Cupcakefetish: pink moon cupcake bakery

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:

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!"
Everyone's palate is different. These are my favorite places. Your mileage may vary.
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.

Several weeks ago I dropped Honey off at a kennel, threw my suitcase into my car, and set off towards Indianapolis for two of my college friends' wedding. I'd been reading a lot of press about the cupcakeries in Columbus, Ohio, and since Columbus was directly on my path to Indianapolis I thought I'd take a short break and check them out.

Pink Moon Cupcake Bakery
Powell, OH
My first stop was the Pink Moon Cupcake Bakery located in Powell, a cute and quaint suburb of Columbus. The narrow streets and charming "vintage" buildings give the community a cozy small-town feel. I found parking directly in front of the store (woohoo suburbs!), right next to the cute wooden sign perched on the front lawn.

The front walkway led up to a pair of doors, which confused me for a moment, but luckily I picked the right one. I found myself in a gorgeous room accented with dark, detailed wooden trim and a large brick fireplace. A large, wooden banquet table stood near the back of the room, its surface completely covered with covered glass cake trays. Each tray held a different flavor of cupcake; there must've been around twenty total.

While I agonized over my decision the friendly woman behind the table explained that they share their large space with a boutique and an art gallery. The room to the left of the main bakery contained ample seating and beautiful vintage furniture. A back room was filled with handbags and purses, and the walls of the main bakery were decorated with cupcake-themed art.

I eventually settled on three flavors: Key Lime Margarita, Chocolate Peppermint, and Vanilla Chocolate. The woman packed my cupcakes into this funky, custom cardboard box, and I returned to my car where I carefully packed the box next to the air conditioner. My friends and I broke out the cupcakes the next morning for breakfast.

The cake in the Key Lime Margarita was phenomenal -- light and fluffy with this incredible texture that just dissolved on your tongue. The cake had a tart, lime flavor -- delicious! The frosting had a slightly salty lime flavor that wasn't quite as tart as the cake, and though it was good, it masked the sheer perfection of the cake. The cake in the Chocolate Peppermint was soft and moist with a strange alcoholic flavor. The frosting was great; light, fluffy, and buttery with a sharp peppermint flavor that stemmed from chopped York Peppermint Patties swirled into the frosting. The vanilla cake in the Vanilla Chocolate also had a sharp, alcoholic bite, but it slowly faded to reveal a sweet, mild vanilla flavor. The fluffy chocolate frosting was simply heavenly with a rich, buttery taste that reminded me of Cadbury bars. Yum!You can find more detailed reviews of these cupcakes on Pink Moon Cupcake Bakery's profile page.

Our Cupcakery
Dublin, OH
Our Cupcakery is located in a cute little colonial house in yet another charming and quaint Columbus suburb. The parking gods must have been smiling upon me because I was able to snag another prime spot right in front of the crisply manicured lawn. The front windows were decorated with cute paper cupcakes, and a covered porch on the side provided ample outdoor seating.

Our Cupcakery does not sell pre-made cupcakes; rather they offer a cupcake bar where patrons can assemble and decorate their own cupcake confections. The front room of Our Cupcakery was largely occupied with the cupcake bar. A wire shelf across from the entrance held large colorful bowls and a covered display case containing several flavors of naked cupcakes. A table against the front windows was covered in glass jars of various toppings. The table also held a couple of lazy susans, one supporting pastry bags of various flavors of frosting and the other stuffed with an assortment of bottles of sprinkles.

After I complimented one of the employees on the super cute color scheme, she showed me the new custom printed to-go boxes they'd just received that match the bright green, orange, and hot pink decor. She also told me about their patent-pending baking pan for pull-apart cakes. Imagine a regular rectangular baking pan but with a removable tic-tac-toe grid you can place inside. You pour cake batter into each of the squares and bake. When the cake is done you pull out the grid and frost the cake -- voila! A pre-cut pull-apart cake.

After the nice woman showed me around the store I grabbed a purple bowl and set out to create my own crazy cupcake. I started with a naked vanilla cupcake which I covered with a swirl of chocolate frosting. I sprinkled the cupcake with a generous amount of Oreo cookie crumbs and topped off the creation with a single malted milk ball. The cupcakes are sold by weight so I took my cupcake over the register where the woman placed it on a scale and rung me up. After I paid I headed back to my car where I carefully nestled the bag next to the air conditioner.

I ate the cupcake next morning for breakfast. I'm not sure if I waited too long before eating the cupcake, or if the individual components weren't of the highest quality to begin with, but the cupcake wasn't that great. The vanilla cake was dense and dry with a tinny vanilla flavor. The chocolate frosting was a bit too bitter for my taste and had an odd slightly gritty texture. Overall, it tasted like something I could've bought from a grocery store. Check out Our Cupcakery's profile page for a more detailed description of "The Violet".