I was recently excited to hear that Jax would be getting a new (and apparently already well-known) cupcakery. Sweet! by Good Golly Miss Holly features Hollis Wilder’s famous cupcakes, which made her a 2-time winner of Food Network’s Cupcake Wars. The original shop has been operating in Orlando for 3 years, but about a month ago Jacksonville got its very own store in the Town Center.

Sweet!

I went in on my own during their soft open to try some mini cupcakes (LOVE that they have minis…feels less sinful), while Mario decided to dispense himself a cup of frozen yogurt, which Sweet! also sells (yeah, yogurt is the new hotness in Jax, too):

Cupcake Minis

The minis are good for 2-3 bites and I was satisfied with 2 of them. The one in the forefront of the picture is the black & gold (yellow cake, dark chocolate frosting, caramel filling) which I felt was great in theory, but the caramel filling I was looking forward to was overpowered by the (definitely delicious) chocolate frosting. We also tried tiramisu, white chocolate raspberry, and cinnamon swirl. The white chocolate raspberry, with its flavorful not-too-sweet filling, was my favorite of the bunch.

I was invited in a few weeks later for a blogger tasting of 15 of their cupcake flavors.

Mini Cupcakes

I was surprised to hear about the quality ingredients and techniques they use–a culinary school-educated pastry chef (wo)mans the kitchen. And you might think that in a bakery that pushes such volume, they always go the cheaper mass-production route, but, for example, their sprinkles aren’t the waxy, candy-like ice cream toppers you might recognize, they’re actually sprinkle-shaped pieces of chocolate (vermicelli), which are an added bonus on flavors like the Black Out (dark chocolate cake & frosting, chocolate vermicelli).

Before I tapped out from cupcake overload during the tasting (I went from sampling half-minis to quarter-minis to mini slivers), I picked out my favorites from the bunch: the PBJ (peanut butter cake, grape jelly, peanut butter frosting), which sounds weird but is made super delicious by the surprisingly creamy cake base; and the key lime (yellow cake, key lime frosting, graham cracker crust, lime filling), which I loved because of the crunch from the graham cracker base and tangy filling.

Sweet! by Holly runs specials throughout the week, including Mini-Mania Monday ($1 minis) and a yogurt discount on Tuesdays. Their outsourced frozen yogurt flavors include a fat-free Maple Bacon Doughnut. Yep.

www.sweetbyholly.com