Thursday, August 4, 2011

Cupcakes Canada!

A few weeks ago, my friend Christine came to Ajax for a Saturday morning breakfast.  Our choice for a delicious, nutritious breakfast spot?  


Why, Cupcakes Canada, of course!

We were so hard-core that we got there before they even opened and had to sit on the curb before we were let in...


We had such a hard time deciding what to get, everything looked so fresh and yummy!


We ended up with 4 flavours to sample and share between us


I had to go with their signature cupcake (which I had sampled and fallen in love with previously), the Canadian Maple Walnut - A Madagascar Bourbon vanilla cupcake infused with Canadian maple syrup, with swirls of maple fudge frosting and topped with chopped walnuts.  

We both loved this cupcake - the vanilla cake was moist, and the frosting is the perfect mix of sweet maple with fudgy decadence.  We were definitely saying 'Eh' to that one!

Our runner-up was the Strawberries and Cream - fresh pureed strawberries in a Madagascar Bourbon vanilla cupcake with strawberry infused buttercream icing.


The cake base was the same on this one, which we already were fans of.  The frosting was different than any other strawberry icings I have had - something in it gave it almost a yogurt-like taste and quality.  We both really enjoyed this frosting - the tartness mixed with the sweet pureed strawberry taste was fabulous!

3rd place goes to Classic Coconut - Madagascar Bourbon cake with vanilla cream cheese frosting topped with coconut shavings.



At this point we were a little bummed that every cupcake had the same cake base.  This one was good, but not great.  The coconut was fresh and gave a great flavour to the cream cheese frosting, but we probably wouldn't race to make this selection again.

Finally, Lemon Sunshine (also pictured above), was quite disappointing.  Both Christine and I love lemon, so we were really looking forward to tasting this one - a lemon infused cupcake with vanilla cream cheese frosting.  Unfortunately, it didn't live up to our expectations.  The cake lacked lemon flavour, and with a vanilla frosting, the cupcake was quite plain.  A few bites of this one were enough for us, and we didn't go back for more.

All in all, I'm definitely a fan of Cupcakes Canada, specifically their Maple Walnut cupcake.  I have friends who raved about a few of their chocolate flavours, which unfortunately I can't comment on due to my chocolate intolerance (sad, sad, sad).  The main thing this store lacks is variety in cake flavours - with all cakes having either Madagascar Bourbon vanilla or chocolate bases, there isn't much you can do to jazz up your cupcakes.  That being said, I would definitely go back, and am anxious to try some of their seasonal flavours, like Key Lime, Caramel Apple, and Gingerbread.

Here are our remains - thanks Christine for making the drive and enjoying breakfast with me!!


Stay tuned for a post on more of mine and Christine's cupcake adventures!