Cupkates Truck

We are so disappointed. After reading some of the higher rated reviews here I don’t understand how they could be so highly rated, than I found out that the original owner has sold this business to an unrelated person and they are also now using a completely different baker, so nothing is original.
Tonight we tasted the Double Vanilla and the Red Velvet. The cake on both was dry and did not have any noticeable flavor, which makes it a complete failure. The frosting was mostly sweet with a bit of flavor but to be perfectly honest these tasted like the cheap bagged supermarket cupcakes that folks with too many children buy for the endless birthday parties.
These are not the kind of cupcakes that should be served to adults and they are certainly not worthy of their high price tag. If you are going to bother to preset your cupcakes to us and charge us premium prices, you had better make sure thatchy could complete with the best cupcakes in the Bay Area. These could not win in a competition against the chain supermarkets. I don’t recommend them at all there are far better cupcake trucks out there.

I’ve been a fan for a long time. They have the most moist cupcakes, until now.
Got some from Off the Grid Alameda today. Don’t know if it’s a bad batch or if they have changed how they make their cupcakes, but it wasn’t worth it. Had the Salted Caramel cupcake and the top was hard and the whole thing was extremely dry. Not worth the money today and wouldn’t buy from them again if they don’t bring the moistness back.

Best cupcakes ever!!! Cupcakes are soft and moist, the cream is fluffy and just right, not too sweet. Love love love!!! Salted caramel is my fav. For some reason the cupcakes from the truck taste fresher than the ones in store (stateside bakery).

Just polished off 2 cupcakes, pumpkin and vanilla buttercream, with my husband. It was the end of the day when we happened upon the truck parked at 4^th street in Berkeley — 2 cupcakes + 2 free because we could offer them a good home (in other words, $ 7 for 4)? Deal! And big thank you!
Still moist, just sweet enough — like a sweet muffin — and crumbly. We could have polished all 4 off at once but exercised some restraint — or rather, we got distracted (Black Friday, extra 15% at Crate and Barrel Outlet…). The pumpkin was a tad better, in our opinion — better flavor and nice thick cream cheese frosting. Those were the only two flavors left.
The girl manning the truck was really sweet too (pun intended). And inviting.
OK, now that I finished typing this review — can go get another bite!

These guys have the best cupcakes in the world, but I’m so disappointed by their lack of customer service. I put in an order online with the wrong date, then tried to call to change it. I got no response or returned call, and all of a sudden, was notified that my order was ready for the wrong date. I was able to cancel it.
I put in an order again and drove over to pick it up, but saw a sign saying that the store location was closed.
Don’t have an online ordering option if it doesn’t work, answer your phone, and don’t accept orders if you’re closed! Just bad business practices…

Saw Cupkates Truck at Off The Grid. Was a bit intrigued to try their goodies. Here is what I tasted.
Red Velvet was the first flavor I tried. Mixed feelings for this one. The cake was dry, but the frosting was good. (2 stars)
Salted Caramel was okay, but I expected more. Cake was dry for this one also. (2.5 stars)
Pumpkin was the best in my opinion. The cake was good, and the frosting was also tasty. Would eat this one again. (3.5 stars)
Overall, I felt underwhelmed by these cupcakes. Overpriced for these small cupcakes.

Fabulous, moist, mouth watering cupcakes! We hired Cupkates for a family private event– and they came sent up a tent, were so friendly, helpful and knowledgeable! Offered gluten free cupcakes which were great also!
Adults and kids alike loved all!

These cupcakes are nasty overpriced and ridiculous she had to be ashamed of herself saying is she a baker selling these These cupcakes are super dry and nasty and disgusting and they taste like five days out when I’m bottom

Fabulous!
They had a lot of buttercream options. Beautifully presented.
I had the Churo cupkate! It had a dream cheese icing with a carmel drizzle and a surprise carmel center.
I really enjoyed the cake. It was perfectly seasoned with churo cinnamon sugar!
Delicious, and so moist. The cake was perfectly moist without being to heavy or too light.

