The overwhelming popularity of cupcakes has spawned many cutesy dessert rivals, namely whoopie pies, cookie sandwiches, and mini-bundt cakes. Even though cupcakes clearly rule my sugar high roost, I am always up for sampling wannabes vying for their market share.

Nothing Bundt Cakes is a Las Vegas-based chain of bakeries specializing in, you guessed it, bundt cakes. All of their creations are made with the finest ingredients, including fresh eggs, real butter, and cream cheese. Whereas traditional bundt cake batters tend to be dense, these throughly modern bundts are springy with a tender crumb.

My Bay Area-dwelling cousins, Megan and Madison, have been singing Nothing Bundt Cakes’ praises ever since their first forkful of red velvet at the Los Gatos outlet over a year ago. With the closest location to my home some 45-miles away in Thousand Oaks, the opportunity to taste my cousins’ favorite tubular cake didn’t present itself until this Memorial Day weekend.

To celebrate my aunt Kim’s 50th birthday, an order was placed for a two-tiered bundt cake. The first tier was Chocolate Chocolate Chip, while the second one was Red Velvet. Both were iced with cream cheese frosting.

Aesthetically speaking, bundt cakes cannot hold a candle to cupcakes—short and squat cannot compete with dainty and adorable. However, taste-wise, Nothing Bundt Cakes give cupcake powerhouses like Sprinkles and Magnolia a run for their money.

With bits of chocolate chips in the batter, the Red Velvet bundt was seriously moist and had a pleasant sweetness. The piping of cream cheese icing along the cake’s ridges was generous without spurring an unpleasant sugar rush. The Chocolate Chocolate Chip wasn’t as successful as the Red Velvet because the tangy frosting clashed with the bittersweet cake. A simple vanilla buttercream would have worked wonders.

While there will never be a ‘new cupcake,’ Nothing Bundt Cakes is a worthy competitor.

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Nothing Bundt Cakes
12205 Scripps Poway Parkway #104
Poway, CA 92064
Phone: 858-566-2863