By Arden Berry | Arts & Life Editor
As much as I love music, movies and, as of a week ago, coffee, I have been most looking forward to this review.
It’s fall, but we’re still a couple weeks out from it being socially acceptable to buy candy in bulk and eat it straight from a bowl. So, for now, I’m trying a four-count box of cupcakes from Silos Baking Co. at 601 Webster Ave.
Overall, the presentation of the cupcakes was perfect. They appear poised and put together, but not so stiff that you worry they will not be soft enough to bite into. Overall, the icing was soft and squishy, and the cake was nice and gooey, but each flavor had its own advantages, from classic Shiplap and The Chocolatier to the limited time Pumpkin Spice and Campfire.
Shiplap
As a company, you cannot have a good cupcake in general unless your classic vanilla cake with vanilla icing is good, so I started there.
Named for the construction material, the Shiplap cupcake is sugary sweet and borderline addictive. It’s like those grocery store cupcakes you get for a kid’s birthday party but doubled in size and piled high with icing. I would recommend this classic flavor.
The Chocolatier
As a chocolate-lover, I have very high standards for chocolate cupcakes. This cupcake met all my standards.
The taste was incredible. It was as rich and sweet as if I were eating a full chocolate cake. The frosting perfectly complemented the cake part, but I would expect nothing less from The Chocolatier itself.
Pumpkin Spice
The menu describes this cupcake as being “pumpkin cake topped with vanilla bean cream cheese icing.”
It mainly tasted like pumpkin bread with cream cheese icing, but I do like pumpkin bread, so it was not bad. However, I am not a fan of cream cheese icing, so that soured the experience for me. If you’re a fan of pumpkin bread and cream cheese combined, you will like this cupcake. I would rather have normal pumpkin bread by itself, but this cupcake is worth a try for the fall vibes.
Campfire
As aforementioned, this cupcake is only available for a limited time, so get it while you still can. This delicious s’mores-themed cupcake has light, fluffy icing and delicious pieces of chocolate in the cake, complete with a toasted marshmallow on top. The crunch of the chocolate chips and graham cracker crust with the soft icing and marshmallow make for a tasty mix of textures.
Overall
Overall, the only main detractors were cost and crowd. A four-count box of cupcakes is somewhat expensive at $18 before tax, and anything Magnolia is going to be a tourist destination and will feel especially cramped in downtown Waco.
However, these cupcakes are worth the splurge for special occasions. While I might stick to H-E-B cupcakes for a weekly fix, Magnolia cupcakes truly are some of the best out there.
