Lookin' for some sugar in the Windy City

What do you usually feel like doing on a Saturday when it’s 5 degrees outside? Hibernate, perhaps? Take in a movie, you say? How about conducting a whirlwind 9-stop bakery tour of Chicago? Ha! I thought not. Market research in the baked-goods industry is not for the faint-hearted or unbundled.

So now you know what I was doing last Saturday. My faithful and wind-chill impervious friend Caron agreed to be my chauffer/tour guide/partner in crime for this expedition around the city. Armed with a list of places known for their baked goods (mainly cupcakes), a camera, and multiple layers of clothing – including ear muffs and warm hats – we set out. The goal was to gather samples from all bakeries and take them someplace warm for a taste test. Since my host for this weekend, dear friend Cynthia, was suffering through a bad cold we decided to comfort her with sweets so we headed for her house.

Here’s a summary of our trip. (For the purpose of brevity I will spare you the gossip and witty commentary that Caron and I exchanged throughout the afternoon – despite it being the best part of the trip!)

Stop #1 Alliance Bakery 1736 Division St, Chicago (773)278-0366 http://www.alliance-bakery.com/bakery.com/
Alliance is set in an old bakery building, complete with old neon sign. However, the stuffy old exterior belies a progressive interior – complete with colorful fondant cakes, pasteries….and cupcakes. Alliance’s cupcakes ranged in flavor, however we ended up selecting a Chocolate cupcake with Chocolate frosting and a Carot Cake cupcake with cream cheese frosting. Packaging was interesting – they use cylindrical pre-fab paper wraps that provide a little more cake than your standard cupcake baking papers. They were similar in size to the cupcakes I produce by baking in a ring mold. Packaging consisted of a pink cardboard carton – which was too big for the 2 that we ordered….so there was risk of tippage and commingling of frostings. I don’t have a picture of the Alliance bakery because it was here that I discovered that my digi-cam was in desperate need of a battery recharge. Drat.

Stop #2 Caron’s Two-Flat South Lincoln Square area, Chicago
Ingenious woman that she is, Caron suggested we get her camera and swap memory cards. That way we wouldn’t have to mess with getting the pictures to me. Problem solved, and…we’re off.

Stop #3 First Slice 3744 N. Damen Avenue, Chicago (773 506 1719) http://www.firstslice.org/w.firstslice.org/
First Slice is not a bakery – but we were famished, so Caron suggested this new little gem. First Slice is a small restaurant that was founded as a vehicle for raising money to provide food to Chicago’s hungry. It is a self-funding charity that gives Chicago’s hungriest access to food that sustains both body and soul. They do so by bringing together community subscribers, homeless individuals and families to share in the preparation of nutritious meals. We had lunch there, and were able to continue our quest for yummy desserts by having one of these. This is a Chocolate Espresso Shot. It’s kind of like a flourless chocolate torte, however it is extremely moist inside. Almost too moist, we agreed, however still tasty.

Stop #4 Cupcakes 613 W. Briar Place, Chicago (773-525-0817) http://www.cupcakesacrossamerica.com/
I had a special reason for wanting to visit this place – I used to live a block from where they are. It’s a good thing they weren’t yet in business when I lived there because I would probably have become a regular – and my pants size would have become an XXL. It’s a cute little place. All they do is cupcakes – as the name implies. They feature 6-8 varieties that change weekly – and are receiving a lot of national press right now. Caron and I chose 3 to take with us: Vanilla with Champagne buttercream, Red Velvet and Violet with White Chocolate Buttercream. They charge a stiff $3.00 each and packaging consists of a clear plastic clamshell container like you’d get at Kroger/Jewel, etc. When asked why they did not package their cupcakes in the Chinese take-out containers as advertised they explained that they had problem with the cupcakes tipping over in them, and that it was currently being assessed as to whether anything could be done to prevent this. Boo Hiss! I thought it was a very clever packaging idea – however if it ends up impacting the look of the product, I guess it’s time to go back to the drawing board.

Stop #5 Sweet Mandy B’s 1208 W Webster Ave Chicago (773-244-1174)
This is another bake shop that’s getting a lot of press right now – even on a national level. Their schtick is to produce fresh-baked goods that are as close to what mom made as possible. Their store is very charming with lots of room to sit and linger, the selection is broad and the added benefit is their sushi bar-like counter where you can sit and watch the creation of many types of baked goods. In terms of cupcakes their selection was very narrow – vanilla and chocolate. We got one of each, plus a piece of this gooey apple caramel cake for good measure.

