Jewel

Various locations around Chicago



Chocolate cupcake with vanilla buttercream frosting

Price: $3.78 for 6
Weight: 2 3/8 oz each (67g)
Value: $0.265/oz

Frosting The frosting is thick, slightly grainy and has a candy-like sweetness, though not overly sweet. Rating 8.5/10

Cake The chocolate cake has a nice flavor and a moist, soft crumb. Rating 8.5/10

Overall That's right, Jewel the grocery store. We've all had grocery store birthday cake -- some are so sweet and overbearing that even those of us with the most dedicated sweet tooth can't finish even a single slice, and others are so tantalizingly good we keep going back to the fridge to sneak just one last slice, again and again. This cupcake is like the good birthday cake. I bought a pack of six, and they were gone in 24 hours. Cupcake purists might roll their eyes when I say this, but in my opinion this cupcake rates near some of the best. Actually, I have to admit I wasn't really all that surprised. There are certainly better cupcakes out there, but when you can get SIX really good cupcakes for the price of one very good cupcake, you have to wonder if what you're paying for at some of those fancier bakeries is worth it. Overall Rating 8.5/10.0

Fox & Obel

401 E Illinois, ChicagoChocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting

Price: $3.06
Weight: 4 5/8 oz (130g)
Value: $0.662/oz

Frosting The frosting is smooth, sweet, and chocolate fudge-like. I would also say it had a quality that can only be described as....well, wet. It was like frosting you would get out of a can at the grocery store. Rating 6.0/10

Cake The cake was a little bit dry on the edges, but toward the center it was fairly moist. I know this will sound strange, but it also seemed like there was some kind of spice or herb in the cake -- I kept tasting something that I couldn't quite put my finger on. I can't say it was bad necessarily, but I wish I could place it. Even though the texture was a little dry, I was intrigued. Rating 6.0/10

Overall I've heard people rave about the cupcakes at Fox & Obel, but I couldn't help thinking the frosting was something from Duncan Hines. The store seems like a nice place though. I would describe it as a grocery store with mood lighting. I didn't look around a lot, but my initial impression is that of a more upscale Whole Foods (if that means anything). Even so, I was impressed that the cupcake, for as big as it was, wasn't more expensive. It's a decent cupcake, and worth the price overall -- in other words, I wouldn't turn it down. Overall Rating 6.0/10.0

Molly's Cupcakes

2536 N Clark, Chicago


Chocolate cupcake with vanilla French buttercream frosting
Price: $2.20
Weight: 2 3/4 oz (79g)
Value: $0.800/oz

Frosting The frosting is smooth, creamy and very light -- so light that it was almost more like a thick Chantilly cream. While it is certainly sweet, you actually sense the richness and body first as it hits the taste buds in the middle of your tongue. This is one of the best, most sublime buttercreams I think I've had. Rating 9.5/10

Cake The cake is exceptionally moist, soft and light. The chocolate flavor is superb, coming through full and flavorful -- neither faint (like a lot of cupcakes) nor overbearing. Simply excellent. Rating 9.5/10

Overall Hands down, this is the best cupcake overall that I've tasted so far. The frosting is so unlike most buttercreams you'd find on a cupcake, and combined with the moist, chocolaty cake it creates such a full, rich flavor. Not only should you go out and try this cupcake, but you should eat it while sitting on one of the playground swings in the shop. Overall Rating 9.5/10.0

Update: If you go here, pay close attention to the price of what you are getting if you don't want to be shocked at the register. Apparently, $2.00 is the basic cupcake only. For the "build your own" cupcakes, prices can go up to $4.50 -- which the price boards explain. But be aware that even pre-made cupcakes from the display case may be priced at the "build your own" prices (they don't show prices next to the cupcakes in the case). Hence my shock when a friend and I selected 2 cupcakes from the display case, and paid $8.82. The cookies & cream cupcake I got just looked like a simple chocolate cupcake with vanilla buttercream frosting and a 1/2 Oreo stuck in the top. It turned out to be $4.50! I have to admit, after questioning the price at the register and the reaction I got from the cashier, I was a little turned off by this place. To top it off, my Oreo cupcake turned out to be wet and soggy inside, like it was a sponge that had been soaked in water. And it took all of 4 bites to finish. So, after such a great initial review, I'll just say I have reservations now. If you don't mind the gimmicks, then you may like this place.

