Cupcakes are Everywhere

I know that the cupcake invasion has been coming...and staying for the last few years. Every town has a shop or four. I like to grab a cupcake now and then, without having to create them myself. So, I appreciate the trend. The most recent shop I found is in Livonia, Michigan on 6 Mile Road at Farmington Road. I took a walk with my sister Patti and my neice Laya and landed at the bakery.

They have so many flavors and it does smell sugary good as soon as you walk in. The sign outside declares it "Just Baked". I was secretly wishing that that were just baked because few things dry out quicker than a little cupcake. Well, they weren't all that small and they were super moist. I picked out a dozen and they included some vanilla and chocolate with buttercream. This is my favorite, being a purist for most things, and I found the cake just sweet enough and the frosting was the same. I just couldn't help but wonder why the frosting didn't harden up on the way home....I suspect shortening. Oh why, when we were off to such a great start? I call this American buttercream as opposed to the Italian buttercream that I use.

Two of the remaining cupcakes out of the dozen were a version of a bumpy cake. If you haven't had this delight, well, I can say that it is sweet and chocolatey. I grew up having this cake in full size portions in Detroit and never saw it anywhere else. I actually don't see it much even in Detroit anymore. This owner must have grown up around my part of town. In case you are wondering, the bumpy cake gets its name from the rows of buttercream atop the cake which are covered in a thin chocolate icing, thus making bumpy rows. Those rows called to me when my Mom would bring one home. It was pure torture for me to look at them and not be able to dig in. It could have been a little OCD in me as well. I didn't want that cake to be bumpy. I wanted to smooth it out. But that's just me.

The baker had given us quite a selection to choose from and from what I hear, she is a pretty decent person as well. We took home her pumpkin cupcake, a tropical, and a grasshopper (mint) for the others waiting at home. I didn't taste them so I can't attest. However, I can say that they didn't last and that I ate more than one of the buttercream. The word on the street is that she, who was too busy to talk to, hired back the staff from the previous, long time German bakery who occupied this space for as long as I can remember. Only now, the space is clean and inviting. Try it out and let me know what you think....