Oklahoma City Cupcake Smackdown, part one: Sara Sara Cupcakes
by Greg | January 13, 2009 | 32 Comments
(votes: 34, average: 2.91) 
Loading ...Sara Sara Cupcakes is located at 7 NW 9th Street in Oklahoma City (map). They are open seven days a week from 7:30am to 9pm. You can reach them at 405.600.9494 or visit their website.
I am a comic book geek, so I hope you will grant me this brief history lesson. Marvel Comics debuted a muck-encrusted character named Man-Thing in May of 1971. About a month later, DC Comics introduced their own vegetable-based hero, Swamp Thing. The way publishing works, there’s no way DC Comics was copying Marvel — they came up with the ideas independently and put them out almost simultaneously.
It happens a lot. “Deep Impact” and “Armageddon” came out in the same summer. In Oklahoma City, we have our own version with two cupcake shops — Sara Sara Cupcakes and Cuppies & Joe — opening up within about a month, and about a mile, of each other.
And so, in the grand history of Andrew’s Shady Restaurant of the Month and Sarah’s Onion Burger Tour, we begin Greg’s Oklahoma City Cupcake Smackdown. But in this case, since there’s just two restaurants and they both opened up so close together, we’re publishing both reviews at the same time.
This post covers Sara Sara Cupcakes. Click here for the review of Cuppies & Joe.
Cupcake-only bakeries have been popping up all over the U.S., usually in major metropolitan areas. The big one, Sprinkles, has franchised around. Despite the timing, Sara Sara is not jumping on the trend. Instead, this bakery is a tribute to Sara Brinson, the daughter of co-owner Dana Brinson and niece of co-owner Toni Hoffman, who died last year. She loved baking cupcakes and had talked about opening a store like Sara Sara with her aunt. Her family, looking for something to do with their grief, turned to the kitchen and followed up on that dream.
And the dream has taken off. The publicity for this little shop, nestled in a house next door to Iguana Mexican Grill, has been huge. Word of mouth has the place bustling and with good reason — they make good cupcakes.
Taking a bullet for you good people, I have eaten all or part of: Count Rockula, Strawberry Shortcake, Cherries Jubilee, Judge Joe Cannon, Cappuccino, The Destin and Coconut Cream. I know, I know. I totally deserve a medal to be pinned on my enormous belly.
I’ve only heard two knocks on Sara Sara — the cupcakes are a little dry and the prices are a little high. And I cannot wholly disagree. The Coconut Cream and the Cherries Jubilee I tried could have been a bit more moist. That said, they weren’t so dry that I couldn’t eat them, they just were a little dry.
I talked to chef Eric Smith and he candidly addressed the problem — lack of training. Because the construction time ran up so close to opening the doors, there wasn’t much time to perfect the cupcakes. They’ve gotten better, however, and they’re honing in on the perfect times for their different recipes.
Meanwhile, the Strawberry Shortcake, which was warm and fresh when I ate it, was perfectly moist. And my favorite, the Count Rockula — chocolate with chocolate cream, cocoa puffs and marshmallows on top — was so good I don’t remember anything but wanting more.
The price is $3.25 per cupcake or $36 for a dozen, which might seem like a lot, but really — how many cupcakes are you going to eat? For a cake meant for one (or two, if you’re capable of sharing), the price tag isn’t that shocking. If you’re planning on downing three or four, then, yeah, the price goes up.
A bit more shocking is the price for a glass of milk. At $3, it’s steep, but there’s no better companion to a warm brownie than a cold glass of milk served in a frozen glass. I had the chocolate milk and it was heavenly. Other beverages include hot chocolate ($5), espresso ($3) and soft drinks ($2).
This is not your everyday bakery. The design is stark and modern, like an Ikea full of baked goods. This is almost an experience restaurant — a cool place to take your friends or to pick up a few cupcakes to try at the office.
Located downtown, they’ve definitely got a chance to become part of the neighborhood and expand their business. As it is, they’re not hurting — the cupcake display was almost empty when I visited. I guess everybody wants a sweet treat now and then.
