A Story of Cupcakes: The Genesis of My Devotion

New Haven is apparently pretty well known for its food culture. As someone who follows not one, not two, but THREE food trucks on twitter and frequently checks such social media sites for their locations, I think I would have to agree. Oh, plus, we have 5 frozen yogurt stores within a 2 mile radius of one another. The fact that all of them are still currently open and operating probably says something about New Haven.

One of the best trucks, and the one I probably stalk the most is the Sugar Bakery cupcake truck. Heck, I don't even have to stalk them because I have their schedule memorized by heart. I've even gone above and beyond cupcakes and have had ordered cakes via phone from their bakery to pickup on the truck when its in town. While I know a lot of people are obsessed with cupcakes for the simple fact they're mini-cakes and so hip, these are legit some of the best cupcakes I've ever had. I've gone to a variety of other cupcake shops and trucks whose cupcakes while good, weren't mindblowing. They honestly weren't that much better from like, a Betty Crocker mix or something I could make (as in, my cupcakes are on par with Betty Crocker or worse). Sugar Bakery is the sole exception.

Clockwise from top left: Pumpkin Cheesecake, Tiramisu, Apple Pie, Carrot Cake

I can vividly remember the first time I realized Sugar Bakery cupcakes were special. It was summer 2012. The truck was brand new and I had just ordered a sherbet cupcake because it was late in the day and not many other flavors were remaining. This was the second cupcake I was trying after having tried some other one (probably cheesecake) that was pretty damn good. Now, when you think of sherbet, you think of that distinctive cool, sweet fruitiness that's light and not too dense. How could a cupcake possibly encapsulate that? Taking the cupcake out of its box, I fully expected to be disappointed with excessively sweet sugar and no sherbet. Instead, a whole new world of glorious tastes and cupcakes entered. IT ACTUALLY TASTED LIKE A GODDAMN SHERBET ICE CREAM. It obviously wasn't cold, but it was SO much like sherbet that if ice cream was room-temperature and cake-like, this would have been it. This was an entire new revelation. An entire new standard upon which all cupcakes would be compared to. If a sherbet cupcake was possible, a sherbet cupcake that truly captured all the essence of that sweet ice cream and its picture-esque summer time beaches, swim suits, flip flops and sun-kissed hair, there were no limits in what we as a human race could achieve.

White Chocolate Raspberry

It is because of that sherbet cupcake, I have no qualms about buying more than one cupcake when I see that truck. While it is no longer summer and sherbet has retired till the next summer, Sugar Bakery's fall cupcakes are better than any pumpkin beer or pumpkin latte you could get anywhere.

Apple Pie