Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Kupcake & Co. in Elkridge

I married into a no-cake house.  No wedding cake, so we're not the first folks in line at a cupcake bakery.  (The Rice Krispy Treat bakery?  We're there.)

Kupcakes & Co. opened last week in Elkridge.  T.J. wrote a rave on the Patch, although early comments on a prior post had been mixed.  To settle it, RDAdoc headed over for HowChow.  Nothing like sending a nutrition PhD to do a dessert blogger's work.  She dropped one off here, and I thought the chocolate was good.  It's not the richest cake, but the flavor was chocolate -- not just a sugar rush.  This is the RDAdoc report:
Last week I hosted an end of the school year party for my son’s preschool class. Being RDAdoc, of course, I preferred to serve just fresh fruits and vegetables to the kiddies.  Wanting to avoid a revolt, however, I planned to offer cupcakes too. 
My party was a good excuse to try the new cupcakery in Elkridge: Kupcakes & Co. My original plan was to get mini cupcakes, but unfortunately they don’t make them. I emailed the owner to ask if she could put less icing than she normally does (I am, after all, RDAdoc). Graciously, she was happy to honor my request. I ended up placing an order for an assortment of two dozen red velvet, cookies and cream, chocolate buttercream and vanilla buttercream cupcakes, enough for both the kids and their parents. I decided to stick with basic flavors, but they do have more interesting flavors such as Key Lime, Mocha Latte and Peppermint Patty. They also have seasonal flavors that sound delicious including Margarita and Pina Colada! 
Since I knew I was going to be writing a post about the cupcakes for HowChow, I decided to make picking them up a group outing with some friends (and their kids) who I know are cupcake fans. We took the kids to Pump it Up first, and once they had expended enough energy jumping in the inflatables we headed for Kupcake & Co!

The store is in The Lyndwood Green shopping center located on the corner of Route 100 and Meadowridge Road in Elkridge, MD. It was a little difficult to find. If I hadn’t seen a picture of the sign on their website and knew what I was looking for I may have passed it by. Kupcake & Co is around the back of the shopping center. As of last week they hadn’t started to accept credit cards yet.

The store is adorable and decorated in pink and black. There is one high-top table with four seats. I need to warn any parents bringing their kids there that the cupcakes are out in the open on trays and in easy reach of little hands, so beware! My son and his friend came close to helping themselves to a tasty treat. 
We ordered some cupcakes to eat in the store and they were delicious. My friends who are much bigger cupcakes aficionados liked them: 
“The cake was good moist cake - as good as it gets.” 
“The cake was super-moist -- just perfect for a cupcake. The frosting on the chocolate peanut butter was very rich and not too sweet.”
The cupcakes were also a big hit with my son and his friends, which was obvious from the icing all over their little faces! If you are hosting a birthday party, bridal shower or another special occasion you should consider getting cupcakes from Kupcake and Co. They will even deliver for an additional charge. 
My family also has been happy with the cupcakes at Touche Touche in Columbia. Just remember, the special occasion for cupcakes is great, but remember the fruits and veggies too! (I gotta be me.)
If you're looking for sweets, check out Touche Touchet in Columbia as well.  Great cupcakes and other baked goods.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the info! I'll be checking it out soon :)

hoco resident said...

Tried their cupcakes this week. Was disappointed they didn't have any of their "summer" flavors. Tried lemon which was okay (nothing special just yellow cake and lemon frosting) and almond joy which was much better, even though I saw no evidence of coconut in the batter like the girl at the counter said there would be.

Cons: Their packaging leaves a lot to be desired - trying to juggle those plastic cups just did not work good. They need to invest in boxes for ordering multiples. Their no charges under $10 policy also should be revisited. Why don't they have a display case? Makes no sense why they keep the cupcakes in bakers-type racks where they are exposed to the air (caused the frosting to be a bit hard on the edges) and to anyone who wants to walk up to them. That seemed weird to me.

But all in all, one of the better cupcakes I've tried in the area.

Anonymous said...

