Just Baking

It is certainly no secret that I love cupcakes, and with a five-year-old son, any time I have a craving, we can make a batch and send the rest into school with him. Trust me, the sooner the temptation is out of the house, the better. Recently, the folks at AOL Food put together their own handy list of the Best Cupcakes in America. Certainly sounds like an excuse for a road trip if I ever saw one! Read on, and see how your favorite bake shops stacked up.

1. Red Velvet Cupcake

Magnolia Bakery
401 Bleecker St.
New York, NY 10014-2452
Phone: (212) 462-2572

Even before Sarah Jessica Parker and Cynthia Nixon devoured Magnolia’s confections in an episode of ‘Sex and the City’ and tour buses made it a destination, the West Village landmark drew a cultish crowd that regularly snaked around the corner. Credit the 11-year-old bakery — famous for such fabled favorites as vanilla and red velvet — for kick-starting the entire cupcake renaissance. Try this recipe: Vanilla Cupcakes

2. Vanilla Cupcake

Sprinkles
Plaza at Preston Center
4020 Villanova Drive
Dallas, Texas 75225
Phone: (214) 369-0004

No less than almighty tastemaker Oprah Winfrey anointed this cupcake spot numero uno. And she’s not alone. Paris Hilton, Jessica Alba, Barbra Streisand, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Katie Holmes (who had them delivered to a New Orleans film set to share with the crew) have made these the hottest cupcakes around. Flavors include ginger lemon, banana, peanut butter chip, and the top-selling vanilla (Madagascar bourbon vanilla cake coated with vanilla frosting). The stylishly minimalist bakery is expanding to 15 more cities; if it’s not one of yours, you can mail order them or even make your own with a Sprinkles mix from Williams-Sonoma. That means there’s a Sprinkles cupcake for every man, woman and child in America.

3. Peppermint Party Cupcake

Cupcake Royale
2052 Market St.
Seattle, Wash. 98107
Phone: (206) 782-9557

4. Hummingbird Cupcake

Trophy Cupcakes and Party
1815 N. 45th St. Suite 209
Seattle, Wash. 98103
Phone: (206) 632-7235

Cupcake shops are sprouting up in this northwest city like, well, java joints, but these two are standouts. The upstart Trophy, housed in a converted school in the Wallingford district, is challenging the more established Cupcake Royale, which has three locations. Either way, cupcake cognoscenti will find happiness in both Trophy’s Hummingbird offering, a banana-pineapple-coconut combo topped with cream cheese frosting, and Royale’s mint-chocolaty Peppermint Party. We’re sure both come in handy when the Seattle rain is getting you down.

5. Chocolate and Vanilla Old Fashioned Cupcakes

Back in the Day Bakery
2403 Bull St.
Savannah, Ga. 3140
Phone: (912) 495-9292

This “artisan” bakery is militantly retro, and that means farm-fresh ingredients and lots of sugar, fat, and carbs (oh, just start that diet tomorrow). It was voted best bakery in the ‘Connect Savannah’ 2007 annual reader’s poll. The Georgia confectionery is also on the radar of The New York Times, Southern cooking queen Paula Deen, The Boston Globe and Vanity Fair, all of which have given it a cake-covered thumbs-up.

6. Good Morning Cupcake

The Cupcakery
9680 S. Eastern Ave. Suite 100
Las Vegas, NV 89123
Phone: (702) 207-2253

Opened by a former Golden Nugget casino employee, this bakery clearly caters to the Vegas crowd. Among the flavors — named best dessert in 2007 by the Las Vegas Review-Journal — is the “Good Morning” (yellow cake with cinnamon swirl and a sweet glaze topping) and an “adult” version (hey, bachelor partygoers have to eat, too). Just try maintaining that poker face when you bite into one of these numbers.

7. Vegan Chocolate Cupcake

Babycakes NYC
248 Broome St.
New York, N.Y.
Phone: (212) 677-5047

The diminutive desserts at Babycakes NYC are missing wheat, gluten, eggs, dairy and refined sugar — but they don’t taste that way. Owner Erin McKenna uses cold-pressed coconut oil, agave nectar, spelt flour and other ingenious substitutes that’ll have you going “butter schmutter.” The Lower East Side shop counts Hilary Swank, the Beastie Boys and Jason Schwartzman among its clients. Now health conscious consumers can have their cupcake and eat it too.

8. Milk Chocolate Ganache Cupcake

Franklin Street Bakery
1020 East Franklin Ave.
Minneapolis, Minn. 55404
Phone: (612) 879-5730

The Franklin Street Bakery has something to hide. Its vanilla cupcake harbors a white chocolate ganache center, while its best-selling chocolate surprises with a swell milk chocolate burst. The secret appears to be out, though. The bakery, along with its glorious cupcakes, have drawn accolades from all over the Twin Cities.

