The Best Cupcake - CHICAGO

The Windy City.  Most people come here for a taste of the big city life, and you can definitely find it in Chi-Town.  This town is a home to all professional sports, great shopping, some of the best cultural and recreational activities in the U.S., and yes, the food here is something else.

But, we'll reserve the deep-dish pizza column for another time.  This column is about cupcakes.  The baked good to rule them all.  Portable, yet luxurious.  The opportunity for endless flavor profiles.  A small enough dessert for lunch, yet two of them make a nice after dinner exclamation point.  Good with both hot and cold beverages.  Refrigeration not required (at least within the first few hours).

I've had cupcakes in three different bakeries in Chicago.  Because of this, I feel that I've had enough samples to be able to judge the best cupcake in the city.  My criteria are these:

1.  Size

A cupcake should not require two hands to eat.  Cupcake and cookie portions are downright RIDICULOUS in some places.  If it has the same amount of calories as a club sandwich, we need to tone it down, people!  On the flip side, it cannot be equal in size to a Hostess Mini-Muffin.  That's just cruel.

2.  Icing Coverage:

There needs to be enough icing to get a quality bite until the cupcake is gone.  This is particularly problematic with homemade cupcakes.  No one puts enough frosting on these.  Some bakeries go to the opposite end of the spectrum and add more frosting than cake.  This is also a fail.  Roughly 1/4 inch of frosting height is appropriate.

EXCEPTION:  Some vendors have chosen to fill their cupcakes with various custards, other flavors, fruit, etc.  In this case, you need enough frosting on top of the cupcake to balance the filling, which may necessitate you exceeding the 1/4 inch requirement.  The cupcake may also have to be slightly enlarged to allow for this filling.  Bake and cakes, you screw this up on all your so-called "gourmet" cupcakes.

3.  Flavor Profile

This is the deal breaker.  The cake AND the frosting must be flavorful.  I've had great icing on horrible cupcakes, and vice versa.  I've had chocolate frosting that doesn't taste like chocolate (kind of like a chocolate milkshake that uses vanilla ice cream, but not enough chocolate sauce in the blend).  The biggest miss for me in this area is cream cheese frosting.  You want that "zip" in the frosting, but you don't want to eat Philadelphia Cream Cheese on top of your cupcake.  If you want an example of this, go to Sugarshack in Frandor.  Sad but true.  Their mix is completely off.

So, Red Velvet is this super-popular cupcake, right?  Essentially, it's a slightly-altered chocolate cake.  No frills, that's it.  Yet, I've had some of these that taste nothing like they're supposed to.

NOTE:  We'll use this criteria in all cupcake analysis going forward.

So, without further ado, of the best cupcakes in Chicago, there are two varieties, both from the same vendor:






http://www.sprinkles.com/


These cupcakes have it ALL.  A non-ridiculous size.  Icing coverage is perfect.  And the flavor profile is out of this world.  Every bite pops.  I've sampled at least ten of their varieties, and have enjoyed them all.  Sprinkles prides themselves on using the best ingredients (my guess is that's how they rationalize charging 3.50 per cupcake).  They also have invented a machine that sits in front of some of their stores and dispenses cupcakes at a swipe of your credit card.  They call it, "The Cupcake ATM."

There are two varieties that stand out:

1.  Red Velvet

The best red velvet cupcake I've had - ever.  I've never eaten this cake in the south, but if it tastes better than this cupcake, I might pass out.  The cake is so flavorful, it doesn't need frosting.  And yet, the cream cheese frosting is the best ratio and flavor I've ever had.  I would eat this cream cheese frosting on my morning toast.  If they shipped this cupcake I would need to be on the elliptical 90 minutes five days a week just to keep my calorie count down.

2.  Milk Chocolate (a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and sprinkles)

They really show off the decadence with this cupcake  Chocolate cake, with a milk chocolate frosting and chocolate sprinkles.  You may think that much chocolate would be a harsh taste, maybe a bit bitter?  Nope.  Creamy, smooth, and lots of milk chocolate flavor.  Like a cake version of hot chocolate.  They use Belgian chocolate in these bad boys, and I tell you, I want to fly to Belgium to get some of this stuff!  This was so good, I had to eat it without drinking anything, for fear it would dilute the flavor.  I had coffee afterwards :).  This tastes a whole lot like Brazilian fudge (Brigadeiro).  Trust me, that's a compliment.

Sprinkles is a small bakery chain (there's 12 nationwide), so you may be turned off by that, or that it's very popular with the Hollywood set.  Don't let that drive you away.  Sprinkles is more of a boutique bakery, and when you walk in the store, it's very minimalist.  The cupcakes are the star.  As they should be.  There are a lot of other more media-famous outlets (Crumbs, Magnolia Bakery), but trust me, I've had them.  I've had A LOT of them. 

Sprinkles kicks their tail.  I look forward to the next time I eat one.  Or three :).