#9 on My Top 10 Cupcakes of All Time

The list continues...

I constantly get asked, "where can I find the best cupcakes?". Wow, it's just so hard to narrow it down because I've tasted so many delicious cupcakes. You can check out all of my reviews under the tab "Cupcake Reviews." But I think it's time to reveal my updated list for The Cupcake Activist's Top 10 Cupcakes of All Time! This list is constantly changing, as there are so many cupcakes I have yet to try.

#9

CUPCAKE SHOP: Crumbs Bake Shop

LOCATION: West Coast and East Coast (my location: Beverly Hills or Larchmont)

FAVORITE FLAVOR: Banana Peanut Butter with cream cheese frosting




My first visit to Crumbs Bake Shop was back in May 2009. I made the horrible mistake of only getting one cupcake, so I had to visit again a few months later. One thing that I really love about Crumbs is their selection of flavors. Maybe that's a problem though...too many choices! They also have special edition flavors for every holiday and major event throughout the year. Crumbs cupcakes are super sized, so the $3.75 price tag fits them well, but is well worth it. Lots of cake and lots of frosting! You can check out both reviews here and here.

Crumbs Bake Shop Goes Public

According to NYDailyNews.com and FoxBusiness.com, Crumbs Bake Shop is going public in a $66 million deal. The 57th Street General Acquisition Corp will acquire Crumbs Bake Shop next month and could be trading on NASDAQ as soon as March.

Right now Crumbs Bake Shop has 34 stores in 6 states and plans to expand to 200 locations by 2014. Sounds like Crumbs is taking over the cupcake world. I don't mind because they are one of my favorite cupcake shops, as seen on my Top 10 List.

My Top 10 Cupcakes of All Time: #9

The list continues...

I constantly get asked, "where can I find the best cupcakes?". Wow, it's just so hard to narrow it down because I've tasted so many delicious cupcakes. You can check out all of my reviews under the tab "Cupcake Reviews." But I think it's time to reveal the list for The Cupcake Activist's Top 10 Cupcakes of All Time! I'm sure this list will be ever-changing, as there are so many cupcakes I have yet to try. Enjoy the remainder of 2010!

#9

CUPCAKE SHOP: Crumbs Bake Shop

LOCATION: West Coast and East Coast (my location: Beverly Hills or Larchmont)

FAVORITE FLAVOR: Banana Peanut Butter with cream cheese frosting




My first visit to Crumbs Bake Shop was back in May 2009. I made the horrible mistake of only getting one cupcake, so I had to visit again a few months later. One thing that I really love about Crumbs is their selection of flavors. Maybe that's a problem though...too many choices! They also have special edition flavors for every holiday and major event throughout the year. Crumbs cupcakes are super sized, so the $3.75 price tag fits them well, but is well worth it. Lots of cake and lots of frosting! You can check out both reviews here and here.

Team USA Cupcake for FIFA World Cup

Crumbs is celebrating the start of the FIFA World Cup by selling a cupcake that shows their Team USA pride. This special limited-time Patriotic Cupcake is red velvet filled with chocolate ganache, topped with blue vanilla cream cheese frosting, and edged with red, white, and blue star sprinkles. A star cookie with blue fondant sits on top. You can also get a vanilla/vanilla or vanilla/chocolate cupcake with the same decorations.

Team USA cupcakes are $4.50 each and $27 for a six-pack (with all three flavors). Red velvet with chocolate ganache filling?...sounds delicious! Might be worth the $4.50 price tag.

Know of any other cupcake shops with FIFA World Cup related cupcakes?

Photo: Crumbs

Crumbs Bake Shop Introduces The Colossal Crumb

Photo: Crumbs

Crumbs Bake Shop has come out with a new size of cupcake--The Colossal Crumb. According to their website, The Colossal Crumb is 6-1/2" tall and 6" wide. It serves 6-8 people and comes in 13 different flavors. It is also known as as cake. Oh wait...that's my joke.

On a side note, Crumbs' Cupcake of the Month is Cosmo: vanilla cake tinted pink filled with strawberry buttercream topped with lime cream cheese frosting edged in pink sugar. Lime cream cheese sounds really refreshing.

Photo: Crumbs

Tony Hawk SkateCake

Of course this post is dedicated to my husband.

Crumbs has partnered with The Tony Hawk Foundation to create the Tony Hawk SkateCake. This is a chocolate cupcake with rainbow sprinkles baked in, topped with vanilla cream cheese frosting. and edged with red and white sprinkles. In the center is an edible replica of a Tony Hawk custom designed skateboard.

