How Sweet It Is...or How Sweet Is It?

Andrew and I finally had a chance to try the infamous Sweet cupcakes this weekend when we fortuitously parked right by the Mass Ave location.

Here's the amazing display case of goodies - note the trademarked peaked frosting:


I thought the shop itself was very cute and loved their takeout container for the four cupcakes we selected:


See, it had the perfect amount of space for our chosen cupcakes. From top to bottom:

• "The Sweet Cake" - Creamy Madagascar vanilla bean cake with buttercream frosting in vanilla with festive Halloween sprinkles
• "Cappuccino" - Delectable espresso flavored cake bakedwith Callebaut chocolate crowned with signature Sweet frosting and a dusting of cinnamon
• A seasonal flavored pumpkin cupcake
• Another seasonal flavor (I believe) - Chocolate Cranberry

Those who know me know that I'm not really the biggest fan of chocolate cake and chocolate frosting, so it comes as no surprise that I went with the vanilla/vanilla combo:

The cappuccino on the left was also my choice, leaving the pumpkin and chocolate cranberry flavors for Andrew (he ate the pumpkin too quickly for me to take a picture of it):


What was the verdict? I really did like the texture of the frosting and even the fine texture of the cupcakes (although they were kind of dry):

What was missing? Flavor! While the cupcakes looked cute and were packaged nicely, I felt they were undeserving of all the hype. To be honest, while I could see specks of vanilla in the frosting, it had no flavor. It just tasted like sugar. Ditto for the cake, no flavor in the vanilla and only the slightest hint of cappuccino and chocolate in the other two cupcakes. We got a pleasant surprise of cranberry jam (?) in the middle of Andrew's chocolate cranberry cupcake, but that wasn't enough to save it. You can't call me a baking snob since I think cupcakes made from a cake mix and topped with canned frosting taste better than Sweet. So begins my search for Boston's Best Cupcake.