Battle of the Cupcakes

Urban Cookies vs. Cupcakes

It's been several years since the cupcake craze ignited. According to most food fad timelines, cupcakes should have jumped the shark by now, but they obviously haven't because there's still no shortage of frou-frou cupcake boutiques around the Valley. That's fine with us -- what could be better than a delicious little cake topped with rich icing? We bring you a bakery battle royale. 

In One Corner: Urban Cookies

4711 N. 7th Street

602-451-4335

http://www.urbancookies.com/

Urban Cookies' cupcakes are available for $1.99 a piece.

Urban Cookies on Seventh Street specializes in gift boxes of freshly made cookies that you can order online. For walk-in clientele, cupcakes are baked in one-serving sized Solo cups which makes them stand out from the crowded field of gourmet cupcakes.

The store is low-key with a clean, fifties-throwback feel to it. The cupcake flavors include brown velvet (which is red velvet minus the food dye), carrot, vanilla and dark chocolate. We ordered the dark chocolate cupcake and it was served in a recyclable cardboard box.

The dark chocolate cupcake is called "Chocolate 2x".

"You can tell care went into the frosting," said our dining companion, referring to the small dollop of shiny icing atop the Solo cup.  Turns out he was right. The woman behind the counter happily explained their frosting is made of melted chocolate and butter cream icing. It had a very dark chocolate taste to it, and would have been too rich if we didn't have a glass of milk on hand.  The cake itself was crumbly and messy.

In the Other Corner: Cupcakes      

6137 N. Scottsdale Road #B105

Scottsdale
(480) 656-3816

http://gotcupcakes.com/

The cupcakes at Cupcakes on Scottsdale Road are deliriously over the top. They all have trendy-cutesy names like Hollywood (red velvet), Blondie (vanilla) and Mimosa (orange cake with champagne orange icing). They are so adorable that when you are standing before the endlessly colorful cupcake counter, you can't help but resist pulling out your phone to snap a picture.  

"We don't allow anyone to take photos," the clerk behind the counter says curtly. We feel like a deer in cupcake headlights and put away the iPhone. Trying to put the awkward moment behind us, we order a dark chocolate cupcake. It costs $3.25. We also ask for milk and hand her a Visa card.

"There will be a twenty-five cent surcharge on all credit cards," she says with a forced smile.

At this point, the first thing that pops to mind is, "This place is high maintenance." We pay and sit down.

On to the cupcake itself, which was twice as tall as the cupcake at Urban Cookies. The chocolate frosting was bronzed with an iridescent sheen. The cake was moist. The icing, though, was grainy and reminded us of store-bought Duncan Hines chocolate frosting.

The "Rich and Famous" cupcake is a dark chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.

Unfortunately the experience of eating the cupcake was all but ruined by the clerk peppering us with questions.

"You must like cupcakes," she says. We nod with our mouths full.

"I see you're taking notes," she says. Uh-huh.

"You like to take pictures of your cupcakes?" she says. Yes, we do.

Will we go back? Probably not.

The Verdict: Urban Cookies