National Cupcake Day – When Cupcakes and Bacon Collide…The Aftermath

So, yesterday on National Cupcake Day, I finally experienced that elusive Canadian maple cupcake that I’d been trying to get my hands on for quite some time.  Unlike the bacon maple donut I referenced in my previous post which I said offended me, this Canadian maple cupcake took it one step further and just pissed me off.  After just one bite, it left me asking “Why? WHY? WHYYYYYY?”  But, I stopped asking that because obviously, the cupcake couldn’t hear or answer me, and I was no where near the cupcakery to ask the baker.  So, unfortunately, there will be no pic of this train wreck of a cupcake; I’m full of complaints.  L

But, before I start bashing, I have to mention the positives. The counter attendants were warm and friendly (as always) and treated all of their customers like old friends.  The sight of the display cases filled with various flavors of gorgeously adorned, tasty little cakes couldn’t help but make me smile. And even though I’d bought those cupcakes (I picked up extras for others to try) myself, the cute little box they packed them in made me feel like someone had just surprised me with a gift.  Finally, the amazing aroma of maple syrup wafting out of the box on the ride home had me tempted to try licking the air to see if I could taste it. 

Now, here comes the negative part.  I was grossly disappointed with this Canadian maple bacon cupcake.  I’m shocked that a place that has so many extraordinary delights could have served up such an epic failure of a cupcake like this one.  I think the devil’s wife might have snuck into the kitchen and whipped these bad boys up while the regular baker wasn’t looking.  Here are a few of my complaints:

1.   Why so much frosting?      Frosting in general is primarily sugar; maple syrup was added to this one.  On what planet does it seem like a good idea to pipe 1 ¼ inches to 2 inches of frosting on top of a cupcake?  If you’re going to make frosting that sweet, a smear will do.  After recovering from near hyperglycemic shock, I almost felt I should call a dentist to see if the frosting caused cavities to form in my teeth.  

2.  Suey! Where’s the bacon? Diced bacon was invitingly sprinkled on top of the frosting.  So, why couldn’t I taste it?  It certainly looked and smelled like bacon. It just didn’t have any taste, and to add insult to injury, it was limp.  Who wants limp bacon?!?  That's just cruel.

3.  Don’t fake the cake!            The description claimed that the cake itself was Canadian maple bacon.  Somehow, that translated into a heavy, flavorless, white cake speckled with pretty, little, pink things moonlighting as bacon. The cake had somewhat of a greasy quality to it that I’m assuming came from the pink things.  Strangely enough the grease had no taste either.

4.  Balance the flavors.             Sweet and salty go hand-in-hand when balanced correctly.  This cupcake was obscenely, cloyingly sweet.  Because the bacon was so flavorless, there was nothing there to help balance out the sweetness…not that any dessert should EVER be that sweet.  I almost sprinkled a little sea salt on top of it to see if that would help salvage it.

There is so much more I could say about this cupcake, but I guess I’ll hold back.  I’d really love to hear what some of you who I know tried this cupcake today have to say about it.  But, keep in mind that since I had such snarky comments, I PURPOSELY am not mentioning the name of this cupcakery, and ask that you follow suit so I can avoid a possible law suit in the event they feel it's slander. LOL   All joking aside, they do fine work…just not with this particular cupcake.

I hope anyone else who might have celebrated National Cupcake Day enjoyed their cakes immensely.  J  But, since I’ve experienced this disaster of a cupcake, I’m going to go ahead and finish out the work week with what I'm anticipating will be an equally dissatisfying dessert. LOL Tomorrow I’ll be sampling an old, English classic: spotted dick.  Yeah, I don’t have high hopes for this one at all.