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Dracula vs. Frankenstein. Freddy vs. Jason. Uh, Jacob vs. Edward.
In today's Battle of the Dishes, will Halloween treats from local bakeries Sugar Mamma's and Cupcake A La Mode rival these legendary match-ups?
On to the battle!
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Sugar Mamma's -- pumpkin cheesecake and petit fours: I could tell the pumpkin cupcake was a monster by how heavy it felt when I took it out of the box, so I weighed it and it came in at 5 3/8 ounces. The pumpkin flavor is overwhelming, but it actually struck me as kind of dry -- more like a bread than a cake. Excellent cream cheese frosting, however. Not too sweet.
Inside the orange-colored, white-chocolate coating of the petit fours, I found vanilla cake and cream filling. Seemed like there was something orangey inside that was getting overpowered by the white chocolate and sugar, too. While I appreciated that the place gave me a happy one and a scary one, overall I wasn't that impressed with the Halloween treats at Sugar Mamma's.
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Cupcake A La Mode -- pumpkin-cheesecake cupcake and trick-or-treat cupcake: The pumpkin-cheesecake cupcake here is on the other end of the spectrum. It's a vanilla cupcake with a pumpkin-cream-cheese frosting that has only the slightest hint of pumpkin taste. Pretty good, but I could've used more pumpkin.
Ah, but the trick-or-treat cupcake is pretty right on. It's a chocolate cupcake with vanilla frosting covered in M&M Minis and what I think were crushed Butterfingers and Kit Kats. Is it the world's most imaginative cupcake? No. Do I want another right now? Yes.
Verdict: Neither of the pumpkin-related cupcakes quite did it for me, but I liked Cupcake A La Mode's pumpkin-cheesecake cupcake more than the straight-up pumpkin cupcake from Sugar Mamma's. I'll have to head back to Sugar Mamma's -- all the everyday cupcakes looked tasty, so I'm wondering if it's just the Halloween stuff that's off.
But today's clear winner is Cupcake A La Mode's trick-or-treat cupcake. After all, Halloween really is about the candy.
