Cupcakes. The word immediately conjures up childhood images, real and imagined, of thickly frosted cakes in thin paper cups topped with colorful sprinkles and small, swirly birthday candles. Having abandoned cupcakes long ago, along with musty memories of grade-school assemblies and yearbooks, it seems my generation has staged a major revival of these nostalgic treats with cupcakeries cool and quaint proliferating across the country: "Hey, everyone, the cupcake is back, and they're better than ever!"
I have spent the last couple of years scouring the city taste-testing cupcakes in search of a genuine winner, along with family and friends who have helped in the mission by bringing samples to any and every special occasion. The outcome? Buttercake Bakery. In a tiny store on Pico next to a newsstand, this unassuming bakery houses the best cupcakes in town. Only three flavors are served - chocolate, vanilla, and red velvet - in two sizes, regular or mini. The cake is moist and flavorful, and the buttercream frosting is neither too dense nor cloyingly sweet. This is a true bakery in the sense that there's nothing else here - no bistro, no cafe, no decor, nothing to keep you here. The cupcakes are best taken away in a box or eaten on the spot without pomp and circumstance - just pure, simple pleasure.
Sprinkles merits serious attention by cupcake lovers. It's the most hyped cupcakery on the West Coast that probably lives up to its reputation, and is perhaps the Angeleno celebrity-chic response to New York's long-established Magnolia Bakery. The great thing about Sprinkles is the variety of fun, creative flavors which infuse both the cake and the frosting. From Chai Latte to Peanut Butter Chip, Sprinkles provides a mouth-watering array of combinations, with different selections depending on the day of the week. My all-time favorite is the Black and White, a sinfully-rich chocolate tempered by wholesome vanilla, moist and masterful.
SusieCakes debuted on the cupcake scene about a year ago, opening its first storefront in Brentwood, my former and much-missed stomping grounds. The store is clean and inviting, a modern take on an old classic, with staff members wearing polka-dot kerchiefs around their heads and dressed in crisp aprons. Cakes, whoopie pies (superyummmmmm), and homemade puddings tempt from behind sparkling glass cases, and trays of pretty cupcakes line the shelves. The frosting-filled cupcakes here come in three cake flavors (vanilla, chocolate, red velvet), and several frosting flavors. Lemon is vanilla cake with lemon buttercream frosting; Chocolate Mint is a chocolate cake with mint-flavored buttercream frosting, my husband's personal pick. The vanilla cake is decent but the texture is a bit bready for my liking, although the chocolate packs the right punch in both flavor and texture. While there are no surprises here, SusieCakes offers a sweet rendition on a timeless standard.
Los Angeles magazine recently bestowed the city's "Best Cupcake" honor to Dainties Cupcakes, which has a near-invisible storefront off of Santa Monica Blvd., and looks more like a converted garage than a bakery from the outside. How did it measure up? It didn't! I wanted to like Dainties, I really did. Dainties promised a neat twist with whipped-cream frosting and a ganache filling instead of buttercream or cream-cheese, but it totally failed to deliver. The whipped cream was bland and lifeless, the cake dry and dull, and I didn't even notice the ganache (which is saying a lot for a chocoholic!)
Yummy Cupcakes was equally disappointing. It had so much potential - sounded good, looked good, smelled good - tasted...BLAH. I've renamed it Yucky Cupcakes.
Outside of Los Angeles, Pasadena's Violet's gets an honorable mention, offering big flavors in a generous cake cup.
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