Cupcake blogs. Miniature, quarter-sized cupcakes. Gelato-topped cupcakes. Everywhere, it seems, cupcakes are sweeping the nation.
In Charlottesville, those wishing to partake in this food trend can head to Cappellino's Crazy Cakes, a bakery in Third Street that opened in 2008. But apart from indulging in this savory obsession, University students may want to check out Cappellino's even more now that the idea of dining outside at restaurants on the Downtown Mall becomes more and more appealing with each passing spring day. Given that most University students are on tight budgets, some of these establishments can be expensive for full meals. Getting a bunch of friends together and going downtown for dessert, then, seems both cheaper and equally fun.
After receiving recommendations from friends and hearing about the bakery's growing reputation, I finally made a trip to Cappellino's Saturday morning.
The bakery has a large sign hanging high above the door. If not for this sign, it might be easy to miss the shop because of its unassuming location on a cobbled side street. Upon finding the bakery, the first thing I noticed was a sign on the door indicating only cash and check payments are accepted.
This meant two things. One, that I inconveniently had to make a trip to the automatic teller machine and then come back, and two, that the items probably err on the fairly inexpensive side of things. I based this assumption largely on Marco and Luca's, another downtown destination, which is known for only taking cash or checks but also offering low prices on its menu. The second realization was definitely a good one.
When I returned from the ATM, a group of teenage girls wearing soccer uniforms and a couple with a small child standing outside gave the place a sense of being a popular, family environment. The small size of the bakery - just a standing area before a glass display counter and a small, wrought iron table with two chairs facing the counter - may have contributed to this air, as well. The lack of wiggle room may have lent to a cluttered feel of the bakery that did not encourage lingering, but because the baking equipment and supplies were within plain sight, the shop had an authentic, homemade atmosphere. Fortunately, I was the only customer inside for most of my decision-making process.
I approached the glass display case, and a friendly employee greeted me from the other side. The display case was small, and there was a greater variety of large cookies than cupcakes; however, the several different types of cupcakes displayed were beautiful. I chose among cupcakes - all made from scratch - such as vanilla, chocolate, lemon cake and red velvet with pretty icing and dainty, fanciful decorations.
To help make my decision, I asked the woman behind the display case if they gave out samples, and she offered me small wedges of red velvet cupcakes made from a homemade recipe.
I took a bite of the red velvet cupcake, which was good but not as sweet nor as moist as I expected. The red velvet flavoring had a hint of almond extract, which helped balance the very sweet cream frosting.
After trying the red velvet, I decided to buy two more varieties. First, I chose a cupcake called Chocolate Lover's Dream - chocolate cake topped with chocolate icing shaped like round, billowing waves and a tiny orange candy starfish. As a self-proclaimed chocolate lover, I was excited to bite into this one. The cake was moist but still less sweet than I had been hoping. The chocolate icing was delicious, however, and the candy starfish was delightful.
My second choice was a cherry vanilla cupcake. The vanilla cake included tiny bits of cherry and was topped with glittery vanilla icing and a real cherry. It looked like a dessert out of a child's fantasy-land and tasted sweeter than the first two cupcakes. Of the three, this one was definitely my favorite. The best part was the price - excluding my free sample, the two cupcakes that I purchased totaled about $4. For comparison, Georgetown Cupcake, which is located in Washington, D.C., offers cupcakes at $2.75 each, and Cakelove, which can be found at various locations in Northern Virginia, sells the desserts at $3.23 each.
Overall, I would say that I was more impressed by the workmanship and the details than the actual taste of the cupcakes, but I have to admit that these cupcakes were a good deal.
I would go back, sample more varieties and bring friends. Any woman looking to impress friends at a garden party or bridal shower or any man looking to impress a
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