At 4 p.m. on a pleasant Saturday afternoon, we were strolling downtown Los Gatos in hopes of discovering a cozy dessert spot. That’s when a large window, glowing warmly under the afternoon sun, immediately grabbed our attention. Labeled in bold letters, a gourmet bakery called Icing on the Cake drew us in with its vibrant Christmas toys and decorations.
As dessert lovers, we knew for a fact that we had to step in this place. While the bakery has many confections such as brownies, bars and cookies, we decided to try out what they are best known for: cupcakes.
Icing on the Cake was founded by Lynn Magnoli in 1985 and started in the back of an old house in Los Gatos. As it expanded, the store moved to downtown Los Gatos and has since become one of the most popular bakeries in town.
The moment we stepped into the bakery, the sweet and nutty smell of baked goods filled the air. There was a throng inside the store, despite it being within an hour of closing time. The first thing we did when we walked inside was grab a ticket from a red ticket dispenser with our order number on it, which we thought was an interesting and organized way to manage orders with a large crowd.
Alongside an endless row of sweet treats, the shop filled with a variety of colorful and festive merchandise, from cookbooks to birthday cards. The inside resembled a kitchen partnering with a cozy atmosphere, yet still large in size.
We decided to buy four cupcakes as they had a buy-three-get-one-free deal. This was a pleasant surprise, especially because usually the treats are on the pricier side, at $5.50 per cupcake.
The bakery offers a variety of flavors to choose from, ranging from banana to snickerdoodle. The three of us decided to each pick one cupcake and then together choose an additional free cupcake. In the end, we selected the Berry Berry, Cookie Dough, Cookies & Cream and Classic Chocolate cupcakes.
The first cupcake we decided to try was the Cookie Dough, which we collectively chose together. A vanilla cupcake covered with a thick head of vanilla frosting, it was sprinkled with miniature chocolate chips and soft chunks of cookie dough.
Sadly, the cupcake itself was very cold, making the frosting hard to cut into and the cake dry, flaky and prone to crumbling. The sugar in the buttercream hadn’t completely melted in, leading to a grainy texture and overly sweet taste separate from the butter. However, we thought the chocolate chips and cookie dough chunks added a nice touch. While Anya enjoyed this cupcake, Anika and Michelle thought the sweetness overpowered the rest of the flavors
Overall rating for the Cookie Dough cupcake: 3 out of 5 Falcons.
Next, we all agreed that the Classic Chocolate cupcake looked the most visually pleasing and delectable. It was a chocolate cupcake swirled with rich dark chocolate frosting and topped with mini colorful sprinkles. Again, the cake was a little dry and rough from being chilled, but that wasn’t much of an issue as the frosting more than made up for it.
The frosting stood out the best out of all the cupcakes we tasted due to its velvety texture and pungent chocolate flavor. It was not overly sweet like the rest of the cupcakes and resembled the taste of a chocolate truffle. We also thought the sprinkles added a nice, subtle crunch. Anya and Michelle really enjoyed this one, though Anika did not like it as much. Overall rating for the Classic Chocolate cupcake: 4 out of 5 Falcons.
Next, we tried the Cookies & Cream cupcake, which had a miniature Oreo on top of the cupcake as a nice decorative detail. But the moment we took a bite, all we got was a mouthful of frosting — a thick, dense and creamy mountain sitting on just a bit of cake.
If the frosting to cake ratio was more balanced, this one could’ve earned more points. The frosting was decent, with little bits of crunchy cookies in it, but it was too sweet. It tasted like someone had scraped off all of the cream in between an Oreo cookie and mixed it with more sugar. The cake was nothing extraordinary, flat and flaky. This cupcake was the only one where we were all able to agree was disappointing.
Overall rating for the Cookies & Cream cupcake: 2 out of 5 Falcons.
Next, the Berry Berry flavor was definitely one of the best decorated cupcakes. The little frosted strawberry placed on top along with pearl sprinkles was an adorable touch. The cupcake itself was strawberry flavored, which was a nice surprise because we thought it would be a vanilla cake with strawberry frosting.
As a matter of fact, the frosting tasted artificial and way too sweet, but not as bad as the Cookies & Cream cupcake. However, the cake had the perfect balance of tartness and sweetness. It was very refreshing to eat after all the chocolate fudginess we had eaten before. We quickly devoured the cake itself, but left the frosting to the side. This cupcake was Anika’s favorite, despite Anya’s disapproval of strawberry cupcakes.
Overall rating for the Berry Berry cupcake: 3.3 out of 5 Falcons.
All things considered, visiting Icing on the Cake in Los Gatos to try out cupcakes was an enjoyable experience. Beyond the sweets themselves, the store’s joyous spirit and inviting atmosphere added to the entire experience, even though the cupcakes weren’t anything outstanding. Overall, our least to most favorite flavors were the Cookies & Cream, Cookie Dough, Berry Berry and Classic Chocolate, mainly ranked by how overly sweet the cupcakes were.
The price of the cupcakes was high compared to ones you could get at a grocery store such as Safeway. For our tastes, Safeway’s are better than the ones we tried here. That’s why we do not recommend going to Icing on the Cake for their cupcakes. However, we did not try the other baked goods this store had to offer, so it is still worth a visit to try the rest of the sweets and enjoy the cozy atmosphere of the store.
Overall Rating for Icing on the Cake: 3 out of 5 Falcons
