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Categories: Bakeries, Coffee & Tea [Edit]
Neighborhood: West Los AngelesTue-Fri. 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Sat. 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
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Their storefront is so cute--a white awning displaying precious cupcakes that look just like grandma made them.
Buttercake Bakery is known for their lemon bar, but their mini cupcakes and a slice of carrot cake are also worth a try. The carrot cake had chunks of pineapple in it, which I love. Be sure to stop by if you're in the area, and give them your email address--you'll get a free mini cupcake!
Buttercake is a solid 4-star cupcake place. The cupcakes are the same every time (consistency is good) and they only cost $2.25 apiece. I always order them when I want to give my clients a treat. They also have those little mini cupcakes for 75 cents each. This is my go-to cupcake spot.
Don't be fooled. You can eat like 10 of those little mini cupcakes and think that you've been good because you didn't eat a big cupcake. Well guess what? 4 minis make one big!
They have other pastries there, but I never get them - I stick with the cupcakes. Be warned, these are not the GIANT sprinkles or crumbs cupcakes. These cupcakes look just the ones you make at home. in fact, people always ask if I made them when I bring them to an event.
The chocolate and red velvet cupcakes are always better than the vanilla which can be dry at times. No fancy decorations on the icing - just a bit of food coloring and some sprinkles. These are no frills cupcakes.
$2 per cupcake? Yes! No lines? Yes! One short bus ride from/to my apartment? Yes!
Super soft and moist cupcakes? No. Outstandingly delicious frosting? No. Chic ambiance? No.
You really get what you pay for.
For $2 a cupcake, I guess I can't complain much. The bakery is really close to my apartment, and it's so convenient to shop for sweet treats here. Buttercake Bakery believes in simplicity, and you won't have to wait long for your cupcakes to be placed in a clear plastic box. The decorations are not important here. This bakery is the place I would go to for a quick cupcake fix. Red velvet and chocolate flavors are always good when you don't need to have fancy names for cupcakes.
I really enjoy this place! They have this amazing espresso cookie
that I love. I've ordered a bday cake from here and that was also a big hit. Cheaper than Sprinkles and crumbs, although smaller.
Small bakery with a small selection of goods. I wanted to try their cupcakes and they had mini ones that were perfect. 75 cents each...! I got one of each, red velvet, vanilla and chocolate. Liked the red velvet and vanilla, but the chocolate was a little dense and bitter. It's like the perfect little treat, nothing too sweet and overwhelming like a whole entire cupcake when you're feeling fat already. :) wish they made more flavors to try though.
I'd go back here if I were in the area -- it probably deserves an extra half-star over what I gave it. The cupcakes are definitely above average, and a huge step up from the ones we had to deal with out in Orange County. The cake portion is good -- still kind of tastes too much like a regular piece of cake and not the thicker, more moist bottom I'd want in a cupcake. The frosting's also good, although not in line with some of the best places in the county.
They've got several varieties -- but could probably use a few more. They do the chocolate types better than the white cakes. What I really like is that they have so many minis, which are sort of the best way to eat cupcakes because the frosting and cake are like a beautiful symphony all as one. Parking can be a real challenge out on these streets. Since you might have trouble finding it (next to Subway, and across a little street from McDonald's), I'd suggest parking where you can and locating it on foot.
went back recently to pick up more mini cupcakes and i think they fot their act together. the order was ready and there was no flustered clerk running around like a chicken with her head cut off.
all the mini cupcakes were very good (red velvet, vanilla, chocolate). flavorful, soft and moist with the same sugary topping.
i'm a fan!
i called buttercake bakery to order 48 cupcakes for easter and the lady on the other end was very… Read more »
I really really wanted to love this place because the prices were more reasonable for cupcakes, but I was disappointed.
The storefront is pretty tiny, sandwiched between a newsstand and a comic book store. The facade was really cute, but once I walked inside, it wasn't what I expected. You could see the entire kitchen from the front and it wasn't a pretty sight. A couple of tables to the left served as a sit down area, but it didn't make me want to sit. To the right was a shelf of merchandise, which didn't really stand out.
