Twelve Baskets

Nooooooo! Whyyyyyy?
I’m not accustomed to commencing a review with literal Unilocaling and whining, but certain occasions demand that I do. Especially when we’re talking about the closure of my favorite suburban cupcakery and my former number one reason for frequenting the Rosemont Farmers Market.
Twelve Baskets was the brainchild of cupcake geniuses who were driven by inspiration, top-​notch ingredients and the understanding that yes, there is such a thing as too much sugar. Plus, they dared to be different. Those things set them apart for me.
I have a sweet tooth but I also have taste buds, and my buds don’t want to taste pure sugar at the expense of all the other flavors of the rainbow. It’s sad to me that most cupcakes are nothing more than cavity-​inducing sugar bombs in disguise. Let me put it to you this way. When I’ve sampled various offerings at cupcakeries, whether on the Main Line or in Philadelphia, I invariably find myself asking questions such as:
1. Why is this cupcake covered in pure sugar that hurts my teeth?
2. Why do I *only* taste sugar?
3. Why is this tiny little cake so dry?
4. Why am I in a food coma right now?
5. Why did I finish that cupcake?
Twelve Baskets’ offerings were pure confection perfection and showcased some extraordinarily inspired flavor combinations that sounded odd on the surface yet in reality paired super well together. Think best of the best after «Cupcake Wars» decided to throw some serious curve balls. In addition to their more unique creations (Miso Caramel Apple, anyone?), they’ve knack for the classics, too — vanilla, double chocolate, chocolate on vanilla, vanilla on chocolate, red velvet. Each cake had a subtle nuance of flavors with just the right amount of sweetness.
Plus, the ladies running shop were so dang NICE. Whenever I stopped by, I was greeted by either two lovely women (cousins and co-​owners, I believe) their father, or some other guy who I think was also related to them.
But you know what? I don’t need to speak in past tense, because Twelve Baskets is still alive and well on the Internet, and I can order their delicious cupcakes and have them delivered straight to my door. So whether you’re craving a Miso Caramel Apple, Lemongrass Blues, Chocolate Peanut Butter Crumble, or any other of their stellar selections, thy wish shall be granted.
I’ll be visiting their online shop and so should you. The RFM just lost their best vendor, but Twelve Baskets lives on. Thank goodness for that!

Great cupcakes! I purchased the Taro Chocolate, Red Velvet and Miso Caramel Apple. All of the cupcakes had a wonderful texture and were not overly sweet. The frosting was perfect — airy and not sugar laden. I found these cupcakes much better than Georgetown Cupcakes. The shop is located inside the Rosemont Farmers Market and the owners are very nice!

I had 3 cupcakes from here two weeks ago and all three were delicious!!! My only criticism would be the lack of variety; there was only a limited variety. This place is now located in the Rosemont Farmer’s Market, in the same building as Gullifty’s.

From out of town visiting and got to sample a few flavors the owners brought to a Super Bowl party. I have to say, these were delicious! I tried the green tea with mochi in middle, miso caramel with chocolate and peanut butter crunch. My favorite I think was the green tea. The mochi was a nice little surprise at the center. Usually at cupcake places, the cupcakes are overly sweet and you are left with a sugar high and a hint of guilt. However, at 12 baskets, the icing was nice and airy, not too sweet, so you can enjoy the cupcakes and not feel sick after. The unique flavors are a plus! Luckily I do not live in Pennsylvania… otherwise I would go there ALL the time!

Twelve Baskets is amazing! I live in L.A., but was ordering cupcakes for a friend in PA, and they were incredibly helpful and accommodating (and were kind enough to make a delivery exception for me!). My friend loved the cupcakes and I’m really happy I went with them!

This place makes the best cupcakes I have ever had. Normal flavor and Asian-​inspired flavors as well. I CRAVE these!

In short, the most AMAZING cupcakes you will ever have, I kid you not. I don’t usually like cupcakes because it’s too sweet, but this place does a great job with all of their flavors, and you can tell that they use quality ingredients. For example I’ve never tasted fresh vanilla bean in a basic vanilla cupcake. I personally prefer their Asian fusion flavors, such as the Miso caramel, but their basic flavors are great too. And if they ever have the azuki frosting with green tea cupcake, get it! Every time I’ve gone, they’ve been super friendly, are great to my kids, and take the time to explain the flavors. Oh, and did I mention that they also have killer granola?
Go try this place, you will not be disappointed.

