Best Visiting Teacher Ever

Last night my Visiting Teacher Barbara called, asking is she could drop by.  I said, "Of course!" knowing that Barbara always comes bearing excellent gifts.  But I was not prepared when I opened my door and she presented me with cupcakes from Scottsdale!  She knows that I've been fine-tuning my cupcake recipes, gearing up to start selling like crazy.  So she brought me cupcakes from two of the nearest (over 1 1/2 hours away!) cupcakeries, Sprinkles and Scottsdale Cupcakes.  I was beyond touched.  I could not wait to taste them all, and make notes on what ideas I might adapt for my own purposes.  What follows is a highly critical assessment of Scottsdale Cupcakes (and Barbara, lest you think I did not enjoy the cupcakes because my opinion of them may not have been the highest, be reassured that with every disappointing bite, my excitement at beating my competitors soared!).  So I put a movie on for the kids, and Chad and I sneaked into our room with a plate of halved cupcakes.  We tasted all four flavors from Scottsdale Cupcakes.

From left to right:
Tuxedo: slightly bitter supermarket-bakery-caliber chocolate cake with yucky white frosting.  I called the shop, and she swore up and down that the frosting is real buttercream, so I'm not sure why it didn't taste good.
Deluscious: bland vanilla cake with cookies & cream frosting (the Oreo flavor was nice, but I still didn't like the frosting).
Cosmopolitan: moist cake, but I couldn't tell it was supposed to have a cranberry flavor; VERY tart and over-powering lime-vodka icing.
Momo: yummy cinnamon & sugar cake with Madagascar vanilla frosting, sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar.  Definitely the winner of the bunch, but that frosting ruined it.

In summary: I cannot account for the great reviews this place gets in local print.  I would choose my own homemade cupcakes over theirs any day: better tasting for half the price!