Wink Cupcakes

I’m not surprised this place closed. Nevermind the cupcakes –which were bland and had way too much frosting.
It was creepy.
The store was dark. The employees weren’t doing anything aside from stand around awkwardly and didn’t know how to respond to casual conversation.
They also had staring problems. They should have been sorting candy or I don’t know… BAKING something.
I initially chose to stay and eat my cupcake, but after feeling uncomfortable for a few minutes, I scarfed the rest of my cupcake and scrammed.

Came in here and ordered their chocolate cupcake, red velvet and guinness cupcake. The chocolate had too much frosting and was too sweet for me, the red velvet with cream cheese frosting had a very strong cream cheese tang and i honestly didnt even try the guieness since i was so disappointed with the first two. Wont be coming back.

Aww, where’s the love? I didn’t think Wink could be any worse than Cupcake Royale, but I also didn’t think they could conquer my favorite: Trophy. A friend recently treated us to cupcakes and I tried the peanut butter as well as bites of their cookies & cream and carrot cake. I do admit that their cake was a tad on the dry side. But, I think that despite the dryness, the cake had a good flavor to it and complimented well with the frosting. I devoured the peanut butter cake and thought the frosting was delicious.
I would be willing to experience Wink again and even venture in the store to experience the «creepy» service that was detailed in the other reviews. I certainly wouldn’t put them in the bottom of the cupcake totem poles, but I do agree that in no way would it deserve to be on top.

Wow… I’m really surprised by the low ratings for this place… in fact, had I not received a gift card to Wink, I might never have tried it.
I am a big lover of both Cupcake Royale and Trophy Cupcake… so I went to Wink thinking it wasn’t going to be AS good as my favorite cupcake joints. But I was definitely surprised.
I went on a Friday evening… just a couple hours before closing — so the options were a bit limited. But I got a random assortment of 6 cupcakes as well as some brownie bites.
Price wise… they are $ 3 each… so still pricey for a cupcake, but fairly standard.
Taste-​wise — the frosting is super light, and delicious! I was shocked at how yummy the frosting was and had such great flavor. The frostings used at Cupcake Royale and Trophy are just too heavy compared to what they make here.
I loved the peanut butter and cookies and cream! I hear the coconut is quite good too, but they didn’t have that. I also tried a peanut butter chocolate cupcake — garnished with a pb chocolate bite. SO YUMMY!
Brownie bites though — I’d pass on those. I like a chewy, dense brownie — and these had a weird texture and not that great of a flavor either.
I’ll definitely come back and try out the other flavors. Maybe I can get there during their happy hour (3pm-​5pm)!

Well. This was a surprise. My friend was in the mood to try some cupcakes from a place that turned out to be a caterer, not a bakery. With nowhere else to go I did a search, and I found that Wink had 2.5 stars, and ample people calling them terrible cupcakes. I turned to my friend and said «Do you want to try some cupcakes that are terrible?» to which my friend replied «Absolutely» and off we went.
…and there we came… I’m not really sure how to transition from «off we went.» Anyway, we got there. I ordered the Oreo cupcake. My friend ordered some mint thing. Then we ate them and they were pretty good. Slightly thicker than some of the competitors, but I’m going to level with you — if I have to pay 3 flocking dollars for a cupcake, I want to feel like I’m eating more than air. 3 dollars for a cupcake. That’s flockdiculous.
I agree that the soft ones are pretty tasty. But I don’t think that slightly thicker is necessarily not-​tasty. It’s just thicker, and in reality, thicker at least gives me the impression that my 3 dollars is not getting wasted on a glorified mini-​muffin. The Oreo frosting was light and Oreo-​y, and it had an Oreo on top, so it was aces.
What made it better was apparently we were there at a time when it was buy one get one free without even realizing it. So we paid $ 3.ish total for two cupcakes. Two! That’s like a billion times more than one, give or take.
Cupcake prices are a travesty. Getting two for the price of one at a place that had terrible reviews but was actually pretty good helped make my day. Kudos Semicolon End Parenthesis Cupcakes. Kudos.

The last 2 times I have been there they have been nearly out might as well put a closed sign on the door. I was there at 4:30pm and they had 6 cupcakes in the display case and no one cooking WTF???
I am NEVER going back

I came to Wink specifically for a certain type of cupcake that I had heard about before and was itching to put it in my mouth. I walked in, and everything seemed just normal, except, yeah… the people behind the counter WERE rather odd. That being said, they didn’t have that cupcake, so off I went.
A little while later, while at work downtown, a couple of gentlemen were passing out free samples of mini-wink’s! Score, I thought. Free cupcake’s for breakfast? Yes please. But no, although it was a free cupcake and I DID have it as my breakfast, my mouth’s response was more of a, «no thank you». I didn’t even finish it. It was dry and gross and tasted like chalk and crayon’s.
I suppose thanks for the sample, because now I know I’d just be disappointed if I had actually purchased one.

