The Canadian Foodie: Keep Calm and Cupcake On

Cupcakes!

Image Credit: Stephanie Mau

That got your attention, didn’t it?

But not just any cupcakes—in fact, today we are taste-testing cupcakes from Cupcakes, a Vancouver-based chain of uber-pink, super retro bakeries which were made popular by creators Heather and Lori’s show The Cupcake Girls (airing Wednesdays at 8/8:30 EST/PST on the Canadian W network)! Frosted pastries and baking reality programs—if I didn’t have your attention before, I definitely do now.

And Cupcakes doesn’t just sell cupcakes. Each store also offers a collection of gorgeous goodies – everything from cupcake-flavoured lip balm to “I Heart Cupcakes” tote bags to cute Cupcakes t-shirts. (If only another beloved eatery of mine also sold their lovely t-shirts.)

Now Cupcakes, being the generous souls that they are, lets you devour their pretty pastries in three different ways. You can either get the regular-sized cupcake (the perfect portion for an afternoon snack), a big one (they’re actually called that in the store), or a mini-sized version (ideal for shopping around until you find your favourite flavour). You can even get a prepack of twelve mini cupcakes to go!

So at this point, you’re probably thinking: “It’s all well and good that you’ve told me how big I can get these cupcakes. Now what the heck kind of cupcakes are there?” Well, hold your horses – I was just getting to that! Unfortunately, Cupcakes has too many flavours for me to adequately cover all of them, so for the time being, feast your eyes on just five of their delicious products:

Image Credit: Stephanie Mau

Sundae (pictured at left): Every bit as scrumptious as its name suggests, this cupcake consists of a chocolate cake topped with vanilla buttercream, sprinkles, and a maraschino cherry. Sundae is probably the most visually appealing of them all – but then again, they’re cupcakes. They’re all visually appealing.

Mint Condition: You gotta love a pun-tastic pastry – Mint Condition is a chocolate cake decorated with mint buttercream and chocolate chips. Whether or not you find this one surprisingly delicious or just unappetizingly quirky depends on how big a fan you are of mint chocolate chip ice cream.

Note: As a general rule, I would recommend the vanilla cakes over the chocolate ones, as the latter tend to have a slightly bitter cocoa flavour that nicely counteracts the sweet frosting on top, but isn’t quite as tasty once you get to that dreaded cupcake bottom.

Image Credit: Stephanie Mau

Koo Koo: Let’s get one thing straight: I don’t like coconut. So it came as a huge surprise that I really enjoyed this cupcake that is quite literally chockfull of coconut: coconut cake, coconut sprinkles, and cream cheese frosting. Okay, the last part isn’t coconut. But I’m not a big fan of cream cheese frosting either.

Red Velvet: Speaking of cream cheese frosting, here we have the classic red velvet cupcake. At the risk of losing all credibility as a foodie, I am not that into red velvet cupcakes. So as red velvet cupcakes go, Red Velvet is a pretty good one. (How many more times do you think I can say ‘red velvet’ in one paragraph? Red velvet red velvet red velvet.) Okay, moving right along.

Sweet Sixteen: You probably already guessed from its moniker, but Sweet Sixteen is an adorable cupcake covered with beautiful pastel pink frosting and colourful sprinkles. This is usually my go-to cupcake – although, what does it say about me that my favourite cupcake is a vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream? Well, since this admittedly safe combination tastes most like the classic cupcake that most people adore, it probably doesn’t say that much. (Right?)

Like what you see? Cupcakes is located at various locations across British Columbia, Canada. To find a store near you, you can visit the website here.