{this week’s menu is posted…a day late}

Cupcakes.

Quite possibly one of the most controversial foods in the food blogger world.  I happen to believe that when a cupcake is great then it can be delicious.  Anything else is just okay.

I don’t quite know when cupcakes became so trendy.  I grew up eating them, because my mom made them for us regularly for birthdays, special events, etc.  So to me cupcakes are as normal as cake.  I don’t prefer one to the other, and I don’t think cupcakes are anything special.

That said a lot of people are obsessed with cupcakes.

Atlanta is home to no less than a bazillion bakeries.  Out of that bazillion, about a million focus on only cupcakes.  Most, like my absolute favorite bakery in the Atlanta area {which recently closed – sadness}, Chocolate Pink, are cake shops that happen to have a few cupcakes available.  I’ve said it a million times, but I’ll say it again – I think bakeries that just sell cupcakes usually fall short in the taste department.  I also think it is a bad business decision, but that’s another topic for another day.

Over the past few months I’ve been hearing a lot of people rave about Gigi’s Cupcakes on Twitter.  It’s a national chain, but there are a few locations in the Atlanta area.  I decided to put Gigi’s to the test and pick up a box of 6 cupcakes to give them a try.  Below is an overall review followed by a breakdown of the flavors I tried.  I’m not a cake expert, but I think this is a pretty fair assessment.

Overall: I’ll be honest I would never pay $3 per cupcake here.  Admittedly, I had a Living Social deal that cut the price in half, which is why I even went.  Overall I would say there was WAY too much icing on these cupcakes, and the flavors were just okay.  Neither Nathan nor myself was over the moon about any of them, but we did at the very least think some of the flavors were pretty good.  We had different favorites, but in the end we each loved about one cupcake and just thought the rest were just okay to disappointing.  I’m not willing to say that every Gigi’s location is the same, but the one in Sandy Springs definitely fell short.

Listed below in order from favorite to least favorite.

Hunka Chunka Banana Love. I thought this was easily the best one in the bunch.  There was still a ton of icing, but for some reason it didn’t seem as sugary as the other flavors.  The banana flavor was wonderful, and it tasted like I was eating banana bread with a chocolate topping.  It has chocolate chips which is fun, and the icing seems to have marshmallows in it, but I could be wrong.  This is probably the only flavor I would get again out of the 6 we got.

Caramel Apple. This was Nathan’s favorite.  I thought it was pretty good.  It had a lot less icing than the other flavors, and that was nice.  Honestly, this had the ideal amount of icing.  If they could cut back to this amount on all of the cupcakes, it would be wonderful.  The apple flavor was excellent, and it was easy to eat.  I have a feeling young kids would love this flavor.

Midnight Magic Chocolate Chip. I’m a sucker for anything dark chocolate {and to think only a few years ago I hated it}, so this was a good one for me.  However, again with the icing.  I had to scoop over half of it off.  I also couldn’t eat the entire cupcake.  I had about 2 bites and Nathan finished the rest.  My favorite thing about this one was the cake.  The icing was just okay.

Scarlett’s Red Velvet. I expected this one to be the best for one reason: cream cheese icing.  Instead it was not good at all.  The cake was so dry it was barely edible.  We ended up throwing most of this cupcake out.  I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt and say that maybe it just ended up in the oven too long, because none of the other cakes were dry.  My other complaint was that this cupcake {both the icing and the cake} tasted like they were from a box.

Birthday Surprise. So, so sugary.  Again, this tasted like it came from a box.  It wasn’t as dry as the red velvet, but it was still barely edible.  We ended up throwing most of this one away too.  I have a feeling young kids would love this one though.  The sprinkles, the sugar, and the overwhelming amount of pink icing make this a kid’s dream.

Kentucky Bourbon Pie. By far the most disappointing of the bunch.  I was so excited to get this cupcake.  In fact, it was the whole reason I battled Perimeter traffic on a Saturday.  I love Kentucky Bourbon Pie, and I figured this cupcake would be at the worst just okay.  It was awful.  The cake was hard on the outside and super chewy on the inside almost like it wasn’t cooked in the center.  The toppings were so sweet that I scraped all of the icing off before eating any more cake.  We each took 2 bites and threw this out.  There is just way too much going on for a cupcake.

Final thoughts. I’m not sure if we just caught Gigi’s on a bad day or if the cupcakes always taste like this.  Maybe if we went on a different day and tried different flavors it would have been better.  There are a lot of people who love Gigi’s.  There are a few flavors on other days that I’d like to try, but at $3 a piece it probably won’t happen.

Gigi’s Cupcakes

1140 Hammond Drive, NE

Sandy Springs, GA 30328

Confession: I drove by this place no less than 200 times on my way to Mass every single Sunday, and I ignored it.  My thought was “another TCBY wannabe.” 

Then as our gift for teaching Sunday School this year, we were each given gift cards to Yogli-Mogli.  I held onto mine for almost 2 months, because I just couldn’t get behind what I thought was just another frozen yogurt place.

On Memorial Day, I decided I really wanted something cold and sweet.  So, Nathan and I drove to Sandy Springs {really just 10 minutes from where we live} to use my gift cards. 

Greatest. Decision. Ever.

First, this place is nothing like TCBY.  It is self-serve, and you pay based on the weight of your cup.  There are no sizes, no rationing of toppings, and definitely no teenager rolling his/her eyes at you while you tell them “no I wanted the sugar-free topping.”

It was pretty crowded when we got there around 3:00 on Monday.  We got in line, and I decided to get the Pomegranate-Raspberry and Tart flavors.  I believe both were either low-fat or fat-free {I can’r remember}.  I topped it with sprinkles, chocolate cookie crumbs, and I think a few chocolate chips.

They had tons of flavors and even more toppings: everything from sprinkles to fresh fruit!  The best part was it was not expensive at all.  It costs 39 cents an ounce, so Nathan and I together came out just under $7.00.

You have to try this place.  Even if you don’t live in Sandy Springs, it is worth the drive.  There is enough to do in Sandy Springs that you can totally justify the drive there. 

Yogli-Mogli

6595 Roswell Road

Sandy Springs, Georgia 30328