As for the food, I ordered a Red Velvet and a Vanilla Buttercream cupcake and a lemon bar. I read a couple reviews and it seemed like these were their best items. So, for $2 a cupcake and $2.50 for the bar, it seemed like a good deal.
The lemon bar had a good consistency and looked pretty good, but upon first bite, all I could taste was the egg. Not a good start. I could barely taste the lemon after the punch of sugar in that thing. It had way too much sugar and it wasn't that great.
I figured, since it's a bakery, maybe lemon bars aren't their specialty. I tried the red velvet. It was darker than I've normally seen, red almost brownish...and it tasted more like chocolate cake than a red velvet. The cake itself was really crumbly and dry. The frosting was pure sugar, no hint of cream cheese, just a heavy hand of sweetness and sprinkles. It just wasn't for me.
Next, I tried the vanilla buttercream...I mean, the place is called Buttercake...wouldn't this be their signature? The frosting was definitely buttery....and sugary. The cake itself was dry and flavorless. It kind of had that day-old hardness to it...but I'm pretty sure they just baked it today. It just wasn't my day for sweets.
Perhaps if you order it in advance and just picked it up, it would be fresher than the ones sitting on the counter. As a walk-in customer, I wouldn't venture here again.
If you know me, you know that I would eat chocolate and peanut butter ON HAIR. No joke. Anything PB&C is right up my alley.
So when I was looking around at the bazillion cupcake places in LA, I saw this place, saw it was close to my house, saw that they had chocolate peanut butter cupcakes and saw they were reasonably priced.
I was not disappointed. The cupcakes were moist, delicious, a great frosting-to-cake ratio and...
The PB&C cupcake was magnificent.
I got a dozen for a birthday party and ended up getting an extra 4 just for me. I may have oinked out loud when I ate them but it was worth it. I really liked how it was a tiny but cute place that just makes great baked goods.
Awesomely delicious treats come from this place. Once you try one of the mini cupcakes, the phrase "once you pop, you can't stop" would apply , they're that good and that tiny.
Like everyone else mentioned, this place is SO hard to find. They really need a bigger sign. But after attempting to hit some balls at the driving range, I really needed a cupcake so we made the extra effort to track this place down. Glad we did!
We tried the red velvet cupcake, vanilla cupcake, and the peanut butter cupcake. The peanut butter frosting was good but the chocolate cake underneath tasted like it came out of a box. The vanilla cupcake was a little too sweet and a little to dry for my taste. But the red velvet was fantastically moist yet light and flavorful. All the cupcakes had a great frosting to cupcake ratio and the $2 price tag is definitely a plus compared to the other cupcake bakeries in the area.
Overall, one of the better cupcake places, especially because they have one of my favorite red velvet cupcakes. The red velvet gets this place 5 stars!
Bakery is located one block east of the McDonald's.
The Banana Bread is absolutely the best banana bread I've ever had. Everything here is amazing!
I don't even usually like chocolate cake with chocolate icing. But this was unbelievably yummy!!!!!!!!
Everyone was mouthgasming.
Perfect birthday cake or I love you cake.
So I'm working a little late and a coworker mentions before leaving that there's a cake in the kitchen... looking very rich and velvety. Eh...i thought and continued crunching numbers... A few minutes pass and I couldn't ignore my curiosity, rumbling in my stomach. Ok.. just a quick break for a little peek... I enter the kitchen to see a huge box with "Buttercake Bakery" written on it. Mm... I thought, i see this bakery on my way to work and have always wanted to try it... ok...just take a teeny piece... WOW...love at first bite... the chocolatey velvety perfectly spongy but not too soggy cake was the perfect escape from my long work day... the icing complements this perfectly, I thought, as I happily devoured another bite leaving no icing to spare. I'll definitely have to check this place out for myself. Ohhh the little thrills that keep me sane at work... Now.. back to crunching those numbers....
oooooooooooh red velvet carry me home! I am so glad I discovered this cute little bakery next to Lazer Blazer!! What a guilty pleasure, a pick me up video and a sinful red velvet cupcake or not so sinful mini-cupcake, a surefire combo to bring a smile to any girl's face.