I visited Cupkates today at the Alameda Off the Grid.
I ordered the Mango Cream and the s’mores.
The mango was my favorite!!! The cake is super moist. I love moist cupcakes. The mango cream on top was very good, but on the sweet side. Hence, the 4 stars. I don’t like when sweets are overly sweet. The cake batter was good though.
The s’mores cupcake was good by overall as a whole was too sweet. I loved the deep chocolate flavor though. Again, I also loved the moistness of the cake itself.
I would repurchase the mango and try the fruity ones!

The s’more cupcake was by far my favorite; that little bit of salt in the graham cracker base just does it. The rhubarb one didn’t taste like much at all, and the salted caramel one was good, but paled in comparison to the s’more. Yum.

The Smores was delicious and especially the bottom graham cracker crust. The Double Vanilla was good although it could have had more flavor. The Banana Cream is so yummy! The cream topping was not too sweet but definitely added to the cupcake’s theme. Nice, moist, and full of flavor!

I stumbled upon Cupkates parked in Berkeley on 4^th street this past Sunday. There was a two item requirement to use plastic, and I very rarely have cash on me so I added an oatmeal pie to my pumpkin spice cupcake order.
The oatmeal pie was great, although I think I would have preferred the filling to be a tad sweeter.
But the surprise of the century was the pumpkin cupcake. It was the best cupcake I’ve ever had in my entire life. I realize the gravity of my claim, and I racked my brain for the past few days before I solidified my experience in writing. I’m no stranger to cupcakes either, or desserts in general, let’s be honest. It was so moist that science needs to come up with a new state of matter to describe it. I’m almost afraid to go back because I think this cupcake came to me through a vortex located at the boundary of the food truck window and the sidewalk, from some distant galaxy where beings much more advanced than us have dedicated a portion of their infinite resources to perfect the cupcake.

Overpriced, undersized cakes with basic-​quality ingredients. There isn’t a whole lot of butter and cream involved in these cakes. They are most likely using much cheaper fats. The cakes are so waxy and oily they’re practically fake.
Garden variety California-​style gimmick product. All presentation, no substance.

Thanks to Off the Grid in Concord I have been able to experience the wonderfulness of Cupkates. I have tried the Salted Caramel and the Caramel Apple cupcakes. The Caramel Apple cupcake instantly made it feel like fall, it happens to be the «special» they have this month. The Salted Caramel cupcake is such a pleasant mixture of salty and sweet. These cupcakes are definitely on the sweet side so if you are not a fan of sweet stuff Cupkates cupcakes are not for you. They are also a bit on the expensive side ($ 3.25 per cupcake), but I think they are worth it. I definitely am not able to pass up this food-​truck when it is at Off the Grid.

I feel very out of place here leaving such a crappy review for a place that has such great reviews… but here is why:
1) Although they use Square to process credit cards, they still require a two cupcake minimum to use a credit card. Square charges a flat rate of 2.75%, with a 1.00 minimum purchase. So it makes no sense not to let someone buy just one cupcake.
2) I didn’t find their cupcakes to be all that great. Not really moist, the glob of fat on top had no flavor… I had a few of different types and they all tasted the same to me… No real flavor.
These would be average cupcakes if they were on a food truck that specialized on bacon or something else… sorry, I expected way more from a food truck that does nothing but cupcakes.

Decent cupcakes for a high price. I had the salted caramel and key lime. The key lime was the better of the two. The frosting for both were too airy and creamy like a whipped cream. The cake is definitely light and moist but overall not worth the $ 3.25.

