Tuesday, April 17, 2012

High on Sugar, Short on Bliss: Sinful Bliss Cupcakes Review


I did not bake this weekend.

Why?  Because I was eating ALL the things, of course.  Yes literally ALL the things.  I had things to do, people to see, sweets to consume, pounds to gain.  And it looks like this weekend will be a repeat. Crap.  And now that it is officially Spring in the Bay there are just so many festivals and fairs and gorgeous sunshiney Sunday mornings to take advantage of!  (Take advantage is code for having me stuff my face while you live vicariously through me.)

Later this week I hope to bring you crepes, creme brulee, ice cream sundaes and  ice cream sandwich cookies.  But today.. .a review! The review is for Sinful Bliss Cupcakes in Pleasant Hill, CA.

This place is pretty close to me.  Close enough that I pass by it when I go to the movie theater or Michaels.  Close enough that friends and acquaintances will check-in or Facebook pictures of the cupcakes. I'd even yelped them to see if they were worth investing my oh co carefully allocated calories on.  But I had yet to go despite them being around since 2012/2011ish.  But last Wednesday I took a friend there for a post-dinner treat. Or at least I had hoped it would have been a treat...

The shop is in the middle of Crescent Plaza, next door to a frozen yogurt place.  I love the little canopy on top.  So much promise!



Once inside, there is the register and display place.  Behind the register is this cute little wall decal that welcomes you and encourages you to eat cupcakes.  Like that's needed...




On the right hand wall, there are black frames with the menu and pricing.  Cupcakes are $3.25 and minis are $2 each.  They also announce specials of the day and month.



The cupcake display is pretty solid.  There is lots to choose from.  Lots.  I spent a good five minutes taking pictures and debating what I would get. Not only is there good variety but almost all, if not all, of the flavors are available in the mini size!





We ended up with four in our little box.


Red Velvet, Salted Caramel, Raspberry and Coconut Macaroon. 


I didn't try the Red Velvet since it was for a friend, but the sugar crystals on top of the cream cheese frosting really deterred me from wanting to try it anyways.  The amount of sugar should have been a sign!

I had the raspberry which I did not take a picture of because I put it in my mouth too fast.  Oops.  I like food, okay?  The cake was good, it had chunks of raspberry in it which I loved, but the cake was not super moist.  It wasn't dry either though, it just... was.   The frosting part.was pure sugar.  Way way too much sugar.  I usually like to scrape off half the frosting anyways, but in this case I HAD to.  The frosting was also a little dry. 

The Coconut Macaroon was actually a pretty huge divergence in what I would normally get.  But i got it because I am trying new things.  I am not a fan of coconut, but I am giving it a try!  And actually the toasted coconut part of the cupcake was not that bad at all.  I think I will explore this coconut thing a  little more in the future.  The part that was bad... was again the sweetness. The caramel PLUS the frosting was too much.  I could barely taste the chocolate.  And if I can't taste the chocolate?  Well, then there is a serious problem!! At least it looked pretty?



My friend for the salted caramel.  He liked the salt/caramel and said the cake was fine... but he had the same reaction to the frosting; TOO SWEET.  CupKate's version of the Salted Caramel is on chocolate cake and the first time I ate one, I had to rethink all I knew about cupcakes.  That was not his reaction.  Or even close to it...



So would I recommend this place to a friend?  No, not when Kara's is one town over.  Or when you can stalk CupKates. (I also tried a new place that I have yet to blog about that is amazing and might be beating out my CupKate truck as new favorite. But more on that one later.) 

Would I come back?   Maybe. If I was next door, and really wanted a cupcake and the flavor of the month looked interesting and someone else was paying for it and they happened to be a hot guy with abs. 

What?  Could totally happen. 

xoxo,
Anna



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