Cupcake Tour in St. Louis: A Sweet Tooth’s Dream

Today’s post is delicious, if you have a sweet tooth.  I will be sharing highlights from my Cupcake Tour in St. Louis, MO reviewing 3 popular cupcakeries.  I have an addiction to cupcakes, I have tried them in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, and St. Louis, with the goal to continue the Cupcake Tour in every city that I travel to.    Here are the top criteria I use for evaluating cupcakeries:

1. Cake – Taste, Moistness, Freshness, and Size.

2. Frosting – Taste and Amount (less is more)

3. Price

4. Product choices – Variety and originality of flavors

5. Customer Service – are employees friendly, knowledgeable, and willing to go the extra mile?

6. Packaging – is it unique?  Attractive?  Do cupcakes stay in place?

7. Store design – Does cupcakery have pleasant, unique design?

Cupcakery #1 – Jilly’s Cupcake Bar & Cafe (jillyscupcakebar.com)

Sample:  Turtle Cheesecake, rating B

Description:  Cake: Chocolate, Stuffing: Cheescake & Caramel, Topping: Milk Chocolate & Caramel Buttercream, Caramel, Pecans & Chocolate Curls.

Cost: $5.50

What I liked:  Product choices (12+ daily cupcake choices, very creative naming), size (cupcakes are huge), cupcakes have 3 distinct parts (cake, stuffing, & topping), store design (cute, modern, colorful & spacious), and clear plastic packaging securely holds cupcakes in place.   Frosting (topping) was amazing, cake was fresh.

What I didn’t like:  Cost on higher end (ranged from $5 to $6 per cupcake).

Cupcakery #2 – The Cup (www.cravethecup.com)

Sample:  Confetti cupcake, rating B+

Description:  Cake:  Vanilla, Frosting: Buttercream

Price: $2.75

What I liked:  Product choices (7 standard + 9 rotating daily cupcake choices), Frosting was delicious (not too much), pricing ($2.75 & $3,25), store design (cozy, comfortable, chic), employees friendly, very attractive paper packaging.

What I didn’t like:  Cake was a little dry,  small cupcake size, and limited parking options.

Cupcakery #3 – The Sweet Divine (www.thesweetdivine.com)

Sample:  Pink champagne, rating A-, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough rating B-

Description:  Cake: Pink champagne, Frosting:  Pink champagne Buttercream

Price: $2.50

What I liked:   Pink Champagne Cake was moist, fresh, and tasted homemade. Frosting very  delicious (not too much), lots of product choices (25+ flavors), reasonable pricing ($1.50 to $3.50 varying based on size), customer service was excellent.

What I didn’t like:  Regular cupcakes seemed small, limited weekend hours.  Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough cake a little dry.

Conclusion:

Cupcakes are big business, and this niche business segment will continue to grow and expand.  Overall, I was very impressed with all 3 of these cupcakeries, and would strongly encourage cupcake fans living or visiting St. Louis to give them a try!  Let me know what you think.