Los Angeles has seen its share of asinine fads: big hair, the color orange and carrying Chihuahuas as accessories, to name a few.  Every once in a while, however, a trend is introduced that's easy to support; for example, the gourmet cupcake.  For the past two years journalists have saturated the media with reports on the cupcake craze and how bakeries that previously shunned the sweet treat as the wicked stepchild of the traditional cake now embrace it.  One recent LA Times article noted that bakeries, such as Mrs. Beasley's, have had to boost cupcake production in order to stay competitive.  None of the articles, however, touch on the real issue: whether a hierarchy exists among the cupcake species or whether a cupcake by its name, is just a cupcake.  In an attempt to rival Morgan Spurlock's useful research determining the harmful effects of fast food, I spent a day with some fellow dessert hounds engaging in what can only be termed scientific cupcake research, to be taken with a grain of sugar, in search of the top cupcake in LA.

The cupcake crawl focused on six cupcake spots spread over the city-Crumbs, Sprinkles Cupcakes, Vanilla Bake Shop, Yummy Cupcakes, Dainties Cupcakes and Susie Cakes.   In each store we shared two to three cupcakes and rated them on cake, frosting taste and amount, frosting/cake combo, size, price and variety.  We also rated the establishments on location/parking and atmosphere.  To fend off the argument that we have too much time on our hands, I note that we are dealing with at least $3.00 of hard earned money and the majority of our daily caloric intake.  Therefore, our research was about efficient expenditures and quality calorie consumption.  Although there are more pressing scientific questions in the world that need answering, we proudly partook in cupcake research recognizing our individual strengths (and weaknesses). 

After numerous cupcakes, a stomach ache and a sugar high that lasted for days, we decided that the winner by a freakin' landslide, is Crumbs.  Just down the street from the famed Sprinkles Cupcakes on Santa Monica Boulevard in Beverly Hills, Crumbs is nothing short of cupcake heaven.  At $2.95 to $3.75 a pop, you pay the equivalent of what the other cupcake shops charge and get four times the cupcake-in size and flavor.  The cupcakes are enormous, the cake is moist and full of flavor and there's frosting for miles.  From caramel apple, to Twinkie (complete with the cream filling), to the Artie Lange (a vanilla cupcake filled with fudge, covered by a hard chocolate shell and butter cream frosting), the shop contains a vast and unique variety of cupcakes.  Located in the heart of Beverly Hills, parking lots are plentiful and you can walk off the cupcake through the exquisite streets.  With a Kosher certification to boot, what are the drawbacks?  There's no seating and the cupcakes do nothing to assist with the country's obesity problem.

Coming in second is Susie Cakes on San Vicente Boulevard in Brentwood.  An enjoyable shop with seating for a few, Susie Cakes serves up a delectable little cake.  The frosting is excellent and plentiful and the cake is tasty.  For a plain vanilla cupcake, it rivals Crumbs.  At Susie Cakes, however, for $3.00 you get a slightly smaller cupcake in the traditional flavors-vanilla, chocolate, peanut butter and the like.  The lack of creative variety is made up for by the frosting-filled center, the factor which helped clinch the number two position for Susie Cakes.  The location is ideal; there's plenty of parking around Brentwood and it's in a lovely neighborhood to peruse. 

A close third is the cupcake kennel that started it all-Sprinkles.  On Santa Monica Boulevard in Beverly Hills, the line out the door says enough; it's certainly not a bad cupcake.  Sprinkles rotates approximately twenty flavors from chocolate and vanilla to chai latte, red velvet and banana.  For $3.25 you get a modest amount of delicious frosting atop what I believe is a mediocre cake.  The cupcake is smaller than those you get at Crumbs, not nearly as inventive and frankly, not as good overall.  The shop has just a few tables outside but location-wise, like Crumbs, it's in one of LA's finest.

The fourth shop is the only other shop on the route worth discussing-Yummy Cupcakes on Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica.  Yummy Cupcakes is a quaint cupcake shop with some seating and a pleasant vibe.  Like Sprinkles, Yummy Cupcakes rotates varieties, some of which are quite original.  Vanilla/chocolate combinations and red velvet are staples, however, depending when you go, you may find chocolate cappuccino, lemon pinot grigio, champagne cream or rocky road.  The cupcakes are a tad small and a bit stingy with the frosting.  Yummy is home to the least expensive cupcake we came across, at $2.50 a cake.  Just a few blocks from the Third Street Promenade, it's in another stellar LA locale.      

Because the shops that came in fifth and sixth place, Dainties Cupcakes on Santa Monica Boulevard in Century City and Vanilla Bakeshop just down the street from Yummy Cupcakes, nobly attempt to bring dessert into the lives of Los Angeleans, I have chosen not to comment on them other than to say that I don't recommend them and I won't return to either establishment.  You should note, however, that fans of the whipped cream frosting (a cupcake faux pas in my book) may differ in opinion.  If you desire to try Dainties despite my warning, call and ask for directions; without them, Sherlock Holmes himself would need a GPS to locate it.

The six shops on my personal cupcake crawl are only a smattering of the cupcake shops that frosted Los Angeles over the last couple of years.  Consequently, I can't guarantee that I've brought you THE supreme cupcake in LA.  I venture an educated guess, however, that although it's just Crumbs, it probably takes the cake.

By: Megan Karasch