Chicago Bakery Crawl 2012

Cupcakes and other sweets are a love of mine. Anyone who knows me knows this, and my craving for sweets and need to always have them in the house is something that can drive my diabetic husband crazy (and yet also come in handy for a low blood sugar at midnight). For quite some time, a few of my friends and I have talked about making a list of Chicago bakeries we wanted to visit and then spending a day hopping from one to the next. This was one of those ideas that always seemed brilliant but that also seemed that we may never manage to follow through on. However, thanks to my friend Sarah taking the lead and getting us all to pick a day, we finally made it happen. We came up with a list of five places we needed to visit, and yesterday we hit every single one of them. So now, as I sit here continuing to indulge my whims this weekend   with Step Up, here is a summary of our bakery crawl, from my point of view.

Our first stop of the day was actually a place not originally on our list. It was a French bakery near Sarah's house that had delicious croissants (and other things too, I'm sure). I got a chocolate croissant that was fantastic, though I only ate half of it, and the other forgotten half died in my purse throughout the course of the day. Very sad.

Next up was Vanille, another french bakery near Sarah's. Vanille is known for their unbelievable macarons. Sarah had first introduced the rest of us to these wonderful creations when she brought them with to a movie day we held at my house one time. Since that day, I think we've all craved them more than once, and it was great to start the day off by choosing what we each wanted in our own box to take home. Even though I typically hate anything raspberry or raspberry-flavored, the raspberry macarons at Vanille are something close to heaven, and I made sure to stock up on those. I also got one that was pretty and purple and named Cassia or something like that, among others. I haven't actually tried the pretty purple one yet, but I'm sure it won't disappoint (even if it isn't quite as amazing as raspberry).

After a quick stop back at Sarah's to stow our Vanille macarons in her refrigerator for safe-keeping, we were off to Lincoln Park for our next couple of stops. Next up was Sweet Mandy B's, which I have to way was absolutely AMAZING. Everything inside, from the decor to the sweets was colorful and fun. We decided that each of us would get a cupcake, and then we'd split each one 5 ways. This way, we could each try a bunch of stuff, but really only eat the equivalent of one cupcake. We ended up trying confetti, carrot cake, french toast, snickerdoodle, and mint chocolate cupcakes, and all of them were amazing. While I am generally partial to anything confetti, the french toast cupcake was really unique and the frosting on it was delicious. I also left Sweet Mandy B's with a couple of cookies and some cupcakes for my parents and niece to try.

Next was Bittersweet, which we had heard good things about. It seemed promising from the beginning, because there were a ton of cute, often sweet-themed gifts and things right in the window. After looking around at the non-food items for a little while, we finally started looking at their baked good selection. Bittersweet was very different than Sweet Mandy B's. Much less whimsical, and more of a traditional bakery. I ended up settling on a butterfly cookie (how could I pass up on that??), and a meringue twist. Both were pretty delicious, but I think overall Bittersweet felt a little snooty for my taste, though the other girls might disagree with me. Compared to the other places we stopped, though, it just had a very different feel.

After Bittersweet, we had one more Lincoln Park bakery stop--Molly's. I've only been to Molly's one other time, but I love that place. I love the cupcakes, and I love the atmosphere. There is a counter to sit at, and swings to sit on to enjoy your cupcake at the counter. And while they weren't out yesterday, they also have board games to play while you enjoy delicious and unique cupcakes. Molly's is known for their original filled cupcakes I believe, and those are definitely what I go there for. I left with a Cookie Monster (yellow cupcake filled with cookie dough, the frosting sprinkled with chocolate chips, and a mini soft cookie on top) and a Cake Batter (filled with real cake batter). This was one of the stops I had most looked forward to, and Patrick was happy to see them both make it home for him to attempt to steal.



By the time we left Molly's, we only had one stop left--Sprinkles. We decided that, rather than going straight to Sprinkles, we would get some real food first. We headed in the direction of Water Tower Place, and almost immediately after parking the car and paying the meter, it started to rain. We found ourselves caught in a downpour a few minutes later, using our three umbrellas as best we could until taking cover under the nearest awning until the rain let up a little. It felt very Sex and the City to me at first, caught in the rain on a summer day. The rain seemed to let up...until the moment we stepped out from under the safety of our awning. We trudged on anyway, and eventually ended up at Water Tower, and ate at Mity Nice, a restaurant hidden behind the rest of the food court. It was a nice break from the sweets, and a great lunch.

