Our First Review! The Painted Cupcake-Toya

No lie, I was sitting at my desk one morning and I asked God to bless me with some joy for the day. Not even ten minutes later, this little bundle of joy from The Painted Cupcake pops up in my office...

The Lord works in mysterious and delicious ways.

A few weeks later I was able to get four more of these super cute cupcakes and share them with some friends who were having me over for a dinner date.

No wonder they are so cute; the owner Tracey Davenport is an artist turned baker who craftily designs a wide variety of cupcakes. (From the top left, Strawberry Fields, The Traditional,  Coconut Standoff &The Bugsy carrot cake). My dinner guests were all too willing to help me with my cupcake "research" as we split the four cupcakes between the four of us. The winning cupcake of the night? The Bugsy carrot cake, hands down. It was moist and not too spicy which for me was a plus. I find that some carrot cupcakes make the mistake of being borderline carrot cake muffins with just too many raisins, pineapples, etc. Carrot cake has NEVER been my flavor of choice but this had great flavor with just the right amount of cream cheese frosting and I'd get it again. The Coconut Standoff coconut cupcake came in second and was also delicious.  I think I stole someone's piece just to umm... "gain more clarity" on my decision.The Strawberry Fields strawberry cupcake was the most aesthetically pleasing to me but then again I am partial to the color pink. It was delicious and had a yummy strawberry center with a very creamy strawberry icing. With my personal favorite type of cupcake being a vanilla cake with vanilla icing, I was a little disappointed that The Traditional  cupcake came in fourth place. We debated whether the Coconut Standoff cupcake was the same cake as The Traditional cupcake and I said it wasn't (according to their website, I was correct). I wasn't crazy about the texture of the cake or the icing, which was somewhat grainy in texture and seemed to be not much more than powdered sugar.

Overall though, I thought the cupcakes were rather good and I look forward to visiting the shop to taste more flavors.  If I worked in downtown Nashville by the Arcade where they are located I would be in a lot of trouble. The Painted Cupcake is open on Tues-Thurs 9-4, Fri 9-5, Sat 10-5. Be sure to stop by and tell them that The Cupcake Gangstas sent you.