Bacon in a Cupcake?

Our most recent cupcake adventure transpired a few weeks ago at a little cupcakery in the Heights called Frosted Betty. Tucked away in an old building, adjacent to a boutique, Frosted Betty has more unconventional flavors you don't find at most of the cupcake shops or in your boxed mix varieties. While I'm a bit more of a traditional flavor aficionada, I will get a little daring once in awhile. And since we arrived at Frosted Betty a few hours before closing time, the selection was limited, so we didn’t have much choice but to experiment with the few options that were available. It appears this cupcakery bakes a batch for the entire day and once they're gone; they're gone.

My boyfriend asked the employee about the different flavors. When he came up on one the employee said was, "maple bacon," my boyfriend's facial expression was of utter disgust. The employee told us how popular the flavor is and to prove my boyfriend's repulsion wrong, he gave us the last maple bacon cupcake for free. Reluctant to try it myself, the boyfriend forced it upon me. It actually wasn't bad. I’m not a sweet and salty mix fan, so I probably wouldn't get it again, but it was better than I expected. The maple frosting was creamy and the more predominant flavor with just a hint of bacon bits (not imitation) inside a light-colored maple cupcake.

The next cupcake I tried was almond ricotta raspberry. There was only a hint of almond and ricotta, so it wasn't overpowering. The raspberry frosting was the most noticeable flavor with subtle touches of the other two flavors combined. The verdict? This cupcake was just acceptable. It was edible, but not a favorite.

The last cupcake I consumed was salted caramel. Of all three cupcakes I sampled from Frosted Betty, I liked this one the most. It was a chocolate cupcake with caramel butter cream frosting and a sprinkle of French sea salt on top. Even though I don't prefer the sweet and salty combination, the salt did give the cupcake an interesting burst of flavor atop the caramel frosting.

We also tried their cake balls. We had red velvet with chocolate coating and vanilla with chocolate coating. The coating is almost like a hard shell. Both flavors were satisfactory. We never had cake balls before and heard this is a new trend, so wanted to give them a try. But we'll just stick with cupcakes for now.

Frosted Betty has traditional options, but I think their specialty cupcakes are what differentiate them in the cupcake market. While Frosted Betty hasn't beaten my favorite cupcakery (which I will reveal in a future post), I'd recommend them for more adventurous palates that want unusual flavors.