Kara's Cupcakes: Disappointing. - Nothing to See Here
Feb. 7th, 2010
02:04 pm - Kara's Cupcakes: Disappointing.
I decided to try out cupcakes from Kara's Cupcakes in Palo Alto's Town and Country Mall. We love Sprinkles' cupcakes, but thought we ought to at least try the competition.
My first impression upon reaching the store was "everything about this store screams 'we want to be Sprinkles'". The windows and counters were all derivative.
My second impression was "whoah, they are charging the same price as Sprinkles -- $3.25/cupcake? They must think they're pretty good."
I picked up a vanilla, a fleur de sel (chocolate, caramel, fleur de sel), and a "java". They were giving away "samples" of their gluten-free cupcakes: whole cupcakes. So I took a "sweet chocolate" gluten free cupcake as well.
Their cupcakes are noticeably smaller than Sprinkles'. Actually, they're probably about half the size (by volume)... and yet the same price? Seriously?
We tried the cupcakes and had the following reactions:
- gluten-free sweet chocolate: Surprisingly good for gluten-free. Quite tasty. In fact, I would say the best gluten-free cake I have had. Ignoring the gluten-free aspect, though, nothing special. Note that we have not yet tried Sprinkles' gluten-free cupcakes, so we do not know if they would be much better, the same, or less good.
- vanilla: Quite good ... but not amazing like Sprinkles' vanilla, so skip it. Go to Sprinkles.
- fleur de sel: They swung ... and they missed. I normally love chocolate/caramel and salt combinations, but while they jumped on the gourmet band-wagon, they really didn't succeed in making it work. Least favourite salt and chocolate/caramel combination ever.
- "java": Bad. Just bad. The "espresso" buttercream icing tasted like weak coffee, not espresso, and much more strongly of butter, in the way that bad buttercream frosting/icing does. Yuck. I normally love any dessert with coffee/espresso involved. Not this one. We actually threw this one away ... normally a sacrilegious thing to do to a cupcake.
Short-short review: Stupidly expensive. Not good.

Hrm. Maybe it's a matter of taste
Re: Hrm. Maybe it's a matter of taste
Re: Hrm. Maybe it's a matter of taste
but I know people who have tried both and ended up solidly in the Sprinkles camp, so clearly they're getting something right.
Re: Hrm. Maybe it's a matter of taste
I wish *my* workplace ever had Sprinkles! Wow!
That said, I generally find that *anything* catered/brought in to a workplace ends up being less good than otherwise. I think it must be some sort of magic because it's not always explicable by logical reasoning.
Re: Hrm. Maybe it's a matter of taste
Re: Hrm. Maybe it's a matter of taste
they're probably about half the size
I actually prefer smaller portions for deserts, to the point where if someone gives me a whole Costco muffin (who are we kidding - those things are cakes without the frosting!) I tend to think they're trying to send me to an early grave (or worse - a gym).
Costco muffins are large alright. Have you tried a Costco cupcake? :) You have to be willing to buy 20 of them, and each one weighs most of a pound! (or so is my perhaps twisted recollection; they are gargantuan cupcakes, regardless)
While I do find small portions ok, if you're going to make a smaller portion and charge just as much as a larger (and really excellent) portion, you'd better be producing something amazing. I'm not saying I don't care about quality as long as there's quantity -- quality is king -- but if you're going to provide a very small portion then it should be really good to be worthwhile.
Edited at 2010-02-08 06:08 am (UTC)