date night + a cupcake review

Saturday night was date night. Like having a babysitter, leaving the house kind of date night. That's kind of a big deal because it's happened... oh about one other time since B was born.  I know, I know. That's a LOT less than our once a month goal (which we thought we were setting the bar low for since we previously did once a week.. yikes). But we don't have family in town and by the time you pay a babysitter date night becomes ex.pens.ive. I tried sending out a mass email to local moms in an attempt to set up a babysitting co-op but so far that's as far as it got. (Side note- local moms, let's trade babysitting. Puh-lease.)


But back to the point (sorry, I'm easily distracted).


Saturday night was date night. B's aunt and cousins came to hang out with him (okay so it wasn't a paid babysitter...but still) and he had an AWESOME time.

Mama and dada did too!

While B was basking in the glow of being Colson's sidekick, we were ice skating (which for the record- even though R is the more athletic of the two of us, I totally kick his butt at all things skating and snow or cold related), enjoying dinner, and grabbing dessert.



Dessert was kinda the whole point of the date night. Well, you know, besides that whole connecting with the hubby part. ;) Unfortunately, on the way to dessert I got hit hard with a migraine and we almost aborted the mission. Thankfully R knew I would totally regret it in the morning so we muddled through and were able to snag not one but four treats (for the road).


The dessert worth suffering through a migraine for?


Scratch Cupcakery!!


For those of you in Eastern Iowa, this is old (but delicious) news to you. For all my Central Iowa friends, this is something we've been anxiously awaiting. I had heard the hype for months and when West Des Moines finally opened their store this week, we knew we had to go!

A little backstory (as if the backstory above wasn't enough)- I do not like cake. Or cupcakes. At least I didn't used to. Seriously, we didn't even have a 'real' official wedding cake. We opted for cheesecake instead. So some of you may be wondering what in the world I'm doing reviewing a cupcake place.

Well.. I didn't used to like cake. But B has a major sweet-tooth and while I was feeding him in utero, I got a major sweet-tooth.

So now I like cake.


Ahem.




So off to Scratch Cupcakery we go.

Here's what I thought.

Marketing- Cute design. Easy to access through Facebook and web. I especially appreciated the cupcake description online (since I take a LONG time to decide what I want). The description for Sully (a common favorite on the employees page) was missing though. I was dying to know what (or who?) Sully was. Grade: A

Location- not exactly ideal but not so far out of the way it's not worth the trip. Mapquest showed us that it was a ways off Jordan Creek Parkway but it's actually right by it so while we don't normally take that route to the mall, we might start. Grade: B+

Storefront- It was dark and I had a migraine coming on big-time so I wasn't paying attention as I should have been but one thing that stood out to me- it's right next to a fitness center. It's RIGHT next to a fitness center! I mean come on, who does that?! I felt guilty about eating the cupcakes before I was even in the front door.  Grade: F (Okay... so I didn't feel THAT guilty, I'll give it a C+.)  ;)
The inside was simple, clean and cute. Not cluttered with too much 'ta-da' and the focus was definitely on the cupcakes. Grade: A

Service- We got there at approximately 6:52 pm. They close at 7. The gal that got our cupcakes for us was patient while we decided what we wanted and even kind when I changed my mind and had her put one back and switch it for another one. She wasn't annoyed that we were walking in the door close to closing time (at least she didn't show it if she was) and was helpful in the decision making process (choosing cupcakes is serious business). I give her an A+. The workers in the back also seemed friendly and professional (I've had a lot of experiences lately where employees have been sitting around using inappropriate language or complaining- while it doesn't necessarily affect me directly it does annoy me so I'm grading the guys in the back too...). They get an A.
The guy taking our money...... Might have been having a bad day. Might have been new (um, it was the second day they were open so he was very likely new if not from the other location). Might have just been ready to go home. Or Maybe had a migraine coming on himself. He wasn't rude but when I'm purchasing a cupcake called 'Oh Happy Day!' I like it to come with a smile. Or at least eye contact. I give him a B.


CUPCAKES: Great selection (especially since we were there so close to closing). In fact, if we would have been there earlier in the day with more options I may have been overwhelmed. They do rotate through the cupcake menu though and offer different flavors on different days. I am anxiously awaiting an available Wednesday so I can make it to Raspberry Lemon day!

We chose four- Sully, Mint Cookies n' Cream, Maple Bacon, and Oh Happy Day! Then we put Oh Happy Day! back and opted for Prince.

Descriptions from web: 

Prince: blue vanilla cake | blue vanilla buttercream | blue & white sprinkles

Mint Cookies n' Cream: chocolate cake | mint chocolate cookie buttercream | crushed chocolate cookies

Maple Bacon: vanilla bacon cake | maple cinnamon buttercream | crumbled maple bacon

Sully: description missing from web


I chose Sully because it was a common favorite listed on their website. (It was topped with m&ms and oatmeal and had peanut butter frosting so it would have been an easy sell anyway). It was delicious! Not too peanut buttery and while the oatmeal doesn't seem like enough to make a big difference, it did! I'm going to start topping everything with it. :) Grade: A+



Prince: Didn't try it but Colson told me it was REALLY good so I'm taking his word for it. A+

Mint Cookies n' Cream: I'll be honest, I chose it because mint is my current favorite color. I know that's a terrible reason to choose a cupcake but it seemed more logical than doing eeny meeny miney mo in front of the sweet cupcakeista. The mint frosting: Seriously YUM. I would be in big trouble (but very happy) if I had a tub just of that stuff. The chocolate cake was good but not great. I was hoping for it to be a little more moist but in fairness to the cupcake- it was the last one of the bunch I tasted and it had big shoes cupcake liners to fill. Grade: A



Maple Bacon: I know bacon is 'in' right now but I haven't jumped on that (super bad for us) trend. Yet. I chose the Maple Bacon cupcake because I thought it'd be the one my big brother would choose and I felt bad about ditching him for the day. So while I hadn't jumped on that 'bacon on everything' trend yet, I might just start driving the bandwagon today. Um. YUM. Seriously. To die for! I ate the whole cupcake for breakfast (other than the few bites I snuck at midnight because it was beaconing me from the other room!) and I didn't feel one bit bad about it. It was good enough to make me forget all about that gym conveniently located next door to Scratch and if I had a tub of the maple cinnamon buttercream I'd be in HUGE trouble. Emphasis on the huge. I'm gonna give this one an A++ but only because I think anymore plus signs might be annoying. It was that good. (Yes- it was so good I ate it all before there was enough daylight to get a decent picture so I present this not so lovely iPhone picture instead:)



So overall, I think you MUST go check out Scratch. Like right now. Stop what you are doing and get there immediately. Well maybe not immediately because they aren't open on Sundays and would probably frown upon you breaking in for cupcakes. But get there soon. Like maybe tomorrow.

And if you need someone to tag along for moral support, please invite me. I still have 50+ flavors to try.

P.S. Yes I did all my cupcake tasting behind B's back. Poor kid doesn't know what he's missing out on. :)

Have you been yet? What are your favorite flavors?