Recently we ventured into Boston to participate in a cupcake and dessert tour of the Newbury Street area. There was a Living Social special available, and the cost of $80 for four people seemed very reasonable. We were scheduled to visit five different dessert shops. Finding the tour is easy, as it meets at the statue of John Copley in Copley Square, a stone’s throw from the Copley Square Red Line subway stop. We lucked out and had a beautiful spring day to enjoy, with bright sunshine and mild temperatures. Copley Square was a show onto itself this particular day, as a group of women were protesting something, and sitting bare chested in the public square. On our way back we ran into a group of bare chested men doing a photo session with a photographer. It seemed to be a shirt optional kind of day. Fittingly enough, our tour guide, Artie, is also a standup comedian and kept things light throughout the tour. Once everyone had gathered we were off.
Our first stop: Flour Bakery and Café. Here we had what was hands down the best cupcake of the tour, a plain 
chocolate cake with white frosting. The chocolate was like a dark chocolate version of cake, and not sweet. The frosting let it shine through. This we really liked. Unfortunately the shop was jammed, and our group of 15 or so filed around to the back near the kitchen and stood there while we ate our cake. There was no real description of the shop, and no one came out to speak to us.
Next up was the most famous of the five establishments we would visit, the Boston version of sisters Katherine Berman and Sophie LaMontagne’s Washington DC shop – Georgetown Cupcakes DC. The local version is called Georgetown Cupcake Newbury. The cupcake of choice here was a cherry cupcake with a cream cheese frosting, including a whole cherry in the cake! I didn’t care for this, although Cheri liked it. The shop was quite busy however, so many apparently like the cupcakes here. A drawback once again was the lack of a storyline, and having to stand around in the back of the store near the restrooms while we ate our cupcakes.
Now we took a break from cupcakes and visited a rather unusual chocolatier, Teuscher of Switzerland. The inside of
this store was crazy, with brightly colored flowers everywhere. They were on the ceiling, the walls and the boxes of chocolate. This was the one stop where someone talked to the group at length about the shop and the history behind it. Goodies here were a chocolate truffle as well as a cocoa dusted almond. We had more time here, as it was not crowded, and it was the only stop during this event that actually felt like you were on a tour.
We exited Teuscher and jaunted along Newbury street to Patisserie on Newbury, a lovely, little French shop serving sandwiches and salads as well as pastries. Here we had two macaroons, a coffee flavored and a lemon version. The shop is small, so we had to file inside to grab our choice of macaroon, then back out onto Newbury street where we tried to find a place out of the way of the numerous pedestrians while we nibbled. The macaroons were quite tasty. The shop itself is quaint, and seems like a great place to grab some lunch if you are there on a nice afternoon, with a small outdoor seating area that was jammed on this perfect, late April afternoon.
Our last stop would actually take us just past the end of Newbury street and around the corner to Sweet. This was a 
traditional cupcake store, and here we sampled a red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting. The shop was not very crowded, although once again there was no description of the shop and no one actually spoke to us about it. The cupcake itself was pretty bad, with the frosting cloyingly sweet. We sort of wished they had omitted this last stop and given us more time to roam Newbury street.
In the end, the two hour tour was really only about 75 minutes, and that left us the afternoon to walk back towards the Red line stop at Copley Square. Newbury Street is worth an afternoon in Boston, especially if you haven’t been there before. There is shopping galore, restaurants and sidewalk cafes every twenty feet, and some unusual shops along the way. We found a great Anime store, where we picked up some very cool presents for our daughter. Drinks were had at a charming little Italian trattoria, Trattoria Newbury. This had a great atmosphere and is a restaurant we’d like to try for dinner another time we are in the area.
Overall we’d have to give Best Tour’s Cupcake and Dessert Tour a fair to poor rating. It was hurried, lacked information, and really put us into some tight spaces while we were supposed to be enjoying the culinary treats of the day. With that 
said, if you haven’t been to Newbury Street then this is a good way to get into the city and walk around the area. You will have time left to explore on your own, and there is much to see. It could be that the experience is totally different with a different guide. Also, a quick look at the current dessert shop lineup shows some different stops than the ones we made, so clearly the experience has already changed to a degree.
We like Newbury Street, had a great afternoon with some family, and had fun. Unfortunately the cupcake tour was not the highlight of the day.
If you’re interested you kind find more information at http://besttours.com/cupcake-tour-of-boston.html.
A votre santé!
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