We want to hear from you!
So far, 32 people have responded to this article. Won't you join in?January 13th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
I have to say, I thought that both the Strawberry and Key Lime cupcake were life-changing!
January 13th, 2009 at 10:54 pm
We kept hearing about this place so finally went, after a fab dinner at Iguana. I LOVED the decor of the place – and the radiator mugs. But I was less than impressed by the cupcakes; they were dry. I had the red velvet one; my husband’s key lime pie one was a little better. Will have to try Cuppies & Joe next.
January 14th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
My spouse took me to Sara Sara Cupcakes as a mystery date a few weeks ago. I hadn’t heard anything about them, but he had read a print article and, knowing of my love for cupcakes, thought it would make a great date.
I’ve visited the Sprinkles franchise in Dallas, so I was not surprised at the price of the cupcakes at Sara Sara. The milk was a bit pricey (we shared), but oh-so-GOOD. There is no skim milk to be found at Sara Sara and I’d forgotten how good a glass of real milk tastes.
The night we visited, they had a good selection of cupcakes available. I chose the Cowboy Carrot. It was very good, but a little dry, as was the Holiday Pecan Pie my husband chose. The flavor was there, they just need to work on the texture.
The decor was a little stark for my tastes. The plastic chairs were cold. We didn’t linger long, simply because we were cold.
January 14th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
I have to say, I really respect the whole idea of the Sara Sara cupcake business and we drove all the way there from Edmond just to try them and we were less than impressed by the flavor and icings. They were very dry and even tho we got three different white icings (vanilla, cream cheese and white chocolate) they all tasted the same to us. But the whole idea of the restaurant is honorable and I hope they succeed.
January 15th, 2009 at 11:26 am
The Key Lime cupcakes are to die for….
January 15th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
Granted, I do think that $3.25 for a cupcake is a bit steep, but wow. I pretty much had a flavorgasm with their coconut cream cupcake at lunch today.
This is bad news for my waistline as next month I am moving in to a loft within walking distance. I can definitely see myself just chilling out with a book and a coffee and indulging in cupcake decadence.
January 15th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
Very excited to finally visit, yet very disappointed with the product…very sterile, stainless, minimalistic atmosphere with less than desirable cupcakes. The Count Rockula tasted about 2-3 days old (ie. brick-like), and the pumpkin was maybe only 1 day old…did not care for the icing, also a bit pricey. No espresso or specialty coffee drinks available either, which was disappointing…just plain coffee. On a positive note, I did think the cupcake display & cakes themselves were “cute.”
As far as my Smack-down, there is no comparison… C&J takes the cake!
January 16th, 2009 at 10:31 am
I actually found this article thru facebook….cuppies and joe asked me to be a friend and then send me emails all the time. i have yet to go but then when i heard about sara sara i saw that they were opened at 7:30 so since i worked downtown i passed by…it was hard to know if it was open since parking is in the back and i was a lil scared being all alone but i loved it the minute i walked in. the decor was ikea like! which i love. i felt very New York. I had the breakfast “cupcake” which was unusually GREAT! haven’t had my capuccinno cupcake yet! look forward to going back! its a perfect dainty lil place!
January 16th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
I really wanted to love SaraSara Cupcakes, really did. The idea of a cupcake shop is probably the awesomest thing ever….however SaraSara just didn’t quite pull it off (in my opinion). Firstly, their location is difficult at best. I honestly had no idea there was anything down that street. Secondly, their decor is sooooooooo sterile – it makes a hospital seem inviting. There is too much white, the chairs look uncomfortable, and the owners/workers hide around the corner in the kitchen. It’s like some kind of bizarre ghost town. Thirdly, 2.75 for a measly cup of drip coffee, seriously? It’s not even an espresso, french press, or prepared in a commercial maker; which means it’s mediocre at best (save yourself the money and grab a quality coffee from Coffee Slingers across the street, you’ll thank me later). And, lastly, the cupcakes themselves… Well, they certainly look more polished than the cupcakes at C&J, but they weren’t to my taste. I can see where the “dry” comments are coming from, they’re very dense, heavy cupcakes. I got the cinnamon cupcake and couldn’t finish it. It was just too heavy sitting in my stomach and the frosting tasted like whipped butter – that’s it, just straight up whipped butter (which induced a lovely gag reflex about half-way in). I sampled a bit of another cupcake that was pretty good (still dense and crumbly), and the frosting was less buttery, but I still can’t say that when I think “ooh, I want cupcakes”, I’ll be going back to SaraSara anytime soon.
