Cupcake Eating Contest

Last Friday I made my way down to Dozen Bake Shop to observe their Cupcake Eating Contest, one of the last events in Cupcake Week 2008.  Several people assumed I was there to participate, but as many of my friends know, it takes me an excruciatingly long time to eat a cupcake, often to the amusement (and sometimes annoyance) of my dining companions. 

The event was a fundraiser for the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank and had two parts.  The first part was an hour long "meet and greet" during which the spectators could meet the contestants and show their support for a particular contestant by placing money in a donation jar in front of the contestant.  I supported "Powered By Pancakes" because her costume totally kicked ass.  At the end of the hour the contents of the jars were tabulated and the contestant that had raised the most money won a dozen cupcakes each month for a year.  Unfortunately, Powered By Pancakes didn't win, but I'm sure the woman who did will enjoy her awesome prize.
(The Vegan Unibomber sure was intimidating!)

The second part of the event was the actual cupcake eating contest.  Shortly before it started James (one of the owners of Dozen) asked me if I would like to be an official counter.  Awesome!  I of course said yes and he paired me up with a rather large contestant who I later found out was Broken Wing, a professional competitive eater.  Broken Wing is the current Pittsburgh Wing Bowl Champ and the Ohio Burger Champ.  He was seated next to his friend, another professional competitive eater named Obi Wing Kenobi, who was a three-time Pittsburgh Wing Bowl finalist and is ranked 28th in the International Federation of Competitive Eating.
After all of the contestants and their counters got settled at a long table, Andrew (the other owner of Dozen) started placing trays of cupcakes in front of each contestant while Bob, a representative of the IFCE, went over the rules.  Each contestant had three minutes to consume as many cupcakes as possible.  At the end of the three minutes, the last cupcake had to be entirely in the contestant's mouth (but not swallowed) to count in their final tally.  Each contestant was offered a large glass of water or milk.  (Only one person took the milk, and I have no idea what he was thinking.)
I asked Broken Wing if he was going to dunk his cupcakes in the glass of water, Nathan's-Hot-Dog-style, and he said no, that the cupcakes were too delicate and would just fall apart.  After Bob finished explaining the rules he led the crowd in a 10 second countdown, and the three minutes of madness began.  After time was up James went down the table and had each counter call out the number of cupcakes their contestant had eaten.  Broken Wing had eaten fourteen, double the number of the next highest contestant.  Yay!
James awarded an awesome trophy to Broken Wing, who also won a dozen cupcakes a month for a year as well as gift certificates to various local shops and restaurants.  Guests began to file out after the awards ceremony, helping themselves to leftover cupcakes as they left.
I hope Dozen makes this an annual event -- perhaps someday we can lure Kobayashi and Chestnut to Pittsburgh to participate!

Official Cupcake Day

I'm not sure how many people in Pittsburgh read this blog, but the Mayor's Office declared today "Official Cupcake Day".  Both Pittsburgh cupcakeries are celebrating; head over to Dozen to get a cupcake for $1 and stop by CoCo's where all of their Pittsburgh neighborhood-themed cupcakes are buy one get one free.

I'm totally going to have a cupcake tummy ache tonight...

