Cupcakes (Denman)

I've visited this location a few times before, but I got lucky this time because the cupcakes were really fresh. How could I tell? Because they were so soft and airy that they jiggled on the plate like jello. The Cupcakes franchise is all over Vancouver now, and I think it must be difficult to maintain the same level of quality across different locations and on different days. On my last few visits, the cupcakes were not nearly as soft and fresh. Although the cupcakes here are not the best, I'm a bit surprised by the low rating on Urbanspoon. The storefront is pink and cute with a very attractive display, and the cupcakes taste decent. I thought a lot of people would be interested in the fancy presentation, but apparently not.

My favourite flavour is the red velvet. I've tried a lot of other flavours including chocolate and buttercup as pictured below, as well as koo koo, caramella, sweet 16, diva, and lemon drop. But none of them could compare to the red velvet mainly because the other cakes (vanilla, chocolate, marble, coconut, lemon) didn't taste as good as the red cocoa cake. I also liked the smooth cream cheese frosting. There was a bit too much frosting on the cupcakes, but that seems to be a problem with almost all cupcake stores because the frosting is really what makes a cupcake a cupcake right?

The cupcakes were a lot bigger than the ones from Bell's Bake Shop, so I felt like it was a better deal in terms of quantity. Then again $3.25 for a cupcake and $16 for half a dozen isn't exactly cheap either, but I suppose cupcakes are luxury items these days. Do I like these cupcakes more than Bell's? Not really because these definitely contain artificial colours and flavours, and they are not that fresh most of the time. But they will do when I'm craving a sweet treat :)