CRUMBS ~ 7

There's a new Crumb in town and this bakery means business!

Opening first in New York and the Hamptons with ample praise, I was hoping this bake shop wouldn't disappoint me as so many "trendy cupcake boutiques," have lately. Located mere blocks from the "almighty," albeit overrated Sprinkles, I figured this gutsy little bakery must really be packing some fabulous frosting ... for the most part ... I was right!

They offer tons of extra-large, “fun-tastic”, candy coated cupcakes as well a large selection of frilly frosting cakes. The ladies purse cake looked very NYC with black and white butter cream frosting. Crumbs is not your modern/chic, dainty cupcake bakery. They are not afraid to pile on the frosting, top it with m&m's and bake-off large and in charge brownies.

My friend and I ordered 4 big cupcakes to take home. Like sprinkles, there's not a lot of standing room inside ... no where to sit. The "Artie Lang" (of the Howard Stern Show) is vanilla sponge cake filled with chocolate butter cream, covered in vanilla cream cheese frosting and topped with chocolate fondant icing with white and chocolate sprinkles on the sides! WOW! A lot going on, but this was the best cupcake we ordered! FINALLY, A CUPCAKE WITH MOIST, BUTTERY VANILLA CAKE AND EXCELLENT FROSTING! Leave it to New York to know what a truly yummy cupcake should be!

My next favorite was the Caramel Apple cupcake. Somewhat moist vanilla brown sugar cake with apples baked right in the batter. The frosting tasted like cream cheese vanilla butter cream swirled drizzled with caramel.

My friend got the Candy cupcake; Sweet vanilla cake frosted with a heavy dose of Crumbs signature vanilla butter cream and smothered in multi-colored m&m’s™. This was just too sweet for my taste but the cake part was super moist and buttery!

OK ... now for the bad news ... their Red Velvet, which I was told is a best seller, not great; not even good. The cream cheese frosting that is what makes Red Velvet so addicting, tasted like overly sweet vanilla butter cream and the red velvet cake, was not red nor velvety but brown and dry dry dry. Oh well … you can't win them all. They have cookies too and as a good food blogger, I had to taste one. Blah ... chocolate chip with cinnamon, it was stale for one and the flavor wasn't terrible but I won't return for the cookies ... only the cupcakes, superior to all other LA cupcakeries, besides Leda's Bakeshop which is top in my foodie opinion. Oh, Crumbs also has coffee and is cheaper than it's near by competitors.

THE BOTTOM LINE: If you CRAVE down home, BUTTERY, lots of THICK CREAMY frosting baked goods, Crumbs is for you.
If you prefer Sprinkles ... you're buying them for a pretty gift, not sweet self consumption.

Crumbs
9465 S. Santa Monica Blvd
310.550.9811
Open 8a.m. weekdays & 9a.m. weekends

VANILLA BAKESHOP ~ 6.5

I was really looking forward to tasting something special at Vanilla, Santa Monica’s newest boutique bakeshop. Their web site is absolutely wonderful. The gallery pictures of cupcake towers and wedding cakes made me want to go sample product ASAP. Walking in, I felt like I’d stepped into a little girl’s dream playroom. The tiny space is painted the lightest powder pink with shabby chic chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. It’s all very feminine and sweet, as a bakeshop should be.

The only thing they had that day was cupcakes. They looked sparkly and delicious inside the glass case. I tried to order four “Cupcake Babies,” but they’re only sold in 3’s, so I bought six along with one regular size cupcake, and one Cosmopolitan. There are three small tables to sit at inside but it felt a little cramped so I took my treats and headed home for the grand taste test. When I took them out of the box, the bottoms were all sticky with caramel. I licked my fingers and and thought yum but if I'd bought them for a party, I'd be annoyed they were all sticky for guests.
FAVORITE: Mocha Chocolate baby cupcake ~
The Mocha bean frosting was really creamy and not overly sweet. The flavor of coffee was perfectly present and the espresso bean made from chocolate on top made it truly scrumptious. The chocolate cake tasted watery. It’s a strange way to describe cake but that’s how it tasted. It was a bit dry and missing any rich chocolate flavor.

RUNNER UP: The Mom’s Birthday Cake baby cupcake ~
This won in the cake category. The yellow cake was buttery and tasted good alone or with frosting. The frosting was milk chocolate, also really good with a little blue sugar flower on top!

ALL THE REST:
Vanilla Bean cupcake ~ this was chocolate cake with vanilla bean frosting covered in pale green sanding sugar. The cake was dry and bland like it was made with water and not enough chocolate or something. The frosting … I felt like I was eating butter with a little powdered sugar in it. Some might call this creamy, but I call it greasy and I couldn’t eat it. They were better once I put them in the refrigerator for awhile. I solidified the frosting.

Old Fashioned baby cupcake ~ Overly buttery vanilla bean frosting, bland chocolate cake, good whip cream center, crunch white chocolate sprinkles, fun Maraschino cherry on top.

Toasted Dark Chocolate Coconut ~ bland chocolate cake, WONDERFUL CREAM CHEESE FROSTING, a little toasted coconut on top.

Cosmopolitan: A little circle of chocolate cake, about one inch, with vanilla frosting and a modern fondant design. This was the classic LA case of something looking fabulous on the outside but being very average on the inside. Again with the same bland chocolate cake, overly buttery frosting and fondant which tastes like what it is, basically sugar and shortening. Chocolate ganache to decorate would have been a tastier option.

512 Wilshire Blvd.
Santa Monica, Ca 90401
310-458-6644
http://www.vanillabakeshop.com/
Tues-Sat 9am-7pm
Sun 10am – 5pm
Mon - CLOSED