The Yellow Leaf Cupcake

My favorite macaron shop in Seattle! I think Yellow Leaf’s macarons beat out some amazing macarons I’ve had in SF, NYC, and LA. Especially when you get them fresh! The cupcakes here are so good too. The maple bacon cupcake = !

Cute little bakery/​café that appears to specialize in macaroons. I’m not really a fan of the macaroon, but we got some and they were ok as far as macaroons go. However, I am impartial to anything chocolate, throw in a bit of peanut butter and now we are talking.
So what did I get? The chocolate peanut butter cupcake, of course. It was moist, soft, not too sweet and tasty. It was not the best chocolate peanut butter cupcake, I’ve ever had, but it wasn’t the worst either.
The place was empty and no lines on this particular Friday afternoon around 3:30 pm. Service was polite and we choose to sit in the corner chairs next to the window. It served the purpose of a dessert break after a great lunch.

The staff is very patient and nice. They have good hippie environment and technology in place. The setting and atmosphere are antique and cultural.
The food quality is not so good. The cupcakes got too much frosting and extremely too much for me to consume even one. The selection is not that big either.

VERY good macaroons and a very cute little setup. Gluten free-​friendly and is pretty great for grabbing some cute little package of sweets (on your way to another café’ for coffee or real food)

This place is great! Small can probably get crowded quickly but we went for dinner. Yes, cupcakes for dinner! Don’t judge!
The owner and other workers were great, friendly, talkative and kept us in conversation during their slow times
Cupcakes along with coffee were awesome. Had a cappuccino that was delish!
Give this place a try !!! Maybe for dinner ??

I made an impromptu stop here with a friend while strolling around the streets of Belltown; with a wall covered in skylines of each of the 50 states in the US, quaint paintings and decorations adorning the other walls, and colorful pastries, how could we pass by without taking a look? Unfortunately, the magic stopped there — I sadly have to say that I’d rather eat yellow leaves than eat the pastries at Yellow Leaf Cupcake.
My friend and I sampled seven macarons; while each one of them was a different flavor, they all tasted the same because I’m pretty sure the only ingredients are sugar and food coloring. The filling tasted like thick buttercream frosting, and the shells were nothing but glorified hardened sugar.
Given the taste of the buttercream icing filling of the macarons, I am not particularly willing to try the cupcakes here; I’ll look for another bakery to make my staple the next time I’m in Seattle.

This is a cute shop, situated in Belltown, that serves cupcakes as well as other treats like macarons. They have a fair amount of flavors available daily, but I do wish they had more. Their red velvet is fantastic. I love how light and airy the frosting is. Along with their confections, they’ve a full espresso bar. It’s pretty decent coffee. The staff seem friendly and are pretty engaging. The interior is cozy and inviting. I’d definitely come fika here again.

Meh. I ordered a custom cake and overall we were disappointed with how it turned out. Starting with the good: the chocolate cake layers and filling were great — super delicious! The ordering and logistics were easy, peasy. The meh: The buttercream frosting was closer to butter than frosting. Maybe some people like this. But I like it creamy and smooth. Typically you could scrape it off, but it was so thick around the cake and there was a large amount in between the layers that it almost made up half the cake. The cake would have been great without the buttercream — so this place definitely has potential, but maybe it’s not for my taste.

Visiting Seattle from Los Angeles. Started to rain during our walk to our hotel from the Space Needle, so we thought we would pop in here and check it out.
I want to start off by saying the staff working was very nice and helpful. If I could I would give them 5 stars for their service/​friendliness. The food/​drinks was just eh. We had some macarons and tea. The macarons weren’t quite what we were expecting. Maybe we are spoiled because our go to macaron place is Bottega Louie back home, but all I could taste was butter in their fillings. The shells of the macarons were good, but the filling just tasted like butter cream. The tea we ordered was a passion fruit jasmine (good, would order again) and a white jasmine tea (would not order again).
The place seemed popular though. Saw a few people pop in while we were there to just pick up a cupcake or two. Maybe next time if we go we will try s cupcake.

Super friendly staff and a large selection of tasty foods. They have teas, coffees, and — my favorite — hot apple cider, too. I know hot cider is a rather simple drink and not generally worth mentioning in a review, but it was warming on an otherwise chilly afternoon… I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, but my wife really liked their cupcakes and macaroons.

Wonderful bakery. You wouldn’t expect a Seattle bakery that specializes in cupcakes to have the best French macarons, yet they do! I have tried macarons all around the city, but nothing beats the flavor, selection and presentation of Yellow Leaf. The best part? They deliver!

