The bacon craze isn’t over yet, at least judging from the menu at the still-unopened cupcake shop More (it’s scheduled to open September 12 at 1 E. Delaware). They’ve already developed a BLT cupcake and a bacon, maple, and brown sugar cupcake, and are working on one more to offer in their bacon tasting flights of “moresels”–bite-size cupcakes–to be sold in sets of six.
Gimmicky? Maybe, but the ones on offer at a preview tasting at the store yesterday were also pretty good. Out of the 12 or so sweet and savory cupcakes, the one with maple frosting and candied bacon was my favorite–sort of like dipping bacon in maple syrup, but better. The BLT, with ranch “frosting,” tiny tomato slices, micro basil, and bacon crumbles, had a nice balance of flavors, and I might have liked it even more if I liked ranch. Kelly, who I brought along for backup (and who does like ranch), was a fan.
Chaos Theory Cakes (owned by the Bleeding Heart Bakery), another place that does savory cakes, opened recently to mixed reviews. But Patricia Rothman, owner of More, says that she and consulting chef Gale Gand (of Tru) and executive pastry chef Todd Maturatai (formerly of Powerhouse), have worked hard to create savory flavors that people would come back for rather than just trying once.
We didn’t get to try all of the savory options, which include a fig, port, and blue cheese cupcake as well as a strawberry, peppercorn, and balsamic one. But I did have a Madras curry cupcake, topped with goat cheese that balanced out the mild curry flavor, toasted puffed rice that added a little crunch, and a blackberry, which gave it a shot of fruity sweetness. It tasted weird at first but ended up being a favorite for both of us. And a barbecue peach cupcake wasn’t so much savory as it was just slightly sweet, with a little smokiness–also nice.
The sweet cupcakes were mostly also good, particularly the red velvet, the salted caramel, and the Valrhona chocolate ganache. The only one I didn’t like was the lemon meringue, which left a weird aftertaste. None of the sweet cakes, though, stand out in my mind as clearly as the savory ones. Maybe I’m just easily distracted by bacon.