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Business & Tech

A Cupcake Challenge

Never ones to shy away from a daunting task, we bravely ventured out to find the best cupcake in Westport.

Curious about where to find the best cupcakes in Westport?

Westport Patch restaurant reviewer Michelle Bowers recommends a few sweet spots:

Crumbs

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You wouldn't call these cupcakes subtle. Walk by the storefront and your eye will undoubtedly be caught by the confections topped with brightly colored M&Ms, crumbled Reece's Peanut Butter Cups and strawberry pink swirls. Don't even think of letting your kids go within a 20-foot range of the store unless you plan on buying some.

Before I knew how to navigate the menu, I often found myself disappointed with Crumbs' cupcakes. Their taste rarely lived up to their enticing looks. Then I discovered the classic vanilla and chocolate. No frills, no candies. Just good old-fashioned cakes with buttercream frosting in two tried-and-true flavors.

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It's the frosting on some of the novelty variations that brings them down. Many of them are topped with a mousse, ganache or fondant – a very smooth confection made from sugar, water and corn syrup. None of these rock my world.

Often Crumbs just tries to do too much. Take the "Artie Lange." (They're evidently big Howard Stern fans.) It's vanilla cake filled with chocolate cream cheese frosting, topped with vanilla cream cheese frosting, dipped in chocolate fondant and edged in sprinkles. Or the "Blackout" — chocolate cake filled with buttercream and ganache, topped with chocolate cream cheese frosting and chocolate crumbs drizzled with chocolate. It's unheard of for me to say this about anything chocolate, but it's just too much. I did enjoy the "Cookie Dough." It's vanilla cake with chocolate fudge filling, and vanilla cream cheese frosting with tiny bits of crumbled cookie mixed in the icing. Nice.

A good rule of thumb here: if it's named after a Mexican drink ("Margarita") or a tropical pie ("Key Lime") skip it and stick with the classics.

Great Cakes

A Westport magazine cover is displayed over the cash register boasting their title of Best Cupcake 2008. We might have to disagree. Since that was long before Crumbs and CakeSuite arrived in town, there couldn't have been much competition.

They've kept their cupcake menu simple. They serve vanilla with vanilla frosting, chocolate with vanilla, red velvet with cream cheese buttercream and red velvet with fudge frosting. This bakery reminds me of the old-fashioned sort my Midwest grandmother loved that burned through Crisco by the truckload.  Great Cakes' frosting tastes more of shortening and high-octane sugar than anything else. Their fudge buttercream, however, is a winner. I would've been happy to eat large spoonfuls of that and skipped the cakes altogether -- which were a bit dry and dull. Their red velvet with the slightly sour cream cheese frosting didn't work for me.

They do get points for the nice price. Their cupcakes are a refreshingly reasonable buck and a quarter.

CakeSuite

I had to visit this newly-opened shop a few times before I happened by on a day when they still had cupcakes to sell. And they were well worth the wait.

CakeSuite is more an industrial kitchen than bake shop, producing sophisticated special occasion cakes with a few bite-sized desserts on the side. There were just three cupcake varieties available the day I finally got my hands on some -- although they plan to offer more flavors as business picks up. All were by far the best in their class.

The golden butter cake was topped with a generous piping of an almond buttercream. It wasn't anything that I'd normally choose, but the pairing was sublime and unforgettable.

CakeSuite's devil's food chocolate was topped with a chocolate frosting that was so thick and rich it was almost solid fudge. The moist red velvet was paired with a cream cheese frosting and adorable pink chocolate shavings on top. CakeSuite cupcakes are modestly proportioned, but they're the best of both worlds: pleasing to both eye and mouth.

Here's the down and dirty guide to cupcakes in Westport: take the kids to Crumbs, bring your grandparents to Great Cakes, and sneak a treat for yourself at CakeSuite.

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Crumbs

40 Post Road East

203/226-1000

www.crumbs.com

Hours:

Sun.-Thurs.: 8 am – 9 pm

Fri.- Sat.: 8 am – 10 pm

Average prices:

Classic: $2.50

Signature: $3.75

Taste pack of 12: $18

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Great Cakes

772 Post Road East

203/222-9696

hours: 

Mon. -Thurs. & Sat.: 6 am - 5 pm

Fri.: 6 am - 6 pm

Sun.: 6 am - 1 pm

prices:

vanilla/chocolate: $1.25

red velvet: $1.95

 

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CakeSuite

47 Saugatuck Ave.

203/557-0247

www.cakesuite.com

Hours:

Mon.- Sat.: 10 am – 5 pm

Prices: $3 each

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