Buttercream Cupcake Truck

Love Park
Website

I'm not much for sweets, especially in the middle of my work day. I prefer to have a steaming hot cup of black coffee to give me the necessary afternoon boost. Today, however, with a staff meeting fast approaching, I thought I'd kiss some ass and bring in some treats to share, and made the trek over to Love Park.

I guess in the wake of Far From Home's retirement, a few new contenders have taken to occupying Philadelphia's center city locale. (Pizza? I guess Pitruco will have to be another day's experience.)

Buttercream's menu offers a variety of different cupcakes, with a few that are somewhat unique, but not too off-the-wall.

I decided on a six-pack of the following, from left to right, top to bottom: pumpkin with cream cheese, red velvet with cream cheese, chocolate with peanut butter, chocolate with chocolate ganache, banana with Nutella, and vanilla with vanilla.

I cut three up to share (small staff), with the anticipation of eating the rest later tonight - sharing with roommates, of course. Unfortunately, I don't think I even want to go through the trouble to carry the three remainders home with me. Anyhow, we sampled the chocolate/PB, vanilla/vanilla and banana/Nutella.

They were all cold, like almost out-of-the-freezer-for-one-hour cold. The vanilla was so dense, there was not a lick of air to be found inside. Like a heavy pound cake meets angel food cake, it was a bit flavorless with no vanilla coming through. Sugar, yes; vanilla, no. The icing was more of the same - there was definitely buttery creaminess here, with a smack of sugar, but no vanilla.

The chocolate/PB was compared to, "Duncan Hines cake mix out of the box," (only not as moist) and when my colleague suggested this, I couldn't agree more. The chocolate cake was also heavy and the icing, again, was primarily a butter-sugar whip with the very slightest hint of peanut butter.

The banana was more like a muffin than a cupcake and again, was lacking much banana flavor. Need I explain the 'Nutella icing'? I didn't think so. It was more of the same, flavorless filler.

Nothing was rich or delectable about these cupcakes. There wasn't much to talk about, other than the obvious sugar content – which is expected, but not as the primary flavor from a cupcake purveyor whose claim is "fresh cream butter, dark chocolate and whole eggs."

Maybe I don't remember what a cupcake is supposed to taste like, or maybe they're just meant to be eaten fresh out of the oven, but what I do know, is that these confections are mediocre and likely made at least one day in advance; not fresh and served at an undesirably cold temperature. I won't be sharing the remaining three, the roommates can have their pick. Note: I came back and tried the additional three last night. The red velvet was the clear winner. An eight hour stint at room temperature really helped. The pumpkin was pretty good as well, though incredibly sweet. And the chocolate ganache was like pound cake.

-Posted by gabulous