Ellyn and I decided to do a “Cupcake Happy Hour” after work recently, so we headed to Wonderland Bakery in Newport Beach. I had heard that the mom-and-daughter owned shop was a “must-see” and that the creations were whimsical and fun.
Wow, where do we begin? The Candyland-themed shop was a near seizure-inducing kaleidoscope of pink, sky blue and yellow. It’s probably every 3 to 8-year old’s dream come true, but it scared the buhjeezus out of this 29-year old. It felt as if Barbie, My Little Pony, a Care Bear and Rainbow Brite could all come bounding out and giggling maniacally.
There were display cases filled with plastic models of Wonderland cookies, birthday cakes and cupcakes. They even make custom cakes shaped into designer handbags with Dooney & Burke, Juicy Couture and Chanel monograms, ha. Alas, we weren’t allowed to take any photos: “Sorry, but we need to protect the concept of our store.”
Onto the actual cupcakes …
There are some 21 flavors to choose from if you want to go the custom-order route: Monkey Love (banana cake with chocolate chip frosting and drizzled with chocolate); Snickerdoodle (Cinnamon cake with vanilla buttercream); Key Lime (vanilla cake with key lime cream cheese frosting dusted with graham crackers); Harvest (pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese frosting); Drama Queen (chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream) and Cookies N’Cream (vanilla cake with Oreo mixed in and topped with Oreo sugar) — to name a few.
The Lemonberry (lemon cake with blueberry frosting) on this day came with a strawberry or raspberry frosting instead. The cupcake itself was really gummy and had the consistency of an oily sponge. The lemon flavor had a weird tang to it, almost a chemical-y aftertaste. The frosting was very sweet. I wasn’t a fan of the round confetti, reminded me of something I could find at a grocery store.
We also ordered a few of the Southern Princesses (aka Red Velvet with cream cheese frosting) and the Razzmatazz, a chocolate cupcake with raspberry buttercream frosting. The red velvet was a startling shade of red and it really didn’t taste like Red Velvet. There was no buttery flavor or any hint of cocoa powder or undertone of chocolate. It tasted like white cake mix with red dye. The Razzmatazz fared a bit better, I liked the berry frosting with the chocolate, but again, both cupcakes had that overly gummy but super springy texture. For nearly $4 a cupcake, I expected to be able to taste higher quality ingredients. Speaking of grocery stores, I’ve had better from the Bristol Farms‘ bakery department down the street.
Sprinkles even charges less for a cupcake and you can at least taste the quality of the ingredients there. But for Wonderland’s target customer, little girls who love Candyland, Barbie, princesses and everything else sugary and fantasy-like, it might be perfect.
1314 Bison Avenue
Newport Beach, CA
949.640.9095
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I hope $4 per cake doesn’t become the going rate…
those cupcakes look very “home-made” - not a very appealing presentation for the price - but then again, i’m not in elementary school..
I live in New York and everyone told me to visit Wonderland Bakery when I was visiting Orange County. WOW. It is magical, the cookies and cupcakes are amazing Can’t wait until you open in New York, until then I will order on your website, even that sparkles!
Most companies try to cut corners to turn a huge profit and don’t think twice about making the customers happy, spending extra time, energy and money with the tiniest details to enhance the overall customer experience.
At Wonderland Bakery the experience is an unforgettable adventure for all the senses. I have been to the original store in Newport Beach and to the South Coast Plaza location and it is magical every time I visit . The cupcakes are almost too pretty to eat although after one bite they are devoured. You can taste and enjoy the finest ingredients and there are always fun flavor combinations. I love that I feel special when I visit and so my cupcakes - the cupcakes at Wonderland are never sitting on a shelf waiting for someone to put in a box. I want every flavor cupcake, however once I decide, my cupcakes are frosted for me on the spot, including drizzle in the chocolate fountain – it doesn’t get any better and yes, these are the best cupcakes I have ever tasted. Thank you Wonderland……
Wonderland Bakery makes me happy…and my taste buds are in love.
It’s all about the cupcake and Wonderland Bakery is nirvana.
When we opened our Orange County location, we could have selected any cupcake or bakery for our opening event. Wonderland was our ONLY choice. The cupcakes and cookies are amazing and our favorite. We will carry their products in our LA store in a few months too. Aprons, bake sets, tea sets, Allyson Bear, shirts for all ages and of course the delicious treats!
