Cupcake By Design (Grand Rapids, MI)

Cupcake By Design

1971 E. Beltline NE Ste. 126 
Grand Rapids, MI 49525   616-364-9787 or 1-888-644-3848

Website:  http://cupcakebydesign.com/

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The Arrival …

I arrived at Cupcake By Design (located inside of Cookies By Design) in Grand Rapids, MI at about 3:00PM.  It is located in a strip mall next to a Meijer.  When I entered into the bakery, it had a very cute and welcoming appearance!  There is a display case full of cupcakes & cookies, tons of items to buy such as mugs, stuffed animals, paper products, and other various trinkets.  The bakery looked very neat and tidy, organized and inviting.  A blonde haired lady asked me how she could help, if I was looking for cupcakes or cookies or something else.  She was very friendly and patient (I had my young sons with me again).  I said “I will take 1 of every cupcake you have”, I love that they had labels on all the cupcakes so I knew what I was looking at!   She asked me if I wanted a pink box (which I think is there signature box) or a white one (I chose the signature box) and she started to put all the cupcakes in the boxes, she asked me if she could get me anything else, and I decided to grab a sugar cookie for my boys to share.  She range me up on the register which came to $29.70 (they do a price tier for their cupcakes meaning the more you buy the cheaper they get, check their website for prices).  I paid her and she said thank you, have a great day and she waited till I was out the door before she stepped back into the back of the store.  

Chunky Monkey Cupcake—Banana Flavored Cake with Chocolate Chips was dense but moist; the Peanut Butter Buttercream was very yummy, not to sweet but perfect! That was then dipped in Chocolate Ganache which was very good, perfect consistency and taste. Then it is drizzled with Peanut Butter Drizzle on to that just adds a little something special to this tasty cupcake J

OVERALL RATING  -  4

Chocolate Supreme Cupcake- Chocolate Cake was moist, Chocolate Buttercream was pretty sugary.  It was a decent cupcake but not my favorite.

OVERALL RATING - 3

Lucky Irish Mint Cupcake – Chocolate Cake was moist and had a few pieces of brownie in it which was also very tasty, again it had a mile high of the frosting which in this case was mint, it had a nice mint taste to it but was too much for me and I ended up scrapping half of it off into the trash, the frosting had a grainy texture too it.  It was dipped in chocolate Ganache which was good and then topped with a green clover candy, which had a nice flavor. For me this cupcake was alright, I wouldn’t buy it again.

OVERALL RATING - 2

Chocolate Divine Cupcake – Chocolate Cake was somewhat moist, filled with chocolate Ganache, it was then dipped in a chocolate Ganache before it was iced, the Ganache was good.  There was too much chocolate buttercream for my taste (which is how all their cupcakes are frosted), but it was good flavor, a little grainy but not as much as some of their other frostings.  It had chocolate shavings on top, which in all honesty I didn’t really taste with all the other chocolate going on.

OVERALL RATING - 3

Red Velvet Cupcake – Red Cake was good, not dry but not really moist, it had a cream cheese filling in the center which was my favorite of the whole cupcake, the taste was not overpowering, it was light a creamy, the cream cheese frosting was good as far as flavor but sweet and grainy.  I could not finish all this frosting.

OVERALL RATING – 3

Snickerdoodle Toffee Cupcake– Vanilla Cake with Cinnamon & toffee bits, was dry, I did not like the taste of this cake.  Cinnamon Buttercream had too much of a cinnamon taste to it.  This cupcake failed for me.

OVERALL RATING – 1

Cookies and Cream Cupcake- I was supposed to get one of these but she made a mistake and gave me 2 of the Chocolate Supremes instead, so I cannot rate this cupcake.

OVERALL RATING – NA

Peanut Butter Paradise Cupcake– This was an outstanding cupcake!  The chocolate cake was moist flavorful and I enjoyed it very much it had peanut butter in the center which was a nice treat!  The chocolate peanut butter frosting was oh so good, perfect texture. The peanut butter cup on top was a great added treat!  This was wonderful!

OVERALL RATING – 5

Give Me Smore Cupcake– Chocolate Cake was dense & somewhat moist, there were “gram cracker” pieces throughout the cake and a “center” of “gram cracker”  this gram cracker didn’t really taste like anything at all.  The Marshmallow frosting was good but I would have liked a little more than what was on the cupcake, then there were marshmallows a chocolate drizzle and a piece of Hershey bar on top which all were good it also had gram cracker sprinkled on top as well.

OVERALL RATING – 4

Cho-Cho Cookie Dough Cupcake – White cake with a piece of chocolate chip cookie dough on the bottom (or at least that is what it was supposed to be, didn’t really seem like cookie dough more uncooked cake dough with chocolate chips and it is described as having chunks and I had only 1 chunk) the cake was dry and the “cookie dough piece” was not very pleasing to taste, Vanilla frosting with some chocolate chips (although it’s is described of having chunks of cookie dough in the frosting, so not sure where the cookie dough was?) was alright in taste but had a grainy texture to it.  This cupcake was not a hit with me.

OVERALL RATING – 1

Vanilla Bean Cupcake – Nothing light about this cupcake (as stated in the description!)  The white cake was dense and somewhat moist, not much of a flavor at all.  The buttercream frosting was heavy, grainy, almost flavorless.  For being a “vanilla bean” cupcake I didn’t taste anything vanilla bean about it.  This was another cupcake that disappointed me.

OVERALL RATING – 1

Banana Split Cupcake  – Banana Chocolate Cake was delicious, moist and flavorful!  The Vanilla buttercream was good and the Ganache it was dipped in was very nice!  The sprinkles and Cherry on top just make it a great cupcake!

OVERALL RATING – 3

Signature Sugar Cookie  – Vanilla Sugar cookie shaped as a bunny head with yellow colored icing, was moist and oh so good! The flavor of this cookie was out of this world!!  I can see why they started out with the Cookie By Design store!! Will definitely be ordering some of these again J

OVERALL RATING – 5

FINAL ACT…

Cupcakes By Design in Grand Rapids, MI is a DECENT bakery for cupcakes but an AWESOME bakery for cookies!  Their cupcakes were delicious, their signature sugar cookies were to die for (I would have to say I liked their cookies more than the cupcakes!), add to that the atmosphere and good customer service, this place gets an A .  I was very happy with my purchases today and will defiantly be going back next time I am in Grand Rapids!  The down falls were this:  if you do not buy in “bulk” like I do you will be spending a pretty penny for a cupcake at the price of $2.95/each, they are the most expensive cupcakes in the Michigan area that I know of.  The cookies on the other hand are a nice $1.50 (give or take depending on kind) and I believe that is comparable to other cookies from bakeries in the area.  The frosting to crumb ratio is off for me I like it to be more balanced where I don’t feel like I have a mouth full of frosting, but if you like A LOT of frosting then you will love their cupcakes!

Rating Scale:  1 = Bad, don’t waste your money!

                         2 = It's Alright

                         3 = Good

                         4 = Excellent, worth another try

                         5 = Desert Heaven, Oh So Scrumptious!

PLEASE NOTE:  All items are tasted within an hour of receiving them.  By doing this, it takes out any false claims that the freshness, temperature, texture, etc. where compromised by not tasting them when served.  All precautions are taken when preserving the “freshness” of the products I receive.