The new Cooks n' Cakes bakery has opened on Rte 40 in Ellicott City and has cupcakes for sale today, according to their Web site and the guy who just answered the phone.
That makes this a big weekend for new sweets because Linda's Bakery opened yesterday as well.
Cooks n' Cakes is a cupcake specialist spot opened by two former public school principals. They took over the space vacated on Rte 40 when The Breadery moved to Catonsville.
We haven't stopped by Cooks n' Cakes yet. I'd take any reports below on early cupcakes. As I just wrote in the Linda's post, these new folks join a raft of nice sweets bakeries, including Oh What A Cake and Touche Touchet in Columbia, Bonaparte Bread in Savage, and Kupcake & Co. in Elkridge.
Cooks n' Cakes
9251 Baltimore National Pike (Rte 40)
Ellicott City, MD 21042
410-480-2253
NEAR: Cooks n' Cakes is on the south side of Rte 40 west of Rte 29. It's the shopping center with a Starbucks facing Rte 40. The stores are actually perpendicular to the road. Turn at the Starbucks and then look a few doors down.
I've been to Cooks N' Cakes twice now (yesterday and today) and tried six different types of cupcakes. In general I like them; my favorites thus far have been the honey bun cupcakes (which have a great frosting) and the cin-fully whatever copcakes (with a cinnamon icing that nice and not over-cinnamony). I think folks should definitely check them out.
ReplyDeleteI went yesterday and got a vanilla/vanilla and egg nog. Both were good! My only complaint is that they are slightly (only slightly) overbaked. And they could probably clean up the piping of the icing a little bit. But, they taste good, so it's really just me being nit-picky! And the people running it could not have been nicer!
ReplyDeleteI picked up a half dozen yesterday. The man at the counter and his helper were very friendly. There were about 12-15 flavors available when I went around noon, although he said the morning flavors (bacon, honey bun, coffee) are only prepared in the AM and are not baked throughout the day. We were disappointed that the cupcukes were quite dry. They were not overly sweet. The texture was dense, more like a muffin. The icings were very good. I think their competitors (Kupcakes & Co and Iced Gems) have more imaginative flavor combinations with mix-ins in the frosting, decorations on top, sometimes icing in the middle of the cupcake. Perhaps the cupcakes need a soak in simple syrup. They are a new shop, though, so I'll definitely try them again to see if they've worked out the kinks.
ReplyDeletevery disappointed. super dry and flavor was not there. Sweetcakes is still my cupcake company of choice in this area
ReplyDeleteYeah. I think if they just bake them a little bit less, they'll be perfect. Their flavors are really great and the people are super nice.
ReplyDeleteThanks to each of you for your comments. As a new store, we want to make sure our customers are pleased with our products. We would love it if those of you that thought it was dry would expand on it a little for us. We tend to get comments that the cupcakes are good, moist, but not dry and want to know what makes them dry to you. Please feel free to email us at bill@cooksncakes.com to share your thoughts and opinions. We have been open 17 days and hope to be here for many more, so definitely we welcome your thoughts and opinions. Happy New Year! Bill & Adell
ReplyDeleteWe had a mixed experience. We tried 6 cupcakes and our first 2 were awful. Overbaked/dry and not much flavor. That or they were just old. The others we had were better, but nothing I couldn't make myself at home.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the cake part was kind of small. $3 for a halfcupcake? It better be tasty.
thanks for posting your email. Sent you some comments/tips!
ReplyDeleteI tired Cooks N Cakes two times. Each time the posted flavors were not available. Each time the cupcakes were very dry/stale. The only exception was the red velvet cupcake that was moist.I was very disappointed especially since I bought a dozen on Christmas eve for Christmas eve and Christmas day with my family. I want to write this post to give consturctive feedback to the company. I would like to try again to see if things have improved.
ReplyDeleteWe recently ordered cupcakes for our daughters 3rd birthday party and they were delicious! The owners were very nice and tinted the vanilla frosting pink for us. They cupcakes were a bit pricey, but we were able to get a coupon on one of the social websites (Groupon or Living Social- don't recall). Totally worth the price (especially when we had a coupon!). The guests loved them. We had assorted flavors - my favorite had chocolate icing with a raspberry on top, and a raspberry filling - fabulous!
ReplyDeleteI see a couple people posted the cupcakes were "dry" - I thought they were "dense" (do did my mom-in-law), meaning they were a bit heavy, but the icing was wonderful - not too sweet, just the perfect flavor! Overall, they were very good and I'd definitely try them again!
We first tried Cooks N' Cakes about six weeks ago (on a Saturday morning) and unfortunately were disappointed. We tried a variety of cupcakes - each was overbaked, resulting in a dry cake (as opposed to dense), too dark bottom, and cracked dry edges. However the frostings were fantastic. I have four kids (ages 9-17) and they ended up eating just the frosting. Because we loved the frosting, two weeks ago, we gave Cooks N' Cakes another try. Again, the cupcakes were overbaked and some with an odd burned/bitter taste. The kids threw away the cupcakes after eating off the frosting. We are supporters of local business and are rooting for you. If you address this problem, let your customers know, as we were not the only ones disappointed in your product.
ReplyDelete