The cupcakes are incredible and I just tired the decorated cookies in fun fashion shapes. WOW. It is hard to decide, so I order both and find a friend to share.
My wedding cake and wedding cupcake tower was beautiful and delicious. Thank you for helping to make my wedding day as magical as Wonderland.
Just an FYI folks, the last seven comments all came from the SAME IP address, meaning it’s likely that it’s one person who submitted all those comments and of course, all of the aforementioned comments came within a few minutes of each other …
oh my gosh im laughing at the last comment from Kat. i was told from an insider that the owners always write comments that supposedly come from Ryan Seacrest…haha. Its funny because as I was reading all the comments, they sound the SAME!
Funny, I was thinking OMG these posts giving them all this credit are so ridiculous..until I read the previous two comments. That place is horrible. I went in there and it freaked me out. The over the hill barbie wanna-be mom that runs the counter is just as freaky as the decor. I went there once to give them a chance and had a $5 cookie (rip off) and some raspberry lemon bar. The cookie was disgusting and hard, took one bite and threw it out, the lemon bar was just ok. I would never go back. I’m shocked people give them the time of day. If you take a look at the pics of cakes on their website..you’ll realize what a joke this place is. It amazes me that people would go there more than once! Save your money, go get a yummy $1 toffee cookie from Bristol Farms up the street and pick up a strawberry cupcake from there while you’re at it.
[...] Wonderland Bakery in Newport Beach [...]
I have no idea how any woman could criticize the decor! Unless she’s hella butch. When I walk in the door, my inner child feels like it’s in heaven. Overall, I think the concept of the store is fabulous, the gift shop part is adorable and I did buy the cutest, most flattering apron I’ve ever seen there. If you have a daughter, you should definitely take her here. That being said, the baked goods are definitely lacking. The cupcakes are hella cute, but the only one I really like is the chocolate chip with the buttercream frosting. All of their frostings are waaay too sweet (but still not as sugary as Sprinkles nasty sugar paste) and I can’t really tell the difference between the creamcheese and the vanilla. I really wish they would use less sugar and focus on creating a buttery whipped cream taste. One time the cupcake was extremely undercooked, hence it was yucky and mushy and not springy or cake-like at all. That day there was some rude, jerky guy working and he didn’t handle the situation properly. Usually you would expect something along the lines of “Oh, Im so sorry, let me get you some different ones”, instead he defended the cupcake and tried to convince me that it was fine! When I’m paying over 4 dollars for a cupcake, I expect cake, not raw batter. I never like his attitude, but the ladies who own it are very nice. I disagree with the reviewer that made the nasty Barbie comment, that was in poor taste. I know it’s a little overpriced, but I’m sure the newport beach rent that they have to pay is atrocious. Part of owning a successful business is taking constructive criticism and using it to your advantage to better your operation. I think the owner should spend less time posting false praise and more time making a few tweaks to improve the baked goods. I’m sure that would have a much more positive impact on revenue. But I would like to thank Wonderland for opening such an adorable bakery, it’s always a treat to go there.
I haven’t been there yet but I checked out the website. It looks like it is just TOO MUCH! keep it simple people. It makes my teeth hurt just to look at it. After reading these comments, the taste testing challenge the Register did, and looking at the website, I am not sure I want to give them my business at all!
I agree with Jessica 100%. Overpriced for the value. “Barbie” was pretty scary.
I took my grandsons into the South Coast Plaza store and was high pressured to buy from “Barbie.” One of my grandsons picked up a wrapped cookie (noticed I wrote ” wrapped”) to look at it and Barbie jumped all over me and told me “he touched it and now you have to buy it.” Terrible experience. It’s French’s Bakery for service, kindness, a free cookie now and then and just great baked products - and NO Barbie’s.
Good luck to them in this economy.
Ashleyyy- you just went on for about an hour about how bad the baked goods and service are and then say you love it??!! Come on.
Btw- Kat, I love all your articles!
As a guy I found the place repulsive. Like the bedroom of a nightmare blind date. But I’m sure some little and not so little girls are fans of the My LIttle Pony decor. The owners seem really fixated on themselves and their image- just look at the scary website. I think they should concentrate on baking better cookies, mine looked good but tasted bad.