With today's side deal, $60 gets you a sprinkle party for six from Cupcake Royale, a $120 value. You and five friends (each additional person is $20 extra) get 90 minutes at the party table at either the Capitol Hill or West Seattle location to frost and decorate your own cupcake. You'll choose your own cupcake flavor (one cupcake each) and frosting flavor, and have unlimited sprinkle- and frosting-bar access, candles, a drink of your choice, and a card for a complimentary cupcake for next time. The guest of honor also gets a free T-shirt. For an adult party, you can opt to bring your own champagne, beer, or wine—the stemware is provided. You must reserve over the phone at least two days in advance. For every three children younger than 18, one adult must be present.
A cupcake party cuts down on dirty dishes and eliminates the pressure of being the first one to cut into the cake. Instead of making a different cake to suit everyone's tastes, everyone gets what they want, how they want it, even if all they want is a pile of frosting in their hands and an artfully arranged sprinkle-mandala. Voted Seattle's best cupcake by Seattle Magazine and Seattle Weekly, and featured in The Seattle Times, Cupcake Royale bakes each flavor daily from natural and local ingredients, including hormone-free dairy products and locally raised fruit. Finish off a long lunch break with a Royale with cheese, a pillow of dark chocolate cake topped with cream-cheese buttercream and chocolate shavings, or chomp a vanilla coconut bunny, adorably fluffy with hand-frosted buttercream. Experts in things that taste good recommend chocolate peppermint party, while fans of sea spray reach no farther than the salted caramel with fleur de sel.
Since the cupcake is the good twin to the evil muffin, Cupcake Royale extends its goodwill into the community to fight the accursed Man and his mini-Man lackey. The bakery donates 25,000 cupcakes a year to schools and non-profit community organizations, uses only biodegradable cups, and composts all its organic waste.
Reviews
Readers of both Seattle Magazine and Seattle Weekly call Cupcake Royale the best cupcake vendor in all of Seattle. The Seattle Times featured Cupcake Royale for its deliciousness, as well as its commitment to sustainability.
- Because purple is my favorite color, I chose the Lavender vanilla cake with lavender-flavored icing — and, boy, was it good!...Besides producing the "most local cupcake," Hall steps up to other sustainability issues. Half the trash at Cupcake Royale is composted; the cafes offer Ecotainer cups and corn-based plastic utensils; boxes are printed in Ballard using soy-based inks. – Braiden Rex-Johnson, Seattle Times
MSN City Guides counting the bakery's lavender cupcake among the 10 best in the whole country.
- With taglines like “Legalize Frostitution” and “Rock Out With Your Cupcake Out” it’s hard not to be charmed by Seattle’s quirky Cupcake Royale. – Amanda Petrusich, MSN City Guides
Reviews are generally favorable among Yelpers, whose opinions vary based on particular location. The First Hill branch scores the highest marks, with 104 cupcake addicts whipping up a four-star recommendation. The Madrona/Leschi location gets 3.5 stars out of 62 reviews, while the Ballard bakery gets a solid three stars from a whopping 328 Yelpers.
