Pure Michigan

Grand Rapids Michigan produces a monthly publication called "on-the-town".  In the July issue they featured "townie awards" calling out the best_______ in Grand Rapids.  Lucky for me they had a Best Cupcake category.  The winner was Arnie's Bakery and Restaurants.  I was very excited about this because my godson's name is Arnie, Arnold Palmer to be exact.

Arnold Palmer

Well, when we pulled up it wasn't exactly what I was expecting.  It reminded me of a Bob Evans and the crowd looked like the same type you would find at Cracker Barrel.  Lots of grey haired ladies lunching.  Regardless, the article said they were the best cupcakes so we had to give it a shot.  At Arnie's the cupcakes are buy 2, get 2 free.

We ended up with White Chocolate Raspberry, Carrot, Red Velvet, and Chantilly. 

Carrot Cake

I don't really enjoy carrot cake, so I let David give me his "professional" feedback.  He said the cake had a decent texture, the icing wasn't that great, and they forgot the filling. 

White Chocolate Raspberry

The white chocolate raspberry - plain yellow cake which was fine.  Basically tasted like a boxed mix.  The icing was supposed to be white chocolate, but in all honesty it didn't have much flavor at all.  Then there was a raspberry filling.  As you may have read in previous posts, I am not a huge fan of fillings in general.  This had minimal filling and was a squirt of jam shoved in the middle of the cupcake.  I would have preferred a raspberry flavored cupcake with a thick white chocolate icing. 

Red Velvet

Red Velvet - The cake was fairly dry.  Again, the flavoring tasted like it was from a box.  The icing oddly enough was gritty.  Traditionally red velvet is served with a thicker icing like cream cheese, but they went a different route with this one.  I think they were going for a whipped buttercream, but unfortunately the outcome was not pleasant. 

Chantilly - I had never heard of "Chantilly" before, but it is a white cake filled with custard, and has a white icing with chocolate shavings.  I asked what Chantilly meant, and the lady behind the counter told me it was just a pretty name...  Unfortunately, I don't have a solo shot of this one, but you can see it in the group picture up top.  The cake overall was too sweet.  The custard was so weird.  I am indifferent on custard.  If done correctly it is great...in a donut, but I did not like it as a part of this cupcake.  The icing was pretty similar to the others in that it did not have much flavor.

Presentation - I thought overall they looked pretty sloppy and did not have much "shelf appeal".  Creativity - I could give some creativity points to the chantilly cupcake because I have not had one with custard before, but other than that the rest were pretty standard.  Overall happiness - eeesh.  Not very happy.  If this is the best cupcake then Grand Rapids is a little behind on the cupcake phenomenon.  My advice would be to skip Arnie's next time you are in Michigan.

XO

J