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Openings Thu Mar 19 2009
Le Sucre Cakes & Cupcakes
Apparently now cupcakes are being replaced by whoopie pies as the queen of traditional-baked-goods-elevated-to-glamorous-gourmet-food-dom, but cupcakes are still a lot of fun, and more bakeries have been opening up around that cupcake fun. We recently visited a newish one, Le Sucre Cakes and Cupcakes, in Niles.
The store is on Waukegan, just outside of the mall that holds the Korean megamart, H Mart. The owners are a young Asian couple, with the friendly husband manning the cashier and the polite, smiling wife baking in the back (which you can kind of see through the glass window). I wouldn't call their cupcakes "innovative" in the sense of More, which has crazy (but delicious) things like BLT and chocolate-champaign cupcakes. Le Sucre's are more traditional, aiming for tried-and-true comfort like dark chocolate mocha and straightforward vanilla. As it was about 5 minutes before closing time, the owner threw in two extras to our chosen two, so we got to try four (yay!).
The cake base was nicely moist, not too dense but with enough heft to stand up to the frosting. The various frostings were buttery and rich, true to their proud sign that says "We use only butter!" Each frosting did taste like what it's supposed to--chocolate, mocha, blueberry, etc. Among the four we tried, chocolate mocha and blueberry cheesecake were the standouts. Especially the latter, a vanilla cake topped with blueberry cream cheese frosting, was nice. (It could have used a hair more blueberry tartness, perhaps.)
There are a few tables to have the cupcakes in the sleek, black-and-white bakery. For special occasions (birthdays, weddings, etc.) they make big, beautiful cakes as well.
For my taste, Le Sucre isn't quite on par with More (my current standard for cupcakes), but it is still very good, and the friendly owners are unbeatable. And better yet, at $2.50 apiece, a few more cupcakes to try aren't going to hurt me (not considering my blood sugar level for the moment). I'd be definitly stopping by when I drive over in that direction, which is quite often.
Le Sucre Cakes & Cupcakes
7962 N. Waukegan Road
Niles, IL. 60714
Tel: 847-967-8427
