VENT!

Anyone want to guess where it came from?

The Cheesecake Factory/Starbucks/Barnes and Noble cafe! Blech!

BF and I were browsing the store tonight, and so naturally when I passed by the cafe and saw those big, yummy looking vanilla cupcakes I couldn't resist but buy one. I took it to go--and didn't have a crack at it till just now-- and I'm sorry I did! It is the most awful cupcake I've ever eaten!!

It is dry, the 'buttercream' is ROCK solid on the outside, and the inside isn't much better... the cupcake itself is dry and just all-around dissapointing.

I don't know what they do to these cupcakes, or if I just got the bad one of the bunch, but ew! Petrified cupcake, regardless of who's putting their name on it does NOT equal yummy cupcake!

They arrive at Starbucks frozen in cardboard boxes, already iced. I don't think they have a "baking specialist" making these things!!!

Any kind of baked goods I've ever had in one of those cafes has generally been dry and flavorless. Who knows how long they sit around? They could be days old by the time you buy them, yuck...

It's interesting you say that....Here in our city a few years back two sisters opened up a small bakery selling cupcakes.They called it CRAVES...well anyway it spread like wildfire and everyone was and still is talking about CRAVES cupcakes...so.....a few moths ago my SIL brought 2 dozen over for dessert after supper...I tried one and the same response...Dry....crusty,sweet icing that did not taste good.And they charge $2.75 a cupcake and are usually sold out by 1:00 pm everyday..so they opened up a second location and the same thing! I don't get it...I make a cupcake 200 times better..Man...I need to up my prices and open a store front but yah know..things like this are fads just like the bagel was 10 years ago and now there isn't a bagel joint to be found anywhere so we'll see what happens to them in a few years!

I went to TGIF (TGI Friday) on Thursday night with the my DH & DS for dinner. I ordered the spiced pumpkin with cream cheese frosting cupcakes. It came with 2 cupcakes and a shooter of vanilla ice cream with caramel and fudge sauce. It cost $4.99.

Let me tell you, I was very disappointed. The cupcake was very cold and the cream cheese frosting was very blah tasting. The frosting did not taste like it had any cream cheese in it. The pumpkin spice cupcakes tasted like it had a little something in it. The flavors did not jell well in this cupcake. The cupcakes were to cold for me to get a real taste of the flavors. I gave my DH one cupcake and he said that it was ok tasting , but not good enough to order again. The ice cream shooter was very good.

I don't like cold cake so having a cold cupcake is not very appealing to me either.

I'm sorry the cupcake wasn't any good. But, the cheeseake- Neopolitian- is wonderful!!! Try it next time!!

I was just at TGIF's an thought about trying the cupcakes, but decided not to. They looked great, but I was afraid that they would be dry. I'm glad I didn't try them!!

I think that with all the "Cupcake" strefronts, there is so much hype, and people are just looking for the "cupcake experience."

I've played around in the kitchen of a local cupcake store, and they have 2 kinds of cupcakes: Chocolate and white. They get giant bags of the mixes, then doctor them with different flavors. There aren't ingredients added to make them moist, so they aren't moist!

It IS fun to go into a cupcake store and see all the different flavor combos, but what I've experienced as far as taste has been disappointing. Perhaps the general public hasn't never had a really good cupcake, so they don't know the difference.

I know that there ARE good cupcake stores out there, just not around here, perhaps!

I'm not surprised that Starbuck's cupcake was awful, in my opinion it matches their awful coffee which is why they're closing hundreds of stores nationwide. Expensive and awful, 2 things that will definitely kill you in business

The TGIF pumpkin cupcakes are the ones that were featured on the Food Network's Recipe Challenge right? I saw that episode, she made them with baby food if I remember correctly. Since I don't go to TGIF or any of those chain places I won't have a chance to try them, I'm glad to hear I'm not missing anything.

Yeah, if you ever see on the news that a Sysco truck has crashed and spilled its cargo on the road, go on down and have a cupcake. That's what you'll be getting if you buy one in most "cafes."

Funny you should mention that that the Starbucks cupcakes were not good. I've been wanting to try one for a while. I don't drink coffee but will often run in to grab DH a coffee and I will just stare at the cupcakes while waiting in line.

The other night DH went on his own and had a cupcake without me. I was soooo mad - I'd been wanting to try it. He says he did me a favor that it was dry and didn't really have any flavour.

Now I believe him - LOL

when i was pregnant with my 3yo, i had the *worst* craving for chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. i didn't want to make a cake since i knew i would eat the whole thing, lol!

at any rate, i went to barnes and noble and got a cupcake. was i disappointed! dry and tasteless...how can they sell that stuff??

The answer to that is that people don't know the difference between crap and decent food. Everything is so pre-packaged these days standards have fallen waaay off and people are willing to buy that junk.

I also have to add that the "evolution" of your avatar is cracking me up, chutzpah! I can't wait to see the offspring!

I thought you were talking about the cupcakes that I make this weekend! They were horrible! I overcooked them and they were dry. I didn't like the icing. However, they were for 5 year olds and they didn't care. I had about 9 left after passing them out and they went into the trash. I'm just sooo glad they were for kids.

Doesn't it just tick you off when you take a chance on a cupcake/cake like that and it's bad? I can't help but try out different cupcakeries when I see them. There's one here in Atlanta that people go wild about and I finally tried them - gave them 3 chances because I just really wanted to like them as much as everyone else. 5 of the 7 I tried were dry as all get out! The icing is delicious (cream cheese) but that's about it. The 2 I did have that were moist, were awesome but I'm not wasting money like that on a hit or miss. They literally crumbled in my hand, they were so dry.

I was in NYC this past weekend and made my way to Magnolia Bakery. Anyone who knows me knows that I do not like buttercream. I usually scrape it off. Even my own. lol I'm just a cake person. That was the first time I have ever eaten every bit of icing on a cupcake. It sold me. Sooo soft and light and not overly sweet. I can see hwy people stand in line. The cake itself was OK, could've been more moist but still edible. The icing saved it's life.

I do not know if anyone is still watching this but I just got around to this thread and had to add my 2 cents. There is a very famous cupcakery in New York City which is very close to me. I have never been there and wanted to try them. Someone brought them to a party that I was hosting (and made the cake for by the way) and let me tell you, bad news. They were not moist and the icing was so sweet I instantly got a cavity haha. And they were basic chocolate and vanilla, nothing fancy.

When I saw the receipt for the dozen, yes 12 cupcakes I almost fell on the floor. $50! Now we live in a metro area so nothing is cheap, I could easily sell cakes (if I were legal and good enough lol) for $7-$10 per slice but $50 for junk cupcakes and I was shocked. The places has lines out the door in the dead of winter. The girl who purchased them for the party waited on line her entire lunch hour. Honestly, Duncan Hines with canned icing would have been better.