Magnolia Bakery

8389 W 3rd St, Los Angeles, CA 90048

Emily: I have a special place in my heart for magnolia bakery because it was what inspired me to make this blog. It all started when Virginia and I were wandering around 3rd street at night looking for a place to satisfy our hunger and sweet tooths when we happened upon magnolia bakery. Indulging on those cupcakes in her car was simply an amazing and eye-opening experience. I had no idea that cupcakes could taste so good. (sidenote: We were eating in her car because the bakery barely has any seating unfortunately). Although my second trip to magnolia didn’t quite live up to my high expectations it was still a really great cupcake. The first cupcake I ever tried was a banana cupcake with a chocolate ganache which I honestly think is the best I’ve had to date. This most recent time they had fewer options so I got a basic vanilla cupcake with chocolate buttercream frosting for three dollars (the cheapest cupcake they have). Their cupcakes are a little drier which doesn’t bother me, I actually think I prefer a cupcake that is a little more dry.  Also these cupcakes are so rich and flavorful and I can’t help but feel completely satisfied afterwards. It seems however that people tend to have very strong reactions when they try magnolia’s cupcakes, either they love them or don’t like them much at all. I think it may be because there is a lot of hype around them because the bakery is so famous in new york, perhaps people are let down when they don’t get perfection. But I am giving magnolia a very strong review but not quite a 10 because of lack of seating and price but taste-wise…excellent.

Emily’s cupcake: Vanilla with chocolate buttercream frosting

Price: $3.00

Score: 9

Buttercake Bakery

8616 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90069

There are a lot of memories surrounding this particular cupcake trip. First off, I was being very moody because I had lost my wallet and had no idea where it was. I convinced myself that I had driven away with it sitting on the top of my car when I was filling it with gas. I even called the gas station and tried to desperately understand the man working there but really couldn’t at all. So that probably affected my ability to appreciate this cupcake. Anyways it turns out my wallet was sitting on the passenger seat of my car the entire time. The second memory I have from Buttercake bakery was Jesus. Yes JESUS WALKED IN AND BOUGHT SOME COFFEE. Take a look at the one picture of Virginia and you will see him in the background looking very majestic. I honestly couldn’t believe this guy…he even winked at Virginia as he was leaving haha. We ran out of the bakery a minute later to see where he went and he was gone. Okay I should probably talk about this cupcake now. The high points: price and the mini cupcakes. I would say this place was better than average but not great. But the price was quite reasonable so I can’t really complain. The texture of the cupcake was more light and spongy (that word looks weird) rather than condensed but some people like that. The cupcake I chose was kind of plain but our friend Sarah tried the peanut butter one and said it was great. The mini cupcakes were adorable and all the cupcakes were just so cute.

Emily’s Cupcake: Vanilla with butter cream frosting

Price: $0.90 (I only had a mini)

Emily’s score: 8

Caffe Primo

8590 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, California

Virginia: The reason why we went to Caffe Primo in the first place was because my mom said she saw some cupcakes there and suggested we give it a try. I also remembered that I had been one time and had tried their gelato and it was quite excellent. Even more exciting is that H&M is conveniently located right next to it so two birds, one stone. I’ll start by saying that the cupcake was $5.25. What? Yes, five dollars and twenty-five cents. Honestly, I feel the strong urge to just end my review with that because no cupcake is worth that amount unless it’s covered in gold and a puppy comes with it but for the sake of the blog I will continue. The cupcake was horrible. It was dry, had overly sweet frosting and was strangely similar to a red velvet muffin even though that fortunately does not exist. Our friend Sarah described it perfectly when she said it tasted like play-doh. To top it off, the red velvet cupcake, which I split with Emily, was very large, so that was unfortunate for the both of us. I’m just going to stop there because I have nothing good to say and I am starting to feel bad about all these negative comments, but don’t go buy a cupcake at Caffe Primo or anything else for that matter, except gelato, then you should go all out. Oh and thanks mom.

