Friday, April 18, 2008

Sarah's Pastries & Candies

70 E Oak, Chicago (also with a boutique in Macy’s State Street store)
Chocolate cupcake with vanilla buttercream frosting
Price: $3.27
Weight: 3 5/8 oz (103g)
Value: $0.902/oz

Frosting
Shiny, smooth and somewhat greasy. The frosting is remarkably tasteless and bland at first, almost like it was pure lard. However, after the initial impression it developed a strangely sweet and almost tangy aftertaste; after you’ve savored it for a bit on your tongue, a rich and creamy flavor comes through. I'd have to say it's one of the most interesting frostings I've had, but the initial taste is a big, big turnoff. It does get points for the finish, but unfortunately only enough to make it slightly better than mediocre. Rating 5.5/10

Cake The top of the cake was hard and the cake itself was dry and coarse. Not enough sweetness in the cake to bring out a true chocolaty flavor, and tasted a little “off”. The quality is mediocre and below what I would consider an average cupcake should be. Rating 4.5/10

Overall This was a rather disappointing cupcake in terms of flavor and texture. This is the kind of cupcake that reinforces my theory that the sweets that look the best are not usually the ones that taste the best. As the most expensive cupcake (so far), the price is reflective more of the Gold Coast location than it is of taste and quality. Overall rating 5.0/10

2 comments:

Beck said...

Did you go on the weekend or a Monday? I've found that the ovens are usually off on weekends and one is served the leftovers! Even Dinkels (gasp)

Get on over to Cafe BonBom Americano. It's just down the block from this place! Get the Chicken Corn soup (wow).

I'm excited to see what you think of Swedish Bakery. I haven't been there yet. I did have a princess cake (slice) and loved it! I'm not a big fan of marzipan, but this rocked. Cake on Justin!

dinks said...

Wow... I have tried the cupcakes from their Macy's store and can say the quality of the cupcake is about the same... I tried two different flavors and found the peanut butter one especially lard tasting :(

They have such pretty displays that it is hard to not stop in before catching my train at milennium station.

Thanks for checking all of these places out for us!