Cake Junkie Cupcakes Review

Location: Bryan, Texas
Price: $3.25/cupcake or $18/half a dozen
Rating: (cupcakes) 3.5 out of 5 stars
           (cakeballs) 4.5 out of 5
Try their cakeballs! They taste amazing, way better than the cupcakes!

I love eating cupcakes and after starting this blog I was really excited to share my cupcakery reviews with you all.  I also felt really lucky because I have had the opportunity to try cupcakeries around the United States and I hope to continue :) Sadly, I feel like the cupcakery portion of my blog has gotten the cold shoulder. When I travel, yes- I make every effort to go to as many cupcakeries that I can. Well, you know, just because I love you all so much ;) Okay....Okay....and so it is good for me to :) But when I come back-- I always get caught up in the game of catch-up.

I've decided to turn over a new leaf. Not a major leaf but a small cupcakery leaf. I am going to try my best to not only catch up on long over due reviews but to also write reviews as I try new cupcakeries. Fingers crossed!

For my my birthday, the hubby and I decided to try a new cupcakery in town- Cake Junkie. I have heard good things about this place and the other cupcakeries in town have been a major disappointment for me. So I decided for my birthday I would go to Cake Junkie. We got one cupcake for each of my friends that joined me for dinner. And I wanted each of us to blow out a candle-- I know--not your typical birthday tradition but fun! Each of us got really into making a wish! 

From Cake Junkie we ordered: Italian Cream and Mint Chocolate (for me), Pecan Praline (the hubby), Boston Cream (Justin), Banana Pudding (Luke), and White Almond (Sophia). The name Cake Junkie is cute and I had high hopes for their "Jumbo" cupcakes. Later I tried the Cookies n' Cream and Little Debbie Cupcakes. 

You can see the odd size difference in their cupcakes.

On to the nitty gritty-- they have no mascot and instead have chosen the nauseous color combination of black and green!? Really?! That is just not an appetizing color combination. I am not sure what colors I would ever choose if I open a bakery- but I know that it would not be black and green. As for their Jumbo cupcakes, ummmm, I am not sure how "jumbo" they are. Some were large and others were small. I was a bit confused. I would expect bakeries would use the same cupcake trays to bake their cupcakes so I am not sure how they are ending up with very different size cupcakes. 

Also-- they have a good and bad in their flavor choices. They offer a ton of daily flavors which I love. I do not like knowing that certain flavors are only offered on specific days-- what if you just happen to go to a cupcakery- you want to know you can try all what they have to offer. BUT that is not completely true-- they do not technically offer all of their cupcakes daily. Justin had originally chose coconut cream and Luke chose watermelon (I know! How cool and different!) Sadly, when the hubby got there they did not have those flavors. That is a huge pet peeve for me. If you say you have a flavor then HAVE IT! No ifs, ands or buts!

As for the taste of their cupcakes- they were good but average. Nothing special and nothing that would blow you away- moist- decent frosting to cupcake ratio and nicely decorated (except for the mint chocolate which was sloppily decorated and went a bit too heavy on green food coloring). I do think their chocolate cupcake is better than their vanilla based cupcakes. And I really enjoyed their filled cupcakes.

Also- they cheat! What do I mean by this- I ordered Italian Cream. What did I get- an Italian Cream cake with a plain vanilla butter cream.  The best part of Italian Cream cake is the cream cheese frosting...hello?! And then the hubby got pecan praline. And if you have had a praline- it has a distinct brown sugar, caramel taste- what did he get- a brown sugar cupcake with German chocolate cake frosting. I think they try to overestimate their abilities for offering different flavors but do not truly commit to making them and instead try to cut corners by re-using things from other cupcakes. Which really is just irritating. I would like to penalize them for this- but overall- when I ate the cupcakes I just felt "eh." And to be honest, none of my friends seemed overwhelmed by their cupcake either. 

Bottom line: College Station- you offer awful cupcakeries (except for BCS Chocolate Gallery. And in comparison, average cupcakeries like Cake Junkie really stands out when in reality it is just average. BUT, that's a whole lot better than awful. AND I see they offer cakeballs (guess what I am asking the hubby to get me for Valentine's Day?). Stay tuned for Cake Junkie Cake Balls. Since they are so similar to cupcakes-- I just have to review them. Who does not love a good cake ball!?

Update: I tried Cake Junkie's Cake Balls for Valentine's Day and my one year anniversary = AMAZING :)