The newly opened A Cupcake Social shop adds a welcome dash of color and sweetness to the 38th St. / 28th Ave. intersection in South Minneapolis, already home to Northbound Smokehouse and the still-as-of-yet not properly signed Keen Eye Coffee. There may be no other crossroads in the Cities where you can grab a cup of coffee, cross the street, grab a gourmet cupcake, cross the street, and grab a craft beer and some smoked whitefish dip — and that’s kind of a shame.
The latest in a series of food trucks to jump to bricks-and-mortar (see also Sushi Fix, Smack Shack, Potter’s Pasties), A Cupcake Social seems to have effortlessly made the leap. The interior is a nice mashup of chandelier glitz and bright cool pastels, recalling the Marshall Avenue Sweets Bakeshop back in its heyday.
The cupcake that drew our eye is one of the store’s rotating flavors, the Salty Sweetness ($2.99). It’s a chocolate cake topped with salted caramel buttercream and filled with a small dollop of salted caramel. The cupcake was, on whole, lovely: It walks a number of important lines. It’s moist without being gooey; filled without being overfilled; salty without tasting like a pretzel; boasting a bit of crunch without being a textural minefield.
A Cupcake Social, 3800 28th Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55406; 651.243.1114