Cupcake Central, Melbourne CBD by Bureaucrat

Mmm…cupcakes.  There’s just something about cupcakes.  They’re dainty, pretty and just irresistible.  Give me a perfect, glossy cupcake anytime – I much prefer them than macarons or a hand-made chocolate truffle…I even prefer them over my much-loved custard-filled doughnuts from Walkers.  I love the buttery, light-as-air texture of the cake itself; the soft, creamy, sugary icing (ideally buttercream, fresh cream or similar – no plain icing sugar mixed with water, please); the small delicate serving size that belies the calories and foodie bliss it can bring.

 

Make no mistake, I lurve cupcakes.  So it’s quite a feat that I haven’t blogged about cupcakes on the blog.  As much as I love them, they love my waistline a bit too much (and being gluten intolerant takes the fun out of it a bit).  So really, the fact that I’ve taken so long to blog about cupcakes is testament to my will power of not indulging in one every time I felt like one (with a strong cup of afternoon or earl grey tea – served with a dash of full cream milk and no sugar).

 

With a branch of Cupcake Central near my work, it was inevitable that I’d get cupcakes from there.  And so in the last few weeks, my resolve had crumbled.  Their siren song of cake + icing + pretty colours has claimed its victim.  I finally caved in and bought a cupcake one day… then a few days past… and I just had to buy another one… and another one… and another one…

 

One of CC’s best sellers is the red velvet cupcake cake.  A pretty dark shade red, the cake is quite moist and I loved the sour cream icing.  This is definitely one I’d have again… and again.

 

In an attempt to treat myself but be good at the same time, I got the gluten-free and vegan-friendly cookie dough cupcake.  For a GF cake, the flavor of the cake fairly resembled a cake made out of regular wheat flour but it was a bit denser in texture.  However, I didn’t care for the cookie dough filling – it tasted and had the texture of cookie dough but it’s just not my thing.

 

The salted caramel is one of my favourites.  It has a gooey inner of salted caramel, which isn’t too sweet.  It has a nice hint of saltiness.

 

While I’m not a fan of lemon cake, I got the lemon meringue cupcake because I love meringues.  A bit of gooey lemon curd in the middle, and the meringue was ever so slightly chewy.  This was a nice cupcake but it wasn’t anything special for me. 

 

I’ve never come across black velvet cake before, so I was intrigued with what it would taste like.  However, this the most disappointing one for me – it’s essentially a plain cake dyed black and flavoured with almond essence and flaked almonds.  I’m not a fan of almond essence so besides a few bites out of this cupcake, I left it.  I was expecting something more exciting than almonds for something that’s called black velvet cake.

 

Verdict

Food – 7.5
Ambience – 7
Service – 7
Price – 7

 

Overall

I quite like the cupcakes at CC.  They have a pleasing cake to icing ratio, and the cakes are buttery, light and moist.  Each day, there’s a range of about eight cupcakes to choose from… so there’ll always be a flavor that you just need/want/must try.

 

Address

Cupcake Central
Level 2, Dining Hall
Melbourne Central SC
Melbourne 3000
9077 4542