by amelia cameron:
i was reading the book "The Gastronomy of Marriage" and in it the main character tastes a bunch of cupcakes to help her future sister-in-law write a "Best of New York" column. i thought A. "i LOVE cupcakes!" B. "i would love to be able to eat lots of different cupcakes at the same time." C. "i would love to share this experience with my closest girl friends!" so, i immediately sent out an email to manda, shalee, betsy and vanna declaring that i was going on a search for the best cupcake in the twin cities and i wanted them to join me.
we set the date for today, february 28, 2010 at 3:30pm. the morning of, i drove all over the twin cities and it's southern suburbs collecting cupcakes. i stopped at 10 bakeries (2 did not carry cupcakes) and purchased 16 cupcakes (one chocolate and one vanilla [except cafe latte, they were out of their vanilla]) i also created a scoring sheet, as well as collected fun cupcake facts and cupcake-esque parting gifts for my guests.
shalee arrived at 3pm, (very punctual!) and helped me set the scene. i set out eight plates each with a bakery name and the price of each cupcake after tax. shalee excitedly placed the cupcakes on their plates as i cut fruit to be served with the cupcakes "to cleanse the palate". i brewed some coffee and set out milk and wine (my adorable husband got "Cupcake" brand wine for the event).
a little after 3:30pm vanna and betsy arrived and soon after that manda arrived. we were ready! we got all of our beverages together and got acquainted with the competing cupcakes. cafe latte, french meadow bakery, a baker's wife, starbucks, sweets, cupcake, the salty tart, and YUM! were all in the running for "The Best Cupcake in the Twin Cities." they were to be judged upon size, visual appeal, price, cake taste, cake moistness, frosting taste, and frosting consistency, then followed by an overall rating, ranging from 1-5.
over the next hour and a half the cupcakes were cut into pieces, scored and heavily discussed. as we were in the midst of the tasting, we decided that we should do this again and again, but with other foods...we should become a group of local food critics...we should award the unsuspecting shops with awards when they win...we should start a blog...we should be called "The Taste Buds." and here we are.
this blog will be run by all 5 of us. when we post we will start it with our names, so you know which perspective you are getting. we will continue our tasting around the twin cities and it's suburbs and tell you all about it. some ideas for the future: pizza, french fries, cookies, egg rolls, ice cream, nachos, mozzarella sticks, and cesar salads. sometimes we will host the tastings at our homes, sometimes in food courts, sometimes it will be a traveling taste fest! the taste buds are not putting ourselves into any well manicured, super structured box. we are just going to eat and tell you about it!
by the way, cafe latte was the winner of the taste buds' cupcake award. we are going to send them a thank you note for making the best cupcakes in the twin cities and give them a very descriptive and important sounding award certificate that they can display, if they see fit.