PROS: Unique cupcake flavors, not too sweet
CONS: They’re not in Philly :(
I was never much of a cupcake person… because most cupcakes out there are just too cloyingly sweet and lacking in flavor complexity to me. However, these cupcakes from Twelve Baskets I do like (very much, in fact). They have interesting Asian-​inspired cupcakes, such as matcha, black sesame, azuki, and taro, and they don’t taste like pure thickened sugar. In addition to being yummy, the cupcakes are cute-​looking (always a plus). Overall, I would hit up their shop every week if it weren’t for the fact that they are quite far from me.

I was hardcore craving cupcakes, so I Unilocaled cupcakes and found Twelve Baskets. There were so many places closer, but I figured I would try this place out.
I love cupcakes every once and a while because they are portion control desserts for me. I wasn’t expecting a fancy cupcake like Georgetown Cupcakes, but I was pleasantly surprised. In fact I actually liked Twelve Baskets better than Georgetown Cupcakes. This is the first time that I ate a cupcake and I wanted more. I got my cupcake to go just in case this happened. The to-​go containers are perfect because it is so hard to mess up the cupcake. I tried the cupcake with the Miso Caramel frosting and I can’t stop thinking about it.
I also had a hard time finding this place, until I figured out it was in the Rosemont Farmers Market.

I am sooooo glad that I Unilocal,bc I would never have known them! They had a table set up at Unilocal’s 10 year bash at the Liberty Shops mall and I have to say that this place blew me out of the park! From the amazing cupcakes to the guy that helped answer all my questions, it exceded my expectations.
I tried the taro over chocolate, azukies n cream (red bean), and the miso caramel apple. HEAVEN. They really take cupcakes to a new level. They were beyond moist and the cream was just YUM! The cupcakes weren’t too sweet where I feel like I’m having a cavity with every bite, but they weren’t bland either. Tons of flavor packed into such a small cake. Oh, and designs were amazing.
I can’t wait until they open a store around me. I’d probably be there every week… haha. Kudos to you!

They had a table set up at Unilocal’s 10^th anniversary. I tried the black sesame with (i assume) condensed milk icing. I love asian flavors and the mini cupcake was amazing. super moist and the cake itself wasn’t sweet but the icing had the right amount of sweetness to the whole «two bite» size cupcake.
Tried the chocolate one too, although i’m not a big chocolate eater, i thought it was good too, just not on the same level as the black sesame. Will definitely pick up some when i’m in the area or when/​if they set up at other places.

Wow, I’m in love with these cupcakes! I’m not even a big sweets person and maybe that’s why I like them so much (b/​c they’re not that sweet), but I would have these for desserts all the time! I haven’t placed an order with them before, but I just had a tasting of their mini cupcakes tonight at the Unilocal’s 10^th Anniversary Bash — O M G! You can bet your ass off I’ll be making an order at some point in the near future. I won’t even need the to deliver, so hopefully pick-​up is an option.
The available selections were: black sesame honey, takes two to taro, miso salted caramel, and azukies’ n cream. The GF and I liked them all, but I personally liked the miso, taro, azukies, and then black sesame. I’m already spreading the word to friends that it’s the best I’ve had! Maybe because they’re Asian inspired and they hit home for me, but I would definitely recommend them to the adventurous people out there to try.

Twelve Baskets Cupcakes has set up a stand (again) at the Media Farmers Market on Thursday afternoons selling their pricey ($ 3.50 a pop) but gorgeous and most importantly moist & tasty cupcakes. Packaging is very fancy.
The Lemongrass Blueberry intrigued — but since I was buying for the kiddo — she opted for Chocolate. She loved it.
Many thanks. Support your local markets!

These are by far the best cupcakes I ever ate!
Try the Black Bean and the Miso cupcakes, so good!

I happened to taste their cupcakes and honestly these were fantastic! My favorite one is red velvet. I cannot wait to try all of the flavors!