January 17th, 2009 at 8:19 pm
My wife, daughter and I went there this morning, all three of us thought it was just so-so. I have no problem with the price, but the cupcakes were average at best.
I look forward to trying the other one.
January 19th, 2009 at 9:30 am
I’ve visted both Cuppies and Sara/Sara. They both have their own charm but they both have a few problems too. Sara/Sara is too expensive for the quality of the cupcake and Cuppies, though less expensive, does not hold a candle to the cupcakes served at Saturn Grill.
January 22nd, 2009 at 11:41 am
I’ve been to Sara Sara twice. Knowing how Sara Sara came to be, I really want to like it. Really I do. But both times my cupcakes were extremely dry.
The first time I went I chalked it up to opening day jitters. The last time was the same experience.
Normally I love Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese frosting, but I really can’t even taste the cream cheese in the frosting.
At $3.25 a piece, I expect more.
I will have to try Cuppies and Joe. Another excellent place that makes cupcakes is Cookies and Cards on Campus Corner in Norman. Their strawberry cupcakes are heavenly.
January 28th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
I’m really digging on the decor of Sarah Sarah’s. It’s just super hip. Tragically hip. Makes me wanna redecorate my entire house. I went on a day where they had a young man strumming an acoustic guitar and singing with the most angelic voice I’ve ever heard. He should totally be signed to some major record label.
The cupcakes are good. I can see why some people complain that they are dry. I think the reason is because the cupcakes are on the large side, and it takes longer to bake them all the way through, so the outsides get a little firm. Doesn’t affect the flavor of the cupcake, and the inside of the cupcake is scrumptious. But they really should find a way to fix this. I love how they have the cupcakes displayed, too. Very creative. I do think the price is a little out there…maybe they should revisit their pricing schedules. Overall a good experience, but it could be great if they tweaked it a bit. Definitely worth giving a try.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:35 am
After much anticipation, my fiance and I were sadly let down with the cupcakes we had at Sara Sara. As many have stated, it’s a really great idea. One that could thrive and be very successful, however, they desperately need some work on their product. The cupcakes were in fact dry and for at over $3 a piece (which I’m okay with if they’re worth it), in my opinion they should’ve tasted much better.
Oddly enough, when we were there choosing what flavor(s) we wanted, a gentlemen actually brought his cupcake back up stating that it was hard and tasteless. We chalked it up to a random event, but after delving into the cupcakes ourselves, we weren’t very impressed either.
We’ll probably stick with our Duncan Hines and Betty Crocker from now on.
-A sad fat kid.
February 12th, 2009 at 10:44 pm
i tried it this week. i thought it was killer. not dry at all. moist in fact. i also spoke to chef Eric. he was very personable and seemed interested in what i thought. he said they thought they had the kinks out. i took a dozen to work. the staff loved them. give them a look!
March 2nd, 2009 at 11:32 am
Sadly I agree with most comments on here…the cupcakes were dry and I expected more flavor. It was odd – they were dense but also dry…I have no idea how that happens. The milk bar was great but expensive. My hubby commented that we could have bought an entire gallon for the price of one glass. Too much white in the decor. However, it was VERY busy when we were there!
March 12th, 2009 at 11:32 am
I have been there twice after hearing many good things about it. Both times I have taken my cupcakes “to-go” but I think it would be great to sit on the porch in the summer. The first time I got the Vanilla Vanilla and it was so good that I have been dreaming about it. It was huge and moist and perfect!! The second time I went, I got the Cherry Jubilee and it was a bit of a let-down. It was a little dry. Overall, I will definitely be back, if only to taste the Vanilla Vanilla again and hang out inside for a little while. I love the modern design!