Stop #6 The TAG Outlet Store 1730 W. Wrightwood, Chicago
Ok, so this wasn’t a bakery stop – but a girl’s gotta shop. I never miss an opportunity to stop at TAG when I’m in the city, even if I don’t buy anything – which I didn’t this time. That’s not to say that I didn’t want to…..I was just exercising my little-used fiscal responsibility (hi, Sweetie!).

Stop #7 Vanille Patisserie 2229 N Clybourn Ave Chicago (773.868.4574) http://www.vanillepatisserie.com/
This place is beautiful. Beautiful food, beautiful décor, beautiful packaging. You name it. Beautiful. They didn’t have cupcakes, but focus mostly on chocolates and beautiful individual desserts. So – we ordered a profiterole tart and an iced sugar cookie. The packaging alone was worth the order. Look at these beautiful boxes. Unfortunately when I asked if their packaging was custom-order the woman behind the counter sniffed and said she had no idea. Interestingly enough – Caron and I looked through their photo books of cakes they have done and they are not above doing character cakes. Kind of an interesting juxtaposition, don’t you think? One more beef here – the cookie I bought – a little purse – had these pearls on them which we discovered to be inedible. Why would you put something inedible on a cookie?? Why?

Stop #8 Southport Grocery 3552 N. Southport, Chicago (773) 665-0100 http://www.southportgrocery.com/
This is not really a grocery, but a conglomeration of trendy table service restaurant, pre-made take-home meals and a few packaged grocery items. They were identified by Chicago Magazine as having the best tasting cupcake in town – out of a dozen or more that they samples. I bought one chocolate and one vanilla (both with vanilla buttercream) and we moved on.

Stop #9 Sweet Occasions 5306 North Clark Chicago 773.275.5190 http://www.sweetoccasionsandmore.com/
Sweet Occasions had chocolate and vanilla cupcakes….and this awesome looking chocolate cake with peanutbutter buttercream frosting. The thing was 5” high if it was an inch. So of course we took all three!

Onward to the tasting. We laid everything out at Cynthia's house and cut the cupcakes into 4 bites. Then we made plates of everything (it took 2 per person to hold all of this) and got to work. Here are some conclusions:

Pricing
The range for cupcakes was $1.75-$3.00 with $2.00 being the most common. Cupcakes, which was the only all-cupcake bakery charged $3.00, which seems a little steep for what you get. On the other hand, Alliance Bakery charged $1.75 and had the largest cupcakes we found. I decided that while Columbus is not familiar with cupcake pricing, so $2.50 might seem expensive, the cupcakes I make are larger than normal, individually wrapped and tied, and are also filled. (None of the cupcakes we tried were filled…just frosted).

Packaging
I wish Vanille Patisserie did cupcakes – because I would love to see how they package them. Their packaging is awesome. They definitely get the big thumbs up. The others were just thrown into a bakery box or plastic clamshell. This is another area where I can differentiate myself.

Overall Taste
The four of us decided that Southport Grocery’s vanilla cupcake with vanilla chocolate buttercream was the best tasting of all that we tried. I would say the Champagne buttercream cupcake from Cupcake was #2.

Frosting
We noticed that some bakeries are still using Crisco-based frosting, which none of us cared for. It gives a gritty feel when chewing. We also noticed that some of the buttercream frosting was a bit too buttery. Note to self: Make sure to balance the butter flavor with other ingredients. Another favorite was the peanut butter buttercream. I think I’ll take a stab at that….and the Champagne buttercream too.

Best of the non-cupcake desserts
Our favorite was the profiterole tart from Vanille Patisserie. Aside from being a work of art, it was delicious. A close second was the apple cake with caramel topping from Sweet Mandy B’s. What’s not to love about caramel apple? My take-away here is that I need to start developing some individual desserts focused on apple. (I love apple-based desserts anyway,)

So there you have it. I suppose this post isn’t so interesting….unless you plan to go to Chicago sometime soon…or of course you live there. At any rate I do have some new ideas for my business….and a couple extra lbs and frostbite to show for it. Thanks so much to my homies who made this possible!!