Wonder Cakes

A coworker and I visited Caryn’s yesterday to pick up a dozen cupcakes for the office for a special occasion and, after our experience, will not be returning. The customer service at this place is deplorable. We were not greeted when we entered the shop, the lady who was helping us seemed to be irritated that she had to break away from whatever she had been doing to help us (made noticeable sighs when we told her the size of our order), and then to top it off (after spending $ 46 for cupcakes) when we said thank you she didn’t respond or even look at us when we left. The cupcakes are overpriced, undersized (compared to Whole Foods bakery), and they are way too sweet. Caryn’s is in our neighborhood but we will pass them up in the future and make our way to another bakery for our sweet fixes.

Will not be coming back here. It wasn’t that the cupcakes that I tried were bad. I got the Red Velvet and the Banana Peanut Butter cupcakes. Both were pretty good, nothing to scream about. But the price for the size is just not worth it. I might be a little spoiled because The Amazing Cakes in Mableton have large cupcakes for about a dollar less than Caryn’s Cakes charges AND they have more flavor. Even CamiCakes is cheaper. When the lady that rung me up said $ 6.18 for two cupcakes I felt ripped off! The cupcakes just aren’t worth it.

I hired Caryn’s Cakes to do our wedding cake. The cake was delicious and beautiful but she FORGOT OUR CAKE TOPPER! I spent a lot of time and effort designing our topper on etsy. Caryn told me to drop the topper by the store the week of the wedding to ensure that it made it to the reception. It never did. The caterers tried calling the bakery all night to no avail. I received an email on Tuesday (four days after the reception) offering me a free cake on our first anniversary. It seems to me if you are a small business owner, you should make customer service your top priority. Responding to a BIG mistake four days after the fact with a paltry email is NOT good customer service.

I stopped in Caryn’s to pick up a cupcake. I got the Jamacian Rum cupcake and a chocolate mini cupcake. The Jamacian Rum cupcake was just okay. The frosting was extremely light, so light that is started to melt by the time I got in my car. The cake part of the cupcake was just okay too. The chocolate mini cupcake was average as well.
I’ll definitely have to go back and try some of there other cupcakes before I decide if I like them or not.

Imagine that you’ve just asked me how I feel about Caryn’s Cakes. Now imagine that I’ve just tilted my head to the side, gave you a cross-​eyed look, stuck my hand up in the air towards you and then waggled it back and forth.
Got it? Yah.
I planned a trip there to try their cupcakes out … was thinking about placing an order for my son’s birthday party. First thought as I walked in the door … this is not a store. It’s a bakery for custom orders, plain and simple. They’ve got a little display area up front where they can sell cupcakes from — but this is purely an advertising technique.
Not that there’s anything wrong with it, really. As long as you’re not using day old product to advertise. And look, I have no proof that what I bought was day-​old. But I got there around 1115 and they had darn few cupcakes on display to choose from. Maybe they had a morning rush, I dunno.
The cupcakes were dry and lacked much flavour. The buttercream icing tasted much more of the former than the latter.

I needed treats for a dinner and a bribe (don’t ask). The boy was a bit reluctant to come here, but I like to Unilocal new things and after driving by the place for over a year now, it’s about time I find out what they have to offer! Some reviews I trust on here seemed to think positively of the place, so I met the boy over here to nab a decent variety of whatever they had left for the evening before closing shop.
Each cupcake was a little pricey, but so worth it. I was able to try the sweet tea cupcake, which was topped with a lemon buttercream frosting and a straw. The details this place gives to the fun cupcakes is part of the charm for sure! The cupcake wasn’t quite like drinking sweet tea, but it was similar enough. Besides, it was delicious and gone within a few minutes. Mmm… I need to try another flavor — the stout one mentioned on here sounds right up my alley!
Everyone else seemed to really enjoy their choice from the mixed up box I brought along to the dinner party. Even though we bought right before closing time, the cupcakes tasted fresh, yummy, and even lasted a second day for the boy to eat for breakfast. I don’t know how one cupcake survived the night before in the ravenous group…
And yes, the cotton candy cupcake — piled high with frosting — made the bribe a reality. Thanks, Caryn’s Cakes! Lifesaver more than you know.

OMG! These were the 2 worst cupcakes I’ve ever had! Including the grocery store cupcakes!
I thought I would try this place out since I was in the area. I ordered a red velvet cupcake (only because this is what I order at Cami Cakes and I wanted to compare) and a vanilla w/​butter cream icing! Not good! I also noticed they were smaller and not as «pretty» as Cami Cakes. The vanilla cupcake even seemed a little stale! Yuck! A waste of $ 5!
(Let me say this for the record, I ONLY like the red velvet cupcakes at Cami Cakes, I’m not a fan of their other flavors. Hence, my attempt to find a better cupcake shop.)
Save your money!