I bought the Groupon as something new to try, and different from my favorite Cupcake Royale and close runner-​up Trophy Cupcakes. I was terribly unimpressed with Wink for a few reasons (which seems to be a trend).
1) Service — I called to order the half-​dozen and the girl on the phone was incredibly rude and was laughing because of a co-​workers comments in the background. When I walked in, someone greeted me with a «I hope you’re picking up an order because we don’t have much left».
2) The packaging smashed the frosting and the frosting melts unless refrigerated
3) The cupcakes are bland and dry, there is too much frosting and it’s really oily.
It’s a great location and nicely decorated shop, but I can’t say I’ll be going back.

NO BUENO!
I was not impressed at all! They are dry and bland and the workers stared at me while I was eating my cupcake.
IT“S ALL ABOUT THE TECHNIQUE! OKAY!

Sadly I was not impressed with Wink cupcakes. After trying a few times to catch them while they were open I finally did, but was upset with the cupcakes and service.
I am a huge fan of red velvet, but not of theirs. I too make my own red velvet and I do know that others will not taste like mine but it should have a little of chocolate taste, after all that is the base of the cupcake. And I do agree with the review from Laura P. that the icing is «Crisco-​like» there should be not Crisco like fat in cream cheese icing, the cream cheese is the fat.
Now on to the service, we were almost mowed down by an employee who must have been late to work practically hitting us with the door. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I would not act like that if I was going into my place of employment knowing these are customers.
If I do give them another try it will be when they have cupcake happy hour when they are half off, but for now I think I will stick to the more seasoned cupcake shop or my own.

I came on here immediately after experience Wink, because I wanted to warn everybody to stay away, but it seems like I’m not the first. I’ll agree with everybody:
Service: Creepy. The girl walked from behind the counter, stood next to me while I looked at the cupcakes, and stared while I made a decision.
Cupcake: I got two Oreo cupcakes, and they looked great. $ 7 for two cupcakes? Come on. Like others who have commented, I left and the frosting immediately started to melt. They were so melty that the frosting fell off one of them as it was being bitten. The cake? thick. without flavor. The frosting? delicious, but melty. The only reason there’s one star is because the décor is cute. Ugh.
Seattle has great cupcakes. Elsewhere.

Having heard of the place, seen the Groupon, and knowing it was on QA I made a stop here today while out and about.
The place is super small and dark, I actually thought it was closed when I parked. The two ladies in there were cleaning with the music going and actually looked surprised to have a customer.
The cupcake selection was small. I think four flavors in total. I opted for the one and only german chocolate left. I just about giggled on my way out because I absolutely LOVE german chocolate cake.
My cupcake was COLD. Like refrigerated cold. WTF? Oh well, perhaps the frosting needs it — took a bite and the cake was both dry and dense.
Now to me a cupcake should be light, fluffy and moist. This one was none of that. I continued to eat it despite all that because the frosting was good. Fast forward a few hours and I am having severe stomach cramps. I just kept wondering «what did I eat?!» until it dawned on me it was the cupcake.
Well…won’t be returning here.

Got the Groupon to this place. Had my choice of 6 seemingly awesome flavors. The cupcakes ain’t too bad but they are GREASY! I think their recipe called for too much butter cream in the frosting. I’m sure somebody else would love it but it’s not for me.
Great service tho.

I’ve given Wink several tries, but I think I’m done.
I love that they have cupcakes and ice cream. Since so many dessert spots in Seattle are specialized, it can be tough to get ice cream and cake together. The staff here is also so incredibly friendly, but the quality of the product is lower than average in most respects.
It might have been a fluke (I certainly hope so), but the one time I got ice cream here it was riddled with ice crystals which implies improper manufacture, improper storage, or both. The chocolate sauce was also pretty disappointing — just the standard Hershey-​esque stuff likely provided by Sysco.
The chocolate flavor in the chocolate cupcakes is appropriately intense, and many dessert spots round these parts don’t make their chocolate cake strong enough for my taste, but the cake for all Wink’s flavors is extremely dry. The icing is delicious but doesn’t make up for the dryness.
They do sell little containers of just the icing however. If you want a decadently sweet treat while cavorting on Queen Anne, I recommend stopping in for a little of that.

Wandered into Wink after a walk up Queen Anne Hill.
Spotted my favorite — Red Velvet — in the cupcake case and a potential second favorite — Mint Chocolate — in a glass display on the counter. I couldn’t make up my mind, so I ordered both!
Just like Valerie J.‘s comment below, made it about two blocks before I threw the Red Velvet cupcake out. Yes, the frosting is delicious, but you can’t neglect the cake!!! It was dry and pretty flavorless, and I was very disappointed.
Later that day I decided I would try the Mint Chocolate cupcake. The mint frosting was bland, and they pile so much frosting on the cupcake, it becomes overwhelming. The chocolate cake was a little better than the Red Velvet one, and this time I found myself just eating the cake and scraping off the icing.
So, in all, I ate the Red Velvet frosting and the Mint Chocolate chocolate cake part. Was that worth $ 6?
I miss my NYC Magnolia and Crumbs cupcakes… Wink/​Seattle better step it up!

