While at the UTC food court recently, we passed by the new location for Cupcakes Squared.
I had heard of Cupcakes Squared and had even tried some mini cupcakes once during a work event. I remember liking them, so we decided to stop for some treats to bring home.
They had 6 cupcake flavors available, many already prepackaged, and you can get mini ones or full sized ones. I’m not sure if the main location has more flavors available daily, but six seemed too little. I decided to get a set of four minis and one regular cupcake.
Since the cupcakes here are square shaped rather than round, they have these special wrappers which fold up to cover each of the four edges. I liked these wrappers, as you could unwrap one side a time and made it easier to access the bottom of the cupcake.
For the minis, I chose vanilla, chocolate, s’more, and lemon.
Even though I got four different flavors, two of them had the same chocolate base and two had the same vanilla base, with only the frosting being different. I enjoyed the cupcakes but they wouldn’t make my list of favorite chocolate or vanilla cupcakes.
Banana Split cupcake
For the regular cupcake, I chose the banana split. I wasn’t as big of a fan of this one. The inside was a little too moist and had some additional ingredients I’m not used to in a banana cupcake.
Overall, I had mixed feelings about Cupcakes Squared. I like the name and the cute design. And I had no problem finishing my cakes. I do wish there was more variety in the cupcake base itself rather than just the frosting and I thought they were on the pricey side.
Cupcakes Squared
UTC Mall Food Court
We were underwhelmed as well. I was pleased they had a gluten-free option, since my visiting nephew is GF. However, we felt the cupcakes were too sweet, which eclipsed the real flavors. I don’t know if they were a day old, but they were also a bit dry.
Yes, I agree the flavors are a bit one dimensional with the sweetness overwhelming the flavors.
I’ve wanted to try this place but didn’t want to drive to their Pt Loma location. What food court spot did they replace/take? I think the price for one of their cupcake seems high.
I’m not sure what they took over. It’s a tiny spot right at the entrance.
I think they have a passion fruit cupcake which made me quite happy, but then again I love anything with passion fruit…
Hmm, I think the passionfruit cupcake has a vanilla base and the frosting is the only thing that has the passionfruit flavor, which is why I didn’t get that one.
Aww too bad this place wasn’t so great :\ it looked so interesting at the start. But $4 for a single cupcake is a bit pricey… I would expect at least Sprinkles quality!
That said, did you know that there’s a sale at the Chuao store in UTC this weekend? I guess it’s their closing sale.
Yes, I did read about the sale! I’m sad it’s closing, as I almost always stop by when I’m at UTC, but I’m going to stock up for the closing sale. heh
oh, i didn’t realize they had another location now.
i agree with you that their cupcake bases lack variety. i bought what i thought would be a passionfruit cupcake. the base was vanilla and the frosting had lime peel and was flavored with passionfruit. total rip. i thought there would at least be passion fruit filling or that the cupcake itself (not the frosting) would have the featured flavor. that being said, i like the square look of the cupcakes though. easier to eat.
Oooh, the passionfruit was the sixth flavor they had that day. And I didn’t get it because that is the flavor I got when I tried them during the work event and I remember thinking the same thing! I thought the cake would actually be passionfruit, but it was just vanilla. I do like the look and I agree it makes it easier to eat, especially if you don’t love frosting.
Nice to know there’s a cupcake store at UTC again; I must have missed the signs the last I walked through the food court. I agree with you that while the cupcakes are cute, they’re pricey (and I thought Sprinkles was expensive!). My daughter really liked the old cupcake store before the remodel. Their regular cupcakes were Costco-muffin-sized and their minis were just a little smaller than a normal cupcake.
I never had a chance to visit the old cupcake store, though I knew of it. Yeah, this one charges even more than Sprinkles and I think Sprinkles tastes better. It’s a very small store, near one of the entrances/exits, so it is easy to miss if you aren’t looking out for it.