Lunch and a quick detour through the American Girl store prepared us for our final stop of the day--Sprinkles. I have wanted a Sprinkles cupcake since seeing a cupcake tower full of them on an episode of Girls Next Door years ago. When I heard we were finally getting one in Chicago, I was so excited, but until yesterday had never actually made it there. When we arrived the line was out the door, and it stayed consistently long the entire time we were there. The cupcakes were so pretty! I don't know that I've ever seen cupcakes that just looked so beautiful. It was so hard to decide what kind to try, and I knew I had to limit myself to just one. I ended up going with the banana cupcake, and though I was tempted to get a frosting shot as well, I ended up passing on that. I have to say, NOT getting the frosting shot has to be my biggest regret of the day.

After Sprinkles, we headed back to Sarah's to pick up our macaron's before saying goodbye to her and heading back home, stuffed and nursing sugar-induced headaches. It had been a great day. Once I got home, I unpacked my goodies from the day. I noticed that my Sprinkles cupcake had gotten a little squished as a result of being in the side of my bag, and even though I was already pretty full I just had to try it, since I felt bad I had allowed it to be squished. And oh. my. goodness. I think it is very possibly the most incredible cupcake I have ever had in my life. The cake was so moist, and the frosting was unlike any other frosting I've ever had. The cake-to-frosting ratio was just about perfect, and I immediately wished I had bought about five more cupcakes (and that aforementioned frosting shot). Absolutely incredible.

So, in summary, I feel that I should give my overall ratings for each place, which in some cases I feel will be incredibly difficult, but here goes anyway.

Vanille:

1/2
Vanille gets 3 1/2 cupcakes because their macarons are really unbelievable. They did lose a few points with me, because the girl who packaged my macarons did not put mine nicely into little sleeves AND she left the bow off of my cute gift box. Granted, the macarons were what I went in for, and they did not disappoint. But if I'm going to spend $20 on 12 macarons, the least you can do is give me a cute ladybug bow.

Sweet Mandy B's:

1/2

Sweet Mandy B's gets 4 1/2 cupcakes because everything about them was pretty amazing. Their cupcakes were delicious, their cookies were delicious, the entire place was colorful and welcoming. It was just a fantastic place. One of the best parts, too, was that it was probably the most affordable place of the day. Your money can go a lot farther there than it can at any of the other places we visited, and the quality is not sacrificed as a result. 

Bittersweet: 

Bittersweet got 3 cupcakes. The quality was good, but the selection was a bit fancy for my tastes, and it seemed to be on the pricier side. One of the major upsides to Bittersweet is that it seemed to have a lot of more unique options, and a pretty wide variety. I felt like we saw a lot there that we didn't anywhere else, which was nice. Plus, the unique odds and ends for sale were fun, too. A good place to look for a gift for someone who loves cupcakes and other sweet-related things.

Molly's:

Molly's gets 4 stars because it's just awesome. I could hang out there all day long, and their cupcake varieties are really creative and unique. It's nice to know you can always count on your favorites being there, along with some really interesting seasonal options. And the swings at the counter, and a comfy window seat to hang out in? I'm sorry, that scores it some major bonus points with me.

Sprinkles

This was a very hard decision. Until we hit Sprinkles, I was sure Sweet Mandy B's was going to be my favorite of the day. I had a feeling that because I had hyped up Sprinkles so much in my mind, it would be sure to disappoint in reality. And while its major downside is the lack of seating and a New York-like cramped feeling once inside, where it wins is the quality of the cupcake. This was hands-down the best cupcake I had all day, and it's the one treat from yesterday that I feel most eager to go back and get more of. If only it were closer! And so while I would much rather than out at Sweet Mandy B's, Sprinkles just has to win out overall. Though I would be more than happy to head back in and taste test both again as soon as possible!