I found the red velvet to be far superior to "Sprinkles" in taste, texture, and moisture. The frosting was very cream cheese... Yum.
The good: the price is reasonable. $2 per cupcake.
The bad: First of all, this place needs a bigger sign because it's totally not visible for someone driving by. Second, they need to decrease the amount of sugar they put in their baked goods. I got a yellow cake cupcake with vanilla frosting and red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting. The vanilla frosting tasted like pure sugar. It's actually a good thing that they don't put a lot of frosting because we would all die. After eating those two cupcakes, I felt really sick from sugar overload.
I still think the red velvet cupcake at Jamaica's cakes is better. Why can't these bakeries learn that overloading on sugar doesn't make their cakes taste good. Buttercake has potential to be better...Just need to go light on the sugar.
I was craving some white cake with frosting, so decided to stop into Buttercake Bakery. For $2.75 I bought a single cupcake and a mini red velvet cupcake.
white cupcake was dry and frosting had a slight film from sitting out.. it happens i suppose.
What i DO NOT appreciate, is the blonde hair (root and all) in my red velvet cupcake.
what happened to the good old days of hair nets?!
I've recently become a fan of this bakery, which is close to my work and a good change of pace when buying birthday cakes. (Ralphs cakes get old, Gelsons cakes get pricey) The cakes were very tasty in that homemade way but not the prettiest sight. If you're going for fancy cupcakes Sprinkles or Crumbs would still be your best bet, but Buttercake's are definitely reasonably prices ($2 regular cupcakes, 75 cents for the mini's) and enjoyable. Plan on ordering cakes a day in advance, walk-in's probably won't be accomodated.
Basic storefront, nothing cutesy like other bakeries. They had a decent selecion overall but I mainly wanted cupcakes and the selection was minimal. The cake flavors were chocolate, white and red velvet (only 4 mini's though) only. I ended up with a white with buttercream (good white cake, boring buttercream), a Cookies & Cream (chocolate cake with Cookies & Cream Frosting, not very flavorful), Mocha (chocolate cake with mocha frosting, flavorful), Peanut Butter (chocolate cake with beanut butter frosting, interesting frosting, it was thick and almost fudgelike...I would have liked it more if it were sweeter) Coconut (chocolate cake with buttercream and coconut on top, coconut flavor in the frosting) and lastly the Chocolate (chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, VERY chocolatey). I also got a piece of the Banana Cake (basically just banana bread SLATHERED with frosting, only ok) and the Dream bar (described as "The ultimate blend of chocolate, coconut and almonds" on their website but it was far from such...it sounded so good but tasted days and days old. Would I go back? Probably not...there are too many other places to try.
I've been to Buttercake Bakery a couple times now and you know, it just doesn't blow my socks off. Besides the stupendously cute name, the items I got there were always on the cusp of being mediocre-to-great.
For instance, the regular-sized cupcakes are not all that. At all. In fact, they may be sub par in comparison with other cupakes around town. Hey, it's West LA, after all. The cupcake competition is fierce!
The mini-cupcakes are way cute, but they fall apart as soon as you jab at them a bit and again, there's no real merit to them apart from their cuteness. Overall it's just too crumbly.
I've also tried the chocolate mocha cookie, and it's good, but again, nothing to write home about.
I guess one of the redeeming factors is that the prices are reasonable in comparison with some of the other posh bakeries in town.
You think you know cupcakes? You don't. My disclaimer: I'd like to point out my cupcake-tasting superiority over all these other Yelpers. Seriously. I take cupcake eating to be a mission: I don't just eat them - I photograph and write down details. I have an entire Yelp list dedicated to them. Do not fuck with me, and do not say these are the best cupcakes evarrr.
Buttercake wasn't worth my money, time, or calories. I appreciated the low price compared to other cupcake merchants, but paying more for them would've just been offensive.
The vanilla cupcake LOOKED underdone, and if I knew it, you'd think the employees would too...but instead they put (not enough) frosting on it and served it. Dry, undercooked cake with an unpleasant aftertaste, strike one. Low frosting content, strike two. Way too much vanilla in the frosting, strike three; you're out.