Photo: Crumbs

Crumbs will donate $1.00 from the sale of every Tony Hawk SkateCake to The Tony Hawk Foundation. These special cupcakes are available at all Crumbs locations and online for $4.50 each.

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Valentine's Day Cupcakes For Sale

Valentine's Day is fast-approaching! The best Valentine's gift I can think of for myself would be a box full of cupcakes. I wish my husband was that easy to shop for. I'll probably end up getting him something bike-related. Anyways, if you're looking for some places to buy cupcakes for your Valentine, here are a few suggestions.


Sprinkles Cupcakes has a few different cupcakes available for Valentine's Day. I believe this year is the first time they've offered Red HOT Velvet, their classic red velvet cupcake paired with spicy cinnamon cream cheese frosting. Also available is their XOX Box, a mixture of red velvet, chocolate marshmallow, dark chocolate, and vanilla. Available in all stores for $3.25 each.

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Godiva Chocolatier has Limited Edition Pink Vanilla Buttercream Cupcakes in honor of Valentine's Day. These cupcakes come with a Godiva chocolate ganache in the center. Available online only, $28 per half dozen.

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Crumbs Bake Shop is offering several Valentine's Day cupcakes. Their assortment includes Be Mine (vanilla/vanilla with heart-shaped sugar cookie), Red Hot (vanilla/cream cheese with red hots), Sweetheart (vanilla/fudge filling/chocolate cream cheese topped with heart sugars), Ooh La La (chocolate/vanilla cream cheese with heart-shaped brownie), and Chocolate Covered Strawberry (strawberry/strawberry jam filled/chocolate buttercream). All cupcakes are available in store for $3.75 each.

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The Perfect Circle Cupcakery in Orange is offering three new flavors for Valentine's Day. Caramel Bordeaux is a valrhona dark chocolate cake with rich caramel frosting wrapped in toffee pieces (available February 12-14). White Chocolate Raspberry is a white cake and a raspberry surprise with white chocolate frosting topped with fresh raspberries drizzled in chocolate (available February 12-14). Dark Chocolate Strawberry is a valrhona dark chocolate cake with strawberry filling and frosting topped with chocolate kiss (available for the month of February). Cupcakes are $3.00 each.



One of my new favorite cupcakeries is Sweet and Saucy Shop in Long Beach, CA. For Valentine's Day they are offering an assortment of yummy treats. My choice would be the gift basket of 6 cake lollipops for $20. A girl can dream, can't she?

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Last, but certainly not least -- SusieCakes! The cupcake of the month is Sugar & Spice: vanilla cupcake with cinnamon buttercream frosting. SusieCakes is also offering Susie's Signature Heart-Shaped Red Velvet Cake For Two. A wide variety of other tasty treats is also available: "Makin' Whoopie" pies, heart-shaped brownies, Valentine's rice krispie treats, Love Shack Gingerbread house, conversation heart frosted sugar cookies.

New Cupcake Shop Openings

It's always exciting to hear about new cupcake shops opening, especially when they are close to home. See where two of my favorite shops are expanding to and where the newest cupcake shop in southern California will be.

Photo: SusieCakes

SusieCakes has opened a new bakery in northern California, Greenbrae to be exact. The new bakery is having a grand opening party on Saturday, January 23 from 11am-4pm. There will be prizes, sample, face-painting, ballon artist, and music. SusieCakes in Greenbrae will also be doing a Golden Ticket Contest, similar to the contest they did in Newport Beach during the summer.

SusieCakes
310 Bon Air Center
Greenbrae, CA 94904

Photo: Crumbs

Crumbs Bake Shop has opened a new shop in Ridgewood, NJ. The new shop opened on Monday, January 18. Although this shop is far away from me, it's still interesting to see where cupcake shops are expanding to.

Crumbs Bake Shop
123 E. Ridgewood Ave.
Ridgewood, NJ 07450

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Thanks to Cupcakes Take the Cake, I discovered that a new cupcakery will be opening in southern California. Cupcake Land is located in La Habra, CA. Their website is under construction so I don't have much info about them, besides their address.

Cupcake Land
1951 E. La Habra Blvd., Ste. C
La Habra, CA 90631

Holiday Cupcakes at Crumbs

Crumbs Bake Shop is offering special cupcakes for the holiday season.