Brunch at Dozen Bake Shop

Yesterday I finally got a chance to try Sunday Brunch at Dozen Bake Shop with a couple of friends.  The Bake Shop was nearly packed when we arrived at noon, but thankfully the line was mercifully short.  There were so many delicious things to choose from that I kind of felt a bit overwhelmed.  Eventually I narrowed it down to the Baked French Toast and the Vegan Blue Flannel Tempeh Hash.  I'd never had Tempeh before and was eager to try it, but my stomach isn't the biggest fan of fried food so I ended up going with the Baked French Toast.  At $7.49 it was about $1-$2 more than I would normally pay for french toast, but when the plate was set down in front of me I immediately realized that I was getting my money's worth.  The portion was huge, and beautiful, and unlike any other french toast I'd ever seen.
It consisted of two huge hunks of bread topped with strawberries and a dusting of powdered sugar.  It smelled amazing, and tasted just as scrumptious as it looked.  The bread was soft and chewy in the center, and nice and crisp on the edges, with a slightly sweet, slightly cinnamon, slightly eggy flavor.  It was nice and moist, and the thing that immediately struck me was how well balanced the flavors were.  It wasn't too sweet, and the tastes of egg and cinnamon were fairly subtle.  It was so delicious on its own that I could've eaten it without any maple syrup; in fact, it was so different from french toast in both appearance and texture that I think the maple syrup was the most "french toast" thing about it.  Anyway, words cannot express how amazing it was, and I was really sorry that I could only eat about 1/3 of it before I got full.  Luckily my friends helped me polish it off - food that good should not go to waste!
I despise scones and I'm not a big fan of quiche, but I couldn't refuse my friend's offer of a bite of his apricot (?) scone and goat cheese, spinach, and shallot quiche.  The scone was crumbly, soft and moist.  WTF?!?  I swear every scone I've ever had has been as dry and hard as a brick, so I was totally shocked to try one that was actually good.  Ok Dozen, now you have no excuse for making dry cupcakes.  The quiche was light and fluffy, and very well balanced; not too cheesy, not too spinachy, not overwhelmingly eggy.  Delicious!  My other friend offered me a bite of his cream cheese and berry danish, and it too was super good.  I'm not sure how to explain it, but it tasted very real.

Anyway, those of you in Pittsburgh should definitely check out brunch at Dozen Bake Shop.  I feel kind of mean saying this, but I think Dozen's brunch is significantly better than their cupcakes.  (Not that their cupcakes are by any means bad, but it's like comparing something extraordinary to something good.)  It kind of makes me wish they'd convert their Squirrel Hill location into a bake shop so I don't have to drive so far for such delicious treats.
Oh, and at some point after their grand opening they cut the price of their cookies in half to $1.  (Or maybe the cashier charged me the wrong amount when I visited on the grand opening?)  I took a look at their menu yesterday and their prices seem much more reasonable than I initially thought.  Yay!

Dozen Bake Shop

I just realized that I never posted my pictures from the Grand Opening of Dozen Bake Shop.  They opened the same evening I departed for my business trip to Singapore/Japan/Brazil, but I managed to jot over for fifteen minutes before I had to leave.  Two of my friends joined me and we enjoyed sampling their wide assortment of baked goods:
On the way out the door we saw a sad looking half-squashed cupcake perched on the curb.  How terrible!

Overall we found the baked goods delicious, but overpriced.  $2.00 is about twice as much as I'm willing to pay for a cookie - for another $0.50 I could get a cupcake!  This isn't LA or NY, so I wonder how Yinzers are going to react to the steep prices.  I haven't managed to check out their Sunday brunch yet; some of my friends who've been said it was good, but expensive. :/   One friend recently remarked "You're paying for the nice atmosphere and the fact that you can get almost anything you want vegan."  With gas and food prices on the rise, many people are cutting back on luxury items.  I hope the Bake Shop survives!

Who Makes the Best Cupcakes?

Today Cupcakes Take the Cake linked to a MSN article entitled The Country's Best Cupcakes.  In the article author Amanda Petrusich gives her picks for the country's 11 most original and most delicious cupcakes.

As soon as I spied a cupcake from Chicago's Cupcakes on the list, a red flag went up.  Both cupcakes I had from there were a disaster, and their reviews on Yelp are pretty mixed.  I immediately wondered, had Ms. Petrusich actually sampled her selections?  Just how many cupcakeries had she visited, in her quest to find the country's top eleven cupcakes?

