Holly's Cupcake Shop

Clockwise from top left, Hummingbird, Lemon Drop, Buckeye Brownie, Cookie Monster, Pumpkin (seasonal) and Black Bottom.

Just before Thanksgiving I was lucky enough to be provided with delicious cupcakes from Holly's Cupcake Shop. Holly and her husband, Jonathan, own shops in Conyers (founded in 2009) and in Midtown Atlanta where ITP folks like me can pick up their delicious cupcakes without leaving our home turf. The midtown location is at Colony Square (1197 Peachtree St.)

Holly brought me a sampling of cupcakes in her decked out truck (pictured below), which is used to transport the finished cakes from the Conyers shop/bakery to the Midtown shop. My personal favorites include the seasonal Pumpkin - so moist and delicious - and the Back Bottom - love the cream cheese filling and vanilla cream cheese frosting. My cousin's son (age 4) loved the Cookie Monster (white cake with Oreo folded in and topped with cookies and cream frosting). All of the cupcakes were tasty and moist on the first day and they lasted pretty well for a few days (Holly recommends wrapping the bakery box in plastic wrap or transferring to an airtight container to retain moisture).

Unlike some cupcake shops, Holly bakes many types of cake for her cupcakes rather than only using chocolate and vanilla cake with a variety of frosting. For example, the Hummingbird cake contains banana, pineapple and pecans and the Banana Pudding cupcake has banana cake and banana pudding filling. Many of the cupcakes are filled, which gives them a unique taste and even more moisture - a real plus.

Holly's sells six flavors every day (Conyers is open Tuesday - Saturday and Colony Square is open Monday - Friday) and offers 5-6 daily flavor options. Check the website for details. Mini-cupcakes are also available (if ordered in advance).

Clockwise from top left, Red Velvet, Vanilla Chocolate, Chocolate Chocolate, Chocolate Vanilla, Vanilla Vanilla and Gingerbread (seasonal).



Holly's fabulous cupcake truck - used to transport sweet treats from the flagship store in Conyers to the midtown store at Colony Square.



I look forward to trying more varieties of Holly's Cupcakes soon!

Smallcakes

Cupcakes galore at Smallcakes.

I was provided with the above sample of cupcakes from Smallcakes: A Cupcakery, which has a new outpost in Buckhead. The first Smallcakes is located in Overland Park, Kansas and now freestanding franchises as well as franchise co-brands with Freshberry Yogurt are located in Kansas, Oklahoma, California, Florida and North Carolina in addition to Georgia. Smallcakes bakes around 20 flavors of cupcakes, some of which are available every day, others just on some days. I like that they have a rotating menu and some creative flavors like pumpkin and cherry limeade. At $3 each, however, they are not cheap.

Smallcakes' claim to fame is that it's co-founder, Jeff Martin, was on Food Network's "Cupcake Wars" and as a result, the cupcakes became a hit with the ladies on "The View". The cupcakes were also served at the 2011 MTV Music Awards. With these anecdotes in mind I was really excited to get home and try the beautiful looking cupcakes. I even invited my cousins over to share the wealth. Unfortunately the taste really disappointed all of us. The cake was tasteless and the icing - piled on with a vengeance - was way too sweet and also not that tasty. As you can tell, I was really disappointed by these cupcakes - and surprised that they could make it to franchise status. I'm not sure why they are so popular - from my perspective it can only be because they have managed to get hype from various stars. Unfortunately hype does not always equal taste. The yelp page for the Overland Park store shows that several others agree with my opinion.

Readers - have you tried Smallcakes? What do you think? What is your favorite cupcake place in Atlanta?

The available selection changes daily, with some of the more popular cupcakes available every day.

Last NYC Post: Billy's Bakery

Treat case - I'll take one of each!

Near our friends' apartment in Chelsea is a Billy's Bakery, specializing in - you guessed it - cupcakes! We tried the yellow cake with chocolate buttercream, the red velvet with cream cheese frosting and the chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream. I'm drooling at the memory! If you are anywhere near one of their three NYC locations, this is a definite snack stop. We tried to go twice just after closing - we were up much later than our usual 9 PM bedtime while in NY - so finally enjoying their delicious cakes was truly satisfying.

Out side Billy's.

Putting the icing on the cake!

Canton Cooks + Camicakes

Salt and pepper scallops and pork fried rice.