A Hanukkah Signature Collection:

Apple & Honey ~ apple cake with apple sauce filling topped with vanilla cream cheese frosting edged in apple cake crumbs

White Hot Chocolate ~ vanilla cake filled with white chocolate mousse topped with vanilla cream cheese frosting edged with mini white chocolate chips and topped with marshmallows and white chocolate drizzle

Vanilla Hanukkah Stars/Sprinkles ~ vanilla cake with vanilla cream cheese frosting edged in blue and white stars (or blue and yellow sprinkles)

Chocolate Hanukkah Stars/Sprinkles ~ vanilla cake with chocolate cream cheese frosting edged in blue and white stars (or blue and yellow sprinkles)

Available in a six-pack for $27.00 or a 12-taste pack for $24.00

A Holiday Signature Collection:

Candy Cane

Egg Nog

Gingerbread

Peppermint Hot Cocoa

S'Mores

White Hot Chocolate

Available in a six-pack for $27.00 or 12-taste pack for $24.00.

Love At First Bite Cupcake

Photo: Crumbs

I may have just turned 28 yesterday, and I may be more than double the average age of most fans, but I am a huge Twilight fan! And I am so excited to see New Moon this weekend! Talk about a great birthday present!

Crumbs Bake Shop has a special cupcake in honor of the release of New Moon. The "Love At First Bite" cupcake is a chocolate cupcake with cherry pie filling and vanilla cream cheese frosting. The cupcake is topped with wax fangs and bat sprinkles. The cupcake is $4.50 and available at Crumbs stores.

Team Edward!

Also, last chance to win my giveaway for the Cupcake Tower. Contest ends at 11:59pm PST tonight!

Thanksgiving Cupcakes at Crumbs

It makes me happy when cupcakeries come out with special holiday flavors. It makes me think that they actually care about my cupcake happiness. Crumbs has a Thanksgiving collection of cupcakes that sounds scrumptious!

Apple Pie
Pumpkin
Chocoberry
Chocolate Pecan Pie
Vanilla Chocolate
Vanilla Vanilla

The "Thanksgiving Collection" of six cupcakes is $27.00 and the "Thanksgiving Tastepack" of 12 smaller cupcakes is $24.00.

Crumbs has five locations in California:
Beverly Hills, Calabasas, Glendale, Larchmont, and Malibu.

Crumbs College Care "Six-Pack"

My two brothers started school about a month ago. They go to the same college, but this is Cameron's first year being away from home. I wish there was a Crumbs Bake Shop near their college so I could send them this College Care Six-Pack. This "care package" from Crumbs includes:

Jolt: chocolate cake with bake in chocolate chips, espresso-flavored cream cheese filling, frosted with chocolate buttercream and chocolate ganache, and topped with chocolate chips and cocoa powder.

Brownie: chocolate cake with chocolate fudge filling and frosting, topped with chocolate ganache and chunks of brownies

Cookie Dough: vanilla cake with chocolate fudge filling and vanilla cream cheese frosting mixed with soft chocolate chip cookies, topped with a mini chocolate chip cookie

Fluffernutter: vanilla cake with peanut butter flavored cream cheese filling and marshmallow cream cheese frosting mixed with peanut butter, topped with white sprinkles

Oreo: vanilla cake with vanilla cream cheese frosting, mixed in with Oreos, topped with an Oreo cookie

Snocap: chocolate cake with vanilla cream cheese filling, completely covered in Snocaps

The College Care cupcake six-pack is available from any Crumbs location and at crumbs.com. The six-pack is $22.50.

Back to Crumbs

Last Saturday two of my close friends tied the knot. My husband and I had the privilege of attending their wedding in Los Angeles. I absolutely love weddings! Everything from the bridesmaid dresses to the wedding cake.


Between the wedding and reception, we had a little time to kill. Since we were in the area, we made a quick stop at Crumbs Bake Shop in Beverly Hills.


Oh delicious! I had my choice of any flavor that my heart desired! It's hard to make a decision when there are so many choices. These are the times when I wish they had individual mini cupcakes so I could sample several flavors.


My husband got the Boston Creme: vanilla cake with vanilla custard topped with chocolate fudge frosting. He enjoyed it, I enjoyed it, everyone was happy!

I chose a cupcake that is not featured on Crumb's website and I can't remember the name! So weird! It was a combination of banana and peanut butter and possibly cream cheese frosting. The most important part was how good it was! The cake was moist, the frosting was perfect in taste and proportion, and the flavors blended together just right!


So I've either picked the best cupcakes both times I've been to Crumbs or all of their cupcakes are this good! Thank goodness I don't live closer to a Crumbs location or I would easily gain at least 10 pounds. If you haven't tried Crumbs yet, make an effort to stop by soon. You won't be sorry!

