The Great Debate

Remember when cupcakes were really cool? Well, ok, maybe they still are, but for a while they were ALL the rage. For a few years I lived in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and Dallas was the first city in Texas to get a Sprinkles Cupcakes shop. My friend AJ and I checked it out about a month after it opened and we were amazzzzzed! We made several, special hour long trips to Dallas just for Sprinkles cupcakes.

Then I moved back to Houston and in Houston there was no Sprinkles. I was sad. Until my mom told me about Crave Cupcakes, a shop eerily similar to Sprinkles in a swanky part of Houston. We went and I was impressed, but I was still convinced that Sprinkles was better.

This past summer, after much anticipation, Houston got its very own Sprinkles, and within only a few minutes of Crave. The plot thickens.

Sprinkles was my first experience with "gourmet cupcakes" and I have been very loyal ever since. I have tried other cupcake shops in Houston, Fort Worth, San Francisco, and Portland, but I've always held fast to my declaration that Sprinkles are the best.

Since they seem so similar anyway, tonight I decided to put Sprinkles and Crave to the test. Earlier today I was in that part of Houston anyway, so I stopped by the respective shops and purchased one red velvet cupcake in each. I chose red velvet because supposedly it is Sprinkles' best selling flavor. Then, in a blind taste test, I had myself and two other individuals taste the cupcakes and choose their favorite of the two (we cleansed our palates in between cupcakes with coffee). So here we go...

Sprinkles vs. Crave

They both cost $3.25 for one cupcake.

Sprinkles came in a brown bag. Crave came in a box. I think the box is classier and for such a pricey cupcake, I deserve a box.

Both shops had really friendly cupcake sales people, but Crave was definitely much busier.

Crave employees wear Texas symbols on their shirt or jackets, which I like.

Surprisingly (to me) the Crave cupcake was bigger!

Sprinkles has that dot thing on the top and I'm not sure if it's edible. Crave has a similar dot that has the impression of mixer on it and is made of fondant, which is definitely edible, but not all that tasty.

Interestingly the cake in the Sprinkles red velvet cake was much more red than the cake in the Crave red velvet cake, which could be good or bad depending on your thoughts on red food coloring... The icing on the Sprinkles cupcake was slightly thicker.

The verdict? We all three agreed that the flavor of the Sprinkles cake was better than Crave, but I thought the Crave icing tasted better than Sprinkles. Overall (icing and cake together), two of us thought the Sprinkles cupcake was the best, but one of us preferred Crave (me! of all people!).

Henry said he would be really happy with either...