Recently I've become acquainted with Canton Cooks, an excellent Chinese restaurant in Sandy Springs (in the Whole Foods shopping center). There is often a wait on weekends and I've seen quite a few Chinese clientele - usually a good sign. The salt and pepper dishes here - both squid and scallops are quite good. We also enjoyed a duck dish and some wonderful Chinese broccoli. The lobster, available in several preparations, caught my eye last time - we'll definitely have to give it a try soon.

Salt and pepper squid and lo mein.

One of my favorite cupcake bakeries is Camicakes in Buckhead. With more than fifteen daily flavors of cupcakes and these cute pink boxes, who could resist trying these little cakes. They taste great, too. My favorite so far - the sweet potato with cinnamon cream cheese frosting.

Cupcakes packed to go.



We all enjoyed these cupcakes - then we went again following dinner at Canton Cooks.

Highland Bakery Revisited

Cilantro Corncakes

With friends in town we decided to try the newly renovated Highland Bakery for Sunday brunch. This is one of my favorite places (along with West Egg Cafe) for brunch in Atlanta (see my previous post here). The new space shows off a much larger bakery with breads, pastries, cakes and more. Samples of bread were available, making the short wait pleasant indeed. Perhaps the new space has something to do with the wait being shorter as well, which is a major plug for this place as West Egg can be downright impossible to get into in less than an hour on the weekends.

With several people, we tried a variety of dishes including the above-pictured corncakes, which were tasty, but not as flavorful as I expected. The crabcake benedict, on the other hand, tasted great, with just the right amount of seasoning. The accompanying potatoes were also solid, especially when dressed with Calvin's favorite addition (sour cream!) For some reason I was more in the mood for lunch, so lucky for me, there is a full line of sandwiches and salads along with the brunch items. I tried the Caprese sandwich (below), which was tasty, although a bit more oil and balsamic (yes, I know about the balsamic debate re: Caprese salads, but on a sandwich I'm a fan of including it to moisten the bread and create a flavor contrast) would have been appreciated. We had to try the grits pie after seeing it in the pastry case while we waited. It tasted like pecan pie without the pecans and really didn't taste much like grits - oh well, we liked it anyway and the key lime pie was tasty too. Service was noteworthy, especially because it was so busy and because we sat outside, which I imagine could be a problem sometimes. It did take a few minutes for our food to arrive but our waitress was extremely accommodating and pleasant for the entire visit. Way to go!

Crabcake Benedict with potatoes.

Caprese Sandwich with fruit salad.



Grits Pie (left) and Key Lime Pie.



Mini-cupcakes one of our guests bought to take home.

Button Cakes Revisited

All pretty and wrapped up.

Following my previous post about Button Cakes Bakery in Decatur, I was offered complimentary cupcakes from owner Holly Mann. On Friday afternoon I was lucky enough to have the above box of fabulous cupcakes delivered to my office. I immediately tried the vanilla cupcake, which was very moist and tasty, although the icing was a little too sweet for me. Still the presentation was beautiful and I enjoyed the afternoon treat. Some of my colleagues tried the strawberry fields and red velvet cupcakes and absolutely loved them. I was tempted to try them also but I restrained myself since I knew I was going out to dinner in just a few short hours!

After dinner Friday evening I sampled the other three varieties. The red velvet and strawberry fields are my favorites: perfect, moist cake and delicious frosting. The red velvet isn't as sweet as the others, with it's cream cheese frosting adding an additional tanginess - perfect for those who don't like things too sweet. The strawberry was complex enough to make it taste great to me even with a sweeter icing. The chocolate chocolate was also good - especially the dark chocolate frosting!

I think when I tasted these the first time, they had been sitting overnight at Voila Cafe, where they are currently being sold. Apparently the cakes will be sold from a new Decatur location soon (check the above website for further details). It's probably a good idea to call and check on when the cupcakes are delivered to the store so you can ensure you are getting a fresh batch. Alternatively, this is a great bakery for special orders and requests, since they will be baked fresh just for you!

L to R - Chocolate chocolate, strawberry fields, vanilla and red velvet. Yum!



Red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting.



Chocolate chocolate, strawberry fields and red velvet cupcakes.

West Egg (again)!

Bombay chicken salad sandwich with grits & a side of pimento cheese to mix in!