I was craving something sweet and something small. My friends and I were passing this place multiple times a day because it was next to our hotel. I made a side trip for a tasty treat.
I got one red velvet with cream cheese frosting and one that I think was vanilla with a shortbread cookie on top. My overall impression was that the cupcake was super sweet. With the dense texture of the cake and the thick buttercream, I had trouble finishing half of one. It was overwhelming after a while. The flavors were there and they were good, but I just prefer my cakes and icing to be lighter.

I was really excited to try Yellow Leaf, as it’s been in my bookmarks for years and has pretty consistently stellar reviews. I don’t know if I just caught an off day, but I wasn’t all too impressed.
We had the green tea and birthday cake macarons, as well as the red velvet and banana cupcakes. None of these were much to write home about, which was really unfortunate because it’s such a cute shop with décor that I LOVED, and I very much wanted to find a new go-​to cupcake place. Both of the macarons tasted indiscriminately sweet and didn’t have much flavor other than just being sugary. Their texture, however, was excellent (perfectly soft and chewy) but that didn’t make up for the flavor. The cupcakes, similarly, were very very sweet. Again, the texture of the cakes and frosting were great. However, they were just too sweet and mostly tasted just like sugar and butter instead of their labeled flavors. I will say that the red velvet was much much better when I had it with coffee, so maybe that’s the way to go.
There are better places in Seattle for cupcakes. I would probably give this place another shot, but to be honest I’m not in belltown very much and I don’t think I’d be willing to make a specific trip for this place.

I know, who gives a cupcake bakery two stars? How bad can a cupcake be?
I had Yellow Leaf cupcakes once almost five years ago and thought I’d give it another shot. I had the banana cream pie and the crème puff cupcakes.
Honestly, in terms of flavor, they both tasted like muffins. The banana cream pie cupcake had pie crust on the bottom. Cool idea, but it was crappy pie crust. I know the cream on top is what sets Yellow Leaf apart from the other cupcake bakeries, but it was just too greasy and buttery and on top of a really oily cake, I just didn’t like it. It was light (like whipped butter) but also unsubstantial, if that makes any sense. I’m probably the odd one out who actually likes the slightly hardened frosting. I enjoy the «bite» of it and it doesn’t feel like I’m coating my mouth with fat. I feel that this cream would be better used spread thinly on a pastry, not piled high on a cupcake. The cake texture was too airy and light so it fell apart and there was not enough contrast in texture between the cream and the cake.
The crème puff cupcake was so disappointing. Almond cake — again it tasted like a poppyseed muffin. Chantilly cream was bland. There was a soggy piece of crème puff shell on top and some cream in the middle that I couldn’t make out (was it supposed to be custard?). All I could taste was the almond. Textures all mushed together.
I was actually reminded to write this post by a current Unilocal thread — «food you eat and regret». I only had ¼th of each cupcake. I was so disappointed and wished I had gotten another monthly flavor from Cupcake Royale instead.

Amazing macaroons and cupcakes. I’ve had a large assortment of macaroon flavors, and I especially like the pistachio, Mexican chocolate, and almond flavors. The muddy buddy cupcake is amazing. Stop by for cupcake happy hour for 40% off at the end of the day.

We found this cupcake place while visiting Seattle for a weekend in one of the free city maps, where they recommended it as a great place to go. We tried and were truly amazed by many interesting flavours — Belgian chocolate, red velvet are definitely worth it! It’s 4 $ per cupcake, there are also many other sweets you can try — French macarons etc. Coffee tastes as it should (our barista offered medium and dark roast) and Wi-​Fi is available.

This place is the real deal and definitively the best cupcake in Seattle! Though I admit to not quite being a huge connoisseur of cupcakes, I do know killer frosting and moist, sweet cake when I taste it!
The creampuff cupcake is delicious, and the red velvet is out of this world. Or, stick with plain old chocolate and vanilla — why mess with a good thing? They have a CRAZY amount of specialty flavors (check their website) as well as seasonable varieties.
I recently used Yellow Leaf for a large order of mini-​cupcakes for a company event. Their customer service was so, so excellent! They were very helpful, offering suggestions on flavors and branding. They also provided cupcake stands, which was much appreciated. And, they deliver on time and with everything 100% as ordered. Thanks!

