Cloudy Cupcake

Address: Basement level, Xin Yi Eslite location, MRT Taipei City Hall (中正區承德路一段1號京站店B/3)

Telephone: (02) 2722-2586 

Hours: Mon 1pm to 10pm, Tue - Sun 1pm to 11pm (estimated)

Pricing: $

  After spending a couple weeks in Taipei, I caved. I absolutely needed a cupcake in my life. After asking friends and strolling through the various shopping areas, I stumbled across Cloudy Cupcake in the Eslite store. On the basement/MRT level, this cupcakery is right next to a fro-yo place and across the way from an afternoon tea bar. I decided to give it a try and ordered the Cranberry Manor Wine cupcake ($65 NT).

This cupcake looked promising (and was packaged in such a cute container!). The cake appeared to be of a regular cake-like consistency. In Taiwan I've found many "cakes" that are just a bizarre variation on angel food cake, or a dense brick of carbohydrates (not very appetizing). Biting into the cupcake was a little difficult as the whipped cream was quite tall, so I'd recommend a fork to properly dissect the cupcake. 

   Okay let me confess my conflict of interest right now. I've already had the best cupcake. Between Retro Bakery in Las Vegas, Nevada and Kickass Cupcakes in Boston, Massachusetts, no one can come close to replicating the delicious flavors and perfect consistency. Still, I had to give these cupcakes a try. The actual cake tasted more like a muffin than a cake and was devoid of any sweetness. The whipped cream was relatively tasteless unless you count the artificial and oily "flavor". As for the cupcake being "Cranberry Manor Wine", it tasted neither of cranberry nor of wine. This cupcake was shockingly tasteless.

  Cloudy Cupcake does have a variety of flavors though, so I thought I'd try another one thinking that the cranberry one must have been a fluke. Wrong. I bought the Caramel Apple cupcake ($60 NT) and had much the same results. Tasteless (yet somehow disgusting?) whipped cream topped on a tasteless muffin. I'm not sure what's going on here. Though the cupcakes look appetizing and have been decorated to suit their names, these cakes taste nothing like their namesakes. Without knowing the cupcakes were "caramel" and "cranberry", I would never have guessed what the proprietors were aiming for.

Though the cupcakes are cheap, they aren't worth it. Maybe I'm selecting two of their worst cupcakes, but I haven't the heart to go back and try more in order to find one I like. For those who want to go to Cloudy Cupcake I would suggest trying other flavors like the tiramisu or chocolate. Those are probably stronger flavors that translate better into these cupcakes. I recommend visiting Cloudy Cupcakes' website to have a look at flavors and also to look at the actual cakes themselves.