Battle Royale Cupcake from Sift Dessert Bar

I didn't even look at any other cupcakes the last time I went to Sift Dessert Bar in the Fillmore district in SF. If I did I do not remember any of the other flavors that were there because apparently I had blinders on for one. 

The Battle Royale cupcake sat pretty on the top shelf with it's light lavender colored frosting on a very light cake that looked like it could have been vanilla. But it's not vanilla, it's an almond cake and that's probably why there's shaved almond pieces on top of the frosting. The lavender frosting caught my eye but seeing the name of cupcake is what sold me because I'm a big fan of the movie Battle Royale. 

That and I'd never had a cupcake with a blueberry filling before.

 Battle Royale cupcake @ Sift Dessert Bar

photo by Nikki DeMartini

It fit comfortably in it's Chinese food carry-out container that was just the right size for one cupcake. There was a buoyancy to it when I took it out to eat at home. The bottom of this cupcake was so heavy it felt as if, if I moved it to my mouth too quickly to take a bite, it's bottom would plop out. There was a faint waft of mixed berry yogurt which I attributed to the Acai frosting. It made my mouth water and I knew that the frosting had to be super fresh if I was able to smell it's flavor. 

Battle Royal cupcake from Sift Dessert Bar

photo by Nikki DeMartini

Sure enough, when I looked under the cupcake there was a circular puncture mark that revealed a hue of purple from deep inside. Sift must use some sort of filling contraption that they stick in the bottom of their cupcake before it's frosted in order to fill it with whatever filling the flavor calls for. Other places probably use a similar filling contraption, and I've had filled cupcakes from other places (SusieCakes for example) but I've never had a filled cupcake as heavy as the Battle Royale Cupcake from Sift. 

Usually rip the bottom part of a cupcake off so that I am able to take get a bite of both the cake and the frosting at once. But this time, since the Battle Royale cupcake is filled with something other than frosting, I tried to get a some of everything, cake, filling frosting in my first bite. I definitely got some of the scrumptious almond cake and a little bit of the blueberry filling but my mouth just wasn't big enough to reach the Acai frosting, too. 

Battle Royale cupcake from Sift Dessert Bar 

photo by Nikki DeMartini

I'm a huge fan of almond cookies but I have never had almond cake before and I wouldn't have known that the cake was almond if the tag didn't say so. It was super moist and buttery and so fresh I had to unwrap it slowly so pieces of it wouldn't stick to the paper wrapper. It was way more decadent than vanilla cake which probably added to the heaviness of this cupcake. The blueberry filling isn't a jelly or a jam. It's somewhere in between a pie filling and fresh blueberries: it's not viscous or as sweet as pie filling is but it's not just a stash of blueberries in the middle of a cupcake either. 

My guess is that the Acai changed the texture of this cream cheese frosting because it is the lightest, creamiest, cream cheese frosting I have ever tasted.  It is not thick like other cream cheese frosting, it almost has a whipped element to it but not a whipped texture. It reminded me of yogurt: it's scent and flavor, the perfect mix of berries and sweet cream. 

Battle Royale cupcake from Sift Dessert Bar

photo by Nikki DeMartini

The Battle Royale cupcake from Sift Dessert Bar is probably the most sophisticated cupcake flavor I have had to date. Almond cake with blueberry filling and Acai cream cheese frosting?! It sounds like it'd all be overwhelming but it isn't because all of the flavors are pretty subtle, not rich but complex. 

Blueberries are in season until September and Acai is in season until August making the Battle Royale cupcake a scrumptious evening treat in the Summer time. It might be too heavy for a Summer's day. 

Battle Royale cupcake from Sift Dessert Bar

photo by Nikki DeMartini

Unfortunately Sift Dessert Bar didn't partake in Baker's Against Racism, however they said that they do strongly support the BLM movement (I asked! They answered!). 

 There's still time for them to get on board with Baker's Against Racism though because after June 20th the Baker's Against Racism account turned into a platform supporting and elevating chefs and bakers of color. And, that sounds really good to us!