First Taste: More Cupcakes

10.30.08
cupcake

I’m going to call a moratorium on writing about cupcakes. Right after I finish writing about a cupcake shop called More.

If there’s a trend I think needs to die, it’s the proliferation of cupcake shops. And articles about cupcakes and cupcake shops. At the same time, I’ll admit that there are some things that set More apart. (If there’s a better name for a cupcake joint, I haven’t heard it.) For starters, this place has a posh, minimalist interior that resembles a jewelry store—and it’s got the prices to match. But what really caught my eye—after checking out the 50 or so typical sweets—were the savory choices toward the bottom of the menu. At the outset, some of these concoctions don’t seem to make sense. Ten minutes later, some of them still didn’t make sense. Even as I ordered one of the BLT cupcakes (it sports ranch dressing, which doesn’t have any place on a BLT, much less a cupcake), I remained beyond dubious. But the slightly sweet cake, reminiscent of cornbread, took well to the fatty bites of bacon throughout. And the ranch icing pushed the whole thing in a rich and salty direction. But this wasn’t dessert. This was lunch.

The other savory options were a little sweeter. A Champagne-infused cupcake with Brie-flavored icing had whole grapes baked into it, while a curry cake with goat cheese icing had a swirl of black raspberries. Still, these hardly seemed like cupcakes to me. They were too adult, too evolved. They were—dare I say it—more.

More Cupcakes One E. Delaware Pl., Chicago (312-951-0001; morecupcakes.com)

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