Great cupcakes! They were expertly made. The cake itself was very fluffy and moist. The icing was deliciously light. I tried the caramel apple miso cupcake, which had chunks of apple and caramel icing. It was scrumptious, and a great way to celebrate the arrival of autumn! I also tried the green tea cupcake. The owner told me that they normally put macha in the middle, but this time they were trying it without. The whole cupcake tasted just like macha, which I loved, so it wasn’t missing anything in my opinion! Can’t wait to go back on another Tuesday at the Rittenhouse Square farmer’s market.

I tried these cupcakes last week for the first time and I have to say, I was pretty blown away.
I’ve tried many cupcakes and ultimately judged Sprinkles as my favorite, but now I can honestly say, I’d rather have a Twelve Baskets cupcake over a Sprinkle’s one any day!
The flavor combinations are unique and surprisingly, work really well together — my favorites are the Matcha (green tea) and Lemongrass Blueberry so far! They are not overly sweet, well balanced, with moist, flavorful cake with a buttercream frosting that melts in your mouth.
It’s gotten to the point that I now hit up the Rittenhouse market every Tuesday just to pick up some cupcakes. They always sell 4 different flavors at this market and top sellers like Matcha flavor sell out fast so make sure you check out their tent and try it out!

Just ate parts of three cupcakes for breakfast. It is that good. My personal favorite is the raspberry one because it is so light and fluffy without being insipidly sweet like most fancy cupcakes I have had. I have eaten cupcakes all over the US including places in Philly and sublime cupcakes in Reading and this is by far the best. A must have if you consider yourself a cupcake connoisseur.

Have you ever bitten into what looks like it would be most moist, delectable cupcake… only to find as soon as you start chewing:
a.) it is WAY too artificially sweet that your cavities start to throb?
b.) it crumbles in your mouth like a dense breakfast scone?
c.) the overly rich buttercream tastes like you’re licking a stick of butter?
d.) you end up crunching down on the hardened sugary rock candy-​icing?
d.) all of the above?
Well, good news– your bad cupcake experiences are over! :D
I can’t even begin to describe in words just how GOOD these cupcakes are. It’s the perfect amount of natural sweetness– the cake is airy and moist and almost melts in your mouth, the flavors are balanced and delicious without being too intense, and the frosting is light and whipped to perfection. All the different flavors that they come up with are just so unique and creative– for example, the green tea (Matcha Made in Heaven) that they make from organic green tea leaves that they steep into the batter, is definitely a heavenly treat, and even more delicious when paired with the Azuki red bean frosting (my favorite)! They nailed the flavor balance with their peanut butter crumble (with or without chocolate) cupcakes, satiating even the most discerning palate that craves both sweet & salty. Their Lemongrass Blues also indulges the tastebuds with its light and airy hint of lemongrass with the creaminess of vanilla coconut & blueberry in the frosting. Is your mouth watering yet… because mine sure is!
Now that I’ve moved away, I’m so sad I don’t get to order these regularly. (if only they delivered to Michigan, hint hint!;)) But every time I come back to Philadelphia, I’ll be sure to stop by and order some. The two baker/​owners are so kind and innovative and always coming up with new and exciting flavor combinations, so check out their seasonal stuff. I’ve given these as gifts, we’ve ordered them for birthdays and showers (they make cute lettering and customize the chocolate toppers of your choice), and I’ve even taken them cross-​country with me on the plane to take to my foodie friends in Chicago, and all of their reactions have been priceless. And without fail, the resounding comment I hear is: «I’m not even a cupcake person, but omigosh THESE are SOOO amazing!!»
This just goes to show that these treats are beyond the normal everyday cupcake. Twelve Baskets raises the bar to a whole other level, and with its Asian fusion flavors on the menu as well, they are reinventing what the cupcake standard should be. They even sell at various farmer markets during the summer/​fall (Rittenhouse, Media, Swarthmore– check their website) and are sold at Town Hall Coffee, so hurry and try one soon! :)
Oh, you can find them on Facebook here, too:

I really loved this cupcake. I bought it for my nephew– the pb chocolate one, and he allowed me to try it. I have had decent, pretty good, and good cupcakes– but this was great… I found them at the rittenhouse farmers market… with the friendly owners. I’ll be a repeat customer.