My Dad is visiting this week and I took him to West Egg Cafe for lunch. I was disappointed that the weekend brunch specials were not offered, but I suppose that's why they call them "Weekend Brunch Specials"! Instead I enjoyed the Bombay chicken salad sandwich - curried chicken salad with grapes and walnuts. For my side I asked for the pimento cheese grits, but apparently those are also a weekend special. Still, I was able to mix in some pimento cheese with the regular garlic grits for a similar effect. I had to let Dad try the Coca-Cola cupcake, which I found out is made with Coke syrup rather than drinkable Coke... hmmm, maybe I could try to duplicate this at home. The taste is very unique, with a faint Coke taste that is not overwhelming. The cream cheese frosting definitely gives it a little something extra also. This place is packed on weekends but it wasn't that busy when we arrived for an early lunch on Tuesday. Go during the week if you can; otherwise, prepare to wait!

Pimento cheese and bacon omelet with garlic grits.



Mocha with whipped cream.



Famous Coca-Cola Cupcake

Button Cakes Bakery

Please see updated post about Button Cakes here.

After receiving a 2 for 1 coupon in the mail, I decided to check out the cupcakes from Button Cakes Bakery one morning in Decatur. The cakes are sold inside Voila Cafe on West Ponce de Leon Avenue. There is a display case in the back of the restaurant and the staff will box up your cupcakes to go in neat little cupcake boxes that make sure your cakes remain upright!

The cupcakes I tasted were okay, but nothing great. Atlanta Cupcake Factory and West Egg Cafe both have better cupcakes, in my opinion. At Button Cakes, the chocolate frosting on the vanilla cupcake was excellent, but the cake itself did not stand out. The hummingbird cupcake was fine but even with the fruity cake it did not make a lasting impression. It's neat that Decatur has a place like this and the decor inside Voila Cafe is cute although I've never eaten there. Still, there are better places to buy cupcakes in the Atlanta area.

Available flavors board.



Selection of cupcakes.



Hummingbird and vanilla with chocolate frosting.

Awesome Brunch at West Egg Cafe

I almost took a photo of the huge crowd out front!

Sunday I tried West Egg Cafe, a cute brunch/lunch spot on the west side of Atlanta that I'd heard really good things about. The only bad thing was the wait. I called ahead to see if we could get on the list, but they said that "hadn't worked out well" in the past. We waited for about an hour after arriving around 11:45. Next time I'll be earlier, although we were late because of a run at the track. Gets you very hungry to run some miles before eating. In any event, I enjoyed the pictured mocha while waiting for a table. Once we sat down, we ordered quickly and the food did not take too long. I tried the Peachtree plate: 2 eggs, bacon, pimento cheese grits and fried green tomatoes with a biscuit. All I can say is DELICIOUS! The bacon is basted in something sweet - maybe honey, and the grits were phenomenal. I tried a bite of the huevos tejanos with potatoes and that was awesome also. Both of these dishes were ordered off the specials menu. There is also a nice lunch menu - some of the sandwiches I saw looked tasty. Behind the counter there is a display of giant cookies, cupcakes and other goodies. I held back this time but I'm dying to try their Coca-Cola cupcake, which has apparently won some awards.

Dining room.



Mocha - yum!



Peachtree Plate.



Huevos Tejanos



Selection of cupcakes - I restrained myself this time!

Matty Cakes = Cakes Galore

Classic Chocolate Cake, Banana Nut Cupcake, Chocolate Mousse Cake

Matty Cakes is a relatively new bakery, conveniently located on Piedmont next to the "Gorilla Car Wash." I have enjoyed their cupacakes several times - the chocolate with cream in the center and the red velvet are my favorites and their giant cookies are fantastic. Today I stopped by with a couple of friends to try the goodies pictured above. The two chocolate desserts were fabulous, moist and rich with lots of chocolate. I love crumb crusts and the chocolate cookie crust on the mousse cake is one of my favorites. The banana nut cupcake was not as good - the cake was dry, leaving the icing to try and compensate, which is did to an extent, but really, there is no reason a banana cake should be dry - ask anyone who has tried my famous chocolate chip banana bread!

Matty Cakes also has great sandwiches, which we pick up on occasion from my office. I adore the turkey, cranberry brie sandwich on their homemade multigrain bread - TO DIE FOR! I've also seen some of their specialty cakes, including a cake shaped like a handbag. If you like that kind of thing, I'll bet they can make any shape cake you'd like. The owner is also around and friendly to those coming in to pick up orders. There is no seating in the place so be prepared to take out - it's near Piedmont Park so you could get great fixins for a picnic and go sit outside!

Matty Cakes Bakery
1830 Piedmont Ave
Atlanta, GA 30324
(404) 917-2253