"Sprinkling" the town

Color, entertainment and variety are just a few words to describe Iowa City’s downtown area. Live music, art and homeless people paved the streets surrounding the several local and franchise businesses in the town. But one place instantly caught my eyes. A teal sign reading “Molly’s Cupcakes” hung over the orange curtains. As I walked near the shop, I noticed stickers on the glass that were bright and accented with white writing. One that really stood out to me was the circle sticker saying “Winner of Cupcake Wars Season Finale.” I knew this cupcakery had to be good.

As I entered I felt an immediate welcoming, a comfortable one. The atmosphere felt as if I was walking into my grandma’s house, she has a sweet personality and an obsession with having a freakishly cleaned home.

I took a look around the shop and saw the wooden benches connected to the walls, more chairs that had a school-desk-like style, large chains connecting to the ceiling that held wooden seats and the most important of my sightings, cupcakes.

The medium-sized shop included a strip of counter space and at the end were two average 36” sized, shiny glass cases that held all of the sweet treats. The display of the bright, garnished cupcakes and other baked goods made them even more admirable.

The flavors were endless. There were your basic flavors: vanilla, chocolate, red velvet and carrot. Beside them were cake batter, cookie monster, strawberry shortcake, brownie batter, s’mores, orange creamsicle and crème brûlée, to name a few. It seemed to me as if there was an option for every single person on the planet. The shop even had other goods such as cookies, mini pies/cheesecakes, rice krispie treats, scotcheroos, scones and ice cream, all in the same two cases. The large variety made it that much more difficult to decide on what I should try.

I personally love all things cookies, so I decided to indulge in “The Cookie Monster.” The worker named Emily Nolan served the dessert to me on a small, white plate as she’s been doing for four years. The little plate was almost too perfect for cupcake eating.

“The Cookie Monster” cupcake had a soft, vanilla based cake that had a chocolate chip cookie dough filling, under a light, fluffy and buttercream frosting, topped with a mini chocolate chip cookie.

The first bite brought back memories of homemade cookie making with my mom, while the white buttercream invited me to the feeling of the dessert being a cupcake. As I continued the cupcake, I realized the light decoration of a mini chocolate chip cookie created a balance within the cupcake that was not overwhelming like usual gourmet cupcakes and the cookie dough filling brought the whole dessert together.

The small cupcake held a price of $3.25. The sweet treat was completely worth every penny. Honestly, the price didn’t stand out to me anyway because I was so intrigued by the calm, home-like atmosphere and how delicious my cupcake appeared.

Overall, Molly’s Cupcakes receives at 10/10 from me. A perfect score seems overwhelming since this is one of my first reviews but Molly’s had exceptional service and goods. I will definitely stop in every time I visit Iowa City.

**All photos are by me, taken with a Canon T5.