Natural Selection Leads to Something New

Not Surprised: I have reviewed Sweet Lorraines at the Irvine Spectrum twice. Both times I was forced to give a bad review. So I wasn't surprised to not see Sweet Lorraines when I stopped by the Spectrum on Friday night. You can't expect a bad cupcakery to stay in business. Natural selection applies to cupcake shops too.
Surprised! I was surprised to see another cupcake shop in its place. The name of the new bakery is SweetSpot Baker's Workshop. My first thought was, oh no, I hope it's not going to be the same as Sweet Lorraines but with a different name. Fortunately, when I opened my google reader this morning I found a post by the Fast Food Maven detailing this new shop.

SweetSpot opens today and will sell cupcakes for $3.25. So what makes them different? They will also offer make-you-own-cupcake services. For $4.25 you can pick a flavor of cupcake and then decorate it with your own toppings and frosting. I think this is a great idea for birthday parties and decorating classes. I'm not sure how many people will want to decorate their own cupcakes during their shopping experience. But this is definitely a new concept...I have not heard of any other cupcakery offering this service.

I haven't reviewed a cupcakery in a while so I think I will need to take a trip to the Irvine Spectrum sometime this week. It just won't be on Black Friday.

A Second Chance for Sweet Lorraines

I have been meaning to go back to Sweet Lorraines at the Irvine Spectrum since they opened in June. I still had a bitter taste from my first visit, but in the name of reserach I decided to give them a second chance. The first thing I noticed was the addition of the words "Cupcake Shop" to the door. At least you will now know what is behind the doors at Sweet Lorraines.

Oh where do I start? I am still disappointed in the way the cupcakes are displayed. It looks tacky to put the cupcakes in these trays, especially with the pink paper hanging off the sides.

I have not ever seen another cupcake store do this, but Sweet Lorraines decorates the same type of cupcake differently. I don't like this. Notice this tray of Black & White cupcakes. They are essentially all the same cupcake, but there seems to be four different cupcakes. This may be some type of marketing ploy to make it look like there are more kinds of cupcakes, but in reality they had very few flavors.

Another negative point is how the cupcakes are decorated. They are not nicely done. Some of them look like little kids decorated them. I really wish they would try to look more professional.

I paid $3.25 for this?

Going off a suggestion from an employee behind the counter, I chose the Peanut Butter cupcake. I recently made some Chocolate Peanut Butter cupcakes for my sister's birthday, so I was anxious to compare them to Sweet Lorraines version.

So have they improved? Sadly, no. The cupcake was not very good. It was shaped like a mushroom, meaning the cake was spilling over the top. The cake was too spongey, almost rubbery. The frosting was a peanut butter frosting with cocoa added, not a chocolate frosting with peanut butter added like I made. The frosting was ok, but didn't go well with this cupcake.

I am not sure why Sweet Lorraines cupcakes fall short. I find myself wanting to hold back from giving them them another negative review, but I just can't recommend them as a place to get a good cupcake. They are way overpriced and their cupcakes are just not good. Sorry Sweet Lorraines, keep trying!

NOTE: Sweet Lorraine's went out of business.

Bitter Sweet Lorraines

Friday night I had dinner with my husband's family at the Cheesecake Factory at the Irvine Spectrum. On the way to the restaurant I spotted Sweet Lorraines and saw that it was open. I walked inside and was welcomed by the wonderful smell of fresh cupcakes. I confirmed that they would still be open in a few hours and was on my way. Dinner was great, and for the first time ever I passed on having cheesecake for dessert because I was anxious to try the new cupcake bakery.I first got notice of Sweet Lorraines about two weeks ago when a friend sent me a picture of the store's sign. They weren't open yet, so I think last week was their first week open. I was mildly surprised at the small assortment of flavors. They only had four: red velvet (of course), mocha, lemon, and vanilla. Second item of note, the cupcakes were not displayed very nicely. They were sitting on silver trays, in no particular arrangement, and it looked like crumbs were all over the trays. Third item, even though there were only four flavors, several of each flavor had a drizzle of chocolate or mocha on top, which made the flavors inconsistent sitting next to each other.

The store had minimal decorations. Strangely, the walls were blue and they had empty white picture frames on them just like Twenty Five Main in St. George, UT. When we asked about the decorations, the girl helping us said that the store had just opened so they were planning on decorating more.
Despite what the store looked like or how the cupcakes looked behind the glass, the most important test of all was how they tasted! Could Sweet Lorraines be the next Sprinkles? Sadly, no. I was very disappointed in my cupcake! I only bought one cupcake because Red Velvet was the only flavor that sounded appealing to me. My first bite...crunch! What? Another crunchy cupcake? The same thing happened at Twenty Five Main. The edge was hard and crunchy. I am not quite sure why this happens, but my guess is that the cupcake is slightly overcooked and had been sitting out too long. The frosting was so-so, definitely not good enough to save my half-eaten cupcake from being thrown away. I don't waste my calories on so-so cupcakes. I have other cupcakes calling for me to waste calories and money on. (Each cupcake was $3.25, quite a steep price for such a small, below-average cupcake.)
I want to give Sweet Lorraines a second chance. This was their first week open and they may not have all of the kinks worked out. My critique is not permanent yet, but I am in no hurry to go back.

NOTE: Sweet Lorraine's went out of business.

Newest Member of the Club

One of my CCA (Cupcake Activist) street team members sent me this picture of a new cupcake store at the Irvine Spectrum. After searching the Spectrum's website and Googling Sweet Lorraines name, I have yet to find any information about the newest member of the Orange County cupcake club. I guess this means I need to take a trip to the Spectrum and do a little research!

UPDATE: Sweet Lorraines is not open yet. We will be awaiting it's arrival!