In response, I'd like to present The Top Eleven Cupcake Shops Violet has Visited.  Coming from a scientific background, I feel that a few disclaimers are in order:

1. I have not visited every cupcakery/bakery in the world, nor sampled every cupcake said shops offer.  Obviously, I cannot definitively say that these are the best places in the world; that's why I'm calling this list "The Top Eleven Cupcake Shops Violet has Visited", and not "The Top Eleven Cupcakeries in the World!!11!!1!"
2. Everyone's palate is different.  These are my favorite places.  Your mileage may vary.
3. To date I've sampled almost 250 cupcakes from 56 cupcakeries and bakeries around the world.  These are the creme of that crop.

Bittersweet
Chicago, IL
Technically Bittersweet is a patisserie, not a cupcakery, but the Carrot cupcake I had there far surpassed most carrot cakes I've had from "gourmet" cupcakeries.  And, at $2.00 a pop, their amazingly delicious, high-quality cupcakes are a total steal.



Cake Nouveau
Ann Arbor, MI
Cake Nouveau is a fantastically whimsical, gorgeous little cake shop.  In addition to slices of decadent looking cakes, they also offer a wide selection of exotic-sounding cupcakes.  Their Blueberry Morning won one of my elusive 5-star ratings, and the Chocolate Clementine was delightfully scrumptious as well.  Cake Nouveau's strength is definitely its art style -- their bright, playful store won "Cutest Store" during our Cross-Country Cupcake Crawl.

CoCo's Cupcake Cafe
Pittsburgh, PA
Okay, I'm not just biased because I live in Pittsburgh -- I've lived in many cities around the country and I have no special loyalty to "the Burgh".  It's just a plain truth that CoCo's makes some of the best cake in the country.  In fact, I've gotten totally spoiled on their moist, soft cakes -- all other cupcakes seem dry in comparison.  Their authentic Italian meringue buttercream is famous around Pittsburgh,  and their Carrot cupcake is the best carrot cake cupcake I've ever had.

Crumbs Bake Shop
New York, NY
The only "chain" cupcakery on my list, Crumbs has somehow managed to maintain a high-quality product while rapidly expanding their business to new locations around the country, unlike another chain-cupcakery I know of whose name rhymes with "twinkles".  Their Raspberry Swirl won one of my 5-star ratings, despite the fact that I hate raspberries.  At $3.50 each their cupcakes are a might expensive, but they're also ginormous and can easily be shared with a friend.

Cupcake Station
Birmingham, MI
Cupcake Station is amazing.  I have no idea how they mange to keep 26 (yes, that's right, twenty-six!) flavors in stock every day.  And they don't do it by skimping on quality!  We stopped by on our Cross-Country Cupcake Crawl and were blown away when we were served two 5-star cupcakes in rapid succession.  Their Strawberry Delight was named Best Cupcake of our entire Cross-Country Cupcake Crawl.

Dots Cupcakes
Pasadena, CA
Looking for an alternative to Sprinkles' dry cakes and Yummy's sugar bombs?  Dots is your place.  Sure the staff can be a little bit snarky, but the delicious cupcakes are totally worth it.  Their cute, modern cupcakes are delectably moist, and they have one of the best strawberry cupcakes cakes I've ever eaten.  The frosting is a hair too sweet for me, but it's orders of magnitude better than Yummy's super-saccharine icing.

Dozen Cupcakes
Pittsburgh, PA
Well, at least Ms. Petrusich and I agree on one cupcakery!  And I'm not just biased because I live in Pittsburgh, I swear.  Dozen makes some of the best frosting in the country; their citrus frostings in particular are to die for.  I'm a cake person myself, but if you were to give me a bucket of their Key Lime frosting and hand me a spoon, I'd happily eat the whole thing in one sitting.  Other frosting aficionados may want to check out their Cosmo, Lemon, and Old-Fashioned Fudge frostings.

