Sprinkles Cupcakes

Sprinkles Cupcakes invaded Chicago earlier this year with its cute-as-a-button name and logo. Heralded as one of the originators of the cupcake craze, the cupcake fans in this city went wild when the L.A.-based Sprinkles opened up shop in Chicago's Gold Coast neighborhood.

It seemed pretty gutsy to open a store in an already cupcake-crazed -- and arguably, cupcake-saturated -- market, but people seemed to be completely obsessed with the new shop. When I expressed skepticism as to whether Sprinkles would bump my cupcake favorite (Sweet Mandy B's) from my number one spot, I was assured by a Sprinkles fanatic that I'd become a believer after trial. So I was pretty pumped to see for myself what the hype was all about.

It took me a little longer than I'd have liked to investigate. But after spending a lovely afternoon at The Spa on Oak, Kath and I decided to round the corner and stop into Sprinkles for some cupcakes. Predictably, Kath got the Double Chocolate, a Belgian dark chocolate cake with bittersweet chocolate frosting. It was tasty -- definitely an excellent pick for a dark chocolate lover.

Since they didn't have an option for yellow cake and chocolate frosting today, I opted for the Black & White, a Belgian dark chocolate cake with vanilla frosting and chocolate sprinkles. It was a solid cupcake.

But as you may be able to tell, I'm not racing to jump on board the Sprinkles bandwagon. Sprinkles is a nice addition to the robust Chicago cupcake scene. If you're in the neighborhood, stop in and try a few.

But for me, the reigning cupcake queen of Chicago is still Sweet Mandy B's for the following reasons: I prefer Sweet Mandy B's cake-to-frosting ratio (Sprinkles has less frosting) and think that the Sweet Mandy B's frosting itself is better, as I prefer both the consistency and level of sweetness. Sprinkles' vanilla frosting was too sweet for me (even paired with the dark chocolate cake) and while the bittersweet chocolate frosting was good, it still doesn't compare to the chocolate frosting at Sweet Mandy B's.

Sprinkles is good, but as usual -- the advantage goes to my favorite hometown hero: Sweet Mandy B's.