The red velvet cupcake looked better, and you could actually smell that the frosting was cream cheese; I loathe cream cheese frosting that may as well be vanilla. Strike one: the top of the cupcake pulled away from the bottom as I unwrapped it, like it had been over baked. Strike two: the cake tasted more like just chocolate than actual red velvet. Strike three: bad aftertaste. On the plus side, the frosting was pretty tasty with a nice texture, although again, they skimped on it.
There was a magazine article on the wall praising Buttercake's lemon bars, but I was already too full and couldn't stand the thought of more sugar (a rarity for me). There were also petit fours decorated like animals, and one was a rooster! I doubt I'll ever get to try them, though, due to Buttercake being far from me and not worth a side trip.
Verdict on Buttercake's cupcakes: not worth it.
I've had Yummy Cupcakes & Sprinkles. Buttercake tops them all.
The peanut butter and coconut are to die for.
So it DOES exist!
In my 5th attempt in locating this place, I finally found it after my Yelp-based morning (first Kokomo, then Scoops... then here). Located on the very busy Pico Blvd, this place is easy to miss - since it's such a small shop! But... the cupcakes were just as good as I remembered it to be! Mind you, I'd only ever had a taste from the Miru dinner - Ryan B. brought little bite-sized cupcakes for everyone and I haven't been able to get the taste out of my mind!
These cupcakes were light, fluffy and not too sweet. The sprinkled frosting wasn't too thick or sweet so it made me want more and more! I was good and only ordered 4 cupcakes (3 red velvets and 1 buttercake) - 2 of which I gave away (I swear!) and 2 I ate! Mmm...
They had other things as well, but I've had my mind set on the cupcakes for a couple of months now. And what's great is that they're only $2 each! And the bite-sized ones are only 75 cents. Way cheaper than that Sprinkles place.
I'm afraid now that I now where this place is, I'll be a regular here, great... oink oink.
As a cupcake connoisseur, I must say that it is only above average. They're not the prettiest cakes. My personal opinion is that they are too sweet. Moist factor- acceptable. Choices- poor. There were only 4 to choose from. Chocolate, Vanilla, red velvet and chocolate/coconut.
Still better than Sprinkles
SPRINKLES SUCKS! I totally agree with the people here -- this place is better than Sprinkles. Okay fine, Sprinkles doesn't suck. They make good cupcakes...but Buttercake is better.
I'm not about this whole LA pretentious cupcake scene but if you wanna go on a sugar run and hit up the bakery brothels, try this place first. Yes brothels, cause they are -- they whore out the cupcakes behind shiny glass with fancy-schmancy icing.
My reasoning: not too sweet, moist, and mind-blowing carrot cake. Carrot cake is for rock stars! Five effin stars!
We're fans! Not too pricey, but totally delish. They've got a tiny storefront area filled with rotating displays of sugary goodness ... tarts, cookies, bars, and cupcakes. Items are not as artful in appearance as places like Crumbs or Sprinkles, but the flavor is just as good (if not better). In addition to what is offered in the display case, they accommodate special order cakes and cupcakes (with advance ordering). The service is friendly too!
Always in search of the perfect cupcakes, I hit the jackpot when my friend brought me here, to her cousin's fabulous bakery. All of the tasty confections are melt-in-your-mouth good, however the cupcakes are the main attraction!!
They make a mean red-velvet cupcake complete with a delicious, light, whipped frosting with sprinkles of course. For those of us who can't (or shouldn't) eat the jumbo-sized treats she makes mini's (which are also edible by the dozen, at least)!
If you're in the century city area, stop by and grab dessert - this is a true gem, despite the not-so-pretty neighborhood. Hint: grab a cupcake and then walk over to Intuition to do a little shopping while you savor your sweets. :)
I'm giving this place 4 stars, but only for their Mini Cupcakes. I've been coming here for years just for the Mini Cupcakes. When they're good, they are REALLY good. But I've found that they can be dry sometimes; I can see how you can easily overbake something of that size though.
Their Buttercream frosting is dependably good and often makes up for the cake when it's on the dry side. But again, when they're good, they are REALLY good.
