Cupcakes are really hanging onto their 15th minute of fame. It’s been 18 years since Sarah Jessica Parker’s Carrie Bradshaw and recent gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon’s Miranda Hobbes ate cupcakes outside of Magnolia Bakery in the West Village during season three of “Sex and the City” — launching the Cupcake Decade. Magnolia has since expanded around the globe, is expected to open hundreds more and is still on the “Sex and the City” bus tour. Even though the cupcake has taken a backseat to doughnuts, cronuts, and various other baked goods of the moment, that initial cupcake wave blanketed the U.S. and gave each state a reason to savor the sweet remains of the cupcake’s boom years. The following are the best each state has to offer.
Alabama: Dreamcakes Bakery
Homewood What to order: Fluffer Nutter With more than a dozen varieties to try in the shop and on its truck, Dreamcakes is doing its best to make cupcake fantasies come true. The dreamiest may be the Fluffer Nutter: peanut butter cake with marshmallow meringue, topped with a peanut butter cookie.
Alaska: Eva’s Cupcakery
Anchorage What to order: Sour Cream Pound Cake Open since 2012, this little cupcake spot features daily specials including Red Velvet, Sweet Potato, Death by Chocolate, Pink Lemonade, Funfetti, and German Chocolate. As the days shorten and the temperatures get colder, surprisingly filling cupcakes such as this rich pound cake help keep the chill away.
Arizona: Barb’s Bakery
Phoenix What to order: Cosmopolitan If you’re going to eat cupcakes in the middle of the desert, why not make it one straight out of “Sex and the City”? Barb’s has a Cosmo cupcake the girls would love (and a Grand Marnier chaser).
Arkansas: Cupcakes on Kavanaugh
Little Rock What to order: Pineapple Piña Colada The word “Kavanaugh” wasn’t always so divisive. Four generations of bakers put their expertise into a lineup that excels with traditional flavors, but expands to include more unique offerings such as Cookies and Cream or Oatmeal Cream Pie. But it’s the rum-spiked coconut cake of the Pineapple Piña Colada cupcake — complete with coconut rum buttercream — that makes Cupcakes on Kavanaugh agreeable to all sides of the aisle.
California: Little Cakes Cupcake Kitchen
Vista What to order: Snickerdoodle We didn’t select cupcakes based on who won the Food Network’s “Cupcake Wars,” but this spot won twice. Even if it didn’t win a highly dramatized U.S. baking competition, however, Little Cakes could stand on the strength of this butter cake topped with vanilla buttercream and rolled in cinnamon sugar like the namesake cookie.
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Colorado: Gold Mine Cupcakes
Golden What to order: Carrot Cake The Rutter family, a mother and two daughters, worked out the recipes for their cupcakes in mom’s kitchen and developed more than 40 flavors. The Carrot Cake is exceptional largely because of the way the painstakingly developed buttercream blends with the cake itself. “Our cake and the frosting are the perfect complement for each other, never having one overpower the other,” owner and baker Sarah Rutter told The Denver Post.
Connecticut: Sugar Cupcakery and Bakery
East Haven What to order: Cannoli Another mother-daughter team, Sugar cranks out a broad spectrum of cupcakes, but succeeds by embracing its coastal Northeast roots. Its signature Cannoli cupcake — vanilla cake, chocolate chip cannoli cream filling, vanilla buttercream, and tiny chips — makes flavors including Wedding Cake, Apple Pie, and Trick or Treat seem like seasonal folly by comparison.
Delaware: Sweet Somethings
Wilmington What to order: Nutella Don’t underestimate the influence of Italian flavors on Northeast and Mid-Atlantic cupcakes. At this sweet spot in Wilmington, a chocolate cupcake is filled with a combination of chocolate hazelnut mousse and Nutella, then topped with Nutella buttercream and chopped hazelnuts.
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Florida: Sweetness Bakeshop
Miami What to order: Guayabera Not even a decade old, Sweetness Bakeshop has the street and scene credibility of a multigenerational bakery. Its flavors number in the hundreds, but this guava-and-cream cheese blend almost perfectly captures the flavor of the city.
