Santa Monica is the Costa Mesa of Los Angeles. Costa Mesa is crawling with cupcake stores and bakeries. Santa Monica seems to be no different. Saturday my husband and I happened to be near Santa Monica so I jumped at the chance to review a few cupcakeries outside of Orange County.
First stop: Yummy Cupcakes
Location: 313 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, CA
It was very bizarre...the second we walked into the shop a putrid smell hit our noses! The smell was horrible! So weird. I looked around to see if anyone else noticed, but we seemed to be the only people who were affected. After putting the smell away (at least in my mind) I noticed that everyone in the shop seemed to be a return customer. They all knew exactly what flavors to buy. I knew this was the place to be!
I loved that there were so many flavors to choose from! I felt a slight pressure to choose quickly, as the store was starting to fill up and I didn't want to lose my place in line.
In the end, I only took two cupcakes home--Red Velvet Cocoa Cream Cheese and Old School. I am a big red velvet fan and was intrigued by the cocoa cream cheese frosting. The cake was moist, but the frosting was only ok. I don't think it had enough tangy cream cheese flavor. My husband said the frosting was too sweet for him. I couldn't tell too much of a difference between a regular cream cheese and this cocoa cream cheese. This cupcake was decent, but it didn't WOW me like I hoped.
My husband's pick was Old School. It looked like a Hostess Cupcake, which is probably where it got it's name (since it's a childhood treat). This cupcake had chocolate cake, which was good and moist. There was an injection of whipped cream in the middle of the cupcake and it was topped with chocolate ganache. Like I mentioned in a recent post, ganache is great just not as a topping on a cupcake. I had the same feelings about it. Again, cupcake was just ok.
The prices of Yummy Cupcakes ranged from $2.75 to $3.25. I would like to go back and review some additional flavors since I feel that there is so much more to try. These cupcakes were pretty good, so I would definitely recommend this cupcakery to anyone who is looking for a good cupcake in Santa Monica.
NOTE (8/1/10): I met the owner of Yummy Cupcakes tonight and she told me that she has 203 types of cupcakes at her store! I also learned that she uses my favorite type of buttercream frosting on her cupcakes (American buttercream with butter). Since I only got to taste two cupcakes on my visit, I feel that I have so much more to try. I think I need to re-visit Yummy Cupcakes real soon!
2 comments:
i just ate at this place recently and my cupcakes weren't cooked all the way. i had their holiday spice cupcake which was gummy inside and their cherries jubilee that used the same gelatinous filling donut shops use to fill their donuts. i probably should have tried a standard flavor. their frosting was good. a bit too sweet and dense for me though.
i was bummed that the staff weren't more friendly. did you experience the same thing? i walked in and i felt like i was bothering them.
I went here during my trip to California just a few weeks ago before leaving L.A. Big disappointment, though I thought the cupcakes were pretty and pretty moist, the cake AND the frosting were way too sweet... Between my friend and I.. we tried three...
the lemon, the hostess one and I forget the last one.. I liked the store but not the taste of the cupcakes...
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