9. Spice Cupcake

Society Bakery
3426 B Greenville Ave.
Dallas, Texas 75206
Phone: (214) 827-1411

Roshi Muns is as interested in making a difference as she is in making mouth-watering treats. That’s why she donates 10 percent of her popular bakery’s profits to organizations like the American Red Cross and SPCA. That her ambrosial strawberry, coconut, red velvet, and spice cupcakes, to name a few, were voted tops proves they not only do good, they taste good, too.

10. Bittersweet Symphony

Sticky Fingers
Available online or at Amate Tea Lounge
811 NE 79th St.
Miami, FL 33138
Phone: (305) 759-8777

Coliene Belle’s cupcakes are musically inspired and gastronomically inspiring. “Copa Cabana” is fluffy almond and luscious melted chocolate, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” is moist vanilla topped with cheerful sprinkles, “Bittersweet Symphony” is deep chocolate with orange icing. Share a jumbo-sized one, if you’re feeling generous. But feel free to keep the regular and minis for yourself.

11. Corn-based Cupcake

Cupcakes
613 W. Briar Place
Chicago, Ill. 60657
Phone: (866) 525-0817

Perhaps it’s the element of surprise that makes this East Lakeview bakery so oft-cited by cupcake bloggers (that’s right, they exist). Plus, Paula Deen and the Food Network’s ’The Secret Life Of’ series are planning features on this place. If you’re savoring something sweet, try the ginger-saffron cupcake. For an unexpected twist, feast on the corn-based cupcake with roasted vegetable cream cheese frosting on a cherry tomato (sounds weird, but trust us, it’s delish). Both pleasantly defy expectations of what a cupcake should be.

12. The Fleur De Sel Cupcake

Kara’s Cupcakes
249 Scott St.
San Francisco, CA 94123
Phone: (415) 563-2253

900 N Point St.
San Francisco, CA 94109
Phone: (415) 351-2253

The fine ingredients the folks at Kara’s use make for fantastically flavorful cupcakes: This San Fran shop bakes its cupcakes from scratch daily using organic milk, eggs and flour from local farms and premium chocolate from places like Scharffen Berger and Ghiradelli. Flavors include a luscious “Buttery Buttermilk Vanilla” which is topped off with Madagascar bourbon vanilla-buttercream icing. But it’s the “Fleur De Sel” that diehards rave about. What’s that, you ask? It’s a caramel chocolate cake, topped with ganache frosting and spiked with a few sprinkles of cultivated salt. Hungry yet?

13. The Rocky Road Cupcake

Cupcake
433 King St.
Charleston, SC
Phone: (843) 853-8181

Warning: Sugar rush ahead! This cupcake claims to be “the sweetest taste in Charleston” and after even just one bite of their ultra cute concoctions, you won’t argue. They’ll tempt your sweet tooth with nine different flavors daily and more than 30 total, meaning there’s bound to be a cupcake for everyone. Why not start out with their Rocky Road, a dark chocolate cupcake with chocolate-marshmallow icing and garnished with chopped almonds, and move on from there. C’mon, you’ll only have 29 more cupcakes to go!

14. Carmel Apple Cupcake

Lilly Jane’s Cupcakes
664 S. River Shore Suite 164
Eagle, Idaho
Phone: 208-938-3408

Want to hear a sweet story? Owner Kerri Dunn named her establishment Lilly Jane’s Cupcakes after her two grandmothers, Lillie Russell and Phyllis Jayne LeValley. And their eats are just as sweet: The Carmel Apple mini-cake (a staff favorite) is irresistible. It starts off with cinnamon apple cake, which doesn’t sound so terribly decadent, until it’s topped off with vanilla buttercream frosting and an extra little burst of caramel. Please, forget about that diet right now and just enjoy.

15. The MSC Mojito Cupcake

Main Street Cupcakes
238 North Main St.
Hudson, Ohio
Phone: 330-342-0833

Legally, you don’t have to be over 21 to purchase a MSC Mojito mini-cake, but it’s definitely a hit with those who like their sweet things with a side of sophistication. Made of white rum cake and draped in vanilla buttercream, this cupcake channels the Mojito in spirit, by packing in hits of rum, mint, lime and spearmint. Even better, you can eat one, or two, or 10, and still drive home. Woo hoo!

16. Vegan Cupcakes

Knit Night Cupcakes
Everywhere, U.S.A.

Lolo, the gal who runs this vegan foodie Web site is based in Boston, but lucky for all of us, you can check her jaw-dropping creations and recipes no matter where you live. When we saw VeganYumYum’s pics of what Lolo calls her “Knit Night Cupcake,” made with marzipan topping, we flipped. We’re not sure how exactly she did it, but the fact that these cupcakes are decorated with what’s made to look like tiny balls of yarn and little handmade sweaters and scarves was enough to whet our palate. Only one problem: The recipe, please!!!

Photo from AOL.