Georgia: Kupcakerie
East Point What to order: Peanut Butta Have My Chocolate Georgia has seen high-profile cupcake places come and go, but the lineup at the Kupcakerie has kept it afloat as others sank. By embracing rich flavors such as cinnamon-cayenne chocolate cake and Madagascar bourbon vanilla buttercream, Kupcakerie levels the ground for its richest treat: A chocolate cake stuffed with Reese’s Pieces, topped with peanut buttercream, and drizzled with chocolate.
Hawaii: Maui Sugar Shop
Lahaina What to order: Vanilla, Lilikoi, and Strawberry Maui just closed its last sugar plant last year, but at one point this island was teeming with production. The sugar museum is still here, but the Sugar Shop is a tasty reminder of sweeter times. By blending lilikoi (native passionfruit) with vanilla and strawberry, the shop gives its treats some local terroir while offering a taste of the island’s history.
Idaho: Sugar Rush Cupcakery
Boise What to order: Tomato Soup What happens when you’ve spent a decade baking custom cakes for customers, but suddenly nobody eats in that quantity anymore? You go smaller. Parent bakers Family Ties opened up this place in response to broader palates and shrinking appetites. A tomato soup-flavored option with a cream cheese buttercream won’t sell by the shelf-load at a bigger shop, but it makes for a nice savory scratch batch here.
Illinois: Molly’s Cupcakes
Chicago What to order: The Cookie Monster Molly’s Cupcakes in Chicago will do custom cupcakes for its customers, but it’s the broad menu of favorites such as Crème Brûlée and Peanut Butter Nutella that have helped it expand to New York and Iowa. The Cookie Monster center-filled cupcake — a vanilla chocolate chip cake with a raw cookie dough center and topped with buttercream and a mini chocolate chip cookie — it a gem.
Indiana: Cute as a Cupcake
Merrillville What to order: Pink Champagne Sure, it’s in a town known mostly for its lakes, waterslides, and relative proximity to Gary and Chicago, but its cakes have bigger personality than any big-box store along route 30. The most flashy offering at Cute as a Cupcake incorporates pink Champagne into its cake and cream cheese icing.
Iowa: Créme
Des Moines What to order: Bailey’s & Guinness Some bakeries make a boozy cupcake just to be cheeky, but Créme is invested in its cocktail hour. At night, the bakery becomes a dessert lounge that pairs its baked goods with drink suggestions. In that environment, making a cupcake out of chocolate cake, Guinness mousse filling, and Bailey’s Irish Cream buttercream icing just seems natural.
Kansas: Kansas City Cupcake Co.
Mission What to order: Cookies n’ Cream With more than 25 years of baking experience under its belt, Kansas City Cupcake makes a strong argument for being the best on the Kansas side of the city line. Among its many offerings, this moist vanilla cake infused with crushed Oreos, filled with vanilla cream, and topped with Oreo buttercream is a fine place to start.
Kentucky: Baby Cakes
Lexington What to order: Garden Fairy This bakery run by a husband-and-wife team has perhaps the most creative streak on our list. From A Rose for Mr. Darcy — white chocolate cupcakes topped with rosewater buttercream — to Georgia on My Mind and its fresh peach cupcakes with peach buttercream, the Baby Cakes menu is as formidable as it is flavorful. The Garden Fairy, however, stands out for its Hummingbird cupcake (with cinnamon, bananas, and pineapples) topped with vanilla buttercream and cinnamon.
Louisiana: Buttercups Cupcakes
Shreveport What to order: Banana Pudding Baker Kim Hand developed the recipe for Banana Pudding (topped with crushed vanilla wafers) and the bakery’s Red Velvet cupcake in her own kitchen. It’s rich, it’s decadent, and it’s everything a Louisiana dessert should be.
Maine: Love Kupcakes
Portland What to order: Hazelnut Praline Crush It’s Maine, so it’s more Whoopie Pie country than cupcake territory, but Love Kupcakes has been making both work since 2014. This particular cupcake is the best of all baked-goods worlds, with a sweet, nutty flavor that goes well with a cup of coffee. For something more adventurous, strawberry- and raspberry-basil cupcakes are on the menu.