Emily: I would not recommend this place to anyone unless they happen to be on the sunset strip and don’t want to eat somewhere really upscale. There was nothing really likable about this cafe besides the location and the outdoor patio area. The people working there all seemed slightly incompetent and would not pay any attention to their customers, plus everything was overpriced. Anyways, the red velvet cupcake Virginia and I shared was VERY DRY and seemed like it had been sitting out for a few days. It sort of tasted like a bad bran muffin with frosting. In addition it cost $5.25 (!!!) and was way too big. As you can see by Virginia’s face in the photo I took, she did not like it either. Our friend Sarah also tried it and was definitely not a fan. I am going to give this cupcake the lowest score so far and I do not advise anyone to waste their money on the baked goods at Caffe Primo. It’s a bit strange that the most expensive cupcakes we have tried have also been the worst.

Split: Red Velvet Cupcake

Price: $5.25

Emily’s score: 6.5

Virginia’s score: 5.5

Overall score: 6

SusieCakes

11708 San Vicente Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90049

Emily: The red velvet cupcake I had at SusieCakes was definitely the best so far. It was similar in taste to the red velvet cupcake at La Provence but I gave it a higher rating for a few reasons. (1) I liked the frosting better at SusieCakes and there was even some frosting injected into the actual cupcake. (2) Also this cupcake was bigger and was well-worth the $3. (3) The best thing about this SusieCakes cupcake was the actual cake part and the quality was excellent. I didn’t give it a ten rating because there was a bit too much frosting which was pretty sweet. Once again the people working there were very nice and gave good recommendations.  Virginia and I decided though that most people selling cupcakes would probably be nice. I can’t imagine you would choose that line of work if you were grumpy and unhelpful.

Virginia: SusieCakes you just blew my mind. When Em and I first walked in we both noticed how colorful and pretty the cupcakes were and I instantly wanted to NOM on all of them but decided on going with the mocha cupcake since thats usually my go to flavor besides chocolate. But then I decided to take a chance so I decided to ask the girl working there which one was her favorite. She said that the seasonal cupcake, the white chocolate strawberry cupcake, had fresh strawberries baked in the cake and was absolutely delicious. I don’t really like white chocolate and I would usually never go for a cupcake like this, but I felt bad denying her opinion after she so passionately described it, so I agreed. We paid, drove back to my house, took some pics for you guys to drool over, and then I inhaled that seasonal white chocolate strawberry cupcake. It was there, and then it wasn’t. The only negative thing that I would have to say, was that the frosting was a bit too sweet for my taste, there was a lot of it so the sugary taste lingered for a while. But since overall it was delicious, I didn’t even notice that until I was done and licking the frosting off my fingers and plate. Other positive points: this place is adorable and has a cute seating area out front, they make custom cakes and their cupcakes are a little larger than the other ones but still manageable and not more expensive. In conclusion I am team SusieCakes all the way.

Emily’s Cupcake: Red Velvet

Price: $3.00

Score: 9

Virginia’s Cupcake: White Chocolate Strawberry Cupcake

Price: $3.00

Score: 9

Overall Score: 9

Crumbs Bake Shop

9465 Little Santa Monica Blvd
Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Virginia: Crumbs, you will be my first bad review and I am genuinely sorry because you had a very nice young man working there and he was very helpful and knew everything there was to know about your cupcakes. Unfortunately, that will probably be the only positive thing that I will write in this review. First off, I didn’t really like the feeling I got when I walked into the cupcakery, but that’s just me and in the end Crumbs does have a playful atmosphere. The fun thing about Crumbs is that there are a crazy amount of flavors even though some were quite questionable. Such as Baba Booey, Watermelon, Galaxy Swirl, Cosmo, Good Guy and Pink Lemonade. As fun as those sound, I didn’t know what half of those were (hence me asking the guy that worked there twenty questions), and many of them looked so artificial that they didn’t look appetizing at all. The Cosmo was neon pink, that’s all I’m going say about that one. I will say that they have a Colossal Cupcake which looks pretty incredible. I’ve never seen anything like it and if I was trying to impress my boss I would bring their child (if they had one), a Colossal Cupcake. Also, my friend/gf Meredith told me that the Crumbs in new york city is amazing and better than the Sprinkles there, so maybe change of location is also change of taste in cupcake. But regardless, this blog is called LACUPCAKES, so Crumbs, I’m sorry once again, but your massive cappuccino cupcake, (which I split with Emily and didn’t really taste like cappuccino), made me feel a bit sick and was overly sweet. Some people may be into everything that I just described and I say to you, go to Crumbs, but I will not be going back.

