Cupcake Quest: The Gingerbread Construction Co.

This post is part of the Cupcake Quest series on Fork it over, Boston!

Friday morning at the office was pretty painful. I had been out late at a gig the night before, and waking up wasn't fun. But around 10am, a co-worker dropped this on my desk:

Strawberry Shortcake "Muffin" from The Gingerbread Construction Co.

Good thing I skipped breakfast! This ginormous treat is the Strawberry Shortcake muffin from The Gingerbread Construction Co. (Winchester location). Due to its supreme cakiness and whipped cream, I think it meets the criteria for a cupcake rather than a muffin, but we can debate the cupcake/muffin gray area some other time. For the purposes of this quest, I'll include it.

So bright and sunny :) I feel like it's saying "Good morning!"

A fork was necessary for this beast. I started on the yellow cakey hat on top, worked my way down into the sweet, light whipped cream, and then...

A hidden well of juicy strawberries!

...I found the strawberry surprise! Ok, it wasn't much of a surprise since I knew it was a strawberry shortcake cupcake, but they were well-hidden underneath the mountain of whipped cream.

This cupcake defies a typical cake-to-frosting ratio as the "frosting" was sandwiched in between a usual cupcake and an extra hatcake (hehe). There was a lot of cake and a lot of frosting, but that's a good thing: both were delicious. (So were the strawberries.)

The Verdict: Good thing The Gingerbread Construction Co. is located way out in Winchester and Wakefield; this place is dangerous! This cupcake (muffin?) was ridiculously good. It was basically one of the best strawberry shortcakes I've had, but in cupcake form, which makes it even better! Another potential menu highlight: the chocolate raspberry muffin - a rich chocolate cake muffin (see? isn't that really a cupcake?) filled with handpicked local raspberries, whipped cream, chocolate shavings, and chocolate drizzle, topped with powdered sugar. If I get a chance to try it, I'll report back.

As it turned out, Friday was a double cupcake day!

---

Update 6/11/2010
A week later, the Cupcake Fairy struck again!

Chocolate Raspberry Muffin/Cupcake!

  

Wow, this thing was decadent. Raspberry and chocolate is by far one of the best flavor combinations in the world. However, I actually liked the strawberry shortcake cupcake a little bit better - the cake was spongier and lighter, and there were more strawberries in that one than there were raspberries in this one. Actually, this one had a lot of cake that was saturated with raspberry juice, but a strange lack of actual berries. It was almost as if someone had put the berries in, scooped them back out, and topped it with whipped cream. Hmmm.

The Revised Verdict: Yep, definitely a good thing I can't get to Gingerbread Construction Co. easily.

This Friday was also a double cupcake day! Sweet post to come! (Sweet as in the bakery called Sweet, not sweet as an adjective. Well, both apply, I suppose.)