Local Shops Celebrate the 4th of July with Cupcakes

Looking for cupcakes to celebrate the 4th of July in Orange County? You won't have to look far. Patriotic cupcakes can be found almost anywhere. Here are a few from some of the top cupcakes shops in Orange County:

Wonderland Bakery
I saw this cupcake on their website. I'm sure they will have other cupcakes available in their Newport Beach store. Average cost per cupcake $3.75

Meringue Bake Shop
Made-to-order cupcakes or mini cupcakes at Bliss Yogurt in Orange.

SusieCakes
"Fireworks" Vanilla Cupcake or 4th of July Red Velvet. Cupcakes are $3.00 each at Newport Beach store. They also have so many other delicious desserts to choose from.

Sprinkles
Be patriotic with the Lemon Blueberry cupcake. Available June 26-July 3 for $3.25 each, also in Newport Beach.

Crumbs
Special 4th of July cupcake with proceeds going to the USO to support our troops. Vanilla cake with chocolate filling and vanilla cream cheese frosting. The closest shop is in LA, but worth the drive. $3.75 each.

LA Lakers Cupcakes at Crumbs Bake Shop

I've mentioned before how I get my sweet tooth from my mom, but I failed to mention that my dad avoids all sweets at all times. I definitely did not get my love for cupcakes from him. For the first time ever, my dad will finally appreciate one of my cupcake blog posts.

Crumbs Bake Shop is currently offering a limited-time cupcake to celebrate the success of the LA Lakers making it to the NBA Finals. These limited edition Lakers Cupcakes are only available from one of the five Crumbs locations in LA and only until the end of the Finals. They are $3.75 each, which is pretty much the same cost as Crumbs other cupcakes. 

The LA Lakers cupcakes are available in two flavors--chocolate with vanilla frosting and vanilla with vanilla frosting. But I hear if you ask nicely, Crumbs will customize any of your favorite cupcake flavors to be a LA Lakers cupcake.

Go Lakers!!! Good luck in the Finals, for the sake of my dad's sanity!

Review: Crumbs Bakery Shop

After realizing that Crumbs Bake Shop did not only exist in New York, I was determined to stop by one of their shops the next time I was in LA. A few weeks ago I was in Korea Town for my husband's co-worker's birthday party. Korean BBQ and karaoke were the activities of the night. In between, I convinced my husband to take me to Crumbs, which was only two miles away.


Heaven. I'm in heaven. The first thing I noticed was how big the cupcakes were. Bigger than Sprinkles Cupcakes? Possibly! I had already determined which flavors I wanted before I even stepped in the shop....Baba Booey and Caramel Apple. Unfortunately, the time of day prevented me from getting either one of those.


As much as I wanted to try red velvet, I just wasn't in the mood for one. I went with the unstoppable combination....peanut butter and chocolate (Peanut Butter Cup). And WOW!! I was not disappointed! It was chocolate cake with peanut butter cream cheese frosting covered with peanuts and chocolate chips. There was also a sweet treat inside, some kind of peanut butter filling. It was different than the frosting and so sweet. I loved it!


My only disappointment (besides not having the flavors I wanted) was that I only got one cupcake! What was I thinking? I had a triathlon the next weekend so I knew I couldn't overindulge. Triathlons...lame excuse, except that they allow me to eat unhealthy foods and not feel so bad.

Crumbs cupcakes are definitely a good bang for your buck. Each cupcake is $3.75, which is slightly more than most places, but worth it because of their size and quality. I plan on going back to Crumbs very soon so I can try out some different flavors.

Free Cupcakes for Crumbs Landlord

Check out this story that was picked up by NPR:

New York City landlords are known for driving a tough bargain. But landlord Jack Resnick and Sons put a little something sweet into a new lease: cupcakes. That's because the new tenant is the bakery Crumbs. The rider requires a dozen cupcakes to be delivered to the landlord's monthly sales meeting.

Sweet deal!


I still haven't been to Crumbs (California has four locations -- Beverly Hills, Glendale, Larchmont, and Calabasas -- none in Orange County yet), but I've already picked out the flavors I am going to try when I finally get there.


Baba Booey: Peanut butter and chocolate. The most perfect combination...ever.

Grasshopper: Chocolate, mint cream cheese frosting, chocolate chips, and Oreo pieces.

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Cupcakes by Mail

I love getting packages! Sometimes just the anticipation is more exciting than the actual item arriving. I have heard about cupcakeries shipping cupcakes, but I have a hard time believing that the cupcakes arrive intact and not stale.

Crumbs Bake Shop has recently begun shipping their baked goods. I have never had a cupcake from Crumbs, but they sure look tasty. You can order their cupcakes in three different sizes, but you can only have the Taste and Signature sizes shipped to you.

Has anyone had cupcakes shipped to them? How did they taste? How expensive was the shipping?