Cupcakes rouse childhood memories of birthday parties as well as grown-up gatherings in which these currently top “it” desserts are a main companion.
To feed the insatiable demand, cupcakeries have become so ubiquitous and practical, even the New York Times has followed the trend calling it the era of the “Great Cupcake Rush.”
So when you have 40 minute waiting lines with millions of worshippers from around the world finding their favorite dessert place (Sprinkles Cupcakes in Beverly Hills come to mind), any new cupcake-maker would make itself very suspicious to suddenly join the sugar rush.
Long Beach’s newest answer to this craze is an independently-owned, self-described dessert bar, Sweet Embellishments.
With trying it out the first time, it seemed like fair competition considering its semi-hidden location and editorial-ready internal landscape — a complete vision of a secret utopia not even five minutes east of the Cal State Long Beach campus.
Add the friendly price factor and it all might come together like a perfect song. Deals are definitely abundant — free cocoa or coffee by simply flashing your school ID, six dollars for half dozen assortments of cupcakes, cheesecakes and brownies, and dollar prices for other dessert items.
But, just as Sprinkles’ fame carries effortlessly around the globe, Sweet Embellishments succeeds in accomplishing the inverse results. Sweet Embellishments has no buzz, offers the same cupcake distinguished only by cake color and, most awful, tastes do not differ according to cupcake flavor.
For example, the pink lemonade cupcake had the same flat taste as the green tea cupcakes and red velvet cupcakes.
Similarly, other desserts sampled— like the whip ––, meringue-heavy cheesecakes—fell short on taste.
The blended strawberry drink was excessively mixed with cream and equally dull in taste. All that cream, frost and meringue seemed too gross too soon.
One item with passing marks was the one dollar s’mores brownies.
In these critical times of the Great Cupcake Rush, newer businesses have to consider what great new memory they could add to the cupcake experience. I didn’t find great things at Sweet Embellishments, aside from a sweetly embellished conviction that I’d never return.
