With Sprinkles on Top
A new branch of Sprinkles Cupcakes has just opened up right in the thick of The Americana at Brand mall. The mall is a nice enough place to spend your Saturday afternoon, if you enjoy navigating through the hustle and bustle of tiny tots, teeny boppers, reluctant parents, and over-enthusiastic grandparents, all to the soundtrack of today’s number-one pop hits. Let’s not forget the blank-faced, teenaged employees, who sit there blowing the store’s plastic bubble gun. Amazed and amused children with balloon pets try to eat the bubbles, as they float by their tiny heads.
Sprinkles has a really fun and accessible brand that is represented in the store by their signature polka dot decor, array of sweets, and novel 24-hour cupcake “ATM,” which is pretty freaking awesome. I unfortunately did not get anything from the “ATM,” so I don’t know how it works. Next time.
But let’s talk about cupcakes. Sprinkles offered maybe seven different flavors of cupcakes when I was there, none of them unusual or out of the box, just the basics. I was surprised to see that they had ice cream and cookies, which I wish I had tried. They even had their own cookie dough.
The first cupcake I tried was the Black and White. The chocolate cake was delectable and moist and melted in my mouth. And the vanilla frosting was sweet--not too rich but far from bland. It complimented the chocolate cake expertly.
Next, I had the red velvet. The cake, simply put, was delightful. The thing about red velvet is that because of its popularity and therefore ubiquity, the majority of the ones you try aren’t going to be mouthwatering. But this one, though it doesn’t rival the red velvet at Little Flower, was a delicious surprise. The cake was soft and sweet and the frosting thick and buttery.
The last one I tasted was the Dark Chocolate. I was least impressed with this one, an opinion that might be due to my extremely high standard for chocolate flavor. However, I don’t think it was my chocolate standard because the chocolate frosting was full of flavor and sweet enough, and the chocolate cake was fluffy and chocolatey-- satisfying. My problem with the cupcake was that there wasn’t much contrast between the two chocolate flavors and it ended up tasting a little bland.
Unfortunately, the service and pricing were not commensurate with the mostly yummy food. The line was disorganized and confusing. The table tops had earlier customers food left-overs melted all over the place. The portions were the right size, but the prices were outrageous. The total price for 3 cupcakes was $13.00. That’s more than $4.00 per cupcake!
It’s hard to resist a good cupcake, and I suggest paying a visit to Sprinkles, but maybe taking it on the road. Unless you enjoy having old food on your table while you eat. And even though I didn’t get anything from the ATM, I advise you to skip the sullen teenagers and go straight to the futuristic cupcake robot. Kudos to Sprinkles for having such an awesome mascot, who can not only cheerlead for the company but actually sling its products!