Chicago's Leadoff Hitter

While walking home from the grocery store the other day I happened to walk past more cupcakes http://www.morecupcakes.com/.  more is in Chicago on Deleware, just east of State Street.  Since I had dinner plans that night I figured I would pick up a couple cakes as my contribution.  

I went with a classic Red Velvet (hoping to make up for the Cincinnati disappointment) and a Bacon Maple.  I’m sure your initial thoughts are bacon? and a cupcake? gross.  BUT you should be thinking bacon! and a cupcake! AMAZING!!  I am a huge fan of bacon, so it would have been next to impossible to pass up this flavor.  I will rank them individually.  RED VELVET  1)the cake – disappointing.  It was pretty dry and not much flavor.  I bought them at 4:00PM so maybe they had been sitting out all day?  Even if that is the case it is no real excuse.  I should be able to get a fresh cupcake at 7 AM and in the early afternoon 2)the icing – great!  This is exactly how red velvet icing should taste.  It was a traditional cream cheese and just the right consistency.  3) presentation – clean, simple – perfect.  It was topped with a decorative piece of white chocolate (clearly Abby Girl in Cincinnati needs some lessons here).  I also liked the Chinese take out packaging with the more label.  4) creativity – again, hard to judge since I went with a classic, but the white chocolate garnish will earn them some bonus points in this category 5)my overall happiness after indulging – very happy!  This was definitely a win after a rough series on the road.  

RED VELVET

BACON MAPLE (I could only steal a couple bites of this one) 1) the cake – again, dry.  So unfortunate because it would have made a HUGE difference.  There was just the right amount of bacon in the cake.  I could barely taste it, but still knew it was there.  2)the icing – perfection.  There was not any bacon in the icing (that I could taste) it was a light maple flavor that served as a perfect complement to the bacon cake.  If you are still weirded out by the thought of a bacon cupcake, close your eyes and picture Sunday morning – you are eating brunch and a little bit of your maple syrup rolls off your French toast on to your bacon. mmmm that’s what this cupcake is like. 3)presentation just like the red velvet I thought the presentation was just right.  Very simple and clean.  This was topped with a bacon maple toffee piece I think.  Someone was being selfish and I wasn’t allowed to try any of the garnish.  The feedback I received was that it tasted great, but will stick in your teeth.   4)creativity – um, obviously this is pretty creative.  Not too many bacon cupcakes out in the marketplace.  Definitely a grand slam in the creativity department.  5)overall happiness – well, like I said I only had a few bites, but was very happy.  I thought this was a truly unique cake that could have easily been a disaster but they did it right.  

BACON MAPLE

Kudos more!  You currently are leading the league.  I was a little disappointed in the fact that both cupcakes were really dry, but when combined with the icing they weren’t terrible.  I’m sure I will give them another shot later in the season.  If you are in Chicago and down in the Gold Coast area stop by more to pick up one of their unique cakes - but try to get there early so the cake doesn't dry out.

In the words of Jay-Z, "on to the next one"