Good vs Bad – Bad Meal in San Diego

Although I love making sweets, I’m not the biggest fan of eating sweets. However, a do appreciate a good cupcake and am even more excited by interesting flavor combinations. My friend Jonathan told me about a place, Eclipse Chocolat, that we just had to check out. He had recently heard that they had a bacon/chocolate cupcake! It was definitely worth the trek to check it out!


To my disappointment, the night we went, the bacon/chocolate cupcake was not available. We settled for a mixed box of goodies.

We ended up picking :
- Kentucky Bourbon and Pecan Cupcake
- Lemon Dulce du Leche Cupcake
- Macadamia and Toasted Marshmallow Cupcake
- Macademia and Ginger Brownie
- Masala Chai Brownie
- Espresso Truffle
- Lavender and Sea Salt Caramel

I was really excited about the bourbon cupcake as well as the marshmallow one. The chai brownie was my pick as was the lavender and sea salt caramel.

Imagine my disappointment when we got home and started cutting into them…just to find the cupcake flavor combos weird, and the cupcake itself super dry. I’ve had a lot of good cupcakes in my time (Kara’s Cupcakes in San Francisco, Miette Cakes in the Ferry Building, Berkeley's Love at First Bite Bakery, Saint Cupcake in Portland), and these were probably some of the worst ones I’ve ever had. I'm no professional baker, but mine are even better!

I really wanted to like them. The brownies were generally better than the cupcakes. And of all of the cupcakes, the marshmallow one was ok--probably because the fluffy marshmallow in the center at least gave the cupcake some moisture.

Goes to show...don't try and be so clever with the original flavor combinations. Stick with the basics and be sure to perfect your basic cupcake before venturing out.