Kara’s Cupcakes, San Francisco

I had 6 cupcakeries on the itinerary of my self-directed cupcake tour. A lofty goal for the short time I had in the city. I managed to squeeze in 3 of the cupcakeries (more squeezing is occurring in the weeks following this indulgent tour as I squeeze and squish my way into my pants) and now I never want to see another cupcake ever again. (Update: it is now 4 weeks since my San Francisco cupcake tour and I would like to strike that comment from the record. I do so wish to see, eat, and marry all cupcakes once again. It was a hurtful thing to say and I’m truly sorry. I was just made delirious by the toxic levels of sugar in my blood at the time. Let us never speak of this again.)

Our first cupcakery is Kara’s Cupcakes, y’all.

Located in Ghirardelli Square.

You know that giddy, high-flying feeling you get when you’re about to buy a bunch of clothes or some really cute boots or the best table lamp ever?

That’s how I felt right here, in Kara’s Cupcakes, standing in front of this glass case stuffed full of fluffy, spongy cakes sporting creamy caps and squatting in corrugated paper cups.

They’re little. They’re sweet. The word cute just won’t do here. No, not to describe these heavenly little dearlings. (Yes, dearlings. Not only are the darling, but they are dear. Oh so dear!)

Cute, my friends. Hear me when I say shockingly cute. In fact, this amount of cute borders on obscene.

I stood there before the obscene cupcake display, feeling my heart racing. I tried not to breathe too heavily on the glass. But I knew a choice of epic consequence lay before me. How could I choose between so many?

But choose I did.

Let me break it down, pastry style.

Meyer Lemony Lemon

This is a vanilla cupcake with a tart lemon filling and lemon buttercream. Yeah, that’s right, it’s filled! HA! Just when I thought cupcakes couldn’t get any better, they went and got filled! My word, is there no end to the genius of bakers?

And, it was the tart lemon filling that made this cupcake. The lemon buttercream was smooth and luscious, but it was weak tasting. It needed much more lemon flavor. Come on, if you’re going to call it “Lemony Lemon” you’ve got to pop me in the mouth with lemony flavor. So a bite of buttercream and vanilla cake alone was a step away from disappointing. But once I got to the lemon filling, things started to look up.

Raspberry Dazzle

Oh heck yeah! This is a chocolate cupcake with sweet raspberry buttercream and raspberry filling. The chocolate cake was moist, spongy, delectable. But again, with a name like Raspberry Dazzle, I kinda had my heart set on bedazzlement. The raspberry buttercream just needed more raspberry flavor. But once again, the filling was it’s saving grace. It had fabulous red berry flavor, and was not too sweet.

Fleur de Sel

How is it that I don’t have an individual picture of this one? I’ll tell you how: It’s a chocolate cupcake with caramel filling and ganache frosting. That’s how.

It’s chocolate beauty triggered the primal core of my hypothalamus and instinctual behavior took over. I ate it in a heartbeat, with no regard for my Fuji. And then I hung my head in shame.

The interesting thing about this cupcake is that it has a fleur de sel on the top (a flower of salt) and I must say, the flavor combination was quite interesting. Different, but good. And I liked the added crunch the large salt crystals provided.

Kara’s Karrot

This carrot cupcake had a silky soft cream cheese frosting and was the front-runner of the bunch. The cake was so moist and full to bursting with super-sized chunks of walnuts, raisins and carrots. Heavenly! The frosting had just the right amount of sweetness—not too sour like some.

This is the aftermath. You can see the unphotographed Fleur de Sel is devastated.

Oh. OH. Then there was this:

They sell Kara’s Cupcake onesies and t-shirts!

I only took a picture of it. I didn’t buy it.

Which is a lousy substitute, by the way.

The amount of self control it took to resist buying a case of these, in every size offered, for my little cupcakes at home was such that I thought my head might spontaneously combust.

Yes, I thought my head might burst into flames without a defined source of ignition.

Happy cupcaking to all, and to all a good night,

Elle

PS. Dear Windows Live Writer, You complete me. Forever Yours, Elle

PPS. I’ll close the Girl Twin Giveaway this Saturday. If you haven’t already, please enter. It’s open to everyone! I’ve loved reading everyone’s comments and guesses.