ever since dainties, i have become a cupcake fanatic. and i don’t even like sweets. sadly, dainties disappeared (although, per the owner, you can still place an order for them as long as you order at least 72…72?!?). you can also find dainties on the web here and here.

because of dainties and the disappearance of said cupcake, i now sample various cupcakes around LA as i discover them. on a recent trip to larchmont village (coincidentally, the dainties chef/owner recommended larchmont village pizza to me), i not only discovered excellent pizza (more on that later), but i also discovered crumbs.

crumbs is $0.75 cents more expensive and 33% smaller than dainties and, except for 2 flavors, lacks the ganache that i’ve become so madly passionate about. the only cupcakes with ganache are the chocolate cake hostess (duh!) and the new chocolate cake madison (which has raspberry filling). we ordered the hostess and we both enjoyed it. the cake was a bit too sweet, but it was fresh and i would order it again.

(finally, i’m getting to the whole point of this post) i was initially skeptical of crumbs because of *all that frosting*. frosting, ewww. so, today, on my second visit to larchmont village, larchmont village pizza, and crumbs, i had to decide if i was going to go with the madison or try something with a mountain of frosting on it. we decided on the mint chocolate chip (or grasshopper as advertised on their web site): “Rich chocolate cake filled and frosted with mint cream cheese and rolled in chocolate chips, then topped with a dallop of vanilla buttercream and oreo pieces” and also injected with chocolate fudge (you can’t have too much decadence). the cake is pretty good. but all that other stuff is just overkill. ***let the cake speak for itself!***

i will always miss dainties which had the perfect combination of cake and ganache and flavored whipped cream. *tear falling* *sigh* i miss you, dainties.