Custom "Treats"

This city dweller rarely gets to enjoy suburban bakery delights. So, I was excited to try custom cupcakes from Needham's Treat Cupcake Bar, which a colleague brought into work for my boss' baby shower!

I was instantly blown away by the cupcakes' appearance. They were all quite massive, and were topped in equally massive buttercream frosting bears! Here's a picture of a chocolate cupcake, followed by a close-up of its cheerful frosting friend.

I couldn't wait to see whether their taste would live up to their decoration!

We had four cake flavors to choose from: chocolate, vanilla, carrot, and red velvet. The cupcakes were so large that we cut them in pieces; as a result, I was able to sample the first three flavors. (I've never been a fan of red velvet.) The chocolate and vanilla cakes were definitely better than average! The chocolate cake was a rich dessert made possible with lots of bittersweet cocoa powder. The vanilla cake reminded me of pound cake, with its creamy, dense texture and strong buttery flavor. Both cakes were moist throughout, though their edges were a bit dry. The carrot cake, on the other hand, was not so noteworthy. I would have called it a bland spice cake with the occasional token piece of shredded carrot - nothing like the robust and hearty mash-up I look for in a proper carrot cake.

The frosting, while beyond cute, tasted a bit...off. It was buttery to a fault, and I'm positive I could taste salt - maybe its base was salted butter? I think Treat took the concept of "buttercream" to an extreme that wasn't necessary. Its texture was light and airy, which was a relief considering the sheer amount of the stuff topping each cake! I couldn't imagine eating a denser version of this frosting, which probably would have been like chewing on a stick of butter. One big plus to the frosting's quantity is that no bite of cake had to go without; the optimal cake-frosting ratio, so often achieved by removing a cupcake's bottom half, required no custom engineering. Of course, I would have appreciated that more if I really enjoyed the frosting.

I wouldn't refuse an opportunity to have more Treats. After all, one look at their menu will get anyone salivating, and seriously, they call their venture a cupcake bar! However, I'll know that not all cakes are created equal, and that less is more when it comes to their basic buttercream frosting.