House of Fine Chocolates

3109 N Broadway, Chicago


Chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting
Price: $1.53
Weight: 2 1/4 oz (65g)
Value: $0.680/oz

Frosting The frosting is smooth, milk-chocolaty, light and flavorful. The texture is just right for a cupcake. Rating 9/10

Cake Moist, soft and light. Rating 9/10

Overall With a name like House of Fine Chocolates, you'd probably think truffles before you would guess that they also have cupcakes. At least I did. This is another one of those unexpected gems. They may not make fancy cupcakes with bizarre or clever flavor combinations, but there's a lot to be said for a really good cupcake at a reasonable price. So if you're walking up Broadway on your way to get a fancy cupcake at Cupcakes, and you just can't wait the 5 more minutes it will take you to walk there, duck into this shop and get one to go. Overall Rating 9.0/10.0

Bleeding Heart Bakery

1955 W Belmont, Chicago


Chocolate cupcake with plain frosting and chocolate shavings
Price: $3.59
Weight: 3 3/8 oz (97g)
Value: $1.064/oz

Frosting Grainy, buttery but not greasy, and a slightly chalky texture...which is not necessarily a criticism. The frosting has a little density to it, and I generally prefer something that feels lighter and more whipped. The chocolate shavings added a nice bittersweet flavor. It was a solid performer, but didn't knock my socks off. Rating 7.5/10

Cake The cake also has some substance to it that you can really bite into. A cupcake this dense without sufficient moistness would have been a disaster, but this cake was very moist. Great chocolate flavor too -- rich without being overbearing. Rating 9/10

Overall I'm afraid to say anything bad about this bakery, because the people who run the place look like they would hurt me. I really don't know how to describe them: a mix of biker/punk/hipster/urban and....I don't know. Heavily pierced, thoroughly tattooed and colorfully dyed.

But none of that should distract you from checking out this bakery. It may be a little pricey, but it by far has the most character of any bakery/cafe I've been to, and based on this cupcake alone I'd say it's a pretty good one at that. Plus, I don't know anywhere else you can get chocolate covered bacon.

Overall Rating 8.25/10.0

Bittersweet Pastry Shop & Café

1114 W Belmont, Chicago

Yellow cupcake with hazelnut buttercream frosting and milk chocolate filling
Price: $3.55
Weight: 3 1/8 oz (89g)
Value: $1.136/oz

Frosting Smooth, light and creamy; no graininess. Just the right amount of flavor. Rating 9.0/10

Cake Moist and rich, with a flavorful filling. Rating 9.5/10

Overall This cupcake has an excellent combination of flavors. Normally I try to get a chocolate cupcake with plain vanilla frosting so that my comparisons are meaningful. However, Bittersweet did not have any chocolate cupcakes this day, but when it comes to cupcakes, I happily take what I can get.

When the clerk at the shop told me it was hazelnut with milk chocolate buttercream, I assumed that the cake was hazelnut flavored and the frosting was milk chocolate (though I thought the color was a little light even for milk chocolate). So when I bit into the frosting and tasted hazelnut, I was a little puzzled. It wasn't until I bit into the cake that I discovered the (surprise!) milk chocolate buttercream filling.

I'm usually skeptical of pricey cupcakes. I have a rule of thumb that says the most expensive and/or the best-looking cupcakes are usually the most disappointing in terms of taste (see Sarah's and Café Bombon). However, this cupcake was, as the saying goes, the exception that proves the rule. I was thoroughly pleased and impressed, and it got extra credit for cleverly hiding the chocolate buttercream . Overall Rating 9.25/10.0

Swirlz

705 W Belden, Chicago

Chocolate cupcake with chocolate ganache and vanilla buttercream
Price: $3.31
Weight: 3 1/4 oz (93g)
Value: $1.018

Frosting Smooth and light like whipped cream; slightly greasy and no graininess. The buttercream sits atop a bed of bittersweet chocolate ganache. Rating 8.0/10

Cake Very moist and chocolatey. The cake has good weight and substance you can sink your teeth into. Rating 9.0/10

Overall This cupcake has a unique blend of textures, owing to the ganache sandwiched between the buttercream frosting and the cake. But not only is the texture interesting, the combination of the rich chocolate cake, the bittersweet ganache and the buttercream makes for a flavor that is more complex than a typical cupcake. The only thing about this cupcake that held me back in my rating was the buttercream - it's no secret that I prefer a little graininess in a frosting, but the flavor here was just a little on the bland side. Overall rating 8.5/10

Sweet Occasions and More

5306 N Clark, Chicago
4639 N Damen, Chicago

UPDATE: As of the end of August 2008, Sweet Occasions and More is no more.

