Sunday, December 4, 2011

My Cake...My Cupcake!

Cupcakes have a way of warming your heart. Their shape and colours pull at your heartstrings. Cairo has surely got onto the bandwagon of cupcakes and is today a cupcake lovers’ delight. With so many shops dedicated to cupcakes, one is spoilt for choice.
To begin with, there was Sugar and Spice, which used to cater lovely cupcakes for parties, even before they started their cafe in Zamalek, in a lane off Brazil Street. Soon, Nola’s cupcake opened on Brazil Street (again in Zamalek!) and was the first outlet in Cairo that was dedicated to cupcakes. Here, the feast starts with the eyes as you look at the rows of prettily decorated cupcakes, arranged in the glass shelf on one side of the shop. Nola sells cupcakes in two sizes and the most delicious ones are the peanut butter and the cupcake with the chocolate frosting. My personal favourite is the red velvet cupcake with the cream cheese frosting on the spongy cupcake.
You can’t have too much of a good thing. Even before it opened its doors next to the iShop in Zamalek, Crumbs had made quite a name for itself catering to baby showers and birthday parties. The signage at its door beckons you indoors. It says “Stay Calm and Have a Cupcake.” But your sangfroid is the first thing that goes out of its doors, the moment you step in and see the moth-watering cupcakes. The Oreo cupcake with the Oreo cookie center is delicious, so is the Crumbs birthday cake topped with M & Ms and filled with chocolate chips. In fact, recently, Crumbs has opened a second branch at Maadi on Road 9.







Dina Cantina does not have an outlet but its website (http://www.dinacantina.com/) offers the opportunity to create your own cupcake. Orders can be placed only through the internet, but the response is very fast, once you have placed the order. Dina Cantina’s cupcakes earn some serious brownie points on presentation; they almost look too good to eat. However, Dina Cantina does not sell cupcakes by the piece; an order of a dozen cupcakes has to be made and they also charge a steep delivery charge of LE 25.
The husband-wide duo of Rasha and Sherif also make cupcakes to order and they can do almost anything with it. “You just have to dream it and we can make it;” asserts Rasha. They can be found at https://www.facebook.com/groups/chocoravi/. I have found their prices to be the most reasonable and with high quality and personalised service too!So, this Christmas, go ahead and get your cup of cake!

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