Seattle’s Gift to the World The First: Cupcake Royale
In the spirit of all the holiday gift giving that will be taking place over the next couple of months, all the Metroblogging cities are giving seven gifts to the world throughout the week of NOV 26th - DEC 2. Metroblogging Seattle dithered like the society matrons they are to come up with gift the first: Cupcake Royale.
Seattle is a foodie town now. Twenty years of Microsoft money, venture capital, and a steady supply of eastern Washington wine turned a town with a handful of fish houses and greasy spoons into a city of celebrity chefs, world-class restaurants, and possibly the best cuisine on the West Coast. We have Tamara Murphy and the expensive-and-worth-every-penny Brasa. We have Tom Douglas and his ever-growing family of restaurants re-interpreting seafood, pizza, and the bakery. We have Renee Erickson and the glorious French farmhouse food of Boat Street Cafe. And that’s just Belltown.
And yet, in a town with one of the great food scenes in the US, we turn to Cupcake Royale, a place that sells… cupcakes. And only cupcakes.
My main encounters with Cupcake Royale come from post-movie confabs in the Ballard Vérité Coffee. (It’s right next to the restored Majestic Bay Theater — genius location.) The cupcakes have strange names (”Kate”) and flavors (Lavender), but they’re all good — moist cake, buttercream icing, and a hint of elementary school birthday party. They’re perfect with a latte. And yes, they do cupcake wedding cakes.
Oh, and we know about the cupcake craze in New York and LA, but Cupcake Royale opened in 2003, so it predates the mania of the past couple of years.
So, here world. We offer you the not-so-humble sweet that is Cupcake Royale. Come to town and fill up everything that Salumi or Palace Kitchen or Herbfarm have to offer. But leave room for a lavender cupcake and a latte at Vérité.
Cupcake Royale in Vérité Coffee: 4556 California Avenue SW, West Seattle; 2052 Market Street, Ballard; 1101 34th Avenue, Madrona. Hours vary; consult the Cupcake Royale website.
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read about gifts from around the metroblogging world with this updated guide [la.metblogs] or follow some of these technorati tags being used across the metroblogging network: Metblogs7Gifts, 7Gifts, Metroblogging7Gifts.
yum yum gift seattle has here … Cool post … :)
–Islamabad MB
So sorry but Cupcakes in Vancouver, BC hit the cupcake scene way before the Royale.
The national cupcake mania can possibly be dated to when Carrie goes to Magnolia Bakery on Sex and the City. That was in Season 3, which was aired in 2000. Magnolia has been open since the mid-1990s.
Not that I enjoy that show’s power — one of my friends, not entirely sarcastically, claims that it ruined New York.
One of my favorite things, though, is watching the Sex and the City tour come by Magnolia. They don’t actually go in, and are given cupcakes at least twice the size of what you can actually buy over the counter there. That either says nothing good about the rest of America’s expectations, or what New Yorkers are willing to accept. Or both.
my favorite time of year - the red velvet cupcakes are back!
“we turn to Cupcake Royale, a place that sells… cupcakes. And only cupcakes.”
Not completely true. They have a couple of other pastries, espresso drinks, and lots of clothing options, in addition to the ‘cakes.