Cups and Cakes Bakery in San Francisco

During my recent exploration of the South of Market neighborhood, where I hunted down a window of treats and zipped into the latest pizza joint, I also discovered another cup cake shop that I'd never heard of.

Called Cups and Cakes Bakery (really, people must be running out of ideas for cupcake names), this little shop definitely has the industrial feel of the SOMA neighborhood with its black and pink theme and workers with piercings and tattoos.


One thing I realized about this bakery is that they had some really creative flavors, or at least creative names for their cupcakes. There were raspberry truffles, root beer, and a very circus-like rainbow brights. There are also seasonal flavors, like the ubiquitous pumpkin during this time of year.


Along with the regular size cupcakes, they also sell mini cupcakes, which I always enjoy because it means more flavors to try. I ended up getting the Raspberry Truffle and the Lemonade (because I love lemon). My friend Ken who was with me got a somewhat normal vanilla bean cupcake.

The Raspberry Truffle was really decadent with the chocolate ganache, but the Lemonade with yellow cake seemed a bit regular. The unusual thing about the cupcakes at Cups and Cakes is that they're served up in paper cups (oh, maybe that's how they get the name) instead of regular paper lining. So it just makes it harder to get the cake out of the paper cups. (With the mini cupcakes, you can just squeeze out the cupcakes into your mouth.)

While Cups and Cakes Bakery is all the way out there in SOMA, a bit far for me, it's a fun spot to get some funky cupcakes.

Cups and Cakes Bakery, 451 9th St., San Francisco. Open Tuesday through Saturday. www.cupsandcakesbakery.com