Conscious Choice: Hello, Cupcake

June 2005 | Conscious Dining

Hello, Cupcake

by Janine MacLachlan

The luscious vanilla cupcake I wrote about last month in the review of Southport Grocery & Café made me wonder just what it is about cupcakes that we love. As a food professional and writer, I need definitive criteria to measure the best cupcakes in order to serve up an expert opinion. I asked fellow foodies for their recommendations. I evaluated moistness, texture, frosting-to-cake ratio, the sprinkle-no sprinkle debate. I tasted cupcake after cupcake, all in the interest of science, as I pursued cupcake perfection.

Then I got over myself and concluded that cupcakes just make us happy. They’re the whimsical memories of childhood, of Fourth of July picnics and grandma’s front porch and bake sales at school, of birthday parties where we played pin the tail on the donkey in the back yard. Cupcakes are Easy Bake Ovens, lazy afternoons, a reward for a good report card. And so this joyful experiment was an exercise in nostalgia more than anything else.

For organic deliciousness, Maude’s carrot cake wins hands down. Baker Nancy Depondt bakes up a classic organic cupcake with cream cheese frosting, available every week at Chicago’s Green City Market, Wednesdays and Saturdays in Lincoln Park, and at Bulldog Bakery (1955 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago, 773-248-2934) and Bagel Art (1307 Chicago Ave., Evanston, 847-864-8700). She’s a purist, putting only carrots in her carrot cake. A Maude’s carrot cupcake made me rethink my own concoction: I embellish carrot cupcakes with shredded apple, raisins and walnuts and a little blue cheese in the frosting (you’ll have to trust me on this). The fact that Depondt uses organic ingredients is another reason to indulge in purism.

For moist chocolate goodness and frosting whimsy, I give a nod to Sweet Mandy B’s (1208 W. Webster Ave., Chicago, 773-244-1174). The moist chocolate cake melted in my mouth. The cake was so good it almost made the frosting redundant. I’ll admit the frosting was a little on the sweet side for me, perhaps because I was so enthralled with the cake’s chocolatey texture. But the vibrantly hued purple, green and blue coverlets with confetti sprinkles made them fun and fanciful. And the size is perfect here, none of those cupcakes for a family of five. Everyone gets their own.

La Baguette Panaderia (5712 N. Clark St., Chicago, 773-878-8556) wins in the category for baby boomer lunchbox memories. This Mexican bakery specializes in desserts like churros, fried dough sprinkled with sugar, and offers replicas of the Hostess cupcake: chocolate with a white curlicue swirl on top and creamy white center. While not as moist as I’d prefer, they score definite points for reminiscence and can take you back to the second grade.

Three Tarts Bakery and Café (301 S. Happ Rd., Northfield, 847-446-5444) takes honors for both ends of the cupcake spectrum and for the most fun crowd — ballerinas who arrive Saturday mornings after dance class. On the simple side, a dense buttermilk cake, dusted with just a whisper of powdered sugar, was, for me, a perfect cake. Not too sweet. Elegant in its simplicity. Contrast that with the bug cupcakes, tiny cakes with an elaborate topper of frosting leaves and flowers and friendly insects. This was the place where I had the most difficulty sticking to the cupcake mission, because the cookies, scones and other delectables were so tempting.

The first time I had red velvet cake I was slightly nervous — the flamboyant use of red food coloring just didn’t seem quite right. But Fox & Obel (401 E. Illinois St., Chicago, 312-410-7301) makes a deeply moist version of this sprightly Southern devil’s food cupcake with a simple white frosting. For the more conservative, there’s a chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting.

My research uncovered some clever eating strategies. One friend asks for extra frosting (for her son, she claims) so she can eat her way down the cupcake without having to suffer a no-frosting bite. Others twist off the bottom to enjoy the cake first, saving the frosted top for the finale. As for me, I’ve concluded I just need more cupcakes in my life. Period.

Janine MacLachlan is a freelance writer, cooking school owner and cupcake aficionado.
Find her recipe for carrot apple cupcakes with gorgonzola buttercream frosting on her website www.rustickitchen.com.

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