Maryland: Georgetown Cupcake
Bethesda What to order: Double Milk Chocolate Birthday If you know Magnolia, there’s a strong chance you know this D.C.-area chain as well. Built on line-around-the-block demand and word of mouth, it now has multiple locations across the country. But a lot of credit belongs to creations including this Valrhona chocolate cupcake topped with milk chocolate buttercream frosting and rainbow sprinkles. When decorated with custom fondant work, it’s an easy gift or party platter.
Massachusetts: Fiore’s Bakery
Boston What to order: Vegan Cupcakes Fiore’s spent generations as a straightforward Italian bakery in the working-class immigrant neighborhood of Jamaica Plain. But as times changed and the clientele changed with them, traditional Italian cookies and big-batch cupcakes yielded space to vegan and gluten-free cupcakes. They look like the ones that fed neighborhood schoolkids for decades, but require a slightly different skill set that Fiore’s has developed gracefully.
Michigan: Union General Cupcakery
Clarkston What to order: Babycake So it still looks like a tourist-trap general store with a bunch of old-timey tchotchkes and decorations. The cupcake shop is far more serious than the surrounding theme suggests. The Babycake — which combines chocolate buttermilk cake, vanilla buttercream filling, and chocolate ganache — has the shop’s trademark tower of frosting, but is eaten all too easily and quickly.
Minnesota: Groundswell
St. Paul What to order: Chocolate Blackout In its Hamline Midway neighborhood, Groundswell is known more as a weekend brunch spot than cupcake corner. Its menu doesn’t feature them heavily, but this blackout of chocolate espresso cake, milk chocolate mousse, bittersweet chocolate ganache, and espresso whipped cream features fair-trade chocolate and is worth the trip even if you don’t leave with an assorted box.
Mississippi: Sugaree’s Bakery
New Albany What to order: Italian Cream “Dedicated to the preservation of our culinary heritage in the Deep South,” Sugaree’s makes its own caramel and pours a decadent hot butter glaze over freshly baked coconut cakes. But the Italian cream cupcake is a marvel with coconut/pecan/walnut butter cake, fresh pineapple, cream cheese icing, and pecan sprinkles. “Rich” is an understatement.
Missouri: Jilly’s Cupcake Bar & Ice Cream Bar
St. Louis What to order: Turtle Cheesecake That Jilly’s ice cream is secondary to its cupcakes is obvious from specials such as the Turtle Cheesecake — which fills chocolate cake with cheesecake and caramel and tops it with chocolate-and-caramel buttercream and a caramel drizzle, chocolate curls, pecan pieces, and chocolate caramel bark.
Montana: Bernice’s Bakery
Missoula What to order: Baker’s Choice Bernice’s doesn’t do a whole lot of staples. It prides itself on one-offs such as the Milk and Cookies Party cupcake with malt and cookie pieces, and on its creativity and free-form approach to menu building. Go check out its cupcake photo gallery for some idea of what they make, but expect to be surprised when you walk through the door.
Nebraska: Jones Bros. Cupcakes
Omaha What to order: Sweet & Salty Another family-run business that started in the kitchen, Jones Bros. expanded into a full café selling tart yogurt, espresso, wine, and homemade small-batch ice cream. Yet the headliner is still this cupcake, which features chocolate laced with caramel and sea salt, then topped with chocolate buttercream and caramel drizzle.
Nevada: Freed’s Bakery
Las Vegas What to order: Toasted Amaretto A Vegas institution for nearly 60 years, Freed’s now has a couple of locations and continues to rack up acclaim at home and on Food Network shows. Its mainstay remains the signature white cupcake topped with amaretto mousse and toasted almonds.
New Hampshire: Queen City Cupcakes
Manchester What to order: 5 Layer This small shop has a rotating weekly cupcake menu and often closes when the cupcakes sell out. It’s worth the time to keep an eye on the menu for this graham cracker cupcake with vanilla buttercream frosting topped with coconut, butterscotch chunks, and drizzled chocolate.
New Jersey: Cupcake Magician
Red Bank What to order: Tiramisu In a state of cake bosses, it sometimes requires some magic to break through the noise. Influenced heavily by the Italian bakers of the region, Cupcake Magician works its magic using espresso cake, stuffed and frosted with an espresso mascarpone whipped cream, and garnished with cocoa powder and chocolate curls to emulate the Italian dessert. It isn’t the boldest cupcake on the menu, but it’s the core of what makes Cupcake Magician so special.