March 18th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
Sara Sara was ok, but Cuppies and Joe is def. better. The decor kind of creeped us out, and the employees didn’t make us feel welcome. It was very sterile and unwelcoming. There were no hours posted, so we weren’t even sur eif they were open or not, and it was a little confusing about where to park & which door to go in. We went in the back door and it felt like we were intruding in their space. There was nobody dining in there, but it seemed like there were a lot of people working.
As for the cupcakes, they were ok, but nothing special. The were less like cupcakes and more like little tarts or something(meaning that they didn’t have the real cupcake shape). It didn’t seem like picking them up would be a good idea, and thats what I like about cupcakes. All in all, go to Cuppies and get some atmosphere, friendly people, and cheaper, better cupcakes.
March 19th, 2009 at 10:51 am
Went last night with some friends. I ordered the Cherries Jubilee, which was advertised as being “white cake with buttercream frosting with a brandied cherry on top”. It came with some type of brown cake (we think it was an attempt at cherry) which was average at best, cherry flavored frosting and the brandied cherry on top. Too many different cherry flavors going on.
Friend #2 had a cupcake that was a chocolate cupcake, topped with vanilla icing and marshmellows and coco-puffs on top. This cake was so dry that it didn’t even get finished.
Friend #3 had a blueberry cake. It was very much a blueberry muffin with icing and a blueberry on top. Again, average at best.
** – 2 Stars
April 29th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
I’ve tried lots of cupcakes and I was so excited about OKC finally having a cute, charming cupcake place. But this just isn’t it. I want to love it, but the cupcakes are not worth the price.
May 7th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
I also wanted to love sara sara cupcakes. I went their first week and brought a dozen home. All of the cupcakes were dry and the frosting wasn’t especially nice. I went back in January to give them another try and again too dry. I will NOT be back. I recently tried the cupcakes at Saturn Grill and was really impressed. Also had my first visit to Sprinkles in Dallas and had the red velvet and it was AWESOME. I heard Sara Sara might open a store in Edmond.
May 15th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
Went to Sara Sara for the 3rd time this week, and my opinion went up a little bit…I got the Coconut Cream cupcake and took it to go. It was AWESOME!
May 19th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
I love Sara Sara, my hubby and I went to Iguana after driving up broadway on a weekday and decided to stroll by after dinner. OMG the best cup cake of my life. I read that some of you thought they where dry when the first opened up (Thanksgiving 2008) we have been going since march of 2009 and have never had a dry cup cake. I love the key lime and judge joe brown. The strawberry and cherry are freakin amazing and my husband loves the chocolate and peanut butter concoction. We have tried alot there (can’t remember them all) and the only one we didn’t care for was a blue berry with honey icing. The cup cake was fine but the icing seemed almost lardy, if thats a word! We really don’t care for Cuppies and Joe and although the price is higher splitting a cupcake in half is plenty of desert for both of us. Definitely give Sara Sara a chance we find their desert amazing and will continue to go back. Plus the parking is much easier than fighting everybody over on NW 23rd. SARA SARA ROCKS!
May 28th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
My fiancee and I stopped in after eating at Iguana, and were less than impressed. I didn’t really care for their style, but even more than that, no one even greeted us when we walked in, and I am pretty sure we might have had a semi-dirty look that seemes to say, “uhhhh….more customers”. We got a chocolate cupcake with chocolate icing to split. We were back in the car (we high-tailed it out of the stark environment) before we began to try it. The cupcake didn’t taste like chocolate at all…I mean, I was really thinking that they may have switched it with another flavor on accident. It was weird, won’t be going back, going to try cuppies & joe.
June 2nd, 2009 at 4:03 pm
SO DRY! SUCH a disappointment! Any cake mix from Wal-Mart would make a better cupcake. I don’t understand how someome can mess up cupcakes so badly!