Chocolate cupcake with plain frosting
Price: $2.75
Weight: 3 3/4 oz (107g)
Value: $0.733/oz

Frosting The frosting was very light and grainy, and it had a slightly chalky texture Rating 9.0

Cake Slightly chewy but soft. Chocolatey and moist Rating 8.5

Overall Sweet Occasions started with a small shop near Lincoln Square, and a couple of years later opened a second, much larger store in Andersonville, and soon it will be opening a third in Edgewater. The cupcake here was quite pleasing. However, having eaten probably a dozen cupcakes from Sweet Occasions, I feel I should mention that they haven’t all been as good as this; I’ve also had a couple that were really disappointing. Nonetheless, Sweet Occasions is one of my favorite shops because it offers a good variety for anyone with a sweet tooth: cake slices, pie slices, brownies, tarts, ice cream, candy, imported chocolates, and probably other things that I haven’t noticed because I was in too much of a hurry to stuff a slice of cake in my mouth. The ice cream is excellent and rich, and the cake slices are HUGE (though now also a bit pricey). There’s a lot to like about this place, not just the cupcakes. Overall Rating 8.75/10

Café Bombon

1000 N Clark, Chicago


Yellow cupcake with plain frosting
Price: $3.00
Weight: 2 7/8 oz (81g)
Value: $1.043/oz

Frosting When I ate this cupcake, the frosting had warmed nearly to room temperature, so it was like whipped cream - extremely light and it melted in my mouth like cotton candy. It was buttery and smooth, without any graininess. However, the taste was a little off. The only way I can describe it was maybe being a little sour and having like a freezer-burned taste. It was very noticeable and a big drawback in this case. Rating 6.0

Cake I normally get a chocolate cupcake, but this day they didn’t have any so I got a plain yellow cake. Nevertheless, the cake was spongy and rich. Supermoist and chewy, with a texture similar to a carrot cake. In fact, it had such a rich flavor you might even be convinced it was a carrot cake. The texture of this cake is not what you would traditionally expect from a cupcake, but it was so good that it doesn’t matter. Rating 8.0

Overall A fellow cupcake lover called my attention to this bakery so I was eager to check it out. It’s fair to say, then, that I went in with certain expectations. After being initially disappointed by the taste of the buttercream, I thought perhaps I was being a little unfair, so I went back a couple of weeks after the first tasting and had another. The second time, I didn’t wait before eating it, thinking that perhaps I had ruined the experience earlier by letting it warm up. However, the frosting still had that freezer-burned taste, and it was a big distraction. I really wanted to like the cupcake more, but I couldn’t say that the second one was better than the first. In fact, the cake -- chocolate this time -- was a little dry. If I were rating this cupcake, I’d give the frosting a 6.0 again and the chocolate cake a 6.0 as well. For one of the most expensive cupcakes, I have to say it really wasn’t worth the price. If you do get a cupcake here, I recommend trying a yellow cake, perhaps with a flavored frosting. Overall rating 6.0/10

Sensational Bites

3751 N Southport, Chicago
Chocolate cupcake with plain buttercream frosting
Price: $1.68
Weight: 3 3/8 oz (97g)
Value: $0.498/oz

Frosting Too buttery and too sweet - it kind of stings your throat when you swallow. Moderately dense, with a slight crusty film on the outside. Rating 5.5

Cake Chocolaty, sufficiently moist. Rating 7.0

Overall I always try to choose a chocolate cupcake with plain vanilla frosting whenever possible so that my comparisons aren’t influenced by other factors. In this case, I also had a chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting (yes I ate two cupcakes, so sue me) and the chocolate frosting was much, much better than the plain. I would rate the chocolate frosting as a 7.5. This particular cupcake above would have rated similarly if not for the frosting.
The problem of rating based on a single cupcake is that cupcakes aren’t always going to be consistent from day to day. That said, however, consistency is important, and it is one of the reasons that I like Dinkel’s so much and is why I like to consider it the standard - they are consistent and reliable. Overall Rating 6.25/10