KMK: Cupcakepalooza Groove Article

Winter doldrums got you down? Well, don’t fret because we’ve got what you need to put a smile back on your face and a sparkle in your eye: cupcakes. Don’t laugh. Seoul just doesn’t do the run of the mill Hostess HoHo or Ding Dong. Instead we’re talking about a riot of rainbow frosting, with flavors that tantalize the tongue, smothering moist cup sized cakes. You see, cupcakes in Seoul are serious business. Well, the whimsical side of serious, but serious nonetheless. So Chalica and I went in search of the crème de le crème of the city’s cupcake confectionaries.

My quest for cupcake nirvana began in Sinsa on the fashion forward streets of Garousu-gil. There we found the whimsical Mug for Rabbit. Proprietor Yoo Yung-Ji opened her doors in January of 2008. It’s a spacious café with an open patio, ample seating, with high ceilings and fans dizzily spinning overhead. The interior is in rabbit white with yellow and blue accents. Snazzy lounge music plays in the background. It’s the epitome of comfort. Just snag a spot close enough to the display case to peruse the bevy of cupcake morsels. The selection includes over a half dozen delights like spring green tea, blueberry, cookies & cream, raspberry, mint chocolate, pumpkin and chocolate.

Biting into one of their blueberry cupcake was like taking a bite out of a cloud. The cake was pure spongy deliciousness with a creamy frosting imbued with a bluish hue and topped with a fresh blueberry. Each cupcake is homemade and costs 5,000W. They’re worth every single won. Just as enticing are Rabbit’s special lattes. You can choose either the intriguing ginger latte or the more eye popping Wasabi. A tough choice to be sure, but Rabbit merits a return trip to sample both.

Just around the corner from Rabbit awaits Goodovening, another stepping stone on the path to cupcake bliss. Walking inside to mint green walls, shelves of brightly colored candy, and the lingering smell of coffee makes it feel like you’ve entered the home of some good natured hobbit. The owner, Kim Shin-ae, opened the Sinsa branch in August of 2009, but she has shops in Bundang, Ilsan, as well as branches all over Seoul and a relationship with Hyundai department stores. Her flag ship shop is near Dosan Park in Apgujeong. Her pastry chefs, like Lee Ji-Eun of the Sinsa branch, are like wonderfully gifted wizards conjuring up uncanny combinations of ingredients and flavors into cupcake masterpieces. The selection includes a choice between butter cream and whip cream frosted cupcakes. Butter Cream includes red velvet, cacao-matcha, cookies & cream, funky berry, and chocolate cloud while English tea party, peanut pumpkin, banana chocolate, and espresso mint condition rounds out the whip cream side of things.

The use of cutesy deigns, vibrant colors, and decorative candies are all decidedly playful and will bring a smile to even those with an inner Grinch lurking inside. To top it all off Goodovening offers a few specialty items like the homemade candy PapaBubble as well as several specialty cream sodas. With flavors like bubblegum, green peppermint, and blue curacao you’ll want to taste each one. Goodovening entices not only with tasty morsels, but also with a 4,500W price tag for each item on the menu, making it an ideal spot to settle down for the evening.

Unfortunately, my respite didn’t last long. I left the sanctuary of Goodovening behind, drawn by the smell of sweet sweets, back onto Garousu-gil. My wandering, while gripped in the throes of cupcake fever, led me straight to Maman Gateau baking studio and dessert café. Sadly their cupcake goodies had been devoured by voracious customers. The wise folks at Maman Gateau periodically reintroduce cupcakes into the menu, especially during holiday seasons, whetting the public’s appetite and building anticipation until finally loyal patrons can get their cupcake fix. Just this past Halloween they whipped up a pumpkin cupcake with yellow cheese icing decorated with ghosts and ghoul cookies. Owner and chef Pee Yun-jung is already musing over her Christmas treat. She even teaches an occasional cupcake baking class. If that’s not cupcake love then I don’t know what is.

Sinsa isn’t the only neighborhood with the rights to cupcake revelry. Located just off the main street in Itaewon is the picturesque Life is a Just a Cup of Cake. This magical little shop is the place of childhood dreams. Stepping into the shop, I could imagine a little girl’s birthday party complete with giggling children with frosting covered faces.

There is a chart next to the display case that shows the days of the week that each of their amazingly creative flavors are available. You can go fairly traditional with the All About Chocolate or step outside the box with their Earl Grey cupcake. They sell a varied selection of beautifully presented coffee drinks to accompany your cup of cake. While the icing was fairly memorable, the cake isn’t going to blow your mind. It’s the feeling that you get when you step into the shop- as if you have been transported back to your childhood- that will have you going back again and again.

In the next door neighborhood of Hannam, across from the UN Village, is Lynn’s Cupcakes. The interior is about the complete opposite of the cozy ambiance of Life is a Just a Cup of Cake. Lynn’s is streamlined and modern. The decor is chic white, with accent color coming from the fabulously decorated cupcakes. Lynn’s really takes the cake (ha!) for cupcake presentation. Their icing designs are magazine worthy. Some cupcakes are decorated with puffy flowers, while others are done in layered swirls dusted with candies. I got my cupcake to go, and they placed it in a little smudge proof plastic container that would hold up on a packed subway ride home.

Lynn’s also offers a selection of cake decorating classes, stop by for a list.

In the Ichon-dong area is the casual yet quirky Just A Moment. It’s located on the 2^nd floor of a row of other eateries, and if it weren’t for a recommendation, I would have never noticed its existence. Just a Moment has the perfect atmosphere to get some work done. It isn’t too trendy or too storybook, it exudes an air of creativity with its hodge-podge of funky art, and- it’s quiet. They offer a rather small selection of cupcake varieties (although more than one version with a bacon infused icing) but I think it’s only because they are that confident in their baking skills. My lime cupcake was very dense, reminiscent of a pound cake. The icing, stacked high upon the cake, was filled with lime zest. Artful cupcake decoration just isn’t their thing, they pour all of their heart and soul into making mouth-watering voluptuous (yes, I said voluptuous) serious cupcakes.

Cupcakes with zest, cupcakes with sprinkles, spongy cupcakes, dense cupcakes, cupcakes made of airy clouds- there is a cupcake out there waiting just for you. Go. Now.

Goodovening: cupcake & coffee
533-14 Shinsa-dong
Gangnam-gu
02-549-7778
Noon to 11pm Mon to Sun
Website: WWW.GOODOVENING.COM

Mug for Rabbit coffee & tea
534-25 Shinsa-dong 1F
Gangnam-gu
02 548-7488
10am to Midnight Mon to Sun

Maman Gateau Baking Studio and Dessert Café
Masa Bldg 2f
532-4 Shinsa-dong
Gangnam-gu
0
2 704-3937
www.momsbaking.com

Life is Just a Cup of Cake

Tel: 02-794-2908

www.cupcake.co.kr

Lynn’s Cupcakes

10 – 8 pm
(010) 2893-6687
(02) 792-0804

Just A Moment

Tel: 027930915

#205 Royal Sotre, 301-151 Ichon-dong

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