Two-Bite Churro Dulce De Leche Cupcakes

Strike's over... back to work... on some cupcakes!! You know what they say -- the best way to get over an allergy fear is to get under some cupcakes. Etc etc. Anyway, these are fun and look like animal's eyes (frosting-wise). They also contain graham flour, which if it's a typo for gram flour will be my downfall. But I think I remember saying that about another flavor, so probs not. (Also you'd think an allergy company would be careful about such things, but ah, I lived long enough to know it isn't so). 

Anyway, where were we. The dark brown blorp is a caramel goo - not frosting! - but very sweet. Like a chocolate bar inside caramel. Fine, fine. The frosting is just typical mini cupcake frosting, maybe mildly cream cheese and/or cinnamon flavored. And the cake is just regular vanilla cake! Oh, frabjous day! I thought it'd be filled for sure, and that would have been major overkill. Kind of like the concept of "churro dulce de leche cupcake". Did they just pick two Hispanic treats? Whither flan?  

There are some crumbley lookin blorps on top, evoking I suppose churro, but they are indistinguishable from the general frosted scene. 

This isn't terrible, but it actually is. The plain ones are much better. The only redeeming factor is: I'm not allergic to it. 

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 5/10 

Two-Bite Filled Carrot Cake Cupcakes

I am a fool to keep buying these. Stick with the original! All these filled cupcakes are bad! Nut free carrot cake product was just too tempting to pass up, though. But I should have passed up. The one upside is, they are slightly less sweet tasting than the last kind (although I suspect nutritionally identical), and the texture is good. There are also actual carrot fragments in the cake (or at least some orange shreddy bit, lol), which I appreciate. But the taste is quite bad. Not cake, not carrot, not sugar, not cream cheese, not vanilla, I don't know what it is but it's not a treat. Tragic stuff really.

Overall
Cost: 4/10 [5.50]
Taste: 5/10 

two-bite filled red velvet cupcakes

Early Happy Valentine's to me! (and you, I suppose). Time to celebrate with these Canadian nut-free cupcakes. Sadly they are one of the most toxic edibles around in terms of the ingredos (artificial, red 40, intense fat/sugar content), but may I repeat: nut-free cupcakes. I wasn't sure what "filled" would mean, but it turns out there is a little blop of frosting on the inside, like a Twinkie! (or ho-ho? whatever the chocolate twinkie equivalent is, IDK, that segment of the market is closed to me). Honestly the taste is kinda overwhelming/weird/not great?? Two-bites is too few to really figure out the components. Let's try to break it down:

Top frosting: supposedly cream cheese frosting, but tastes exactly like the extremely sweet vanilla frosting they always have on these things (or on a store bought cake, etc). Very very sweet, too sweet, but OK in tiny amounts. There is also red sugary sprinkle stuff on top, which is cute and I think just powdered sugar. Ah, there is the tiniest tangy note at the end, so it really is cream cheese flavored, but it's like, the vitamin water of cream cheese flavor. I would think there was something slightly expired about it if I didn't know it was cream cheese. 

Cakey bit: Yes, it is red velvet color (dark red), and very moist. Also very sweet. Basically chocolate flavor, but slightly black forest-y. But also was too sweet. Might be okay on its own though.

Inner frosting pocket: I think it's just the same as the top frosting but it's honestly impossible to tell. Too soft/small of a cakey to be sure. Like trying to taste fig newton filling without the outside bit (impossible).

My general assessment is just: these are way too sweet!!! If you crushed up one of these and blended it into unsweetened frozen yogurt or something, it'd still make a crazy sweet dessert. (Would like to try that though. I miss froyo. sniffle.) And I like very sweet things, a lot!!  But somehow the attempt at complexity in flavor & design makes the sugar content more egregious, I guess. Still I do like that they're making different flavors and stuff. The more nut-free desserts the better, it's just, I wish they were better. Ah well. Keep at it, Canada! And send us your nut-free Mars bars while you're at it!! 

Overall
Cost: 5/10 [5.50$ish?]
Taste: 6/10 

abe's vanilla cupcakes

Philly grocery really crushing it in the allergy-free space!! For an egg-free, milk-free, soy-free cupcake, this is quite good. Surprisingly normal, although not quite as delicious, especially in the frosting (although there is somehow a tangy note, which impressed me). A little bit less sweet tasting than those milkful nutfree mini cupcakes at my local store, even though I believe the sugar content is the same. These were a nice treat to reward me for not dying or vomming during any famous linguists' talks! Yay me!

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

Two-Bite Lemon Zing Cupcakes

Even though I didn't really like the strawberry flavor of these, I can't resist a new type of nut-free dessert, so I had to try 'em. Fortunately these were better than the strawberry version, but still not as good as the basic chocolate/vanilla. They're sweet but not very complex.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

two-bite cupcakes - Strawberry Shortcake

Normally I am delighted by this brand of nut-free (and proud!) cupcakes from Canada, but this flavor didn't quit hit the mark. The strawberry goo in the frosting is weirdly firm and chewy (is it old? IDK) and the taste is artificial. I mean, they're fine, but I definitely prefer the chocolate and vanilla ones. They're very sweet. 

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Two-Bite Vanilla Cupcakes

These were so great. Ack! They're like little bakery cakes! Adorable and delicious and oh-so-sweet. And nut free. I am glad that these are hard to find because otherwise I'd buy them every day and that'd be bad news (even though they're really only like 100 cals each).

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 8/10

two-bite Chocolate Cupcakes

These are great! OK, I'm not a huge chocolate cupcake/frosting fan -- it's probably my least favorite flavor. But it's so rare to find nut-free bakery, and this has a "made in a nut-free facility" sticker on it, which is huge. My grocery store is very sporadic with stocking these, and always just one flavor at a time, so I buys it when I sees it. Compared to the vanilla flavor, which is amazing, this is a bit less delicious -- especially the frosting. It's also way less sweet, which does have an appeal, but I'm not eating lil cupcakes for classy health reasons here. The cake part is good, moist cake, but the frosting is just kinda there for me here. Very cute though, nice small size.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10

Maplehurst Everyday Favorites Mini-Cupcakes

What the heck?! Peanut free cupcake? In MY grocery store!? Wow. Amazing. First donuts, now cupcakes. The world really is changing. :')

Here's a link to the bakery's page:
http://www.maplehurstbakeries.com/peanut-free.html

I like this quote: “Until you’ve lived with food allergies, there’s no way to explain how a little cupcake could mean so much.” because it's true, as i'm sure you know.

Anyway, these are great! I haven't had much cupcake experience, it's true, but I like these a lot. The size makes them fun, the icing is standard in-store bakery cake icing (but as good as it gets within those parameters) -- I like the vanilla better, and the cake part is super moist. It's good. Not good FOR you, of course, but what cupcake is?! ;)

Overall
Cost: I didn't even look, haha.
Taste: 8/10