Snohomish’s dueling cupcake shops put to the sweet-tooth test

Why do we need cupcake shops?

We can bake and frost two dozen cupcakes of our own for less than $3, the average cost of just one specialty shop cupcake.

Answer: We need help with portion control, we don’t have enough baking time and, also, specialty cupcakes are beautiful little poems

of sweetness, professionally and artfully decorated.

And they usually taste pretty good.

Apparently, there is enough demand, even during a recession, for Snohomish to support two cupcake shops within 50 paces of each other on First Street, Simply Sweet Cupcakes and Bite Me Cupcakes & Eatery.

Simply Sweet recently opened a second location at Snohomish Station on Bickford Avenue next to another hot spot for treats, Udderly Sweet Frozen Yogurt.

In November, Bite Me will expand its reach with a cupcake bus, a Bite Me Mobile, offering sales and deliveries in Snohomish and King counties.

We bought a dozen gourmet cupcakes, six from Bite Me downtown, six from Simply Sweet on Bickford. They were $18 per half dozen at both places.

Both shops offered cheerful atmospheres and friendly, knowledgeable customer service, so it all came down to the cakes.

Our review team gave Simply Sweet’s cupcakes highest marks for creativity, frosting and overall flavor. Bite Me was a close second with cakes that were more consistently moist but not quite as wonderful.

Simply Sweet’s vanilla cake with raspberry buttercream frosting was our overall winner with its light, bright, flavor-packed frosting.

Simply Sweet’s pink champagne was a close second, featuring a lovely pink cake that was fluffy and moist and lavishly decorated with individually piped swirls of frosting and tiny edible pearls.

Eating it felt like a real treat, and it didn’t seem like something just anyone could crank out at home.

Simply Sweet also won us over with three cute chocolate cakes, one topped with buttercream and coconut flake, another with cookies and cream buttercream and a miniature Oreo sandwich and another with green mint frosting and a Junior Mint candy.

I found Simply Sweet’s chocolate cake to be a bit dry when compared to Bite Me’s cakes.

I normally roll my eyes at the mere mention of red velvet cupcakes, because I find them to be invariably dry and tasteless, but I loved the Bite Me version, which was decorated with a feather-light cream cheese frosting.

I felt the same way about the carrot cake from Bite Me. It was so moist and good, I would eat it again, not something I would usually say about carrot cake.

Bite Me won over about half of the review panel with its vanilla candy corn cupcake, a whimsical, tasty treat topped with a tricolor tier of frosting in the shape of candy corn.

Bite Me’s chocolate cupcake with cream cheese coconut frosting was the lowest-scoring cupcake of the day.

I thought the cream cheese frosting seemed like bad match for coconut flake and chocolate cake. I also detected an artificial coconut flavor aftertaste that was unpleasant.

I would send cake lovers to Bite Me. And I would tell frosting fans to visit Simply Sweet.

That said, I recommend you do your own taste test.

Our review panel was not entirely unanimous in our conclusions, and flavors change often at both shops, so you’re bound to find something interesting and most definitely sweet.

Sarah Jackson: 425-339-3037, sjackson@heraldnet.com.

Bite Me Cupcakes & Eatery

1118 First St., Snohomish; 425-346-8090. See bitemecupcakes.us for updates on the Bite Me Mobile bus.

Ice cream, pastries, cookies and wine also are served at the eatery. There is a 1,500-square-foot private party room upstairs for special events that seats 32.

Hours: 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. Closed the first Tuesday of each month.

Simply Sweet Cupcakes

Hours at the downtown Snohomish location, 1206½ First St.; 360-568-8600, are 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. At Snohomish Station, 2705 Bickford Ave.; 360-863-2956, hours are 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday and Monday. See www.simplysweetcupcakes.com for more details.