Sparkle Cupcakery: Christmas Cupcakes, Surry Hills (18 Dec 2010)

132A Foveaux Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010

http://www.sparklecupcakery.com.au

A bit of sparkle for Christmas

Thanks to Natascha Moy from FoodinFocus for running a competition where I won a selection of nicely packaged seasonal Sparkle Cupcakes and a bottle of sweet Mr Riggs 2009 Sticky End Viognier — great timing for some Christmas cheer. I arranged with Kathryn Sutton (Founder & Director of Sparkle Cupcakery) to collect them from their Surry Hills shop. The decor is slick and highly reflective to I guess match its sparkle name although with only a few people eating inside the acoustics were quite loud and noisy so it's not the most quiet place to have a chat. I've never had their cupcakes before but have heard mixed reviews ranging from loving them to thinking the cakes are too dry so it was time to taste test for myself.

Out of the three cupcakes I enjoyed the Chocolate Peppermint Candy Cane the best with an interesting topping of crushed peppermint candy cane giving it a delightful minty taste. The Belgian Milk Chocolate cupcake was moist enough and didn't crumble too much. I thought the Eggnog Cupcake was too rich and the eggnog custard filling made it a bit too messy in the end and didn't hold together particularly well. There was perhaps a bit too much brandy buttercream topping as well making it too heavy for me. The Black Velvet was a rich Belgian dark chocolate mud cake with dribbly chocolate topping. The cake was moist and held together well when cut. If you love chocolate then this one is for you. I thought it had just the right amount of thin topping to balance with the cake.

Other food blog reviews:

• Tasted By Two

• The Unbearable Lightness of Being Hungry

• Pigged-Out

• Chris Thinks Food

• Nom Nom Nibblies

• I Am Obsessed With Food

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: Interesting flavours to choose from, Daily gluten free cupcake available, Special packaging makes for a nice gift

CONS: Not the cheapest cupcakes around, Possible hit and miss on flavour combinations and there's mixed reviews

MUST TRY: Other flavours to compare — I'd be keen to try the coconut cupcake

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Nice packaging

6 seasonal cupcakes

Pull out tray for easier access to cupcakes

Mr Riggs 2009 Sticky End Viognier McLaren Vale

Chocolate Peppermint Candy Cane-Belgian Milk Chocolate cupcake sprinkled with chunks of festive peppermint candy cane

Eggnog Cupcake: Hint of nutmeg and a eggnog custard filling with a cheeky brandy buttercream

Black Velvet: Belgian dark chocolate mud cake with dribbly chocolate topping

Cupcake menu — $4.50 each

Display and service counter

Seating inside

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