Comments (1) Best Reason to Eat Your Cupcake Top-Down - 2009
Yellow Leaf Cupcake
I have to admit, I consumed my first Yellow Leaf Cupcake top-down, driving home from the Belltown shop that co-owners Michael Hein and Tony Portugal opened in May. And yes, even after the frosting was gone, the denuded cake was still worth eating: moist, flavorful, no mere platform for a rich smear of sweetened whipped butter. But what a smear it is! Yellow Leaf is unusual in that they make Italian buttercream frosting, an entirely different animal from the American standard (butter and powdered sugar). Granulated sugar is melted to 240 degrees and blended with whipped egg whites, butter, and vanilla. It's a creamier topping, decadent even in simple flavors. At Yellow Leaf, you can choose traditional chocolate and vanilla or more exotic, toffee-topped creations, red velvet cupcakes, cupcakes flavored to taste like honey, or their signature tomato-soup flavor. Here it's about the cakes, not the cute. Outside of their Belltown shop, you can find these sweet miniatures at Victrola Coffee Roasters and Whidbey Island Coffee locations, and soon at Miro Tea in Ballard.—Adriana Grant