I had been highly anticipating the arrival of Wink Cupcake to Upper Queen Anne for awhile. Heck, I remember calling them before they even opened their retail store! Unfortunately for me, this was a huge disappointment.
I came in on a Saturday night, an hour before closing and they only had three types of cupcakes left (which is a great sign): 5 mini peanut butter cupcakes, 2 Guinness cupcakes, and one last Chocolate Cupcake with Coffee Buttercream. So I got one each of the big ones and two minis.
Furthermore, the guy that was working there was super cool as both of us searched for masculine ways of describing how the interior design and take out boxes were «cute.» I think we agreed «adorable» was the most masculine, yet best fitting description. (However as I write this now, I realize it is not masculine at all.)

Wink had so much going for it, that is before we tried their cake. Besides the peanut butter, the other two were super bland. These cupcakes are overpriced (especially an extra 50 cents for Guinness cakes) because compared to their competitors, the cupcakes are much smaller.
Overall, I cannot recommend Wink Cupcakes.

Disappointing. JP loves his sweets so when we passed by here over the weekend we popped in and I bought him 3 cupcakes (Red Velvet, Guinness and Vanilla Buttercream). I am not the largest lover of sweets but I do know a good cupcake from a bad… Wink your cupcakes are dry and your frosting is overpowering! I broke into the Red Velvet on the way home and was actually glad I didn’t enjoy it so I could stop eating it. We still have one sitting in the pink box on our counter… it’s unheard of for a sweet to last that long in our house with JP around so that should tell you what you need to know…
I am going to save my calories for another cupcake place. I think you should too.

It was wise that they chose Queen Anne as the first neighborhood in which to open a retail store front — because that way, they can hold a cupcake monopoly over unsuspecting passersby that aren’t aware of the superior-​in-​every-​way Cupcake Royale.
The cupcakes look appealing enough — like Trophy, they were going for more flash and elegance than Royale’s understated frosting swoop.
I tried the peanut butter banana and the champagne cupcakes. They were both pretty underwhelming, especially the champagne one. It was very dry and the frosting lacked any sort of richness. The fact that they charge $ 7 for these little morsels of mediocrity suggests they think pretty designs compensate for deficiencies in taste.
Thus, barring any recipe upgrades on the part of Wink or Trophy, Cupcake Royale reigns as the best place to overpay for flour and butter in Seattle.

Man, I was so looking forward to having an irresistible cupcake shop in the ‘hood. Sadly, the coconut cupcake I got today was dry and not very coconut-​y. The cream cheese frosting was all I could taste.
I want to like you guys! I’ll be back to try a different flavor. I know that butter-​based batters are de rigueur, but maybe an oil-​based batter (a la Betty Crocker) would help with the dryness?

After months of seeing the ads on Facebook I was soooo hopeful… but beyond the cheery staff and perky shop lies the new driest cake in Seattle :-(… Just like previous large batch shops… these cakes are very dense and very dry. I really really really hope I can revise this review when the tides turn and the moisture finds the top of Queen Anne! But for now here is the tale of the tape…
We had a 4 pack of cupcakes and two beverages. Hubby’s chai was good, but my red velvet latte was VERY raspberry and not much latte. With a price tag of $ 3.85 for 12 oz it didn’t live up to the name.
I’m not a cupcake newbie (check out my profile for the list of reviews over the last year or so) and I was horrified when I returned home to a jumbled mess of cupcakes-​a-​kimbo. Hazelnut Guinness is not what I ordered but that’s what I sure got :-(. The box sat in the same position on the floor of the back seat in the same manner as any other cupcake caper. this was by far the worst result… if we get wind of a hot special flavor (or even better a new cake formulation) and go back we will be bringing our own box from another shop.
As for the cupcakes:
Banana Cream Cheese Granola Breakfast Special — granola topping, thin cream cheese frosting and a dense dry cake… no granola or nuts or anything in the cake… it was very one note and had an over mixed texture.
Hazelnut — very harsh flavor with no nuts in the cake or frosting itself, just a small sprinkle on the top. I love hazelnut, but this was like eating a bottle of extract… heartbreaking from the first bite.
Lemon — also harsh, but more tolerable. The texture was like an angel food cake, but no bounce or moisture.
Guinness — middle of the road on the taste spectrum (between CR and Trophy) — the gold crystals on the top might have been sugar, but the icing was so salty it was hard to tell. What was the 50 cent surcharge for? At $ 3.50 for such a small cupcake I expect moist, bouncy, flavorful exploration of cake v. frosting.
This tally isn’t pretty… and I sooo hope that they heed the lesson learned by CR and revise the formulation quickly rather than give excuses for months while people continue to not come back for more…
1 star lost for packaging fail
1 star lost for moisture fail
1 star lost for signature beverage fail
1 star given for staff friendliness /​knowledge
1 star given for merchandise selection.