New Mexico: Smallcakes
Albuquerque What to order: Hot Fudge Sundae An occasion bakery in every sense of the word, Smallcakes‘ baked goods are artwork made to be posted on the ‘Gram as often as they’re eaten. This chocolate devil’s food cake filled with fudge and topped with vanilla bean buttercream frosting, more hot fudge, whipped cream, sprinkles, and a cherry is flavorful, but is also a cute dead ringer for the dish it’s emulating. It’s basically an emoji in cupcake form.
New York: Two Little Red Hens
New York City What to order: Brooklyn Blackout NYC really leaned into the cupcake trend, but a reckoning followed. Cupcake ATMs arrived, cupcake shops turned to celebrity face cookies to survive, just about everything else turned into a chain or went bust. But when you follow this little spot’s lead and stuff chocolate cake with chocolate pudding and coat it all in fudge frosting, you can still sell a whole lot of cupcakes without losing your soul.
North Carolina: The Peppered Cupcake
Charlotte What to order: Peppered Cupcake Hey, you can get salted caramel and crème brulee cupcakes at just about any other place on this list. The focus here is savory cakes baked with jalapeño, habanero, or cracked pepper and topped more than a dozen preserves. Whether picking the mango and habanero variation or dabbling in pear, mint, and wasabi, you’re still being more daring than the person down the counter who ordered a box of red velvet.
North Dakota: Sweet Treats Cupcake Bar and Bakery
Bismarck What to order: Build-Your-Own Cupcake Frozen yogurt had its build-your-own-sundae bars; cupcakes have this “personalized” experience. Why go through a menu of hundreds of options when you can just take classic cake bases such as vanilla and red velvet, choose a favorite flavored buttercream, and douse it with toppings?
Ohio: Twist Cupcakery
Dayton What to order: Banana Chocolate Chip In a cute storefront in downtown Dayton, Twist‘s Alexandra “Kate” Rivers creates an experience that’s as tasty as it is aesthetically pleasant. From a menu that includes Peach Cobbler, Chocolate with Salted Caramel Drizzle, Big Mama’s Lemon Cake, Pineapple Upside Down, Caramel Macchiato, Chocolate Decadence, Sweet Potato, Tete’s Apple Pie, and Vanilla Cappuccino, a straightforward Banana Chocolate Chip is still a solid choice.
Oklahoma: Pinkitzel
Tulsa What to order: Neopolitan It’s just pretty. Black-and-white checked floors, chandeliers, damask cupcake wrapping, and brilliantly colored display cases filled with treats give Pinkitzel a Victorian air while serving a modern palate. The Neopolitan fits the theme, melding chocolate cake, strawberry, and vanilla buttercream with a candy sour.
Oregon: Saint Cupcake
Portland What to order: The Salty Captain Some cupcake places in the area exist because they’ve been on TV a whole bunch. Saint Cupcake exists because its customers willed it back to life in 2014. Unwilling to part with creations such as this rich and fudgy chocolate cake topped with a caramel buttercream and finished with a drizzle of caramel sauce and sprinkling of sea salt, the new owners bought the brand from its former management and have been running it successfully for the past four years.
Pennsylvania: Kretchmar’s Bakery
Beaver What to order: Petits Fours Nearing 60 years of existence and opened by a man who’d been baking for 40 years prior, Kretchmar’s puts a century’s work of labor into each handmade item. Yes, there are cupcakes here (and for less than $1 apiece), but the gorgeous white-cake-and-fondant petits fours are a rare treat even in Western Pennsylvania.
Rhode Island: Cupcake Charlie’s
Newport What to order: Orange Dreamsicle Sure, Cupcake Charlie’s now has locations in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, but it all started here with simple takes on everyday favorites such as carrot cake, red velvet, and Hostess cupcakes. But this orange zest cake with cream filling and orange buttercream frosting tells us what the folks across the pond in the UK already know: Orange is delicious and should be used in baked goods far more often.
