REVIEW (w/foodie porn flix and pix!): Kara's Cupcakes in Oxbow

[Bon Vivant]

For foodie porn flix and pix click: http://myculinaryadventures.blogspot.com

A preview of coming attractions – cupcakes galore:

Like a lot of people, I had been waiting for Kara’s Cupcakes to open up in Oxbow for a long time. Finally, this week I received an email from the good folks at Oxbow informing me of Kara’s grand opening – that day.

I was hesitant at first since I’m uber picky about my cupcakes. Down in my former domicile, Los Angeles, cupcake stores are everywhere and most of the cupcakes are dreadful: dry, tasteless cake and frosting that is over dominated by sugar and lacks any nuance of flavor. But I was pleasantly surprised by Kara’s cupcakes.

My favorite cupcake thus far:

This is the Spring Chick, a vanilla cupcake filled with passion fruit cream and topped with a vanilla frosting adorned with coconut. Great flavors (all of the components were really balanced) and the texture was lovely.

A close-up of the Meyer Lemony Lemon which seems to be one of their more popular flavors:

The grand tour of the platter of cupcakes:

Both chocolate cupcakes, the Chocolate Velvet and the Fleur de Sel, were really good! The Fleur de Sel was one of my favorite cupcakes: the cake was very dense and the chocolate ganache was fabulous. Added to this was a caramel filling which I felt was somewhat unnecessary considering how rich and delicious the cake and frosting were.

And finally, a pic of the “normal” chocolate cupcakes:

Kara’s Cupcakes
Oxbow Public Market
610 First Street, Suite 19
Napa, CA 94559

[mangiamia]

I just went to Karas at Oxbow and was not very impressed. Cute little cupcakes, sweet, sweet, sweet, and not much other flavors. Okay, the Fleur de Sel was pretty good, but the coffee one was quite tasteless. The icing felt like a lump of fat in my mouth.

[jobostonisafoodie]

This is a review of Kara's Cupcakes in general since I don't think the quality or the ingredients are any different between branches. My favorite is the Sweet Vanilla. Hands down. I also appreciate that the frostings are not too stiff.

I have had the Fleur de Sel and I am not catching onto the salt and chocolate vibe as of yet. My cupcake had too much salt and all I tasted was salt. I did find the caramel to be delicious though.

Cute place and I see they're becoming very popular.