Emily: I didn’t like this cupcake much either mainly because it had too much frosting and was overly sweet and also too expensive for what it was. Virginia’s reaction to this cupcake was almost pure anger although I didn’t think it was that terrible. This place would be great for kids because all of the odd flavors and the sweetness factor but it just wasn’t for me. I originally thought this place was closed because it looked kind of dark and nobody was there and the sprinkles just a few blocks down was sooo crowded. At least we had somewhere to sit and eat it though. The best thing about crumbs is the colossal cupcake which was massive and cost $35. I think for a kid’s birthday that would be the greatest thing ever. Virginia and I both felt a little sick after sharing this cupcake but that might have partially been because we had eaten half of a sprinkles cupcake right before. I’m pretty sure eating all these cupcakes isn’t helping me achieve a beach body. Oh well. Random sidenote: I just stumbled upon this cheesy quote: I keep trying to lose weight….but it keeps finding me. True true.

Split Cupcake: Cappuccino Cupcake

Price: $3.75

Virginia’s Score: 6

Emily’s score: 7

Overall Score: 6.5

Sprinkles Cupcakes

9635 south santa monica boulevard

beverly hills, california 90210

Emily: I think Sprinkles was actually a little better than I remembered it being. I had tried the red velvet before at my cousin’s bridal shower and I remember that it made me feel kind of sick because it was too rich and too big of a cupcake in general. However this most recent tasting session went much better and the cupcakes seemed smaller. Virginia and I shared a pumpkin cupcake even though the cashier suggested we try something else. We wanted the chai latte cupcake but they didn’t have it because apparently they only make those on fridays…? Weird. Anyways it was very crowded in a small space and it seemed like people were picking up large orders. I thought the actual cake didn’t taste like pumpkin but like carrot cake which I don’t like much but the frosting made up for that. Also the ratio of frosting to cake was good. Was this cupcake worth $3.50? Probably not but it was reasonably good. They also have wooden spoons and knives there which was interesting but made it slightly difficult to eat.  In addition to the peculiar utensils, there wasn’t nearly enough seating so we had to walk down the street until we could find someplace to actually eat it. I don’t know why Sprinkles is SO popular when there are little cafes that have cheaper cupcakes that taste better. Maybe it’s because you can order in bulk there and they have more options than say La Provence.

Virginia: This is the thing, I hear so so SO much about Sprinkles, and yeah it’s good but the truth is I’ve had better. Sprinkles is like juicy pants or sweats or whatever those were back in middle school. Everyone just wanted them, but is it really what you want? Eh. I will say that Sprinkles was way better than juicy outfits, partially because I hated those and the cupcake I tried was pretty good. Emily and I had previously decided to try the chai latte cupcake, (how good does that sound?) but apparently they don’t bake those on Wednesdays, but would have them on Friday? Thanks Sprinkles, crush my dreams. So I may have to go back on a Friday in order to fulfill my dreams. Anyway, we ended up splitting a pumpkin cupcake even though we were told by the server that maybe it was best as newcomers to try a different one. I had a Sprinkles cupcake about a year ago and remembered them being massive, but the cupcake size was perfect and the frosting to cake ratio was good as well,  I overall enjoyed it. The frosting was way sweeter than the other ones I’ve tried, but I still liked it.  The pumpkin was good, but didn’t exactly taste like pumpkin, it was a tasty let down since I’m a huge fan of pumpkin. Also, the tiny little bakery was packed and there was basically no seating, I can’t eat my cupcake standing up yo, come on. But considering that most people go there to buy in bulk for parties or what not, I guess they thought seating wasn’t important. On a completely separate and irrelevant note, the Sprinkles bakery looks like a giant piece of chocolate with some pink frosting in the corner that says Sprinkles. I dug that.

