It's Like Comparing Cupcakes and Cupcakes

While on Fourth Avenue in Kits today, a sign caught my eye. It read: cupcakes. Having just passed a cupcakes shop earlier in the day, and having been unable to stop and fulfill my cravings then, I immediately found myself inside the shop taking in the display of puffy sugarballs. Displayed much like the bedazzling bling found in jewelry shops behind glass cases, each cupcake looked dreamy. I knew I had to have coconut, so chose the Snowball: a vanilla cake with coconut butter cream icing, rolled in coconut. My other choice was highly recommended by the salesperson, and was one of the premium cupcakes called the Chocolate Mound: a chocolate cake with coconut butter cream icing, shredded coconut on top, and a chocolate ganache centre.

I could not wait to get these inside my mouth but resisted until I got home, so I could sit down and enjoy them with a cup of tea. At home, I dove first into the Snowball, ready for the flavour of another I had had before. This former cupcake was perhaps the best cupcake I had ever had.

cupcake tops: Snowball on the left, Chocolate Mound on the right.

Awhile back, a friend had presented a lovely package to me. Inside were five cupcakes, and each of these were little prizes for the mouth. The best of these prizes was a divine morsel made of coconut cake and cream cheese frosting sprinkled with shredded coconut. The cream cheese is what made it, giving it a depth of flavour and contrast to the overall sweetness you would expect from a cupcake, and it was super moist.

When I bit into the Snowball, I had been expecting the Koo Koo, (the actual name of my beloved cupcake), and have to admit initial disappointment. The cake of the Snowball and of the Chocolate Mound were a little on the dry side and the icing a little too sweet as well but, paired with my cup of black tea, satisfied my cupcake craving quite nicely. For chocolate lovers, the Chocolate Mound's injection of chocolate ganache filling takes it over the top (in a good way). I must admit that in my eagerness for sweetness, I hadn't looked at the store sign correctly, so did not get the Koo Koo I wanted. I thought I was going into the original cupcakes shop, a local business started by two gals from Victoria, who use only natural ingredients in their recipes. What I had entered was Big City Cupcakes, a newer, B.C. owned company with a similar passion for cupcakes, an equal concern for quality, and is on par with its pretty packaging. Yes, I did end up with a product I wasn't expecting, but Big City Cupcakes can expect me back.

Prices are $1.25 for minis and $3.10 for regular sizes at cupcakes. Big City Cupcakes' minis are $1.50 for unfilled, and $1.95 for filled; regular sizes are $2.95 for unfilled and $3.95 for filled and premium. Discounts are available for orders in the 1/2 dozen or dozen.

For more info on the original cupcakes store and Big City Cupcakes, check out:
www.cupcakesonline.com
www.bigcitycupcakes.com