Tasting the Vegan Cupcakes of Grand Rapids. Dairy-free, Egg-free, & a Gluten-free Surprise.

We once again welcome guest blogger, Audrey Depenbrok.  She and a group of taste testers had the "painful" job of eating their way through all of the dairy-free and egg-free cupcakes they could find in Grand Rapids!  Their favorite, of course, is at the end.  Thanks Audrey!

_elisabeth

Preparing to Score

Cupcakes seem to be all the rage these days. However, if you are a vegan, or suffer from food allergies or intolerances, finding an enjoyable cupcake can be a challenge. Our group of tasty testers scoured the local cupcake scene to find a few bakers who are creating treats for we, the allergen-free, the Tender Foodies.

"We" were a group of taste testers whose ages ranged from 9 to 75 years old.  We conducted a taste test and came up with four of our favorites.  Each person graded each cupcake in four different categories (Taste, Texture, Appearance, and its Similarity to a "regular" cupcake).  We then gave each cupcake an overall score, all on a scale of 1-10, where 10 reached perfection.

Cupcake Group #1 - Bartertown serving Roc's Cupcakes

Roc's Cupcakes at Bartertown 

Bartertown is a recently opened vegan eatery located in downtown Grand Rapids. Their cupcakes are provided on a daily basis by Roc's Cupcakes. These cupcakes are vegan, so they are free of any dairy or egg product. They offer a variety of different flavors each day. 

On the particular day that our taste testers swarmed into Bartertown, we were pleased to see that they offered five different flavors. The offerings were; Chocolate, Vanilla, Apple Crumb Cake, Orange Blossom and Rosewater. 

Our favorite from this group was the chocolate cupcake. Which scored an 8. It had great taste, although it was slightly dry. The icing was very good, very creamy and sweet. This cupcake was more dense than a traditional cupcake might be.

The vanilla cupcake was also a favorite, scoring a 7.5. Its taste, however, was a bit like cornbread, and again had the same dense and dry texture that we found with the chocolate cupcake. 

We were very excited to try both the Orange Blossom and the Rosewater cupcakes - but we were disappointed with the flavor. Both cupcakes scored a 4. The rosewater cupcake was a bit overdone, and came off tasting soapy. While the orange blossom cupcake didn't seem to have enough flavor, and it didn't offer much in the citrus department. 

The apple cupcake was delicious, and had beautiful texture. But, each taster made a comment that it was more muffin-like, even more similar to a coffee cake than a cupcake. It scored an 8, even though it wasn't perfectly "cupcake-like".

All of the cupcakes from Bartertown were beautiful. Each was iced to perfection, with coordinating sprinkles or decorative sugar. 

Cupcake #2 - Little Pearl Cupcake

Little Pearl Cupcake, located on Northland Drive in Plainfield Township, recently began offering gluten free cupcakes and vegan cupcakes.

First, we tested out their Cinnamon and "Butter"Cream Vegan cupcake. They use Earth Balance spread in place of the butter in their icing. 

Cinnamon & "Butter"cream Vegan Cupcake at Little Pearl

These cupcakes had a nice texture, weren't too dry, and they looked great. We found this cupcake to have a slight cornbread flavor as well. The cake portion of the cupcake didn't offer much in the way of cinnamon flavor. The icing was topped with a heavy sprinkle of cinnamon, which is the main source of cinnamon flavor on this cupcake. 

This cupcake scored a 7.

LIttle Pearl also offered a Gluten Free variety, so we took a bite out of their Gluten-free Lime cupcake. 

Gluten-free Lime Cupcake from Little Pearl

We found this cupcake to have a texture very similar to that of a regular cupcake. In fact,  many of our tasters commented that if they hadn't known it was gluten-free, they would have thought it was made with regular flour.

The taste however, left something to be desired. Nearly all of our tasters agreed that the lime flavoring seemed very artificial. The lime flavoiring did seem to please our 9-year old taster who said, "the flavor is very soothing".

The icing on this cupcake was very sweet. It also melted very quickly. I put these cupcakes into an already cool car, and drove them approximately two miles to the tasting location.  They were melted by the time I arrived. 

This cupcake scored a 6.

Cupcake Group #3 - Marie Catrib's 

Nestled in "The Center of the Universe" on the corner of Lake Drive and Diamond in Grand Rapids, Marie Catrib's offers a plethora of vegan and gluten free baked goods each day. 

Although there weren't any cupcakes available, we took a recommendation from the staff for two of their most popular cakes - which are also available as cupcakes from time to time. 

The Vegan Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate Cake.

 Vegan Chocolate, Chocolate Cake from Marie Catrib's - sometimes available in cupcake form

This chocolate cake was rich, moist and utterly delicious. A dark chocolate cake, with a "milk" chocolate icing and filling, and drizzled with a chocolate ganache. This cake could easily be passed off as it's dairy-laden counterpart. 

The Vegan Chocolate, Chocolate Cake scored a 9.

The second item we tasted from Marie Catrib's was the Vegan Carrot Cake, which is also available in cupcake form on certain days. 

 Vegan Carrot Cake from Marie Catrib's - on certain days, this presents as a cupcake, too.

The carrot cake was equally as good as the chocolate cake. Since this cake is vegan, the traditional cream cheese is missing. However, the icing is sweet and delicious and covered with toasted coconut that helps hide the fact that the icing is lacking cream cheese. 

The carrot cake scored a 9.

Cupcake #4 - Cakabakery 

Cakabakery, founded by J.T. Kakabaker in 2010, is a custom cake baker. Designing custom wedding and special occasion cakes and cupcakes. Cakabakery will attempt to meet any dietary need. 

Vegan Raspberry Lemondate Cupcake from The Cakabakery

From Cakabakery, we taste tested their vegan Raspberry Lemonade cupcakes. These cupcakes were a lemony cake, topped with a raspberry icing. The cake had pieces of candied lemon zest running through it, while the icing had bits of real raspberries. 

This was the unanimous favorite of our taste testers. Each agreed that the cake was beautifully moist, not too dense, and had a perfect balance of sweet and tart. You would never guess that this cupcake is dairy-free and egg-free. 

This cupcake scored  perfect 10. 

 Note from Elisabeth:  We will be contacting these bakers to ask if they would be willing to provide some information on their kitchen practices, so that highly allergice/ Super Tender Foodies will have more information regarding cross-contamination and baker knowledge.

Audrey Depenbrok is a Tender Foodie and a self proclaimed cake-aholic with an indecisive nature. She spends her days as a freelance non-profit consultant while taking care of her little boy, golden retriever and two cats.  You can find her tweeting away @mommy_kinz.