More

18Dec09

I’ve been to Sprinkles in Los Angeles, Crumbs & Magnolia in New York City, and Carousel in my hometown of Ridgewood, NJ (Does that count?). Look, not to toot my own horn, but what I’m trying to say is I consider myself a fairly good judge of, er, cupcake! When I stumbled upon More on Delaware Place in the Gold Coast a few days ago, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on one of their homemade cupcakes.

The modernized display case holds the cupcakes under a white aura of light that practically screams “eat me”, but the cupcakes are so perfectly handcrafted that, upon second glance, it looks like it might actually be a cruel art exhibit meant to torture cupcake lovers like myself. The sleek and minimalist design of the shop was hypnotizing. Literally. I wasn’t hungry, so I tore myself from the window, but the damage was done, I had cupcake on the brain. I couldn’t leave Chicago for the holidays without a taste, so I dragged myself out of bed (that in itself says a lot) and schlepped over to More before my flight this morning. 

With fifty-one flavors on the full menu (not all are offered daily), More had the largest selection and the most unique flavors of any cupcake joint I’d ever been to. To save my figure, I opted to buy a box of four full size cupcakes instead of a dozen (stop judging me). I settled on a crowd favorite, S’mores; the most unique of the day, Bacon Maple; my typical favorite, Coconut; and a seasonal treat, Chocolate Peppermint. 

After carrying the cupcakes down subway stairs, up subway stairs, through security at the airport (sidenote: I even warned the security officer to be careful checking my bag because I had cupcakes that I didn’t want to get “smushed”–I kid you not), 700 miles in turbulent air, and through the Lincoln Tunnel (well, not really. Elf anyone?), I finally got the cupcakes home for a taste test, and guess what? I didn’t like them. 

I really wanted to love More’s cupcakes and they are so close to perfection, just not quite there. They have the wow factor down pat and the cake is superb–perfectly moist and incredibly flavorful, but the crazy flavors were just a bit too crazy (even Top Chef’s Tom Colecio’s main message in that annoying Diet Coke commercial is to keep it simple!). On top of that, the frosting (which is usually always my favorite) tasted like, cringe, pure Crisco. I hate to say it, but, yuck!

I’d go back to More to show friends and family how creative and trendy it is, but I don’t want another cupcake. Sad to say it, but I’ve no longer got cupcake on the brain. Maybe it really is true, less is More.

Filed under: Dessert   |  1 Comment
Tags: Cupcakes, Dessert, Gold Coast, Moderately Priced