What makes a great cupcake?
A moist cake. Just the right amount of icing. Flavours that burst through the sweetness. These are the hallmarks of a great cupcake.
With the robust trend of cupcakes as the ‘it’ baked good of the decade, we’ve all oohed and aahed over a swirl of icing atop a perfectly portioned cake. And since the trend shows no signs of easing off, we’re bound to continue sampling.
So for your culinary pleasure, we’ve rounded up some of the best places in the province to get your cupcake fix—all made with canola!
Selkirk, Manitoba: The Pantry
In Selkirk, stop by The Pantry, a new café that’s part of Benjamin’s Gourmet Foods. Chef MJ Feeke and her staff promise to have at least one of their signature cupcakes on offering: chocolate, red velvet and carrot cake (they’re all fantastic but opt for the carrot if you really want perfection). It’s an airy space to enjoy a soup and a sandwich too.
Osborne Village in Winnipeg: The Cupcake Corner
The Cupcake Corner in Winnipeg’s Osborne Village neighbourhood always has a terrific selection in stock including chocolate with mocha icing, vanilla with peanut butter icing and chocolate with banana icing (just to name a few).
Cupcakes come in a mini version too. But your most rewarding bet might be the feature cupcakes that are on display. It could be a luscious chocolate cupcake topped with whipped cream cheese, pecans and caramel or a vanilla cupcake with a sweet lemon curd centre and topped with fresh raspberry icing.
Winnipeg’s Exchange District: Cake-ology Cakes
Every trip to Winnipeg’s Exchange District should include a stop at Cake-ology Cakes. Pam and her staff stock the pastry case in this tiny space with an ever-changing assortment of vanilla, chocolate, marble, lemon, red velvet, banana, carrot and spice cupcakes. Icings include the usual favourites along with mocha, raspberry, strawberry, saskatoon, cinnamon, lemon, orange, cream cheese and maple.
But pop by on any given holiday and you’ll be in for a treat. Example: Guinness stout cupcake with Irish cream butter cream for St. Paddy’s Day. I’ll take two please.
Brandon, Manitoba: Sweet City Cupcakery
There’s always at least eight varieties to choose from in Brandon’s newest sweet spot, Sweet City Cupcakery. Could you possibly resist a Cuckoo for Coconut cupcake? How about something called Almond Caramel Crunch—a sweet almond cake topped with butter cream frosting, drizzled with caramel and finished off with Skor pieces?
Take your pick from regular sized cupcakes or the mini variety (you can sample more flavours if you pick the minis). Premium ingredients mixed with a whimsical attitude make for a delicious combination.
What’s Your Cupcake Personality?
If you had to choose one flavour of cupcake to suit your personality, what would you pick? We’ve rounded up nine cupcake flavours, given them a personality and shared the recipe with you to make at home. Visit the Cupcake Personality gallery and tell us “What’s Your Cupcake Personality?” for a chance to win grocery gift cards.
Cupcake photo in header is an award winning Chocolate Stout Cupcake with Mocha Frosting. Although not one of the personalities it is a delicious cupcake you can make in your home kitchen.
Eat Welll…Shel Zolkewich
Shel writes about the outdoors, travel and food when she’s not playing outside, on the road or eating at www.shelzolkewich.com. Her recent adventures have included a trip to the tundra to serve as cook at a caribou hunting camp and making a long overdue journey to Ukraine with her dad Merv.
An avid angler and hunter and writes the hunting column in the Winnipeg Free Press (Winnipeg, Canada).
She’s written for Up! Magazine, Going Places, Canadian Gardening, Travel Manitoba, Outdoor Canada, Western Living, The National Post, West Magazine, Winnipeg Free Press, The Globe & Mail, EnRoute and various Websites.
