A Second Chance for Sweet Lorraines

I have been meaning to go back to Sweet Lorraines at the Irvine Spectrum since they opened in June. I still had a bitter taste from my first visit, but in the name of reserach I decided to give them a second chance. The first thing I noticed was the addition of the words "Cupcake Shop" to the door. At least you will now know what is behind the doors at Sweet Lorraines.

Oh where do I start? I am still disappointed in the way the cupcakes are displayed. It looks tacky to put the cupcakes in these trays, especially with the pink paper hanging off the sides.

I have not ever seen another cupcake store do this, but Sweet Lorraines decorates the same type of cupcake differently. I don't like this. Notice this tray of Black & White cupcakes. They are essentially all the same cupcake, but there seems to be four different cupcakes. This may be some type of marketing ploy to make it look like there are more kinds of cupcakes, but in reality they had very few flavors.

Another negative point is how the cupcakes are decorated. They are not nicely done. Some of them look like little kids decorated them. I really wish they would try to look more professional.

I paid $3.25 for this?

Going off a suggestion from an employee behind the counter, I chose the Peanut Butter cupcake. I recently made some Chocolate Peanut Butter cupcakes for my sister's birthday, so I was anxious to compare them to Sweet Lorraines version.

So have they improved? Sadly, no. The cupcake was not very good. It was shaped like a mushroom, meaning the cake was spilling over the top. The cake was too spongey, almost rubbery. The frosting was a peanut butter frosting with cocoa added, not a chocolate frosting with peanut butter added like I made. The frosting was ok, but didn't go well with this cupcake.

I am not sure why Sweet Lorraines cupcakes fall short. I find myself wanting to hold back from giving them them another negative review, but I just can't recommend them as a place to get a good cupcake. They are way overpriced and their cupcakes are just not good. Sorry Sweet Lorraines, keep trying!

NOTE: Sweet Lorraine's went out of business.