Cupcake Crawl 2012!

This past weekend, Courtney took one last trip to Chicago  as her year here in the states to raise support was coming to an end. She wanted to spend one last time with her Chicago gang before jetting away to Costa Rica.

So as I racked my brain to what we could do for our one on one time (Jeremiah's crankiness and eventual sickness had thwarted some plans the night before), it hit me....a Cupcake Crawl!

You see, the couple of times that she has been here, especially as of late, her and I have gone on a couple of cupcake escapades, usually in the name of free, fancy cupcakes.

And then a couple of those cupcakes made it back to Michigan, the most notable a Key Lime Cupcake from more.

But during her last visit I told her that when she came back for her "Goodbye Tour", we had to go to Sprinkles so that she could taste the ultimate S'more cupcake.

So Saturday morning, I googled, and yelped, plotted, and contemplated...and then there were 7. Yes, 7 bakeries that we were going to hit up.

A cupcake from each to be enjoyed and tasted later on that day. And so our journey began. We came across bachelor/bachelorette parties, parking woes, anxiously awaiting friends, whispers of "sizzling", tiny morsels of goodness, and gigantic mouthfuls of sweetness.

And then we raced back home to finish out the day. Courtney went on to each a brunch style lunch and relax in the park. I did some things around the apartment, hung out with my brother and sister-in-law during an impromptu visit and waited for the "festivities" to begin.

Not only did Courtney and I sit down for the "tastings" but Brad, Catie, Jacob, Tony, Angela, and JoAnna joined in on the fun as well.

As expected, there was a couple duds, though only one cupcake got a clear "thumbs down" from everyone (the Coconut Cupcake from Magnolia Bakery). But the funny thing was that there was no clear "winner". The two favorites were the Drumstick from Swirlz and the Chocolate Cheesecake from Twisted Baker (though it was definitely not a winner in everyone's book, in fact it was one of Courtney and my least favorite).

But the rest definitely stood their ground. The S'more I think will always be a top contender for me, and people were also impressed with More's blueberry cupcake, to hugeness of Crumbs PB Cup cupcake, and the peppermint/chocolate concoction of SugarBliss. Why yes, I do believe we've found a new tradition.