Interesting that you saw the cupcakes at all! I was there on Saturday around 11 a.m. and saw NO cupcakes....I saw the menu board but there were no descriptions listed-only names...went to the counter and ordered and they went in the back and got it. I thought the packaging was rather ingenious but then again I only bought one cupcake and just assumed they had boxes for multiples! I would NOT think it ingenious in that case! Can't speak to the taste-bought it for a young friend of mine and he said it was great..but he is 12 and no clue how discerning his palate might be! LOL!

emkenton said...

I stopped in this morning to pick up some cupcakes for an "end of school treat" for the preschooler and teacher in this household. (I might have gotten 6, but hey, go big or go home.)

I was quite pleasantly surprised with the results--especially with the icing. Oh, the icing. We were scooping bites of icing way before we were hungry enough to commit to an actual cupcake. Rather than some places which might vary the cake flavor but have standard vanilla and chocolate icings, each of our 6 had a different one: cherry buttercream, strawberry buttercream, vanilla buttercream, almond buttercream, peanut butter frosting, and cinnamon cream cheese. All delicious. I also have come to expect the notion of cupcakes to be much better than the real thing, so was pleased to find moister cakes than what often ends up being sold in shops.

I arrived at 10 AM and they wheeled out the big racks of finished cupcakes while I was there even though they'd been open at least an hour. And they did put mine in a box made to hold 6 cupcakes, although the holes might be a bit bigger than the cupcakes since a few of them toppled over even when the box was kept level the entire way home.

I will definitely be going back-- sorry, Weight Watchers! :-)

Anonymous said...

I bought 1/2 dz cupcakes. They were good but not amazing and very small and overpriced. You could buy a Betty Crocker box and get the same results at home.

Anonymous said...

I stopped by earlier this week after work...and they close at 4pm? Who gets off that early? I guess only stay-at-home moms get to try this place

Anonymous said...

Stopped in this morning and picked up 1/2 a dozen. All the cakes were light and tasty and the icing was good and not too sugary. We tried the Root beer Float (Yum!), Chocolate Hazelnut Crunch (also Yum!), Orange Cream (refreshingly tasty!) and the Peppermint Patty (also Yummy!) - we haven't gotten to the Chocolate Dipped Strawberry or Red Velvet yet but expect they'll be good as well. Overall, it's worth the trip if you like cupcakes and it is hard to find if you don't know it's at the back of the building. One bad thing? The box to hold the 1/2 dozen is pretty flimsy; the cakes tipped over in the car a couple time and picking it up by the corner of the box almost resulted in a disaster. Just quick reflexes saved the day. Pricey, yes; but that's okay when you're going out for a treat!

Anonymous said...

Update: The Chocolate Dipped Strawberry and Red Velvet cupcakes were delicious too. I give this place a thumb's up. To explain further, the cake part of the cupcakes were not only light and tasty but also quite moist. If you like cupcakes, treat yourself by going to Kupcake & Co. occasionally!

Jen said...

I am trying Cupcake Therapy this week. Will let you know how it turns out! They deliver, too.

Anonymous said...

I went to Kupcakes & Co. today and had an amazing experience! I was greeted with a warm, friendly smile and I truly could not believe all of the delicious flavor choices they had. I have been to the "other" bakeries in Hoco. but Kupcakes & Co. had, by far, the BEST cupcakes I have ever tasted! The cake was so moist and dense and the buttercream icing was decadent. I tried Keylime, Salted Caramel, Peanut Butter Cup & Choc. buttercream. 5 stars for this place- I highly recommend. The shop was so adorable and so CLEAN! My 2 boys also LOVED their cupcakes, too!

Cate in Columbia said...

I stopped by Thursday afternoon. All I can say is YUMMMM! I told the owner I read about them at HowChow!

Rose of Woodstock said...

I stopped in to pick up two dozen cupcakes for a preschool birthday party. I chose the shop because I work nearby. I heard rave reviews about the Salted Caramel, so I had to try one (for quality control purposes, of course) and it was delicious: moist chocolate cake, just enough fluffy (not overly sweet) icing and a delicious caramel sauce on top, finished off with what looks like Maldon sea salt. The preschool teachers raved about the cupcakes. This is definitely a place to check out. The smell when you walk in is like heaven.