The Hermit Emerges

The traffic in Tampa had made me quite the hermit in the past 7 months. I only go out when absolutely necessary or I emerge when I know the roads will be clear. I decided that an early afternoon jaunt on a Saturday was the perfect time to explore some Tampa-based cupcake bakeries. 

And I brought a friend along for the ride, my friend Jeffrey---who happens to be a paleo diet devotee but is often taken to the dark side by yours truly. 

located at: 902 Busch Blvd, Carrollwood, Tampa, Florida

Our first stop was to Nicola's Donuts, which actually is part donut shop and part cupcake bakery. We opted to get two donuts to share along with a fudge brownie cupcake. Each cupcake is $2.75. 

Can I just say that the maple bacon donut that we shared was beyond amazing. It was fluffy, not-too-sweet and super flavorful. The cupcake, on the other hand, was a huge disappointment. Completely dense, utterly dry and totally inedible. One bite and I was done. Please avoid their cupcakes but order their maple bacon yeasted donut, ASAP.

Our day of carbo overloading wasn't over; we also found ourselves at a cupcake bakery, not too far from our first stop: Sweet Tweets Bakery. The bakery specializes in cupcakes and cakes and even has customizable cupcakes. (The employee offered to make a different cupcake than the ones in the display case). Cupcakes vary in price from $2.50-$3.50. 

located at: 11127 Dale Mabry, Carrollwood, Tampa, Florida

Despite the offer of a customizable cupcake, I opted for their almond jelly roll cupcake: an almond cake, topped with raspberry frosting and filled with raspberry jelly. Aside from it being chilled from refrigeration (a big no-no in my book), it was pretty fluffy and very flavorful. Sampling the frosting, cake and filling each alone proved they were not super tasty but combined in one perfect bite, the cupcake was delicious.

Jeffrey ordered at chocolate peanut butter cupcake, which was fairly tasty but not quite as good as the almond jelly roll cupcake. 

At least on this weekend adventure, we sampled a tasty cupcake and one amazing donut!