stlbites.com – st. louis food blog of bill burge

Veruca Day One

Dec 17, 2007 chefs, coffee, restaurants, reviews

A Veruca cheat sheet:

1. Tropicala cupcakes; if you don’t buy one, I’m done with you.

2. Currant scones for breakfast rock!

3. …but financiers and mini cupcakes do not make a balanced breakfast.

When Mathew Rice told me a couple weeks ago that Veruca would be opening last Wednesday, I was disappointed I wouldn’t be able to go on opening day because, living in Florissant, I have no reason to be in Benton Park on a Wednesday. But, I’d forgotten about the Slow Food meeting at the Tap Room, and as the post-work drive downtown went much easier than expected, I did have time to check it out after all.

I bought literally one of everything he had on hand. My hope was that I’d share at the meeting, but with almost twice as many people as usual, I instead shared with Mike, his girlfriend Irene and Ellie only. (Sorry Slow Food people)

Currently cupcakes are the main focus, but Veruca wisely avoids calling themselves a cupcake bakery knowing that just like the fad, places with “cupcake” in their names will one day die. Regular sized cupcakes are $4.00 and minis are a somewhat steep $1.50.

Day one, Mathew is serving four:

Eggnog Spice, Tropicala, Peanut Butter Cup, Red Velvet (clockwise from the upper left).

The Tropicala was by far the favorite. It’s a toasted coconut yellow cake stuffed with lime curd (which Mathew stresses “goes all the way down”) and a passion fruit buttercream. If you’re a fan of tart desserts like lemon tarts (hah!) or key lime pie, I don’t see how you couldn’t love this too because it’s incredibly moist, incredibly tart, and incredibly delicious. It’s easily the best of the kicked-up cupcakes I’ve had in St. Louis bakeries, and I’m not just saying that because I like Mathew (though I do).

The other unusual flavor was the eggnog spice which consisted of a crystallized ginger spice cake and eggnog buttercream. I know this because Mathew writes what’s in the boxes, on the boxes, by hand…or at least he did for me.

Ellie wouldn’t eat it because she doesn’t like eggnog, but Mike and I really dug it. We both loved the flavor of the cake which was, well, spicy; kind of like a kicked up coffeecake.

As a side note, I’d bought two Eggnogs as it was the one I’d most wanted to try, and I can tell you it held up nicely when I ate it a second time after work the following day. The only thing that had altered slightly was the buttercream, which was a little crisp, but that’s kind of unavoidable in the world of day old cupcakes.

The red velvet, Mathew tells me, is a recipe his Mom and Grandmother used to make. He really lit up when he told me this because he thinks it’s the best red velvet cake he’s ever had, and he seems especially proud of it. I can’t fairly comment as I’m not a red velvet man, but it’s Mike’s favorite cake, and while I was going to let him comment on it, I’m apparently going to have to buy another one for him because he was apparently too many Schlafly’s in to remember anything beyond “I enjoyed it.”

For me, it was the only one that was maybe a touch dry. Mathew had snuck a couple minis into my solo eggnog box, however, and when I ate them with breakfast the next day; it was awesome because it was the perfect combination of cake to buttercream ensuring moisture.

The Peanut Butter Cup was pretty straightforward: chocolate cake, peanut butter buttercream. It was good, but my favorite of this flavor combo is still The Cupcakery’s because it was so overwhelmingly peanut-buttery, and I love peanut butter.

Besides cupcakes, and a full lineup of espresso drinks courtesy of their Rancilio and Chauvin, Veruca is also rocking out breakfast pastries; delicious breakfast pastries that left me thinking I had no need for silly cupcakes.

Financier w/ Cranberry Jam, Cranberry Spice Muffin, Currant Scone (clockwise from the upper left).

The currant scone is the best I’ve ever had from a bakery.

What I love about a good scone is the way that mostly, it’s kind of savory, but with subtle sweetness that lingers in the background just enough to make you think “is there sugar in this?” and realize that yes there is rather than something like the Bread Company version that leaves you thinking “whoa, there’s a lot of sugar in this!”

Basically, if I wanted a cake, I’d buy a cake, and I find most scones to be too moist, too dry, too sweet, or too cakey. This one fell perfectly in the middle of all those grievances meaning that now, when I want a real scone, I finally know where I can get one.

Skipping my usual breakfast of Optimum Power cereal, the following morning I polished off the scone along with the financier, the mini-cupcakes and the muffin.

It was a solid financier for sure, but overall it’s not one of my favorite desserts because I find it a bit sweet for my tastes (especially at 6AM). I loved the cranberry jam though because, like the scone, it wasn’t overwhelmingly sweet which meant the true tartness of the cranberries came through. Also, its flavor wasn’t cluttered up with the unnecessary citrus that seems to make its way into virtually anything with cranberries.

Veruca is sure to be a hit, so if you find yourself in the neighborhood, remember: Tropicala, currant scone, careful with breakfast.

Note: As always, please keep in mind that while I believe my opinion to be correct, there are some establishments that I am friendly enough with that my opinion is personally biased. This is one.

Tags: Benton-Park, cupcakes, Mathew Rice, Tropicala, Veruca