I like to pick up a few dozen of these for parties (birthday parties, both old and young, and perfect for baby showers) and they are always a big hit. For Mini Cupcakes, the price is reasonable....I mean relatively speaking. Only $9 per dozen with no minimum order, compared to Susie Cakes which offers them at a whoppin' $23.40 per dozen with a five dozen minimum.
Call at least 24-hours ahead and special order, but be sure to serve them the same day; this significantly reduces the dry cake risk factor. Just bring them home, place them on a vintage cake stand...oh, they look so sweet and precious with their tiny sprinkles.
Moist, soft, warm and tasty. Thats how my friend described his Thai massage the other night but also applicable to Buttercake's red velvet cupcake. At $2 its a steal versus others in the vaunted upscale cupcake game. The perfect cupcake. Not sure how else to describe a sinfully moist, slightly warm, bouncy piece of cake topped off with rich frosting (just the right amount too). I'm not a huge cupcake person but I've enough in my life (Sprinkles, Joans on 3rd, Yummy, Doughboys and Magnolia/Buttercup in NYC) to tell you this is the best cupcake I've ever had. Might not ever go back and savour my perfect cupcake experience. How can you top perfection?
Don't blink or you'll miss this place - next to McDonalds.
I can produce about 1 gallon of saliva a day-
and that is useful for when i want to enjoy a Buttercake cupcake.
Yes, the mini ones have a certain allure.
Sure, they are cute.
We all love that they are cheaper.
But, if you aren't a dog with an excessive drooling problem you'll be better off with a moister, prettier, bigger, trendier, flavorful-ier, more expensive cupcake.
You know where.
I do, however, highly recommend the mini red velvet ones.
I can do about 12 of those in one sitting.
THREE PAWS UP
Buttercake's Red Velvet cupcakes are the best I've tasted so far in LA. They are superbly moist and fluffy. Sweet but not sugary with the perfect amount of frosting. I'll admit they aren't the most dazzling visually, but Buttercake is also not a "designer" bakery a la Sprinkles. They're a neighoborhood joint that operates like a mom 'n pop shop.
They don't have a bajillion flavors like other places -- when I first started going there, they only offered Red Velvet, buttercream, and chocolate. Now they also offer coconut, PB&J, and I think coffee flavors. Red Velvet is, by far, the best.
They are closed on Mondays and Sundays.
Pros: The prices and the mini options of each of the cupcake flavors.
Cons: Parking, location visibility, cramped showroom, and customer service.
Keep in mind this is ONLY about their red velvet cupcake. We ordered two dozen for my birthday and they were cute and delicious! Just round and pretty and moist and the icing didn't harden as we waited and it was fantastic! My favorite used to be Toast Bakery Cafe's red velvet cupcakes but theirs have gone downhill for whatever reason, and then I tried these and my faith in red velvet was restored! Everyone who tried one at the birthday thought they were great, and I was eating the few leftover ones for a couple blissful days. they are the perfect size too, about 4-5 bites, not too much sugar, but you don't want to dive right into a second one after your first. and the icing is freaking delicious; i love a good cream cheese icing!!!
I was so excited to go to Buttercake and had been waiting for months to make the trip. However, when I finally went today to get a box of cupcakes as a gift, I was completely underwhelmed. I bought about $30 worth of cupcakes, and I feel like I really wasted my money. I tried the mini red velvet cupcake (cute but dry), and also the mini buttercream cupcake with chocolate frosting (ditto).
Then, I had a full-sized red velvet cupcake - you'd think that would be more moist since it was a full-sized one, right? Well, it was - but only minimally so. It was so dry that I had to take several gulps of water to clear it down my throat. And the flavor was definitely not there - the cake part was not very chocolatey at all (if I had been blindfolded, I would have thought it contained no chocolate at all), and the cream cheese frosting only had a *hint* of cream cheese flavor. Bleagh.
I know it's cool to hate on Sprinkles, but the dark chocolate cupcakes I've gotten at Sprinkles have always been excellent - moist and flavorful (though a bit too heavy). I think I'll pay the extra buck-and-change and stick with Sprinkles - that is, until I find a better cupcake place. And when I'm in the mood for red velvet, I'll stick with Doughboys (my first, and still my favorite, red velvet cake).