June 6th, 2009 at 9:53 pm
I think this place is getting killed by the groupies from Cuppies and Joe, just ignore them and get a decent cup cake, they have a nice environment, good cupcake and adequate parking.
June 19th, 2009 at 8:41 pm
After visiting this place today, and reading all these stupid reviews, I came to the conclusion that a bunch of cake mix eaters have posted here!
For those of you that are looking for a helpful review, here it is
my review of my experience.
My husband, my mom, my 3 kids & my nephew all had Sara Sara Cupcakes today.
We had Chocolate with the little marshmallows on top, key lime, red velvet, strawberry, peach cobbler, strawberry & vanilla bean.
I have to say for $3.25 is worth it, the cupcake is not your usual size is like a muffin without the top, to me it was like a perfect size dessert!
You must take it to go if you have a large crowd like I did. Milk is $3
Ok so I know why ppl say they are dry and they know nothing about baking, those cupcakes are dense!, ppl learn the difference I know most ppl were raised on box cake. So I think the cupcakes are dense but deliciosos!
So the girl at the counter was very friendly for a bunch of Mexicans in their PJs yes we were wearing pjs we were treated fairly nice and the girl at the counter was amazing!
Also I know nothing about cuppies & joe or whatever they are called so my review was solely made by my personal experience, from a super baker! My family was very satisfied. We will go back.
July 10th, 2009 at 11:14 am
I’m new to OKC – having lived in NYC (not a big fan of magnolia bakery either, try some of the off shoots, go into Brooklyn) and LA (not a fan of Sprinkles – again try other places on Wilshire in Santa Monica), I love a good cupcake. I’ve only been here a week and made a b-line to Sara Sara Cupcakes. When you see the exterior, you might expect a very warm and inviting interior…not so much. Which is surprising given the logo and the building. Nonetheless, I gave the standard cupcakes a try…I had the vanilla cupcake which was SUPER moist (the wrapper was moist, the cake was moist – everything was moist but not in a good way. Left my hands feeling very moist). No where near being dry. It is humid in OKC so I don’t know what the balance is between dry and super moist…but Sara Sara would might want to find an improved balance.
Also had the chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting. The young lady behind the counter warned me the cupcake is more brownie tasting than standard chocolate cake. Well, it was a little lacking in chocolate cupcake. I liked the texture of the cake, it just needed a little more chocolate taste.
FYI…I’m not a fan of frosting so I can’t comment on the frosting of either cupcakes. But I love cake.
Sara Sara has lots of potential. The location, once you find it is cool. The decor can be improved – just warmed up a bit. Finally, keep refining the recipies, pull up the flavor profiles and I think the shop can be a real winner.
Best of luck.
August 13th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
Let me start off by being completely honest and saying that I am completely addicted to Cuppies and Joe’s cupcakes. Just throwing that out there so everyone can see my bias. I would classify myself as a food connoisseur that love to eat. A dream job for me would be being a food critic. So a couple of weeks ago my wife and I were downtown on a Monday and we just happened to be celebrating our anniversary. After a wonder dinner at Nonnas we decided that we wanted some dessert. We knew that Cuppies & Joe was closed on Sundays and Mondays so we decided that we would give Sara Sara a try. We had heard mixed reviews and my wife had tasted them before and did not like them very much but it was at an outside event where they were brought in so she didn’t know how fresh they were. She had informed me that they were much larger, more expensive, and had a lot of icing on them as compared to C&J cupcakes. All of those things sounded great except for the more expensive part, of course. So we went in and purchased 3 cupcakes. We got Coconut Cream, Crimson & Cream (red velvet), and Blackberry Maple (maple cake with purple blackberry icing). I was way pumped because all three flavors sounded great. First off my wife said that their icing had changed because the ones she had seen before had literally over an inch of icing on them and the day we went all of them had maybe 2-3 mm of icing on them which is ok if you ask me cause to much icing is a bad thing sometimes. We went home and proceeded to share the Maple Blackberry cake. We both took a few bites and were really disappointed. The cake literally didn’t taste like anything. There was no flavor at all from the icing