Never in my life have I lusted after cupcakes, but what they are whipping up at Cupkates is a totally different story. The cake is more moist, the frosting is tastier, the flavor combinations are brighter, and the presentation isn’t fussy. Best of all, they aren’t overwhelmingly sweet. If these cupcakes were women, they would be Victoria’s Secret models. No lie.
As far as the cupcakes go, the red velvet is in a league of it’s own. That cream cheese frosting is damn divine. Honorable mentions include the s’mores, complete with a graham cracker bottom and a perfectly hand torched marshmallow topping, and the salted caramel, a truly decadent buttercream delight. Keep your eyes peeled for the monthly special. In the past they’ve featured flavors such as lemon meringue, churro, strawberry rhubarb, banana cream pie, twinkie, and more. My only dig is that the application of the frosting can vary, sometimes appearing a bit sloppy. That would be my only drawback in terms of buying these cupcakes for an event or gathering.
I’ve exclusively made purchases from the Cupkates truck when it’s parked on 4^th St. on Sunday afternoons. However, if you choose to snooze through the day and still want your fix, the truck often travels over to North Berkeley BART station for an evening Off The Grid. The employees are typically friendly and keep the line moving smoothly. If you buy more than one of their delightful confections, you can pay with a credit card and they’ll give you a to go box.
Some may argue that $ 3.25 per cupcake is a bit steep, but truthfully, I can’t think of many sweet treats that satisfy quite like a Cupkate.

I’ve had cupKates cupcakes a couple of times now — at the food truck up in Berkeley and at a wedding where instead of a cake they ordered cupKates in a variety of flavors. So I was excited to hear that they would be coming to the South Bay at Off the Grid. The name cupKates is so cute and clever!
I’ve had their red velvet and it’s is delicious. Their Twinkie cupcake is yummy! And the lemon meringue was really good. Oooh and the s’mores one mmm. They make fun flavors! I did try the tiramisu this last time and wasn’t that impressed — won’t buy that one again.
There’s more frosting than I prefer (I like my frosting to cupcake ratio to be low) but the frosting is really yummy. And the way they put the frosting on the cupcake is really cute.
The cupcakes are also a little pricey — they’re the same size as regular cupcakes but almost the same cost as Sprinkles cupcakes which are huge. But still yummy.

Normally I don’t touch and don’t even spend any moolah on these things.
But they catered a milestone celebration at work recently and you know how us A$Ns roll… if it is free, why not. And give it a spin. Though I’m not the extreme kind like some d-​bags you know of who eats Costco samples for lunch (and keep refilling every 5 mins in between sample stations), or brings an extra container to Whole Foods to $ample the fruits (and ends up taking home a picnic basket), or is one those those schmoes who double fists plates of lobster at the Chinese buffet the moment a new tray comes out, and suddenly you’re behind the schmuck hoping to get ONE piece and he clears it out for you and everyone else behind you. Yes the latter actually happened in Toronto/​Richmond Hill area at a buffet, I weep for my people.
Anyhoo… chocolate cupcake with sea salt caramel frosting
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Yes indeedy, lots of guilt in these things. But a look at the listing and it’s all my female Unilocaler friends singing praises or have tried them showing up in the filter of search results (based on friends). When you repackage sugar bombs and nukes cutely, it will be gobbled up like Pac Man dots and magic pills. Diet be damned!
As the facial expression suggests, it’s a bit of a surprise. Cupkates is not like Sprinkles where it is a nuke sugar bomb, and was mildly addicting so to speak.
Even the frosting was acceptable (just wash it down with a straight black coffee).
The cupcake itself was really moist and mushy which can be a big turnoff for some, but it might be great in the sense that part of the digestive process has been cut out for you, so it goes right into your system faster (whether you see that as good or bad).
A pretty solid 3.5.
But it will be a while before I touch another cupcake, me thinks.

Oh, man. Talk about a little slice of heaven! I was so happy to be turned on to Cupkates by my awesome co-​worker mere minutes before they arrived in our area. I just finished my salted caramel cupkate (cute name!) and I think it is honestly the best cupcake I’ve ever had in my life. Light, fluffy, flavorful without being overwhelmingly sugary and making the roof of my mouth feel all weird like some frostings do, and just plain perfect. My double-​chocolate is right next to me, staring me down. I’m holding off until after lunch but I’m sure it will be just as delicious.
What a novel idea! I’ve got to tell you, I’m loving this whole «food truck» phenomenon that’s happening in the East Bay. Happiness on wheels! Gastrogasm or bust!
Thank you, Cupkates! We hope to see you here on a regular basis. So does the owner of my gym.