Tickled Pink @ Pink Pastry Parlor

Ladies, want to feel like a kid again? If yes, then skip on over to the Pink Pastry Parlor!  (Sorry to discriminate fellas, but there just really isn’t anything manly about this place….which you may have already figured out based on its name.  Oh wait!  I just noticed that there’s an Earthworm cupcake on the menu.  That’s manly, right?)  

While Pink Pastry Parlor is a bakery, with lots and lots of cupcake flavors, they also specialize in princess-themed parties.  I don’t even have kids and found this a neat place -you just can’t help but be happy here!

Once I honed in on the cupcakes, I was blown away by all the flavors to choose from.  I counted 46 varieties on their (online) menu, and had about 34 to choose from on the day of my visit.   The only downside to all that was a pretty severe indecisivity flare-up.  (side note: is indecisivity a legit word? If not, can I take credit for creating it?)  I mean, how awesome do Mississippi Mud, Banana Puddin’, and ButterFinger cupcakes sound?  Plus, they have Strawberry cupcake with either cream cheese or buttercream frosting.  Me and my cream cheese frosting dispassionate-ways thank you Pink Pastry!  I finally selected the following lot:

~Banana Puddin’ ~ Italian Cream ~ Snickers ~ Strawberry (with buttercream frosting!) ~ Red Velvet~Cookie Dough~S’more~Cinn-A-Swirl

That’s a big lot, I know.  So I think I gotta fess up here, that I made two trips to PPP recently.  One time to pick up dessert for dinner with my neighbors, but I didn’t have my camera (drat!) .  I figured I could easily just pop back in later that week since it’s on my way home from work.  So, when I returned days later armed with my camera I couldn’t resist getting some more.  I, seriously, have NO willpower.

All of these cupcakes were good – definitely no bad eggs in the bunch.  And I think everyone in my group thoroughly enjoyed them.  Very fresh, moist cake.  Stellar frosting/cake ratio, for me at least (and if you’re looking at these photos and thinking “those look heavy on the frosting side”, just know that it’s not a dense frosting but has a light, almost whipped texture).  Also, I found their appearance commendable – dainty and fluffy, yet creative and fun.  Some things that really stood out to me – how indulgent the Italian Cream tasted; that the Cinn-A-Swirl wasn’t very cinnamon-y; the fact that Steve liked the Banana Puddin’ when he has always claimed to only like actual bananas and nothing banana flavored;  that the Snicker cupcake really tasted like a Snickers; and how yummy the S’mores was, not to mention cute with that little Teddy Graham on top.

So that’s all she wrote…for that section at least.  Here’s the ol’ break down (note:  I added a new category, Check out #10!)

Pink Pastry Parlor / Spalding Center at 6385 Spalding Dr. Suite C, Norcross GA / www.pinkpastryparlor.com 

  1. Price:  $2 each / $22 dozen

2. Room temperature:  Yup! 

3.  Size:   Petite.  Even though these cupcakes are on the dainty side, I wasn’t left feeling deprived of either cake or frosting.

4. Vegan or gluten-free options:  None to be found on-site or online.

5. To-go packaging:  It depends on how many cupcakes you get – a single cupcake could go in an individual-sized plastic clamshell; three cupcakes go in a larger clamshell; four cupcakes go in the cute pink cardboard box with window and dividers inside.  The only thing I left wanting was a small, paper shopping bag.  Since the clamshell containers didn’t have those braces (for lack of a technical term) inside, putting them in a flat-bottomed bag would decrease their toppling-over odds. 

6. Milk for sale?:  I only spotted bottled water and cans of soda.  But how cute would it be to serve strawberry milk here?!  You know, to keep with the whole pink scheme.

7.  Other treats for non-cupcake enthusiasts you may have in tow: Yes ma’am!  Pick out an “award-winning” brownie, cookie (one of which is called “chunk-in-the-trunk”!),  a scoop of ice cream or pudding.  Then online, you’ll also find a variety of pies, cheesecakes, cobblers and bars.

8.  Ambiance:  Pink!  There are pink walls, pink booths, pink curtains, pink merchandise, pink bakery boxes, etc.  Upon entering, you get the sense that Pink Pasty Parlor is a bona fide, homespun bakery with a fun, girlie side.  Add some splashes of retro and southern sweetness in there and before you know it, you’ve forgotten all your troubles.  Plenty of places to sit and enjoy your sweets, and some young-hearted merchandise to browse when you’re done…like tiaras! 

9. Service:  Southern hospitality is alive and well in Norcross, GA.   I really felt like a valued customer at Pink Pastry Parlor.

10.  Three words to describe the Pink Pastry Parlor experience: (*this is my new category!  What do you think?) 

1)  girlie 

2) festive

3) whimsical

All in all, I was very pleased with my experience at Pink Pastry.  And if my nieces lived in Georgia, I would surely plan a party for them there.  No Top 10 cupcake  just yet, but that may change.  They already made a repeat customer out of me, and like I said it’s on my way home from work.  I’m pretty sure my lack of willpower will yet again get the best of me and I’ll find myself standing in front of their cupcake counter, feeling like a kid all over again.