House of Sweets -- the nostalgic cupcake bakery attached to Delray's House of Vintage -- opened its new Cupcake Cafe this Saturday with a host of free giveaways and a cupcake-eating contest that saw one dude devour a dozen of the personal-sized pastries in under six minutes. House proprietors Amanda Ginther and Michelle Parparian have sold their custom-made baked goods out of the 1920s house for more than two years, mostly filling special orders for parties and weddings. With the Cupcake Cafe, they hope to draw a crowd of sugar-seeking punters in to the store for sitdown cupcaking, whether that's kicking back in the cutesy kitchen or out in front of the store for a picnic-style snack. Hours will be Tuesday and Wednesday from noon to 6 and Thursday through Saturday noon to 9.
Ginther says the opening was a great success -- they sold out of almost all flavors by the time the cafe was closing Saturday. There were just a few of the vanilla left and a handful of black forest, a chocolate cupcake filled with a melting-sweet cherry and topped with homemade whipped cream. All told, the cafe went through 15 dozen cupcakes in less than six hours, not counting those ravaged in the contest. I arrived late but was able to snatch the last few vanilla as well as a pair of black forest.
While
many of the other cupcakeries in South Florida serve too-dense, too-dry
cakes with frosting that tastes sweet enough to be made from rock candy,
House of Sweets' cakes don't suffer from those ailments. The black
forest cupcakes are dense but moist and intensely chocolatey. The
best part about them, though, is the homemade whipped cream on top, a
satin sheet of downy topping that could never be confused with the
canned stuff. The vanilla cupcakes, however, are my favorite: they're
super-rich and so moist that they're slightly sticky to the touch. The
pink- or blue-hued vanilla frosting is amazingly as airy and light as
it is buttery/sweet. And they're just so goddamned cute.
The
House always sells vanilla and chocolate for $1.75 each but rotates
its $3 specialty flavors by the day. You can be sure I'll be going back
on Thursday, which is red velvet day -- I'm a sucker for cream cheese
frosting. Ginther told me she is too, so I can't wait to taste what
magic she can work there.
House of Sweets' Cupcake Cafe is located at 123 S. Swinton Ave. in
Delray Beach. Call 561-276-7477, or visit houseofsweetsbakery.com.
