A Cupcaking We Will Go

A Quest

Loads of cupcakes

Once upon a time on Twitter, a blogger and food reviewer named @thepolishviking came up with a deviously delicious idea: To taste test all of the cupcakes in the land of #yeg (Edmonton). An overly excited little bovine named @marlowmoo quickly volunteered to assist her in this dangerous, yet important quest. @michpetersjones knew they would require a third brave soul and the trio set out on what they hoped would be a fun filled and sugar fueled day of excitement, for the betterment of #yegfood.

Our quest begin as we traversed #yeg for almost 2 hours collecting samples from all the cupcake stores in  that we were aware of. After obtaining 1 vanilla and 1 chocolate cupcake from each merchant in the land, and clocking 54.8 km in @thepolishviking's trusty steed, we arrived at the castle of @michpetersjones where we began the difficult part - taste testing.

The Contestants

Big City Cupcakes (CLOSED)
Delish Custom Cakes and Sweets (CLOSED)
Whimsical Cake Studio
Fuss Cupcakes
Flirt Cupcakes
Crave Cookies and Cupcakes

Crave Cookies and Cupcakes

Judging

A scientific and comprehensive method had been devised, whose former lives/alter egos existed in the realm of academia. They would judge each flavour separately, as well as the components that made up the cupcake, and lastly, the cupcake as a whole.

Taste Testing is hard work

Cupcake

The star of the show, we considered everything including, but not limited to:

• Moistness
• Lightness
• Flavour
• Texture
• Density
• Sweetness

Icing

They don't say "the icing on top" for nothing, this is the bonus on top of the cupcake. The decorative and sweet extra. Judging criteria for this included:

• Flavour
• Texture
• Richness
• Complments or Overwhelms Cupcake
• Sweetness

The Moo-nit (aka. overall composition)

Lastly, the overall composition, how well does it work as a "moo-nit" (aka. unit). Criteria included:

• Mouthfeel
• Flavour
• Complementary or Contradictory
• Overall Composition

Cupcakes from Fuss

Scoring

Each category (Cupcake, Icing and Moo-nit) were scored out of 5, for a total score of 15. All 3 scores were then added together for a total out of 45 points. Rankings were based on their overall score, from highest to lowest. Sadly, very few cupcakes scored near the top.

Big City Cupcakes

Deliberations

After wandering the vast kingdom of #yeg, the adventurous trio of foodies were both pleasantly surprised and sadly disappointed. Two stores stood out heads and shoulders above the rest. Delish Custom Cakes and Sweets in particular bested the competition with a moist, light and delightfully rich and delicious chocolate cupcake topped with a creamy and not too sweet icing.

The remainder of the cupcake stores suffered from a myriad of problems, including dry/too dense/too sweet/lacking flavour cupcakes, overly sweet/oily/hard/over powering icings, unidentifiable and strange after tastes to name a few. In essence, the cupcake became nothing more than a vehicle for the icing.

A quickly growing fad, cupcake makers remember, these are called "cupcakes" not "icing cakes". We would love to see more places rise to the occasion, instead of jumping into this increasingly large pool for the sake of capitalizing on this trend.

The Results

Vanilla

1. Delish Custom Cakes and Sweets (CLOSED)
2. Crave Cookies and Cupcakes
3. Whimsical Cake Studio
4. Flirt Cupcakes
5. Fuss Cupcakes
6. Big City Cupcakes

Chocolate

1. Delish Custom Cakes and Sweets (CLOSED)


2. Crave Cookies and Cupcakes

3. Flirt Cupcakes


4. Fuss Cupcakes


5. Whimsical Cake Studio


6. Big City Cupcakes
(CLOSED)


More photos on Flickr.