{Cupcake Spy} Downtown Chicago Loop, IL

Hello, I am Vicky Almiron, a Two Sugar Babies fan.  I am not a blogger.  I do not bake. I do not have the talent to create things to delight others.  However, I do delight in the talent of those who can create and I support their talent.  I live in Glendale Heights, Illinois which is a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois.  Chicagoland has a bevy of bakeries and shops offering cupcakes.  My family and I have visited a few over the years.  It seems that a new cupcake shop opens up every few months in the Chicagoland area.  We are very fortunate to have so many bakeries and shops to choose from to satisfy our cupcake cravings.  Of course, with so many choices, you often wonder which shops are worth the visit.  I asked my friends to recommend their favorite bakeries, shops and stores for cupcakes.  The responses included some recurring names.  Ultimately, I decided to visit Sugar Bliss Cake Boutique located in the Downtown Chicago Loop at 115 North Wabash.  

Sugar Bliss is a small cupcake shop located under the “El” tracks and across the street from Macy’s Department Store.  The shop offers cupcakes, beverages and on special order, six inch cakes.  The cupcakes are made on premises.  Their cupcake offerings include regular size and mini versions.  Sugar Bliss also offers “frosting shots.”  Initially I did not quite understand why you would want to eat a flavor shot.

I visited on a late Sunday afternoon with my girlfriend.  We ordered a mini in every flavor still available that day – Vanilla Vanilla, Orange Creamsicle, Vanilla Milk Chocolate, Texas Red Velvet, Pure Chocolate, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Chocolate Hazelnut, Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel.  Sugar Bliss offers a daily rotation of five cupcakes every day along with seasonal favorites. The minis were the perfect size for sampling.  Almost every Sugar Bliss cupcake is decorated with a signature Sugar Bliss “bloom.” The design makes for a perfect cupcake to frosting ratio and for a damned cute cupcake.  We first tasted the Vanilla Vanilla cupcake which is described as “madagascar bourbon vanilla cake with creamy vanilla buttercream.” The Vanilla frosting was excellent – delicate, light, creamy, with intense vanilla flavor.  I now understood why frosting shots are offered.  The cupcake itself was very good – moist and flavorful. We proceeded to taste the remaining seven cupcakes.  The frosting for every cupcake was consistently very good to excellent – my girlfriend is a weekend baker, she mentioned that she could taste the food coloring in the orange Creamsicle.  Food coloring has a taste?  Really?  All I could taste was a yummy creamsicle in cupcake form!  For us, the frosting made the cupcakes.  Again, I understand why frosting shots are offered.  My favorite was the Chocolate Peanut Butter – dark chocolate cake with peanut butter buttercream.  My girlfriend loved the Chocolate Hazelnut  -- dark chocolate cake with chocolate hazelnut buttercream. 

Sugar Bliss is worth the trip!  The cupcakes are consistently good!  Individual prices for the cupcakes are on the higher end of the price scale, but well worth it!  The service was also very good.  On my visit, Veronica and Marco were working the shop.  They were very friendly and they were very knowledgeable about their product.  If you happen to be in the Downtown Chicago Loop, drop by and grab a cupcake and a frosting shot!

All photos property of Two Sugar Babies and Vicky Almiron