After months of exchanging emails and phone calls with every vendor under the sun (and learning that all it takes to make me feel stressed and triggered AF is a florist asking me a billion questions about flowers), my favorite part of wedding planning has officially commenced. The much awaited cake tastings are here!
It’s not lost on me how much cake goes to waste at every wedding I’ve ever been to, so we decided to find San Diego’s best cupcake for our big day instead. We started our quest at Yummy Cupcakes in Encinitas, CA, and honestly? The jury is still out on this one.
A quick google search for Yummy Cupcakes reveals a 4.5 star rating on Yelp and an extremely detailed website. (Side note: I am always down for a well thought out website that contains all the info you could possibly need. 10/10 to their website creator, Jammin Web Designs). What makes the website so great, you ask? They have their entire list of 300+ cupcake flavors right there for you to peruse. I am SO impressed by anyone who can come up with 300 unique flavor combinations. And yes, they all sound delicious (whether or not they actually are, I’m afraid I cannot say).
Additionally, the storefront itself is super cute and has almost a 1950s diner feel (I honestly have no clue why, but I loved it). Immediately upon entering, you see rows on rows of delicious-looking cupcakes along a massive counter, pops of bright pink everywhere, and friendly staff members who immediately ask what they can help you with. Because they contract with our venue, they also offered us our cake tasting at no charge, which was an unexpected treat.
So without further adieu, I present to you the six flavors we tried, in order from least to most favorite.
THE LOSERS
Vanilla Champagne Cream
“Vanilla bean cupcake centered with champagne whipped cream, frosted with a champagne buttercream, garnished with a sugared grape”
Honestly, this one was on me. I hate champagne and so does my fiancee Andy, but somehow we thought it would be a good idea to try these. Plot twist: it wasn’t. Andy spit it out almost immediately. I believe his exact words were “it tastes like whipped cream and cardboard”, and — after dramatically trashing the rest – said he at least didn’t mind the icing. Normally I’d poke fun at him for being a drama queen, but I’d have to agree that this one was less than spectacular.
Bananas Foster
“Vanilla bean/banana/rum cupcake frosted with vanilla/banana/rum buttercream and a light sprinkle of cinnamon”
Ok. You guys know I have been on a huge bananas foster kick ever since I attempted making it for the first time, so I was so excited to try this one and bring some banana flair to our wedding. Unfortunately, much like slipping on an actual banana peel, this bad boy fell flat for me. Whoever was in charge of making this flavor must’ve dumped a whole bottle of banana extract in the batter, followed by one too many tablespoons of cinnamon. The good news? The overpowering banana flavor almost made me forget how dry this cake was.
Carrot Cream Cheese
“Fresh carrot/raisin/pineapple/walnut cupcake topped with cream cheese frosting”
You can pretty much put anything before “cream cheese” icing and nine times out of ten, I’m on board. This cake, however, did not lie when it called itself “fresh”. I felt like I was eating semi-sweetened vegetables fresh out of the garden. Andy described it as “earthy” and I have to say that Andy’s descriptions are on point. Perhaps skip the cake / frosting and just eat carrots and cream cheese?
An inside look at the Kona Pie 
Top left: Kona Pie, Middle: Googley Gooey, Top right: red velvet
THE WINNERS
Googley Gooey
“Chocolate cupcake filled with caramel, frosted with caramel buttercream and rolled in coconut with a caramel drizzle”
Alright alright alright. This one is where the magic started to happen for me. The chocolate cupcake was so rich and moist, and the caramel center was oozy perfection. The coconut shavings on top were a great texture boost, but I have to say something I’ve never said before. I think this cake was almost a bit TOO sweet? I could feel the diab-eetus coming on as I hit the caramel center, and subsequently had to stop myself from eating the rest before I started to feel unwell.
Kona Pie
“Mocha cupcake with an Oreo Cookie base, filled with coffee whipped cream, frosted with a chocolate buttercream, sprinkled with crushed Oreos”
Just.wow. I love coffee so much, but I don’t usually love coffee-flavored things (I know, I make no sense). Enter Yummy Cupcakes. The mocha cupcake was an absolutely divine combo of coffee and chocolate, the Oreo cookie base was crunchy yet still somehow moist, and that light, fluffy, heavily coffee flavored whipped cream center? Er.ma.gerd. The only thing that would’ve made this cupcake better? If it came with its own individual Oreo sleeve. That’s really it. Nailed it.
Red Velvet Cream Cheese
“Traditional Southern red velvet cupcake topped with a cream cheese frosting“
@ people who don’t like red velvet cake: I have so many questions, number one being HOW?! This cupcake was the only one I would drive 30 minutes out of my way for (though Sprinkles red velvet cake is pretty much always the winner over every other place). But this one? Somebody call Gwen Stefani because this cake was b-a-n-a-n-a-s (much more so than the bananas foster, ironically enough). It was SO moist and the cream cheese frosting was the perfect mix of tang and sweetness. I had no idea there were so many different kinds of red velvet (check out their menu to see what I mean), but this one. Whatever this is. Get it and thank me later (and wear your stretchiest pants because you WILL want seconds).
Overall, I’d go back and maybe get some different flavors, because the good ones were good and the bad ones were … not great (trying to be delicate here)?
We’ll definitely be continuing the hunt for the cupcakes of our dreams, so stay tuned for scenes from the next episode of Cupcake Wars: The Forki Wedding.
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