Love at First Bite- Cupcakery!

Ok, this blog is subtitled "discovering the deliciousness," and the election stuff is just not so delicious anymore, and while Paloma herself is near-edible, I thought I should dip back into the gustatory pleasures. So I bring you:

Love At First Bite! A Cupcakery and Bakery in Berkeley. Why? Well, the other night I was watching the Food Channel (that and HGTV are pretty much the only tv I can watch). And Mark Sommers (whom I will always think of as the host of that Nickelodeon kids' game show) was at Sprinkles in LA, which is a lovely little cupcakery. (The chef owners are from the Bay Area.)

And I thought, "I know that bliss!" And I do. Love At First Bite is a fantastic place for a treat. It's not like other bakeries that feature glass cases of cookies, croissants, etc. They have their artistic, delicious cupcakes under glass cake domes, and all you have to do is point to whatever looks most tempting.

I have fallen to the seductive power of red velvet many times, but the creamy vanilla and perfect cookies and cream cupcakes worked their magic, as well. And if they happen to have their banana pudding, forget it. You can't leave without a box of it.

These aren't your run of the mill cupcakes. The ingredients are fabulous, and you can taste it. It really shows up in the texture of the cupcake, which beautifully holds nuanced flavors of vanilla and lemon as well as bolder flavors like chocolate and cream cheese. Depending on the cupcake, the texture might be fluffy or dense, but either way it's totally satisfying.

And relatively inexpensive! At $2.50-$3.00 a pop you can take home a few kinds, and it's a lot less than a whole cake. And anyway, I'm a tapas-type eater anyway (grazer), so a bite of heaven is perfect.

I'm a cupcake convert!