Back last November Appetite Portland and The Blueberry Files joined Edible Obsessions for a comparative tasting of cupcakes from 7 local bakeries, but that was just a down payment on a complete survey of Portland area cupcake culture. Recently the original three bloggers plus Maine Foodie Finds, Vrai-lean-uh and From Away convened for the second and final round:
Appetite Portland
Overall: While I enjoyed a frosting here and a cake consistency there, I left the event rather saddened. Perhaps it was the humidity. Perhaps the nostalgia had worn off after the first throwdown last November. Or, perhaps I simply expected too much. Whatever the cause, a scan through my notes revealed the phrases “simply flavorless,” “pasty, plastic film,” and “like a stale devil dog.”… read the full article
Edible Obsessions
While the food media has seemingly turned its back on cupcakes and declared them ‘over,’ this experiment has definitely shown me (or, perhaps, just reminded) that the cupcake is a classic and too deeply imbedded in our food memory hard wiring to be at the mercy of trends. And we are in the company of some damn skilled bakers who are eager to prove just that.… read the full article
From Away
The European Bakery is an Old World type tea room with thick carpeting and pirouetting cakes on display. Their carrot cupcakes were so much better than I expected, with gooey cake studded with walnuts and a not too sharp cream cheese frosting. With so many cutesy, etsy, DIY-ish, delivered by a dirty hipster on a bicycle-type places running rampant these days – in a good way – I was surely surprised by how much I enjoyed these, from a plain old bakery manned by teenagers (teened by managers?!) on RT. 1 in Falmouth. My favorite.… read the full article
The Blueberry Files
Another of my favories was the chocolate with chocolate ganache from Sugar Hill Bakery. I’m not a huge chocolate dessert fan, and this one really wowed me. It was a light chocolate ganache, not a thick, heavy fondant-like layer.… read the full article
Vrai-lean-uh
In every person’s life, there are events that cause us to re-evaluate how we think of ourselves. I never imagined I would be the kind of person who would be all, “Oh woe is me, there are just too many cupcakes. I cannot eat another bite. This is terribly sugary bla bla bla.”… read the full article
The post from Maine Foodie Findshas been delayed. I’ll add it to this summary as soon as it become available.