Review: Dessertapalooza

So I'm a little behind on my reviews lately, but I'm catching up.

A few weeks ago I visited Dessertapalooza at Firewheel. Megan heard about it and knew we had to go so I could review. I've sort of accidentally turned into a cupcake reviewer.

The Process. Dessertapalooza offers cupcakes, cakes and other desserts. Here, the cupcake process is a little more personal. All the cake part of the cupcakes are displayed inside of cake platter. You choose between red velvet (why is everyone copying Sprinkles?), chocolate, vanilla and the flavor of the day. On the day I went that special flavor was pina colada. Then you choose your icing (chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, cream cheese). I like this idea a lot. You get to choose your cupcake. You get to be a part of the process.

I chose red velvet with cream cheese frosting. Megan chose vanilla with strawberry frosting, and Chelsea chose vanilla with chocolate frosting and sprinkles.

Cupcake Appearance. I must say, the cupcakes were quite attractive. Since the frosting was applied out of an icing bag, it had a swirly look to it whereas when it is applied by knife it is more smooth. These were also some of the largest cupcakes I have ever seen. They could almost be qualified as a small cake. (Yes, I'm aware a cupcake is basically a small cake...) Once we reached the checkout, cupcakes were placed on a clear plate alongside a plastic fork. This is a HUGE plus.

*Sprinkles gives wooden forks that alter the taste of the cupcake.

*The Cupcakery gave no fork at all.

Cupcake Taste. This is the most important of all. Obviously. The cake section was very moist and well flavored. The cream cheese frosting was a good consistency; not crunchy and not liquidy. However, Megan was not satisfied with her frosting. Dessertapalooza uses a whip cream-like frosting. (Minus 10 points!) Indulging in whip cream frosting isn't indulging at all. It reminds me of a cake I could grab at Wal-Mart. Yuck. I'm all about the buttercream frosting. With that said, Chelsea likes whip cream frosting and said it was delicious.

Atmosphere. A+ for atmosphere. The little bakery was blue and pink with colorful barstools, a giant lovesac (where we sat). The ceiling above the lovesac had a TV. Very cute.

We also talked to the owner and told her we were giant Sprinkles fan and that we would be critical. She definitely tried to win us over. We asked her why she opened Dessertapalooza. She said she and her husband were always looking for a place where they could go with friends to get coffee and pie, so they decided to open one. (Yes, they do serve coffee.) She was very nice to us, and definitely seems like the type to build relationships with her customers.

If you're ever in Garland, I'd say give Dessertapalooza a try. The red velvet won my heart.