Cupcake Battle Royale - Part 1

September 23, 2008

The cupcakes in the above photo are from La Dolce Divas Bakery in Englewood, NJ. I bet all you NJ haters wish you lived in the garden state now, hm?

We had one crazy cupcake filled weekend here at CPBGHQ (Chocolate Peanut Butter Gallery Headquarters). We consumed a lethal amount of cupcakes and/or various treats from the following bakeries:

Magnolia Bakery (NYC) La Dolce Divas (Englewood, NJ) Misha’s Cupcakes (FL) Buttercream (Coral Gables, FL)

I have favored both Magnolia and Misha’s in the past, but have never before tasted cupcakes from La Dolce Divas (a new bakery) or Buttercream. These are the treats we tasted from each place:

Magnolia: We actually bought cupcakes here for my friend Josh’s birthday. He’s not even a sweets freak like me but his eyes still lit up when he saw the Magnolia sticker on the box. They don’t have a chocolate peanut butter cupcake, but are being included since, well - it’s Magnolia. We also got another fabulous Peanut Butter Heath Bar Blondie which I reviewed here. The question is how does Magnolia stack up to these lesser known bakeries?

La Dolce Divas: My friend Kate brought over a whole box of cupcakes from La Dolce Divas, and I can’t remember all of the flavors but I know it included a Chocolate with Peanut Butter Frosting, Peanut Butter and Jelly, Coconut, Carrot Cake, Red Velvet, Chocolate Raspberry and Chocolate Mint. We also got to taste their crazy thick brownies. Kate noted that their Red Velvet was voted the best in Bergen County, NJ and that they also sell a great Red Velvet Whoopie Pie. Hm, that’s a lot of rave reviews to live up to… would they past the taste test?

Misha’s: I’ve raved about Misha’s at least a few times, but had never before tasted her Chocolate Cupcake with Peanut Butter Chips and Vanilla Frosting. How would it compare to the rest of her collection? I couldn’t wait to find out!

Buttercream: Florida based cupcake expert Carla told me that while Buttercream had really great frosting, their cake didn’t beat Misha’s. But she and I are different people and different people have different cupcake preferences. Would I feel the same?

Stay tuned in the coming week for more delicious cupcake photos and to find out what Taste Tester and I thought of the cupcakes!