There's a New Kid in Town: Vanilla Cupcakes

Let's all give a warm welcome to the newest cupcake shop on the block: Vanilla Bakeshop. For the past couple of months I have driven by their gorgeous brown and white, French toile inspired, awning framing their "Opening Soon" sign. They finally opened a couple of weeks ago, and I dropped in today. The first thing I noticed was their smorgasbord of tiny, beautiful cakes. Their wide variety of mini cupcakes is perfect for a nibbling, cuppy commitment phobe such as myself. With the 3 minis for 5 bucks deal, the menu pretty much decides for you. I got the (clock-wise from the top) Old Fashioned (dark chocolate cake, whip cream center, vanilla bean frosting, white chocolate sprinkles, cherry on top, Mom's Birthday Cake (yellow butter cake, milk chocolate frosting) and the Fudgy Brownie (fudgy brownie cake, vanilla bean frosting, Valrhona cocoa dust)

Sooo.. how do they taste? Good. I realized what I should probably do is have reviews all of the cupcake places in the area so you have some kind of comparison. If it were not for those places, I would say Vanilla was great. Alas, in Los Angeles we are spoiled. For me, a cupcake is only as good as it's frosting. Vanilla's frosting is light and airy, without a distinct butter taste. The cake is good, with a nice medium texture: not to dense and not too light. But frosting is king, and I prefer the heavier, more buttery versions from Sprinkles and Le Cupcake. Still, the cakes were quite tasty and the brownie itself, quite divine. Bake on!

Vanilla Bake Shop
512 Wilshire Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90401
310-458-6644