Cups and Cakes Brings a Sweet Spot to SOMA

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Other than the hot pink facade at Cups and Cakes Bakery, there’s really nothing special about the quaint location buried in the depths of SOMA. That is, until you peruse their 10 foot glass counter filled with some of the most beautifully decorated cupcakes and deserts I’ve ever seen. 

Personally, I don’t really eat desserts. I stopped by their 9th Street store to take a look around and maybe surprise my wife with a treat. Their exhibit looked so delicious, I ended up walking out with a six pack of assorted mini cupcakes (and a cup of coffee, just because).

Since I know next to nothing about what’s good in the cupcake industry, I asked the man behind the counter for his recommendations. According to their website, they rotate 26 different varieties of cupcake depending on the day- about 25 more than I’m familiar with.

As I stood there wide-eyed and confused, a line of hungry patrons began to form. The cupcake guy suggested the Lemon Drop and the Rich Red Velvet, and I threw in a couple Deep Dark Chocolates to round out the 6-pack. Had I known the flavor explosion I was getting into, I probably would have ordered one of each mini on display. They even offer a guilt-free cupcake known as the Cloud Nine. The mini version is only 65 calories and completely fat free!

I had the opportunity to speak with Jennifer, the owner of Cups and Cakes Bakery. She told me that she’s been perfecting her baked goods for over two years even though her store just opened a couple of months ago. Originally a teacher, who had just completed her Masters degree in Education, she was first reluctant to begin a new career in baking. However, after a number of her friends insisted that she made the best cupcakes they’d ever had, she began to toy around. And toy around she did! If you look at the specialty menu, you’ve probably never heard of a number of the options.

When we first opened the box of minis, it seemed to be difficult to take off the wrapper. But Cups and Cakes has figured out the issue for you! They add a little slit to the wrapper so you can easily pull it off and drop the whole cake in your mouth. My wife jumped on a Lemon Drop Mini. Her first bite left her with one word: “delicious”. After a couple bites, she went on to describe the lemon drop as “creamy and moist with a delicious dollop of gooey lemon goo in the middle!”

I was sold. I tried to grab the second lemon drop cake, but after convincing me that it was “the best cupcake (she’d) ever had”, I decided to save it for her and try one of the Red Velvets instead. The Rich Red Velvet was equally delicious with a cream cheese based frosting that perfectly complimented the moist cup cake underneath. If the lemon drop was the best cupcake my wife has ever had, the Rich Red Velvet is by far the best I’ve ever had.

A week after picking up that 6 pack, I found myself wandering back down to Cups and Cakes for a re-up. This time, I asked Jennifer to pick her favorites. They were out of Lemon Drops, but I made sure she added a couple Red Velvets. She also included a grasshopper, a pucker-up pink lemonade, a pancake breakfast and a mocha-choco-frappa-latte. Once again, all of the cupcakes were rich and delicious, but the pink lemonade and the pancake breakfast stood out. Both had a little novelty- pink lemonade has a little mini-straw and the pancake breakfast is topped with a little slice of bacon. However, I believe the secret to these delicious cupcakes is not the moist cake within, but the buttercream that is just simply amazing.

To paraphrase their slogan: If cupcakes are wrong, I don’t want to be right!