Last weekend, Mr. FvF and I played it fancy and decided to go out of town to celebrate Valentine's Day. Well, not really. We were in a hotel, but it was just across town because of a freebie I'd won at a Chamber event. And we don't really care much about V-day, we just wanted an excuse to GTFO, turn off our phones and not tell anyone where we were going. We already had dinner reservations at Abuelo's in Beavercreek, but nothing in mind for dessert. So, we swung into ele Cake Company just before they closed and picked up a couple of treats. I already knew he would be getting the Peanut Butter Brownie, layered with PB buttercream and topped to a hard shell of dark chocolate and candy pieces.
The "gourmet" cupcakes that endless shops have been selling like gangbusters at $4+ a pop ever since Sarah Jessica Parker shoved a Magnolia cupcake into her big horse face on Sex and the City? I'll show you what you can do with those, if you'll kindly bend over. The icing-to-cake ratio is way out of whack, and usually the flavor is only in the icing, not the cake itself. At best, you're looking at 40 cents worth of product and these assholes are selling it down your gullet for just under five bucks.
Well, it seems that now ele has a new line of these fancy treats - I'm guessing to compete with the Gigi's Cupcakes that opened recently in The Greene. This presented me with somewhat of a dilemma. Want salted caramel - which was not only in the frosting, but the chocolate cupcake was filled with it. Do not want expensive cupcake. Do not want to be a lemming to food trends. DO WANT salted caramel!
Naturally, I bought the cupcake. It was okay. Not overwhelming. Not gross. The cupcake itself was surprisingly fresh, considering we waltzed in just before they closed their doors and it could have gone stale in the near 20 minutes they took to ring up the purchase. The salted caramel filling was pretty great, but the icing wasn't doing anything for me. I slid half of it off and back into the box, which Mr. FvF kindly took care of later. It just wasn't that far off from regular buttercream, and I think even my own first attempt at salted caramel frosting might have faired better.
The Mister's brownie was just as tasty, and a much more reliable choice. I've always felt that ele was a bit of a rip-off, and this doesn't really change my tune. The poor gal in front of us coughed up over $60 for an 8" round birthday cake, decorated in buttercream. Tasty? Sure, but I find it hard to believe you couldn't make an equally fresh and tasty cake at home, probably double the size, for under $10.
I'm also of the mindset that people think ele is great because they haven't bothered to try out other local bakeries. From here on out, I'll refer to this as the Thai 9 effect. Sure, it's better than the Kroger Bakery, but it's not the end-all. Nothing I've ever had from ele tops anything I've ever had from Granny C's or Rinaldo's.
6 comments:
I thought Gigi's cupcakes sucked. I was shocked. I mean the icing was good, but the cupcake was terrible!
I go to Dorthy Lane Market for all my brownie needs.
Have you tried Bombshell Bakery? It's ... the bomb. So horribly unoriginal, I am.
Was supposed to make it to PK night and didn't, but you got high marks frmo my pals so I looked in on your blog and love it. My girlfriend and I passed ele Saturday night and she became very curious about it. I'll let her know there's better. And smh for the fact that I've never taken her to Rinaldo's (which is still somehow a huge secret in Dayton).
Have I told you how much I love u.....lol. Granny C's is the best! See you next week :)
I was so excited for GiGi's cupcakes to open, I thought it was such a neat idea. I cannot express how disappointed I am in their product. Everything basically tastes the same with a little "hint" of the flavor maybe included.
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