Since Andrew and Hannah came to visit us this, and we would be in the area ANYWAYS, we would go to Sprinkles Cupcakes. For those of you who don't know (which was me until a few weeks ago), Sprinkles started in Beverly Hills where EPC (Executive Pastry Chef) Candace Nelson used her
great grandmother's cupcake recipe that she made in her San Francisco restaurant during the 1930s. Well, now it has arrived in Scottsdale, Arizona! They have 10 flavors available each day - you can check the chart online even to see when your favorite flavor will be available.
The first thing I noticed when we got in the store was there were no tables and chairs. How am I supposed to eat a cupcake OUTSIDE when it's over 110 degrees outside??? The frosting would of been a puddle on the ground in a matter of seconds. But, the girl did give us our cupcakes on plates and we stood in the corner of the very small store and stuffed our faces. I guess everyone else in Scottsdale gets their cupcakes to go so they can stuff their face in the privacy of their own home. Nope, not me, I like to stuff my face in public, surrounded by 20 or so skinny men and women who are all pretending they are buying these cupcakes for their fat friends.
Ok, on to the actual cupcake portion of this review. I had a Red Velvet cupcake, which was VERY yummy, but left my hands kinda greasy (I guess another reason to get your cupcakes to go). Adam had the Milk Chocolate Vanilla cupcake and Andrew went for the Peanut Butter Chocolate cupcake. These cupcakes had a "high frosting density" (direct quote from Andrew) meaning, there was about a half an inch or more layer of frosting. While standing in the corner of the very small store and eating our cupcakes we realized while our hands were greasy - we read the directions on the cake mix they sell and the batter uses 3 STICKS OF BUTTER and the frosting uses another STICK OF BUTTER. That's math I can even do, 3+1 = 4 STICKS OF BUTTER!!!
Now I don't think I've ever met a cupcake I didn't like, and I did enjoy this cupcake, but it was the experience that left me disappointed. It would of been much better if they had a few tables and chairs so you could sit and talk and eat your cupcakes. I felt like we were breaking some cupcake law by eating our cupcakes inside, but I'm sorry it was hot outside and by the time we would of gotten them to the car and got home, they would of been melted. And I'm not paying $3.25 per cupcake to eat melted mush (but if you know me I so totally would of eaten melted cupcake mush.
So now it's time for the useless information portion of the review: What do you know about cupcakes? Here is some interesting facts:
The name of "cupcake" is given as it is a small cake the size of a teacup. In previous centuries, before muffin tins were widely available, the cakes were often baked in individual pottery cups, ramekins, or molds. The name "fairy cake" is a fanciful description of its size; an appropriate size for a party of diminutive fairies to share. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupcakes
There seem to be two theories about the origin of recipes titled "cupcake:"
1. The name comes from the amount of ingredients used to make the cake (a cupful of flour, a cupful of butter, cupful of sugar etc.)
2. These cakes were originally baked in cups. Old cookbooks also sometimes mention baking cakes in small cups. These cups may very well have been earthenware tea cups or other small clay baking pans. These would easily accommodated baking level oven heat and produce individual-sized cakes. This is not the same thing as contemporary metal cupcake pans, enabling cooks to bake a dozen small cakes in one fell culinary swoop. http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodcakes.html#cupcakes
The term 'cupcake' is first mentioned in E. Leslie's 'Receipts' of 1828. Breaking with tradition of weighing ingredients at this time they ingredients began to be measured in cups. According to "Baking in America" by Greg Patent, this was revolutionary because of the tremendous time it saved in the kitchen. "The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America." explains that the cup name had a double meaning because of the practice of baking in small containers — including tea cups. (Crazy About Cupcakes)
13 years ago