Every time I walk into Ladurée and see their cupcake selection I’m dazzled. Whether it’s the sublime Cup Cake Pistache, their rose cupcake with its perfect rose petal plume tipped with a single glucose dew drop, or this amazing chocolate-orange piece, they have me hooked. My fantasy is, of course, to get a box of these teleported fresh to the States, walk over to TLC’s now famous Georgetown Cupcake here in DC, and just sit out front, enjoying a work of pastry art that makes everything inside that shop seem like it deserves a pat on the back and trite words of encouragement more than it does its own TV series. And when people in line, making their first visit, exclaim how beautiful my cupcake is and ask if they still have any like that left behind the counter, I’d just pout and say, “Ehhh . . . no. And they never will.” before taking a gigantic bite, rumbling-out an exaggerated “Mmmmmmmm” and declaring it “Transcendent!” To add insult to injury, I’d then pluck an actual Georgetown Cupcake from a pre-purchased dozen, thrust it toward them and go, “But they do have lots of these! . . . And I have it on good authority that they [breaking into a whisper] only use the finest Crisco in their frosting.” At that point I’d either get slapped by one of the loyal, called a “******* prick”, or, in my dream of dreams, bring at least 1/4 of the line to “see the light” and save the money they were about to incinerate. Why shouldn’t they just save it for the Cup-Cake Chocolat? Well . . .

Maybe they shouldn’t waste money on either. Aesthetics aside, the Cup Cake Chocolat is actually not so hot. The chocolate icing atop it all is fairly grainy – not too far along from a shelf-stable mini-tub of Duncan Hines. The chocolate portion of the cupcake is texturally sufficient, relatively moist, but it’s extremely tame in the chocolate flavor department. Compounding the problem there is that the piece has a pretty high ratio of nuts to cake. I love me some nuts, but not when they start to take something over or when they’re quite so chunky as they are in this. The citrus pulp within [seen in the final photo] is obviously very striking, and it does provide a nice element to play off the cake and nuts. But it is intense with a disturbingly unsweet citrusy power that would make many wince. The only up-to-snuff elements are the little tuft of light-orange-colored crème and the candied orange rind. Minor players in the overall effect, they were still handled admirably.

My notes from that day say, “A very curious piece for Ladurée that seems to be more about aesthetics and putting something together that’s marketable than doing something that’s truly good.” And what I find particularly confusing it that their Cup Cake Pistache is really some excellent work. I’m not sure how they got so far off-base with this one. I even went back to Ladurée for a total of three of these, over the course of my last month in Paris, and they all were as described above. Indeed, this cupcake is definitely among the few lowlights from Ladurée, a shop otherwise quite consistent in its command of well-balanced flavors and textures. Perhaps the fact that it’s a mere “Cup Cake”, as they call it, has lead them to invest little serious effort in perfecting the piece. But at least it’s pretty . . .

Bask in these golden waves of crème . . . and the chocolate mountain majesty

So, yeah, skip the Cup Cake Chocolat on your next visit to Ladurée. Lucky for us all, they have a few dozen other things that are totally worth dropping your hard-earned Euros on. And if it’s chocolate you’re after, you can always wander over to Jean-Paul Hévin’s place. He’s only a few blocks from Ladurée Royale, a bit north of the Louvre.

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