After a long afternoon on the West End (trying to find some resolve with the useless records people at the Atlanta Police Department), I discovered this place on my way home. I was stopped at a traffic light on W. Marietta Street and their sign out front spoke to me.
It said «You need a cupcake.»
Wow. It was like a sign from God.
I went inside and there is a medium sized bakery behind a small store. Inside glass cases were a few cupcakes. I got a few and tried them out.
Not bad, but not spectacular. Sorry, but that’s about all I can say.

Work nearby and occasionally pick up cupcakes for the office. The cupcakes are good. It’s a decent option if you’re nearby. The service at is a bit spotty as well.
Atlanta cupcake factory is better in the flavor department, and truthfully that’s about the only thing that matters.

Really good stuff, about on par with Little Cake, my neighborhood bakery. The cupcakes Nova and I ordered were very tasty and very moist. Almost too moist actually. My Red Velvet had so much oil (or something) in it, it slipped out of my hand and landed on my shoe, leaving a giant grease stain. With a little work, I was able to clean the loafer up so you could barely see the greasiness, but damn. Maybe they need to dial that back a bit.
All in all though, it’s worth a stop if you’re in the area as we were. The selection is rather small – for some reason I thought there’d be more choices – but we easily found flavors we wanted. If you want to hang out and eat your cupcakes there, they even have some seating out front (sorry, I don’t remember any inside).

I have been in three times. I love the little baby cupcakes. I like them because you can try two or three different kinds at one time. What fun… right? The carrot cake and strawberry get my vote. The babies cupcakes do not come in every flavor. I am sure some of the full sized cupcakes are wonderful too! I have stopped in to pick up a box to take to friends always being a huge hit! A great little find.

This has to be my favorite cuppycake place in Atlanta. After my first experience with Caryn’s Cakes earlier this week, I just had to go back and grab some more flavors for me and my husband to try. As before, everything was delicious!
Here’s what I tried.
Stout cupcake — This was the Flavor of the Day and had a glaze instead of frosting. I’m usually balls-​to-​the-​wall against cuppycakes without frosting — in my world, if it lacks frosting, it’s a damn muffin. But since I am already under Caryn’s spell, and I am somewhat fond of a chocolate Guinness cupcake I make myself, I had to try it to see how it stacked up. It was different from what I expected — it had a spicy gingerbread flavor to it. But it was definitely yummy and moist.
Chocolate Earl Grey with chocolate orange frosting — This was yummy, and the cake had a nice spice to it. For me the orange flavor detracted from the overall yumminess of the cuppycake, so this wasn’t my favorite. But what you have to understand is that Caryn’s Cakes’ worst is still better than Cami Cakes’ best. It’s still a damn good treat.
Red velvet — I always get scared when I try a new red velvet cuppycake because most of the time I’m disappointed. For a Southern town, it’s a travesty how few people know how to make a decent red velvet. Caryn’s red velvet may just be the best red velvet I’ve had. I always compare red velvet against this one fantabulous slice I tried in college, made by the Southern grandma of a boy I no longer know. This almost equaled that memory (though nothing truly can).
Brown sugar cupcake with caramel toffee frosting — Um, I’m not sure if that’s the real name of this cuppycake — was feeling super spacey while I was in the bakery. Which is a shame because this was the favorite of the batch for both me and my husband. The cake was just perfectly moist but still had sort of a crumbly texture and the frosting was… OMG. There is no way to describe it. It made me a little ecstatic while I was eating it.
Having Caryn’s Cakes down the street from my office is going to be an issue for my waistline. But it makes me happy anyway. In a sad, sad world where SugarMama no longer sells her beautiful cuppycakes, Caryn is the only person who would have been a worthy competitor for her. Here’s hoping that Unilocal picks up on this fact and gives her tons of business so she’s around for a long time!

Finally, another place that offers a mini-​cupcake option!
Tried the strawberry, chocolate, and the vanilla chai latte one. The chocolate was decent but nothing special. The strawberry was my least favorite, but it wasn’t bad, just not to my taste.
BUT THE VANILLA CHAI.
oh. my. god.
I can still taste it.
It was the perfect combo of moist and dry that was not sweet at all… The frosting was like this light whipped topping that was a little sweeter and complemented the cake. I loved the little yellow sugars on top that added a nice crunch to it. I love anything with a chai flavor and this was the best one I’ve had out!
I would so come back for this cupcake. I’m looking forward to it!

