Cupcake Disappointment in Sydney

Our entire trip was fantastic, but overall, I was a tiny bit disappointed in the quality of cupcakes we found there. On our first night in Sydney, we headed over to Cupcakes on Pitt, a cupcake bakery whose website looked amazing. I had very high hopes for this one.

Inside Cupcakes on Pitt

When we got there, the store was really adorable, and the cupcakes in the case looked great. Vica and I chose an assortment - vanilla sundae, chocolate sundae, tiramisu, strawberry, chocolate, and lemon meringue. We promptly took them back to our hotel and set out to try every one of them. The cupcakes were slightly larger than a mini cupcake. Unfortunately, the cake part was so dry on all of the vanilla ones. It was about a half hour before close, so it's possible these cupcakes were more moist during the day, but I don't know. The worst though was the lemon meringue. The taste of the filling was offensive, and it sent Vica and I running for water to wash it away.

Cupcakes from Cupcakes on Pitt

Having struck out at Cupcakes on Pitt, we found another cupcake bakery on the way to Bondi Beach, The Cupcake Bakery. After some googling, we found they had a location in the Queen Victoria Building (QVB), a really nice shopping mall near our hotel. Our last day there, Vica and I split up and I went sightseeing by myself while she went to pet kangaroos. I had wanted to see the QVB anyway, so I set off in that direction, and after navigating an extremely confusing basement, found the cupcake bakery. It was a cute stand in the mall and they had a ton of cupcakes there. I picked out an assortment, saw more of the sights, and headed back to the hotel to lay down before the next feat (walking the Harbour Bridge). Vica came back from the Taronga Zoo, excited about all the kangaroos and koalas, and starving. These cupcakes were better than Cupcakes on Pitt, but still a little on the dry side. I'd go with The Cupcake Bakery though if I needed a bakery in Sydney.

The Cupcake Bakery in the QVB

That was all the cupcakes we tasted in Australia. After Australia, we went to Auckland, NZ, but were unable to find any cupcake shops or even cupcakes there.

Vica eating cupcakes from The Cupcake Bakery

This means I'm at the end of my vacation cupcake photos, but I'll be back to regular blogging about the cupcakes I have going on.

More Cupcakes than Kangaroos in Australia

Since coming back from my trip, I've felt like such an Australia failure. One of the first questions everyone asks is "So did you see any kangaroos??" Sadly, I did not see any kangaroos there. People just can't believe this. In Australia, we really only were in cities, where kangaroos don't live, and I didn't have the time to go to the zoo while in Sydney. My friend Vica did, and I'm living vicariously through her kangaroo experience (she also ate kangaroo - ewww). She just sent me pictures from our vacation and there's a ton from the zoo so I feel like I was there (and am very jealous she got to pet a kangaroo!).

Cupcakes in Macca's - not a bad price!

I may not have seen any kangaroos, but I did see a ton of cupcakes surprisingly. They seemed to be following us. While we were in Airlie Beach, we wandered into the McDonald's (or Macca's as it's nicknamed in Australia) to get a soft serve cone, and at the McDonald's Cafe, there were cupcakes! Almost all of the McDonald's there have what's like a Starbucks-type cafe inside, separate from the other food. It's pretty nice, and I gather that's what they're starting to do here in the U.S. with the McCafe drinks. The first time we saw those cupcakes, we didn't try any because I was already set on icecream, but when we went back a few days later, they were all out of cupcakes. When we asked about them at the register, the woman told us that she could take some out of the freezer for us. Clearly we passed up that offer. Frozen cupcakes? No thanks.

On the our sailing trip in the Whitsunday Islands, it always felt like food was scarce. Because no one brought food on with them, what we ate and when we ate were entirely up to the crew. And the cook, Fern, particularly didn't seem to care if we all starved to death. That being said, one afternoon as a snack there were cupcakes. They were vanilla cupcakes with a glaze-like frosting, covered in nonpareils. It was probably the best thing I ate on the trip.

Cupcakes in the Whitsundays

Next up, I'll let you guys know about the two cupcake bakeries I visited in Sydney.

I'm Back! With Cupcakes from Down Under!

Me outside of Little Cupcakes

My two week Australia/New Zealand trek started in Melbourne, the city my brother had studied abroad in and I had heard so much about. We were staying with three of Eric's friends, who definitely showed my friend Vica & I a good and authentic Aussie time. Our first day in the city, our first stop was the cupcake shop I had read about, Little Cupcakes. Located on the laneway DeGraves Street, this place was really cute. I loved the whole feel of Melbourne, and DeGraves Street personified the cluttered laneway/outdoor cafes vibe. My first thought was that the cupcakes looked great, but they were pretty pricey. I think each was $2.50 Australian Dollars, which with the exchange rate we had, was about $2/cupcake. They were the mini size though.

Red Velvet - Love the stars!

I brought a dozen of these back to the guys' place to try, and we all thought they were pretty good. My favorite was definitely the white chocolate raspberry, but the ones with the Teddy Grahams were just adorable. These cupcakes were definitely the type we're used to in America. The buttercream frosting was similar to the one I use, not the cooked buttercream that's popular elsewhere. The cake itself was a bit dense, more like a muffin than a cake.

Teddy cupcake on my guide book

If you ever find yourself in Melbourne, these are definitely cupcakes worth checking out.

Cupcakes Down Under

So, tomorrow I leave for a 2 week trip to Australia and New Zealand. I am beyond excited, and being as I've been planning this trip for 4 months now, very happy it's finally here! My friend Vica & I have an awesome trip planned that includes Melbourne, Whitsunday Islands, Sydney, and Auckland.

This trip means I probably won't be blogging much, if at all, over the next two weeks, but I will be sampling a couple cupcake bakeries in Australia. Most notably:

Little Cupcakes in Melbourne: Melbourne is the first stop on the trip, and maybe the place I'm most excited to go to. My brother studied abroad there in the Spring of 2007 and I was so jealous every time I read one of his emails from there.

Photo from Little Cupcakes website

Cupcakes on Pitt in Sydney: My college, Boston University, had a really popular study abroad program in Sydney so I had a lot of friends who were there for several months. We're staying in the Central Business District (prior to doing research, we almost ended up in the Red Light District) and hopefully we will be able to find cupcakes there. There's Cupcakes on Pitt and the pictures on their website looked awesome. I'm hungry just thinking about them.

I'm reallyyyy excited for this Strawberries & Cream cupcake
from Cupcakes on Pitt. And about 20 of the others they have

I haven't been able to locate online a cupcake bakery in Auckland. You can be sure when I get back I'll be posting all the cupcake pictures from the trip. Make sure to check back in a couple weeks!