I was a little too excited when I saw a sign for cupcakes in Fremont!  It was peeking out from the plaza across Pacific Commons and I told myself I’d make a trip when I had time.  After a lazy morning of contemplating the gym, I grabbed coffee with my sister instead and swung by the bakery.  Salted caramel hot chocolate and cupcakes in the morning, yes please!

Diane and I were too excited to contain ourselves when we walked in.  We were already rambling about what to get and how many.  I saw a sign that said “mini cupcakes” and I grinned from ear to ear.  The people at the shop were super nice and offered a dozen of the minis for $15, “One of each flavor (of the 10 available) with 2 extra of your choice”.  How could we say no?

We planned on hanging back in the shop to taste test every cupcake then realized how obsessed we may have seemed.   My sister and I stepped outside instead and sat at a table.  All we could do is gawk.

And gawk.  Each morsel is just teasing you.

And gawk!  Is your mouth watering yet? Mine is.  We gave the dozen a few quick snapshots and decided on trying red velvet (since we had 3 of them).  With a bite and slow chew, our eyes just rolled back and little and in unison we just said, “OHHMAAGAA”.  Indecipherable to the ears, but I’m sure the shop owners could see our reaction through their window.  I told myself I’m coming back here for sure, not only for the cupcakes but to get to know the owners.

Smallcakes seems to be a new chain that started somewhere on the East Coast (correct me if I’m wrong).  They recently partnered with FreshBerry and started opening places in select parts of the country and guess what?  They chose the good ol’ East Bay for one of their locations!  They are very clean and have yet to mold the frozen yogurt and cupcake chain together to make a flawless partnership.  Right now it looks a little oxymoronic, but I’m sure they’ll figure out something soon.

Overall the cupcakes were delicious, moist, not too sweet, the ratio of frosting to cake was perfect, and sampling the mini cupcakes gave you more flavors.  You can’t complain!  Here’s the quick rundown of each flavor:

• Banana Cream Pie: delicious custard on top, loved the Nilla wafer, came with banana frosting that was just right and not overwhelming
• Birthday Cake: vanilla frosting with vanilla cake, sprinkles made it look extra fun, came out great in photos, and definitely plus that the boyfriend approved of it since he doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth
• Carrot Cake: very moist, cinnamon was not overpowering, frosting was smooth and had the right bit of tanginess to it, my mom couldn’t find a thing to complain about it and she’s usually very picky about her cakes
• Choco-holic: Smooth dark chocolate cake with milk chocolate frosting, mini chocolate chips gave it a nice texture, makes you wish you gave up chocolate chip cookies (almost)
• Chocolate Cream: gives Hostess a run for their money, excellent vanilla filling, very moist cake, the famous icing swirl on the mini cupcakes just make it more fun to eat
• Cinnamon French Toast: tasted just like a cinnamon bun, would have been great with cream cheese icing on top, but the flavors itself complimented it really well already  
• Decadent Fudge: tasted just as great the second day, gives you a fudge crust to bite into before you hit the soft dark chocolate cake, definitely good for cheating on diets
• Lemon: perfectly citrusy, not too overpowering, creamy frosting, and amazing lemon cake, would love to see this paired with raspberry or blueberry in the future
• Peanut Butter Cup: everything I would have imagined a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup to taste like in cupcake form, super rich, but a real treat if you’re in the mood for this flavor combination of chocolate and PB
• Red Velvet (with/out walnuts): found it odd to see walnuts on a red velvet cake, cake was marvelous, cream cheese frosting was spot on and I must say is a lot better than Sprinkles Cupcake’s frosting, not too sweet and just enough cream cheese (and maybe sour cream) to tease your taste buds a little after eating a cupcake

This is by far my longest post yet but it was worth tasting and writing about it!  I definitely plan to come back and interview the amazing people there.  In the mean time, swing by their shop and enjoy:

Smallcakes (located at Fresh Berry)

www.smallcakescupcakery.com/

(510) 226-6444

5265 Auto Mall Parkway
(at Christy St) 
Fremont, CA 94538