Guest Review: The Cupcake Store

Between tax season and training for my big race, I just haven't had time to visit all the new cupcakeries in the area yet. Luckily, I know a few people who are perfectly willing to do the "dirty work" for me. Kelly and I have very similar tastes in sweets, so when she told me that she visited The Cupcake Store, I knew it was an opinion I coud trust.

The Cupcake Store has two locations: one at Downtown Disney and one in Mission Viejo. Kelly visit the Downtown Disney location and posted her review on Yelp. Read below:


I'm a sucker for a yummy cupcake. So when I stumbled across The Cupcake Store on a recent Disneyland trip I was thrilled.

The cupcakes were beautiful. Absolutely breathtakingly stunning. Each & everyone was decorated extremely cute & ready for presentation.

With so many delicious looking flavors on hand, I couldn't just buy one, so we ended up taking up home almost one of everything...Pure Vanilla, Red Velvet, Coconut, Celebration, Chocolate Drip, & Lemon.

They were definitely pricey - I have to agree that $4.95 is a bit high, even for Downtown Disney. But I had high hopes for these beautiful cupcakes.

Unfortunately, you can't judge a cupcake by how it looks. While the cupcakes were amazing to LOOK at, I wasn't "wowed!" by the taste.

The cupcake itself was fine. Fairly moist, but there wasn't anything "special" about it. They were basically vanilla & chocolate cupcakes. Even the lemon cupcake was simply a vanilla cupcake with lemon frosting.

But the real kicker for me was the frosting. EVERY single cupcake (other than the Red Velvet) had that super-sugary-whipped-creamy-store-bought type frosting. You know what I'm talking about - the kind of frosting you usually find on a grocery-store-bought cake? YUCK!

On a store-bought cake I expect that super-sugary-whipped-creamy frosting. But on a cupcake from an actual cupcakery, I expect so much more!

Frosting is what MAKES a cupcake, so give me something fabulous, something thick, something creamy.

As for the single cupcake with cream cheese frosting... I wasn't even a fan of that one. Once again, I still didn't LOVE the frosting. Which is odd, because usually I want to lick the cream cheese frosting off.

Kinda bummed. I had huge hopes for this place. Maybe I just didn't try the right flavors. Maybe next time their cupcakes will feature "REAL" frosting, instead of the store-bought, whipped-sugary kind.

If you're in need of a cupcake "fix" this place will definitely fit the bill. If you simply want a pretty cupcake, they've got you covered. Or, if you love that super-sugary-whipped-creamy-store-bought frosting, well then you will be in love. But this cupcake snob wasn't exactly impressed.


Kelly received an email from The Cupcake Store stating that they make 5 different kids of frosting, including a traditional buttercream and a chocolate frosting, which she didn't try. I plan on visiting the Mission Viejo location soon (hopefully with Kelly), so I can get the full scoop on The Cupcake Store. Thanks for your help Kelly!