Guest Review: Scratch Cupcakes

I love doing cupcake reviews! It has to be one of the best "jobs" in the world. As much as I wish I could, I can't visit every cupcake shop in the world by myself. So I love getting help from others. This guest review comes from one of my Twitter friends @krissymmurphy. Read on for the great review. Thanks Krissy!

Hi ya, my name is Krissy and I am a runner, blogger (http://shiawaselife.wordpress.com) and fan of all things sweet! A little over a year ago, I discovered the Cupcake Activist blog after running the Disneyland Half Marathon and I’ve been a fan ever since.

Fortunately for my waistline, many of the reviews on the Cupcake Activist are for cupcake shops that are very far away from me! I live in Charlottesville, VA, and though we do have a few great cupcake stops locally, it wasn’t until a recent Labor Day visit to the Midwest that I felt inclined to compose a formal review – this place is THAT good!

Scratch Cupcakery (http://scratchbakery.com/) of Cedar Falls, Iowa crafts beautiful and delicious cupcakes 6 days a week and has two stores in the Cedar Valley (Cedar Falls and Waterloo). As the name suggests, all are made from scratch and are sold for just $2 per standard sized cupcake, or $22 for a dozen. 

Of course, we ordered a dozen! After all, we were having a family BBQ, so why not share the sweetness?

Choosing our dozen was difficult, but fun. One of Scratch’s unique selling points is that many of their cupcake flavors are offered in alternative flavor choices. For example, you can order a Cookies and Cream cupcake with a vanilla or chocolate cake base, with the same delicious Oreo-infused frosting…definitely a cool option for picky eaters!

I am usually a big fan of chocolate cupcakes. Okay, well, chocolate anything…but Scratch’s vanilla cake was PERFECT. Light, fluffy and yet, still moist and tasty!

But that didn’t stop hubs from grabbing a very chocolate-y treat ;)

The Peanut Butter Chocolate cupcake was densely rich, with mini chocolate chips imbedded in the cake. The buttercream was thick and creamy - a bit too heavy for my tastes if I were to eat the whole thing… my one bite of this cupcake was perfect!

The real treat at Scratch, though, was this beauty:

 Fruit cupcakes are not usually my first choice but something about this cupcake just SPOKE to me. Perhaps it was the dreamy white buttercream, or maybe the sprinkles (okay, I like sparkly things) but I ordered two of these for our box and staked my claim to it almost immediately.

The middle of this luscious cupcake was filled with kiwi puree – so fresh! This cupcake really showcased Scratch’s ingenuity – and I will never turn down a pink cupcake!!

Of course, the cupcake collection was demolished within 24 hours of purchase (my nephews were big fans of the double chocolate, and my brother in law was more than happy to scarf down the mint chocolate) so no cupcake was left behind!

This cupcake experience showed me that big cities might have the bigger name shops, but small towns really BRING IT when it comes to the tiny confection game, too! So next time you’re slated to visit somewhere ‘off the grid,’ don’t forget to check if there are any cupcake shops to visit; it’ll make any journey that much sweeter! 

Scratch Cupcakery

Cedar Falls, IA

www.scratchcupcakery.com

Twitter: @scratchbakery

Facebook: Scratch Bakery