I hope everyone is enjoying their Christmas.  I am spending the day with my family, finished off with a big feast.  While I usually just opt out of eating turkey, this year I decided I wanted my own Christmas dinner so I am making portobello mushrooms with chestnut stuffing.  Hope it turns out! My family has done our first round of gift opening.  My immediate family had a very minimal gift exchange which we all prefer.  I received a very cute cupcake holder which I will be using to cart cupcakes around to review.  Anyways back to the kitchen for me, have a Happy Christmas!

I went on my second cupcake hunt last week before heading home for the holidays. The second stop on my adventure was Dufflet on Queen West. Dufflet is not exclusively a cupcake place; they serve up a plethora or decadent looking desserts. I stopped in at Dufflet following a little shopping, and picked up a few goodies which I enjoyed at home.

Double Vanilla Cupcake from Dufflet (Leah Wong)

Flavour: Double Vanilla
Cake: 5/5
Icing: 4/5
Presentation: 4/5
Flavour Variety: 1/5
Location: 4/5
Total Points: 17/25

I have no hesitations saying that Dufflet serves up a delicious cupcake. The vanilla cake was perfection, topped with a mildly sweet vanilla bean icing.  The one thing that I find sets cupcakes apart is their icing.  While Dufflet ranks high on my list for icing, there was one small problem, the cupcake only has a small spread of icing on it.  As someone who thinks a relatively equal ratio of icing to cake is important in a cupcake I found myself disappointed and craving more when I finished the cupcake.  Dufflet’s cupcake is almost too big – their website lists their cupcake as having a 3″ diameter.  Another aspect I find important for cupcakes is that the icing should go to the edge of the cupcake.  As Dufflet’s cupcakes were not the usual muffin-shaped cupcakes with a narrower base, there was empty space from the edge of the cupcake to where the icing began.

Dufflet isn’t a cupcake-specific shop, but this isn’t where my low flavour variety rating comes from.  My problem with Dufflet was that while they very well may have one of Toronto’s best cupcakes, their cupcakes are hidden behind too many other desserts.  In my treat selection, I not only purchased a Double Vanilla Cupcake, but I also purchased a Chocolate Espresso Cheesecake Mini.  It was absolutely orgasmic, causing me to recommend Dufflet for its specialty desserts over cupcakes – as a cupcake lover, that is taboo.  Additionally, Dufflet does not label what all of their desserts are, something that always makes the choosing process difficult as while everything looks so amazing, I would rather choose based on flavours and tastes I like rather than appearance.

The location of Dufflet is fairly close to my favourite shops on Queen West, making it a good spot to get a sugar boost during a day of walking and shopping.  However, in terms of going for cupcakes, it is a little out of the way for a limited selection of flavours.