magnolia vs kiss my bundt: my personal cupcake wars
In July 2010, New York’s most famous cupcakes opened an outpost just down the street from what I have for two years considered to be the best cake in Los Angeles (and some of the best in the country), Kiss My Bundt. So, of course, I had to do a cake-off.
Joined by friends, I strolled into the new Magnolia on Third Street in Los Angeles and ordered one chocolate, one vanilla and one red velvet cupcake. Then down the street to Kiss My Bundt where we harassed Kiss My Bundt’s owner, Chrysta Wilson, into sitting down with us us for a little head-to-head competition.
What you may not suspect about me is that cake is my biggest weakness. Being a food professional who takes every opportunity to taste the most interesting and exotic flavors in the world, you would think that I would be “above” the common cake. But no. I am an absolute cake whore, sampling the supposed “best of” wherever I go. And so I consider myself extremely qualified to compare the caketastic pride of LA and NYC despite my personal involvement with Kiss My Bundt. (After having discovered Chrysta Wilson’s little pink and brown bakery, I published her first cookbook, Kiss My Bundt recipes from the award-winning bakery.)
Brandishing plastic forks, we attacked the tasting from delicate flavors to the more rich, so red velvet was first. Now, Kiss My Bundt’s red velvet is a point of pride for Chrysta. The cake, which has been featured in several LA publications, is a recipe that truly speaks of Wilson’s Southern heritage. So it was no surprise to me that Chrysta’s was the superior cake.
As Chrysta says, red velvet should just “taste like cake.” In other words, it shouldn’t seem heavy or chocolaty or overly sour. The Magnolia cake was none of those things but nor was it particularly cake-y. In fact, it tasted of nothing but sweet. The frosting on the Magnolia was lovely. It was a light and fluffy vanilla frosting, (I’m guessing it had a touch of egg white but not as much as you would find in Italian buttercream). However, atop a cake that lacked depth of flavor it just didn’t quite work. (I tried spreading a little bit of it on both the Magnolia and KMB vanilla cakes and found this to be a much more compelling match.) One plus with regards to both cakes is that neither had that almost metallic flavor of red dye. When a bakery over-uses dye to get a vibrant red color it compromises flavor but both of these cakes showed restraint.
The vanilla cakes were a bit of a better match-up. I remembered Magnolia as making a delicious vanilla cupcake, although I hadn’t had it in about 3 years. This time, I was disappointed in the crumbly texture. I could swear last time the cake was much more moist. But the flavor was excellent. KMB’s vanilla was a more dense and substantial cake with far less frosting (my preference). The Magnolia buttercream is thick and sweet and it reminded me of a child’s birthday party. KBM’s is more fluffy, which, although I realize is just a matter of personal preference, was the superior topping in my estimation.
Last came the chocolates. I am sad to report that the Magnolia was a grave disappointment. I could tell by the color that it lacked the richness of high-fat cocoa powder that makes KMB’s chocolate cake so addictive. The cake, once again, was crumbly. It also lacked chocolaty richness. If you love super-gooey frosting, that would be the cake’s one saving grace. But I like to taste chocolate in my chocolate cake, not frosting. Although we took the leftover cakes home for later, the Magnolia chocolate never found its way to anyone’s mouth. Instead, it went straight from box to garbage bin.