or the cake. The cake was very moist and dense (almost like a really moist pound cake) but had no flavor. I was seriously baffled because with every bite it was like I was tasting sweet simple syrup with mashed up wet cake. It was far from appetizing. We thought maybe the maple was just a dud so we proceeded to try the red velvet. I was literally horrified to find the exact same experience with it. It seriously tasted like we were eating high fructose corn syrup or something. It was horrible. The texture and the flavor were worse than most store bought cakes I have tasted (or lack there of). Seriously, if you were to just walk up to me and hand me one of those cupcakes and ask me if it was store bought or was bakery made/homemade, I would have said 100%, without a doubt store bought. We proceeded to try the coconut and we were thrill to finally try something that actually tasted like something. It tasted like coconut. The cake didn’t taste like anything and neither did the icing but the coconut that was on top of the icing had some flavor. By this point we were just happy to get something that had taste out of the $11.00 we spent. The coconut cupcake tasted the most store bought out of them all. Not good. Now like I said at the very beginning this is a biased review as I am a Cuppies & Joe fan and I discovered it way before I even heard about Sara Sara. I have only had 3 cupcakes from Sara Sara and I have probably consumed about 25 cupcakes from Cuppies and Joe. My wife and I consider ourselves open minded people so we have given Sara Sara a shot and we plan to try it out again some Monday in the future when I want a cupcake and Cuppes is closed just in case we caught a bad batch at Sara Sara or something. As for our first experience I am going to classify it as TERRIBLE. Hopefully our next experience will knock our socks off so I can post a better review on here. Everything written above is strictly a review about the cupcakes at Sara Sara. I will say that the place had a really cool and clean vibe to it. Everything is white and just feels really neat.
September 20th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
I’ve read the reviews for both Cuppies and Joe and Sara Sara, so when I decided to go for cupcakes, I was unsure of which place to visit. After considering the parking on 23rd and the possibility of being surrounded by (alleged) church people at Cuppies and Joe, we decided Sara Sara would be our first cupcake outing.
We got lost on the way over. I didn’t even know that anything was down 9th Street east of Broadway. That was probably my fault, though, for not writing down the address or directions.
We visited Sara Sara on a Friday evening. The place was deserted, which is fine by me. The people behind the counter were not overly friendly, but they didn’t ignore us either.
I loved the simple decor! White has the advantage of showing dirt and grimy cupcake frosting fingerprints, so I knew that when I sat down I wouldn’t be sticking my hand in someone else’s leftovers.
We tried the strawberry, carrot, lemon poppyseed and Count Rockula cupcakes. We were also warned that the chocolate one was “more like a brownie”, so we were prepared for the dense texture. The lemon was my favorite and I don’t even really like lemon! It was great. The strawberry was delicious and the carrot was good, but not to-die-for. I didn’t taste the chocolate, but my parter said it was pretty good. The cupcakes were all very moist and heavy. Definitely more of an eat-with-a-fork than a handheld dessert.
The price of the cupcakes didn’t bother me at all. We could have probably split one cupcake between two people because they were so big, but we wanted to try several different flavors. Three dollars for a glass of milk is outrageous, frozen cups or not, so we didn’t buy any.
I still want to try Cuppies and Joe at some point, but Sara Sara was good and I’ll probably go back.
September 27th, 2009 at 9:49 am
Will have to agree with the reviewers that found them dry. We sampled four (choc/choc, red velvet, banana, choc/pbutter) and while the flavor was good, the cake was unforgivably dry. In fact, rather than tasting over-baked, they tasted like they had been sitting around a couple days. Perhaps it was the end of the week and baking had slowed down as they tried to sell out the stock? Have yet to try cuppies & joes. Sara Sara does have some interesting varieties, but they seem to rely on store-bought add-ins (snickers, cocoa puffs) I like the location and setting, but they need to work on keeping those cakes fresh!
November 14th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Waste of calories and waste of money. I can buy better tasting cupcakes at 711.
Please tell us what you think.