So far I have had cupcakes in Northern and Southern California, Utah, New York, Nevada, Texas, Alabama, North Carolina, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Nebraska (possibly some other states... but I am drawing a blank on those if I have). This weekend a colleague who has been reading my blog for awhile asked why I never featured these cupcake adventures on Uncovering Food. My response was that cupcakes are exactly a healthy food. Her response? A portion sized dessert made with real ingredients is healthier than most of the things people eat.
She is right! And while I might not be able to recap all of my cupcake adventures, I will try my best to chronicle them starting with this weekend!
While in Omaha this weekend, I had the opportunity to try Jones Bros. Cupcakes. For those cupcake connoisseurs out there, you know that Red Velvet is a cupcake shop standard, and thus is my measuring stick for this nationwide journey. So the cupcake pictured* above is the one I consumed. The things that I look for when enjoying a cupcake are:
1. Cake: Is the cake moist? Is it flavorful? Fresh?
2. Frosting: Is the frosting consistency good? Appropriate sweetness levels? Compliments the cake?
3. Overall: Is the frosting to cake ratio appropriate? Overall appearance?
So how did Jones Bros stack up to their competition?
The cake was moist but did not hold well. It began to crumble after the first bite. The flavor of the cake was overpowered by the overly sweet cream cheese frosting. I love a sweet frosting, but the cake has to stand up to it in order for the frosting to be pulled off. The cake to frosting ratio was great, as you didn't run out of one before the other. And while the overall appearance of the cupcake was pretty enough for pictures (and I took lots of them), the cupcake was average when it came to overall dessert-ability.
While the Red Velvet was not the best I ever had, for the most part, my companions enjoyed their cupcakes. Check out the "Wild Thing" cupcake in the right-hand bottom corner of the box! It was a multi-colored buttermilk cupcake with colorful frosting spikes.
My friends who tried the cupcakes told me that I was being too harsh on these cute cupcakes. That this was an excellent cupcake shop. And maybe they have a point. The cupcakes were good...
But I am on the hunt for America's BEST cupcake shop!
* Hey Tab folks... check out how awesome those Hilton boardroom desk pads made that cupcake photo turn out!
