafe.  It's stuffed to bursting withpositively scrumptious looking pastries, cookies, candies, and bakedgoods.  The right side of the store holds a modest sizedretail space, which was thoroughly decorated for Halloween. The left side of the store is full of tables, all of which wereoccupied when we arrived.

We were surprised todiscover that the cafe had full table service.  Luckily, agroup of people vacated a table just after we arrived, and we wereseated pretty much  immediately.  (People who arrivedafter us didn't seem to fare quite so well.)  Cherry Topsordered a sampling of some of their smaller pastries and cookies, whileI ordered their cupcake flavor of the day,Carrot.

The cake had a colorful texture,full of shredded carrot and spices, with a moist, rich, carrot-cakeflavor.  Yum!!  The cream cheese frosting was supersmooth and rich, with a heady cream cheese flavor.  There wasa bit too much of frosting for the amount of cake, but it was sodelicious I just scooped off some of it and ate it plain.  Iwas shocked to discover that this $2 cupcake found in a cafe easilysurpassed most of the carrot cake cupcakes I've had from "gourmet"cupcakeries.  It was so good I briefly considered purchasing abox of their 1-day-old "previous day's cupcakes", except thatyesterday's flavor seemed to involve a generous coating of coconut,which I hate.

At any rate, this carrot cake cupcakewas superb, and a total steal for $2.  It'sa shame that Bittersweet only offers one flavor of cupcake eachday.  You can read a more detailed review of their Carrotcupcake on Bittersweet's profilepage.


Ofthe eight cupcakeries and bakeries I've visited in Chicago, I have tosay the top cupcakes have been the Chocolate Vanilla from Lovely Bake Shop,the Devil's Food from Fox & Obel, andnow the Carrot from Bittersweet.  Arethere any other great places in Chicago that I'm missing?