The Cupcake Special
Lately, I seem to have gotten over my usual chocolate addiction and fallen headlong into an obsession with cupcakes. Yes, I know, we’re like five years behind New York, but still—the recent proliferation of cupcake shops in our neighborhood has seen me making daily pilgrimages to scout for my latest favorite flavor. Here are some recent finds:
As chance would have it, I stumbled into Kisses (24 Gough St., Central, 2489-9899) on its first day of business—this was about a couple weeks back. To be honest, I wasn’t even sure it had opened, as the shop was bare and there were hardly any goods on sale. Actually, there was exactly one tray of red velvet cupcakes sitting alone on the display shelf, which I thought was quite bold. It was pretty much a take-it-or-leave-it kind of deal—so I took it, and loved it.
Kisses’ cupcakes are a bit flatter than the pyramid tops that characterize most cupcakes these days, but their creamy toppings are liquidy smooth and just the way I like ‘em. So far, my fave is the caramel with the golden lava center (yes, I’ve since gone back to try other flavors), although the signature red velvet is pretty darn good, too. The folks at Kisses tell me the shop is kinda like a joint venture with popular NYC dessert bar Chikalicious. (Our native-New Yorker associate editor assures me Chikalicious is delish.)
I’m sure they had their reasons, but I always thought it was iffy business sense for Awfully Chocolate(Shop 5, 1/F, Queen’s Place, 21 Stanley St., Central, 2868-6710) to sell only whole cakes and full tubs of ice cream at their purist black-and-white shops that look like jail cells. So I literally jumped for joy when I walked across the Stanley Street shop last week and saw a smorgasbord of chocolatey goods on display.
Mountains of chocolate-powdered truffle blocks beckoned from behind the glass, while a smooth, shiny slab of chocolate cake sat proudly on an adjacent shelf. I was trying to absorb all the wonderful news—imagine, buying cakes by the slice and chocolate by the piece!—when I turned towards the counter and saw rows and rows of monster cupcakes (they were more like mug cakes) lined neatly beside the cash register.
So there you have it: not only does Awfully Chocolate stock cupcakes these days, it also stocks the largest cupcakes in town—by far. And at the reasonably attractive price of $28 per piece, you definitely feel like you’re getting your money’s worth. I have to say they aren’t the prettiest products I’ve seen—the cakes sit in plain white plasticky paper holders—but this just goes with the whole minimalist theme the brand’s kinda perfected by now. I really enjoyed the regular chocolate-flavored one with a light cocoa mousse-like cream on top, and promptly went back the next day to try their other flavor, the white chocolate—which was a bit dry for my liking (although a couple hours in our fridge could’ve ruined its magic). My next goal is to try their tempting brownies—they’re only available on pre-order, so I’ll need to get my act together and call at least a day in advance.
Speaking of pre-orders, Andrea, owner of cupcake delivery service o-bite me, sent in a picture of her yummy creations a couple weeks ago and I immediately fell in love. I went onto the website and ordered 16 red velvet cupcakes (they’re called “scarlet”) with green cream cheese frosting, which were hand delivered (by Andrea herself) the next day, straight to our office, just in time for a Christmas party I was attending that night.