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Review Tue Feb 10 2009
Bliss Is Not More
This is not a picture of a cupcake from Sugar Bliss, the recently opened Loop designer cupcake joint in the shadow of the Wabash 'L'. I tried to photograph one of their cakes, but when I set the top-heavy thing down, it promptly rolled over, its sickly sweet frosting gluing it with curious strength to the unfortunate top of my Ikea knock-off tulip table.
The above, instead, is a picture of a cupcake from More Cupcakes, the upscale Gold Coast bakery currently suing a former staffer for allegedly ignoring a non-compete agreement and going to work for Sugar Bliss. I have two words for More: Don't worry.
Being a downtown resident, I was excited at the opening of Sugar Bliss--finally a hip bakery I could walk to from my Marina City high-rise home. I was even more jazzed to learn one of their main bakers was an alum of More.
Last year, we collectively reviewed the latter cupcake palace on Drive-Thru. We enjoyed surprisingly well-crafted (if slightly pricey) creations like red velvet, salted caramel, and pink grapefruit with consistently moist cake below delicate, none-too-towering frosting, above. We were even more astonished at the total success of unlikely savory flavors like maple-bacon, Madras curry, and BLT.
If you're wondering, that photo above is a More maple-bacon cupcake. The cupcake that rolled over and went into the garbage with its brethren was a simple vanilla-frosted vanilla cupcake from Sugar Bliss. Even after the unfortunate cake carnage, I did my best to like the now-smushed vanilla-vanilla, along with the spice and lemon-drop cupcakes I had bought along with.
I quickly learned names don't matter at Sugar Bliss. Everything tasted the same--and none of it all that good. All three cupcakes were overdone to the point of being crunchy and tough on the outside, leaving them dry and arid within. Each was topped with a "signature sugar bloom" of frosting, which turned out to be a woefully over-coiffed, flower-shaped dollop of what to the tongue feels like a strangely heavy mixture of pure sugar and bathroom caulk, in equal measure.
Altogether, Sugar Bliss was about as nasty a bakery experience as I've had in my six years in the Windy City, or anywhere else for that matter. I can't believe I'm writing these words. Then again, you wouldn't believe how long it took to get that off-putting, glue-inspired frosting out of my faux chilewich placemats.
If you find yourself anywhere near Sugar Bliss and in need of some sugar stimulation, my advice is to head directly next door...to Mrs. Field's. (There's some unwise store placement, for you). Otherwise, stick with me and head up to the Gold Coast's More Cupcakes.
That is, if you don't want your cupcake to end up sticking to you.
[Update: This post generated a lot of mixed comments about Sugar Bliss--apparently, you either love it or you don't. For more commentary about the alleged inconsistency of the place, see their Yelp listing.]
SUGAR BLISS
115 North Wabash Avenue, Chicago, IL
312-845-9669
MORE CUPCAKES
One East Delaware Place (at State Street), Chicago, IL
312-951-0001
Sara / February 10, 2009 5:20 PM
Obviously you know someone at More or work at More to write a review like this...
Also that the More baker was a "major" baker...then why are they selling out everyday without their major baker>?