Cupcakes: The new cookies & milk for Santa
Taken by Alayna
What: Candy Cane
Where: Cupcake Royale in Ballard…Click here for directions.
Tis the season for more seasonal flavors! As if Halloween and Thanksgiving weren’t exciting enough, cupcakeries around the U.S. have enthusiastically unveiled collections of scrumptious holiday flavors like Candy Cane, pictured above. You can only imagine our glee at the discovery of December delights like these.
I cannot lie: the mission to acquire a holiday cupcake from Cupcake Royale didn’t go as smoothly as planned. My goal was to taste their Eggnog flavor but unfortunately for me, they had sold out by the time I arrived at the shop on a Saturday at around 7:30pm. Candy Cane would have to do…
The frosting was festive and satisfying—all you cupcake fanatics know how much we adore a green mint, of all flavors. This particular green mint was a frosty buttercream, perfectly balanced in all manners: texture, amount, distribution, butteri-ness, sugariness, and minty refreshment. A dash of crystal red and snow white sprinkles along with a classic starlight mint were the perfect accessories to decorate this holiday treat.
At Cupcake Royale you can devour one of these Candy Cane cakes with your preference of either vanilla or chocolate cake. I prefer a dark, silky cocoa flavor to accompany anything minty (Junior Mints, Peppermint Mochas, Cool Mint Oreos, etc.) It just seems to ground and stabilize what would otherwise be an overwhelmingly bright and cool flavor. Chocolate and mint, to me, are the epitome of holiday flavor. Moving on, I was privileged enough to be graced by the presence of one single remaining Candy Cane with Chocolate Cake.
Hoping for the best and expecting visions of sugar plum fairies and jolly snowmen to fill my head, I was slightly disappointed with the results. The cake was crumbly and devoid of truly caramelized sweet, roasted, and seductive flavor that chocolate bolsters. This chocolate cake was regrettably was dull, flat, dry, floury, and incomplete. It was a shock to me; Cupcake Royale has always treated me well with their cake cooking abilities. Perhaps chocolate is not their forte.
Candy Cane will be available at all Cupcake Royale locations until the end of December! Otherwise, this flavor is available under the name of Peppermint Party all year round. The only difference, is that this Christmas treat is adorned with a cheerful mint at the top. 🙂
This cupcake deserves 3.5 NOMS out of 5. It’s drawbacks: the cake flavor, or lack there of. With that said, however, I’m absolutely willing to give it another chance….You never know—cold weather can do crazy things to a baking experience and its products.
OH MY NOM. 