South Carolina: Cupcrazed Cakery
Fort Mill What to order: Pumpkin Spice Latte The flavors at this “Cupcake Wars” winner are posted every day at 10 a.m. (recent selections included Swiss Roll, Honey Bun, and Maple Brown Sugar Pecan), but the Cupcrazed people also leave early. This pumpkin/espresso mashup was just a recent offering, but you can also get more traditional flavors such as red velvet and double chocolate.
South Dakota: Oh My Cupcakes
Sioux Falls What to order: Caramel Nut Roll There are monthly flavors, occasion-ready cakes, and a whole lot of design elements. But Oh My Cupcakes really excels with a regional favorite: a caramel cake infused with caramel filling, topped with marshmallow buttercream and rolled in crushed peanuts.
Tennessee: Muddy’s Bake Shop
Memphis What to order: Prozac If your business’ entire mission is to make people happy, there are worse ways to do it than with a chocolate cupcake with a big mound of chocolate buttercream icing and rainbow sprinkles. In a cradle of the blues, this is one cheery baked good Muddy’s makes.
Texas: Toot Sweet Cupcakes and More
Austin What to order: Cinnamon French Toast They make artisanal breads and breakfast pastries, but Toot Sweet‘s cupcakes are where the artistry comes out. During the fall, this cinnamon cupcake topped with maple buttercream and pecans is about as close to a syrup-drizzled slice of french toast as you’ll find in cupcake form.
Utah: Cravings — Alisha’s Cupcakes
Pleasant Grove What to order: Boston Cream Pie Another “Cupcake Wars” winner, this cupcake nook serves a state with a legendary sweet tooth and finds new ways to top itself. When a vanilla cupcake topped with a vanilla mousse pudding and chocolate ganache is better than any version produced in Boston (or by certain doughnut-denying Massachusetts chains), that speaks volumes about commitment to the craft.
Vermont: My Little Cupcake
Burlington What to order: Vermont Maple Bacon Okay, so the cupcakes are a little tiny. That’s just an excuse to try more of them. You’ll want to indulge in the Vermont Maple Bacon — topped with Vermont maple buttercream and, naturally, bacon — and be dismayed to find it not listed among current menu items. Ask anyway.
Virginia: Buzz Bakeshop
Alexandria What to order: Buzz Cupcake Yet another D.C.-area shop that built itself into a chain, Buzz proved worth its hype. Where does that buzz come from? From a signature cupcake that’s a chocolate cake with espresso buttercream and crushed, chocolate-covered espresso beans on top.
Washington: Cupcake Royale
Seattle What to order: The Blue Founded back in 2003 in the infancy of the cupcake boom, Royale likes to say it’s the first real cupcakery outside of New York City. It’s an interesting, if somewhat dubious, distinction that belies the identity Royale has forged for itself over the past 15 years. We could’ve picked a seasonal flavor or the Royale with Cheese (simply a chocolate cupcake with cream-cheese frosting), but the popularity of this order-ahead chocolate cupcake with blue frosting just tickles us.
West Virginia: Lil’ Bit of Heaven Cupcakes
St. Alban’s What to order: Oreo and Cream A lil’ bit? Try a lot. This cake alone is fudge filled with chocolate ganache and a white chocolate Oreo buttercream, then topped with white chocolate buttercream. The whole thing is crowned with an Oreo dipped half in milk chocolate and drizzled in semisweet and then white chocolate. (It can also be made with chocolate cream Oreos and chocolate buttercream.)
Wisconsin: Classy Girl Cupcakes
Milwaukee What to order: Cookies & Cream Jumbo Filled Cupcake Erica Elia baked cupcakes for her own wedding before making them for a living. She’s since expanded to push-pop cupcakes and cupcake truffles. But jumbo filled cupcakes such as this Ghirardelli chocolate cupcake filled with Oreo mousse and rolled in crushed Oreos have become Classy Girl‘s sweet spot.
Wyoming: Alla Lala
Gillette What to order: Apple Cider Not only is it the only cupcake business in its corner of the world, but it’s also a big believer in gluten-free and vegan options. Alla Lala, for instance, will make this cupcake with almond flour for those looking to avoid gluten — cause for people with gluten allergies to rejoice.