Split cupcake: Pumpkin Cupcake

Price: $3.50

Emily’s score: 7.5

Virginia’s score: 8

Overall score: 7.75

La Provence Patisserie

11677 San Vicente Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90049-5123

Virginia: I’m actually a little bit worried about La Provence because every single place that has opened in that very location has closed down, and I really like this place so I’m hoping that this curse will be broken. I’m almost certain that their cupcakes will help break the curse. I tried a chocolate (probs dark chocolate) cupcake with cream cheese frosting. I have never tried cream cheese frosting even though my friend is always talking about it and every time we go try a cupcake she insists on asking about the cream cheese frosting and is super upset when they don’t carry them. Natalya is such a puppy!!! Anyway, I finally took the chance, and I really liked it! Very creamy, that shouldn’t be much of a surprise but for some reason it was to me. The first bite was a little strange because it was a bit of a shock but I ended up devouring it in under 5 seconds after helping our friend Aimee move. The bread part of the cupcake was perfectly moist and there was also a perfect amount of frosting, not too much and not too little. Heavy lifting of boxes calls for a delish cupcake and I was so happy that La Provence was there for me. On a different note the place is very cute and it has a nice kind of romantic atmosphere. BEST DATE EVER. La Provence also has tons of other sweets including these colorful macaroons which I couldn’t stop staring at and really wanted to try…going back fairlyyyy soon.

Emily: This place can be a bit tricky to find if you don’t know the Brentwood area but it’s in the Brentwood Gardens complex on the top level on the left. I had a red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting. It wasn’t overly sweet and the cupcake wasn’t dry either. I’m not normally a fan of red velvet, probably because I’ve never really experienced a red velvet cupcake that was actually of decent quality. This cupcake definitely changed my opinion of red velvet and I’m glad I gave it another chance. Anyways we tried La Provence after helping our friend Aimee move apartments at night and it was the best late night snack ever because we were tired and hungry. Sidenote: Aimee’s new crazy neighbor collects grocery carts and leaves them scattered throughout the building. So the friendly server at La Provence also gave us some insight on what red velvet actually is. Apparently the red color originates from some ingredient in the South that makes it very rich and red (she didn’t specify which south she was referring to, South America or Southern USA but I guess you can look it up on wikipedia). But most red velvet cupcakes are just chocolate with red food dye. Interesting! Also this place is really cute and girly and the chandeliers were a nice touch.

Virginia’s Cupcake: Chocolate with cream cheese frosting

Price: $3.25

score: 8.5

Emily’s Cupcake: Red Velvet with cream cheese frosting

Price: $3.25

score: 8.5

Overall score: 8.5

Best Cupcake Poll

Joan’s on Third

8350 W 3rd St
Los Angeles, California 90048

Emily: We went to Joan’s on Third yesterday to have lunch and try some cupcakes. My cupcake was a little dry but still pretty tasty. The raspberry jam filling on the bottom was interesting but wasn’t particularly outstanding. Also I’m not a huge fan of white chocolate so the pink white chocolate curls on the top may have been why I wasn’t crazy about this cupcake but that’s simply because I’m kind of picky. This cupcake cost $3 which is a typical price for these types of places. However, Joan’s on Third is definitely worth a visit if you’ve never been there…the food is amazing and the outdoor patio area is a really nice place to relax and have lunch. It’s become one of our favorite spots in LA. And it’s right near the Beverly Center and Magnolia Bakery!

Virginia: I’m gonna start by saying that I am very biased towards Joan’s on Third for several reasons: (1) I’ve been going there since I was around 11 years old which is when it opened, (2) I’m Italian and this place is Italian, (3) the cupcake I tried had marshmallow fluff in it, and I’m obsessed with marshmallows. All that being said, YOU HAVE TO VISIT JOAN’S ON THIRD,  even if you don’t want a cupcake and you just want a delicious meal, or if you really like cheese or any imported Italian food…the list goes on. Anyway, I chose to eat the dark chocolate cupcake with a tower of marshmallow fluff covered in a chocolate shell called, the cloud! Everything about it is amazing except that it’s quite awkward to eat, at least until you finish eating the tower then it’s all good. The bread part of the cupcake is a little dry, I don’t mind, but I know people do, so keep that in mind. In conclusion, it blew my mind and if I could force everyone to try the cloud, I would.

Emily’s Cupcake: Vanilla cupcake with raspberry filling

Price: $3.00

Score: 7.5

Virginia’s Cupcake: The Cloud

Price: $4.00

Score: 9

Overall score: 8.25