Best Cupcakes in Dallas

In the past few years, Dallas has become quite the cupcake town, with small, pastel shops full of sweets popping up on corners across the city. Whether you long for a tower of frosting, a bite-sized cupcake delight, or the cupcake most favored by celebrities, Dallas has the single-serving dessert for you.

For the frosting-lover, Gigi’s Cupcakes will be your go-to cupcake shop in Dallas. The artfully swirled buttercream or cream cheese frosting towers at least an inch and sometimes two above the cake , which comes in a huge array of flavors—Snickerdoodle, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Chocolate Hazelnut, and Lemon Dream Supreme are just a few of the offerings.

What sets Gigi’s above the competition? The creative, delicious flavors. The best so far this fall has been the Orange Cranberry Walnut; the orange flavor is light and not too sweet, the cake is moist, and the cranberry and walnuts swirled throughout the cake give it a perfect savory-tart complement. The S’Mores cupcake (a summer flavor) is also especially good—a moist milk chocolate cake topped with soft, sweet marshmallow frosting and sprinkled with graham cracker crumbs.

What’s not so great about Gigi’s? They run out of their most popular flavors early in the day, so if you can’t get there until after work you’ll miss out. However, you can call and place an order to ensure that the flavor you want will still be there later.

Gigi’s menu changes daily to rotate its flavors; the shop is located at 5450 Lover’s Lane #150 in Dallas, Texas.

Sprinkles Cupcakes, an L.A. native that’s long been a favorite of the stars, opened in Dallas in 2007 and has been busy every since. It’s so popular that the store has even put in a “cupcake ATM” for those fans who can’t get to the store until after hours.

What sets Sprinkles above the competition? Its name recognition and its well-done basic flavors like red velvet, peanut butter chocolate, and vanilla. The frosting is subtle and not overpowering, primarily because there’s not much of it.

What’s not so great about Sprinkles? It’s located in a busy shopping center, meaning parking is sometimes difficult, and the cupcakes aren’t always fresh (though when they are fresh, they’re good). In my opinion, Sprinkles trades more on name recognition than creative flavors and delicious cupcakes, but it has so many loyal followers that I accept I’m in the minority in my stance on the store.

Sprinkles’ menu changes daily to rotate its flavors; the shop is located at 4020 Villanova Drive in Dallas, Texas.

Dallas’ own The Original Cupcakery is perhaps my favorite of the three cupcake shops reviewed here. The cute little shop (one in Frisco, one in Uptown) has a small seating area so you can eat your cupcake as soon as possible and the service is always friendly; the staff is more than willing to give recommendations. The flavors are a good mix of creative with traditional. The best include Good Morning Sunshine, a cinnamon-swirl vanilla cake lightly drizzled with glaze that’s the perfect amount of sweet, especially for an early-morning treat; the Kir Royale, a raspberry cake with champagne frosting; and the Boston Dream, a vanilla cake filled with Bavarian cream and topped with smooth chocolate ganache.

What sets The Original Cupcakery above the competition? They’re local (though they have now expanded to other cities, like Las Vegas), so you’re supporting Dallas businesses by picking up a few cupcakes from their shop. They also host seasonal flavors, like Orange Julius, Strawberry Lemonade, and Rolo--and many of their flavors come in bite-sized servings, for the cupcake connoisseur who wants to try several kinds at once.

What’s not so great about The Original Cupcakery? I have no complaints about this one!

The Original Cupcakery is located at 6975 Lebanon Road, Suite 306, in Frisco and at 2222 McKinney Avenue, Suite 230, in Dallas.