The Cupcakery
Las Vegas, NV
The Cupcakery's sign proclaims it to have "The Best Little Cupcakes in Las Vegas", and at the time of my visit I had to agree.  (Though two more cupcakeries have opened in Vegas since I last visited, so the current accuracy of that sign is questionable.)  Their thick, fudgy chocolate frosting is absolutely fabulous, and their Bugsy (carrot cake) cupcake garnered one of my 5-star ratings.

Pink Moon Cupcake Bakery
Powell, OH
When you think of gourmet cupcakes, Powell, Ohio is not exactly the first place that pops to mind.  That said, cupcake lovers visiting the Columbus area would be missing out big-time if they didn't take the 15 minute detour to Powell.  Not only does Pink Moon Cupcake bakery have a large selection of delicious (and exotic) cupcakes, they also have plenty of eclectically furnished seating space and the absolute cutest cupcake-packaging I've ever seen.  Be sure to try the cake on the Key Lime Margarita -- it's like eating a soft, fluffy cloud.

Primrose Bakery
London, England
With a bright, welcoming atmosphere, Primrose is a younger, fresher version of "Grandma's Kitchen".  A whiff of the fresh, warm cinnamon rolls on the counter is enough to distract a cupcake-lover from trying their cupcakes, but be sure to at least sample their chocolate buttercream (tastes just like Cadbury bars!) and their lime frosting.  Primrose excels at presentation -- our cupcakes were served to us on a glass pedestal cake platter with elegant china.

Wicked Bakery & Cafe
Phoenix, AZ
I hate Red Velvet cake, but even I had to admit that Wicked's Red Velvet cupcake was really freaking good.  I think the secret is Wicked's technique of covering their cupcakes with a special glaze before they frost them; locking moisture into the cake while simultaneously giving them an added zip.  The thick cream cheese frosting was sinfully rich; one of the best cream cheese frostings I've had.

Well, that's my pick for top 11 cupcake purveyors in the world (that I've visited).  I'll try to keep this list updated as I continue my cupcake travels.

New Video by Dozen

Check out this new video by Dozen:



Every December the graduate program I attended holds a big show where they screen the best student work.  I went to the show last week and at the reception afterwards I noticed a small display of minis from Dozen.  Most of the Wednesday flavors were present, except the Raspberry Zinger, which was the one I was most looking forward to eating.  Sad!

Slow and Steady

I'm slowly slogging through all of the updates; today I uploaded my backlog of reviews for Dozen and CoCo's.  Hopefully I'll have some time later this week to write up my recent cupcake crawls of Columbus, OH and Chicago, IL.

Speaking of Dozen, they just switched over to their fall menu.  I'll miss the Key Lime cupcake and Mystery Flavor Friday, but I can't wait until Thursday when I'll be reunited with the Mint Meltaway.

I've been so busy with work lately that I didn't get a chance to post about my one-year cupcake critic anniversary.  I started posting cupcake reviews on my personal blog on September 28th, 2006, and since then I've written 191 reviews.  My midsection can definitely attest to the volume of cupcakes I've eaten over the past year!

Christmas in July

Today was Christmas in July at Dozen!Check out these super cute cupcakes! The Cupcake Snowman is made up ofvanilla cake topped with a thin layer of vanilla buttercream rolled inwhite non-pareil "snow" upon which sits a vanilla buttercream snowmanwith pretzel arms and a junior mint hat. The Mint "Haute" Chocolate isdark chocolate cake topped with mint dark chocolate ganache adornedwith sprinkles and an after-dinner peppermint. You can read reviews ofthese delicious cupcakes on Dozen's profile page.

Wizard Cakes!

I literally gasped out loud when I noticed a graphic on Dozen's websiteproclaiming "Wizard Cakes!" This past Friday, in honor of the releaseof Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Dozen sold specialwizard-themed cupcakes. They had three uniquely decorated Wizard Cakesin two flavors: Vanilla/Vanilla and Devil's Food/Chocolate Ganache. Youcan read detailed reviews of the Wizard Cakes on Dozen's profile page.