Cotton Masquerading as a Cupcake

We did a little cupcake tasting this past weekend. The thinking being, we should try bakery fresh cupcakes to see what my cupcakes may be missing. Major letdown, it was a seriously colossal FAIL! I have never tasted terrible cupcakes. I have tasted dry cupcakes, undercooked cupcakes, old cupcakes, fresh cupcakes, super moist cupcakes and many in between but I have never tasted just plain terrible cupcakes.

I assumed since Bettie's Cupcakes was located on the highly traveled Broadway Street in Saratoga with many people streaming in and out, the cupcakes would be quite tasty and I would wonder how I would ever be able to achieve such simple decadence. Unfortunately after trying 5 mini cupcakes and 1 regular cupcake, it was a definite fail. Of the 6 tasted, Red Velvet, Mai Tai, German Chocolate, Peanut Butter Cup, Chocolate and Vanilla, the Mai Tai and the frosting on the Red Velvet cupcake were decent. The chocolate barely had even a hint of chocolate taste and the only thing signaling the cupcake was "Red" Velvet was, in fact, the red of the cake. We thought surely, the Vanilla Cupcake would be better than the minis as who can mess up Vanilla, right? Upon cutting the cupcake in two, the texture was similar to that of Angel Food Cake but the taste was anything but sweet, moist yumminess. Instead it was bland and tasteless and while I thought I could at least finish my half since we paid for it, I could not make it past the second small bite. I should have trusted the article from the Saratoga Cupcake Competition stating Bettie's Cupcakes' Vanilla Cupcake with Chocolate Frosting was "mealy and flavorless cake and bitter frosting."

I still two days later cannot get over the lack of taste in Bettie's Cupcakes. Surely the people running in and out all day could taste, or rather not taste, any flavor. Maybe they were all unknowing tourists like us, lured in by the 50s decor and prettiness of the cupcakes. This I can only hope as anyone who is a repeat customer should be schooled on what a true cupcake tastes like. I am not one to bash someone's creative talents because maybe I simply do not understand their talents, however, I know cake. I live to eat cake. I crave cake when I do not have it and I am one of those who will go to lunch at a bakery/deli just to eat the cake. This experience has taught me to always strive to be better and never, no matter how much effort I have put into them, serve sub par cupcakes as that will be the impression my friends take home with them.

They look so tasty, don't they?

Not so good..we ate bits and pieces of the minis and gave up on the regular size cupcake.