Berkeley Cupcake Adventure

It was a gorgeous Sunday afternoon, a perfect day for a cupcake adventure...it's with me, Annie and her boyfriend, Brian. He was coming along to eat the leftover cupcakes that we couldn't finish.

We figured we'd go grab lunch at Cheeseboard and then off to tantalize our taste buds with cupcakes. We totally forgot that Cheeseboard is closed on Sundays, and as we wandered down the street trying to figure out our lunch options, we stumbled upon a $7.95 All You Can Eat sign at Mint Leaf. Score! Cheap eats and it's a buffet! Annie and I made sure we didn't eat all we could eat...must leave room for cupcakes!

Our first cupcake stop...
Love At First Bite

I had been here before and thought it was good. They have flavors such as Matcha Green Tea, Mudpie, Red Velvet, Chocolate Peanut Butter...the list goes on. We decided that we would get 2 cupcakes at each stop, which would end up being quite a bit of sugary consumption for the whole week!




Here's what we got:

Chocolate cupcake with a fluffy meringue buttercream, topped with toasted coconut. $3

Hummingbird, a Southern cupcake which consists of banana, pecans and pineapple with a cream cheese frosting. $3

Our thoughts? The chocolate cake was soft, not too dense, not too sweet. The frosting, as described, was definitely fluffy and marshmallow-like. The only thing about it was that we had expected it to have a coconut flavor from the flakes, but there was none at all. It just provided a coconut texture. A bit disappointed there. :(

The Hummingbird, too, was not too sweet of cake but it was on the dense side, as banana cakes tend to be. Brian was the first to point out that the frosting was a bit grainy. The pecans and bananas were definitely there, but no sign of pineapple.

So we hop in our car and off to the next cupcake joint. But before we reach our destination, we get rear ended. A not quite intended addition to our cupcake tour of course. A slight derailment, but then we're off on our way again to our second stop...

Cupkates, the Bay Area's first mobile cupcakery.

You can easily find out where they're going to park for the day by check out their website or following them on Twitter. They were located on 4th in Berkeley that day. It was about 3:30pm and we strolled up to the truck with excitement, only to find that they had sold out of all flavors except for the Salted Caramel and the Double Chocolate. If only it weren't for that fender bender, we could have tried other flavors, like the S'Mores or Lemon Raspberry.

We were in need of something that would WOW us...and for merely $3, WOW we got, when our mouths had the joyous union with the oh so soft and moist chocolate cake and the light and fluffy caramel frosting with a slight hint of sea salt. I'm drooling just thinking about it as I write this blog. The one thing about the cake that I wish it did was hold up while splitting it up. It was so moist, it just crumbled apart when picked at.

This cupcake has got to be the best we have ever had.











Annie said, "WOW!"












And of course, by this time, it's 4pm, we're pooped and our tummies were not happy with the amount of sugar we've had. Our original intentions of visiting 3 cupcakeries, was cut short. Until next time...