I used to frequent other bakeries around the LA area (i.e. Yummy's, Sprinkles, Porto's, etc) but I have to say Buttercake is by far the best out of all of them. Don't let this little bakery fool you, they are fierce in the kitchen. I recommend the lemon bars, red velvet cupcakes, chocolate espresso cookies.... pretty much everything. A must try at least once in your life.
Just love, love, love their cupcakes. They're not as dense or expensive as Sprinkles (only $1.75 versus $3.50 at Sprinkles). They don't have the fancy box or the fancy locale but all I care about is good moist cake with creamy frosting.
They make a delicous lemon bar too. Check out their website for more selection. Some items like the banana bread requires ordering ahead because the bananas have to be just ripe.
They're closed on Sunday and Monday. Park at meters on Pico.
I've ordered from Buttercake for office birthdays twice now, due to their physical proximity to my place of employment.
The first time, I got an assortment of cupcakes: white cake (their "signature" Buttercake), chocolate, red velvet and coconut (white cake with white frosting and shredded coconut). Although I was a little disappointed with the lack of variety, the cupcakes were a big hit--moist, tender, flavorful, with the taste of homemade, unlike other "fancy" cupcakes I've had (Sprinkles) that seem... overproduced. They were simple, homely little cupcakes, but we loved them.
The second time, nostalgic for the Triple Berry Shortcake at Sweet Lady Jane's but put off by all the horrible reviews of late, I ordered Buttercake's version of a mixed berry shortcake. It was two layers of Buttercake with a layer of whipped cream in between and another layer of whipped cream on top. Here's the weird part: they mixed the berries into the whipped cream! It was butt-ugly. I mean, part of the point of ordering a fancy cake instead of making one myself is to get something PRETTY. The whipped cream was sort of oozing out the middle, and since the sides weren't frosted, the whole thing looked kind of amateurish.
Granted, the cake itself tasted good--but there were hardly any berries (not that you could see them anyway, since they were all mushed into the whipped cream). I wouldn't recommend it, and I may have to go back to Sweet Lady Jane's, despite the truly frightening reports of terrible service and abusive treatment towards their customers. I'm willing to suffer a little abuse if it means getting a perfectly crafted specimen of pastry art.
If I want something thrown together half-assed, I'll do it myself.
So last night we ended up with an impromptu cupcake contest - Sprinkles (Irvine) vs. Buttercake.
Sprinkles: Chocolate, coconut and peanut butter
vs
Buttercake: Chocolate, buttercream and red velvet
Buttercake won, hands down. Sprinkles just came across as drier and less moist.
The details: Parked on the north side of the street, east of Overland, west of Beverly Glen is the magical place they call Buttercake. I found this place online and went there base on Yelper reviews. Thank you! Great cupcakes - I had the regular ones and the minis, all great. The staff is awesome.
Cupcakes are $2, minis are something like $0.75 and the minis are tiny.
They close early during the week - 5 PM but if you call ahead, place your order and pay with a credit card, they will leave your order at the shop next door. How cool is that?
Oh yeah, I have never had a red velvet cake before and was not sure if I would like it - it was amazing.
A bit overrated here....I checked it out during the week, and while everything I tried (banana cake, coconut cupcake) were first rate, I don't think either was spectacular. Limited selection, and the coffee was Very weak.
Now, if you factor in price, then this is a good spot. But if price is a non-factor, the cupcakes @ Sprinkles are better.
I found this place by accident when I had to go to Laser Blazer. I decided to stop in for a coffee and saw that they had cupcakes. They looked so good I had to have one and it was so delicious! It tasted homemade and was the perfect sweetness. It was especially good with my coffee. In my opinion, their cupcakes are WAY better than Sprinkles or Crumb or any of those overpriced "Starbucks" cupcake places. Buttercake is a real find.
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Los Angeles, CA
Neighborhood: West Los Angeles
Category: Bakeries
Neighborhood: West Los Angeles
Category: Bakeries
Los Angeles, CA
Category: Bakeries
Neighborhood: Beverly Hills
Category: Bakeries
Neighborhood: West Los Angeles
Category: Bakeries
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