So far Caryn’s wins my vote for best cupcake in Atlanta (I say so far since I haven’t ventured far out of midtown yet… who knows what’s out there!)
Each time we go, there are always new flavors to try, and it’s a struggle not to buy one of each (if I wasn’t living on an artists salary, I probably would) so their selection of mini cupcakes is absolutely perfect. Red Velvet is always my go to, and it’s awesome here – velvety rich cake and fluffy and not-​too-​sweet cream cheese icing~ Yummmm. My friend swears by the cute little pink strawberry cupcakes which she says tastes just like Strawberries and Cream.
I also got the Mexican Hot Chocolate today, hoping to get a strong taste of cinnamon with the chocolate, but didn’t get much of that sadly. However the cake was so wonderfully chocolately and moist – and oh! the butter cream! I could write sonnets about it– I didn’t really care. Also, I’m a sucker for toasted Marshmallows, so this cupcake was definitely a keeper.
I’m still stubborn and cant wrap my head around buying non-​cake things at a cupcake shop, but my friend did get their new Caramel Shortcake bar, and looked completely blissed out while eating it, so I’m gonna go ahead and say that it’s probably pretty good too ;)

Holy moly this cake is killer. I drive past Caryn’s on the way to work every day and that was enough to get me hooked on her cupcakes. So far my absolute favorite has been the strawberry shortcake; it tasted like I actually took a bite of fresh strawberry shortcake complete with whipped cream! I haven’t had a single one that I would turn down but besides the strawberry shortcake I loved the coconut.
Of course when we got engaged we immediately knew where we would be looking for wedding cake. We recently were at Caryn’s for a cake tasting and I have been drooling ever since. I am a huge peanut butter nut and nearly died over the peanut butter filling. My fiancé isn’t the PB nut that I am but that was still on the top of his list. The hazelnut cake is an awesome cake that is pretty basic with a bit of a twist. We tried the hazelnut cake with the vanilla custard and loved it. We weren’t into the cannoli filling as much as we predicted but I still wouldn’t turn down a piece of cake with it in it.
The sign out front reads «You need a cupcake» and nothing could be any more accurate when it comes to Caryn’s; you should run, not walk, there immediately.

Wow, what great vision! I live right down the street & only discovered this place about 2 months ago. I love that every time I go there’s a new & unusual cupcake flavor. Last week I tried the lemon iced Sweet Tea cupcake. Oh my goodness! I don’t even like sweet tea and when I got home, I was very upset that I only purchased one! The cake had just the slightest hint of tea flavor & the lemon icing topped it off perfectly. Baking is truly an art & Caryn is a magnificent artist.
The brownies & blondies are good but I’d like to see them offered without nuts.

Went here on a whim before a dance class when the craving for some sweets struck. Even though they had been here for some time (1 year +) this was the first time I had seen their sign so I dont know if they just recently put that up or changed it but the color combination (pink and green) catches the eye and that is what drew us in.
Anyway, on to the cupcakes, which is what we had.
She had the Earl Grey Chocolate cupcake and the Caramel Apple cupcake. I had the Coconut and the Vanilla Chai Tea cupcake. Ill let her review her cupcakes but the ones I had were quite tasty. Im a coconut fiend and a chai fiend so everything was set for a wonderful cupcake experience and they didnt disappoint. They were moist, flavorful and very, very satisfying.
My only complain was that they were priced a little higher than I would have thought they would be given that they were pretty much a standard cupcake size. I have heard of much larger cupcakes elsewhere being sold for about the same price as these. I was thinking that $ 0.99 to $ 1.25 would have been just right but they were a bit higher than that.
They are good for a treat but it isnt something that I would be going back for on a regular basis just because I could buy a box of cupcake mix, flavor it, bake it and create my own toppings for 12 cupcakes about half of what I paid for 4.
I would however be interested in trying out her cakes as they all looked quite tasty so I may end up doing that for a future event.

She is amazing. Her staff is awesome. And her cakes… impeccably designed, absolutely stunning and unbelievably delicious. I cannot say enough great things about Caryn’s Cakes.
I recently threw my mom’s 50^th birthday and I really wanted to order her a specialty cake but I’m a party planning novice so this was a first. I looked and even called a few places (some of which voted highest on Unilocal) and Caryn outmatched them immediately just over the phone. She was gracious. She worked with me endlessly one-​on-​one, emailing back and forth and responding to phone calls. When I went to pick up the cake, I was floored. It exceeded all expectations.
I kept thinking I was just too lucky to have found her on a whim and the cake turn out so amazing. I was sure it would not taste nearly as great as it looked and the truth is, neither my mom or myself are cake people.
Caryn suggested the applesauce cake with cinnamon cream cheese filling for bottom tier and I wanted the chocolate espresso and she suggested vanilla cream cheese filling with that for top tier. AMAZING! Both were moist and delicious. The filling and the icing was not overly sweet but just right.
I was looking for the perfect cake and she definitely delivered.

I’m eating one of Caryn’s blondies… and it is soooo good.
Her chocolate with fudge frosting… is amazing.
*you might want to call before you go because near the end of the week most of her selection is gone… like the mini cupcakes :(that I buy everyday :)