A coworker was nice enough to bring in cupcakes the other day from Yellow Leaf and I was lucky enough to get one. I am not the biggest fan of sweets, let alone cupcakes but I was extremely satisfied with this one. The frosting was not too sweet and over done like some places. The cake itself was moist and very flavorful. It was such a good cupcake, I actually could not stop thinking about it for like two whole weeks. I finally went to check out the shop for myself and when I got there, they were all sold out! Totally my fault as I went later in the day so I opted for a mini cake. Super cute but not as delicious as the cupcake. The frosting to actual cake ratio was off. It was like 70% frosting and 30% cake. Hence me knocking one star off. I am very excited to go back and try more cupcakes but I would avoid the mini cake at $ 12 a pop, unless you not as critical as I about sweets. Overall very cute shop and nice staff definitely a place to check out.

This is a lovely cupcake shop located in the Belltown area of Seattle. We found it while just walking by on the street, and made a mental note to return — the sights and smells were just too compelling to ignore. On the last day of our visit, the BF and I stopped in during their «happy hour» which meant that things were half off! Being the gluttonous sweet tooths that we are, we picked 4 to try — chocolate peanut butter, strawberry lavender, cookie dough, and their signature pancakes and bacon. The owner of the shop was so nice — he chatted with us for a while and was patient as we made our choices, and when we mentioned going back to California that same night, he offered us a to-​go box that was tried-​and-​true guaranteed past security! This was a nice gesture. The cupcakes were all phenomenal. I’ve been eager to find a lavender cake or even try my hand at making one ever since! This shop puts Sprinkles to shame. Maybe they should try a «happy hour»!

This is not the best cupcake shop in Seattle, this is the best cupcake shop in the country. I went through a time where I traveled the country to try cupcake shops so I have a lot of cupcake tasting experience. :) Over the years they’ve slowly added other fun treats in addition to the delicious cupcakes.
The cake part of the cupcake is always moist and flavorful. The frosting is what really won me over because it tastes like my mom’s homemade buttercream recipe. It isn’t an odd bakery frosting. The flavor options vary and are always really unique. If you join their FB page you can see what flavors they’ll have each day. My favorites here are the Pancakes N’ Bacon, Apple Pie, and any of the flavors they make with lavender.
Most recently I picked up a dozen for a baby shower and they were a huge hit. Nobody could decide on one flavor so we divided them up and each enjoyed three flavors. I added Red Velvet and Belgian Chocolate to my favorites list. The Belgian Chocolate had a whippy chocolate frosting with a chocolate shell on top that was over the top decadent. I loved that the Apple Pie cupcake had a layer of crust on the bottom and then an apple cinnamon filling inside the cupcake.
Yellow Leaf will not disappoint! I definitely recommend stopping in if you are in the area. It’s definitely worth the maybe 10 minute walk from Pike’s Market.

I ordered an assorted dozen of their cupcakes. I called in a few days ahead of time and I was told they only need 24 hours. When I arrived the cupcakes were already boxed for me and I was good to go. If there are flavors in there you don’t want or something you want more of, you can swap it out. I was told they have 4 cupcakes they make daily and 4 specials everyday. They do not know the special for the next day until later on in day.
These were solid cupcakes. They didn’t blow me away or anything but I was pleased. The frosting is a little more whipped than compared to trophy or cupcake royale. The cake was moist. The frosting wasn’t too sweet and each cupcake had a different style of frosting.
I got there around 830AM to pickup my cupcakes and there were plenty of parking spots nearby. The shop isn’t too big but it is well lit.

I heard of this place through Instagram and knew I had to try once checking out the pictures on Unilocal!
When we arrived I realized that they were on a show on the food network for their Pancake cupcake which I thought was pretty cool.
I was going back and forth between that and the chocolate chip cookie dough cupcake and finally decided on chocolate chip cookie dough because the cookie on the top of the cupcake looked too good to resist!
The cupcake was great. It was very moist and flavorful. I didn’t eat all the frosting on the top because it would have been too sweet but I really liked it. They also had cookie in the middle as well which I thought was a great addition.
I also got the birthday cake macaroon because anything birthday cake flavored is good in my book. My mom got the pistachio and my dad got the strawberry. We all split the three different flavors so we would all be able to try them. My favorite of course, was the birthday cake but the other two flavors were good as well.
I really enjoyed this dessert venue and would love to go back next time I’m in Seattle!

Stumbled across this place in search of coffee this afternoon. I ended up getting an iced latte and a birthday cake macaron. The iced latte was strong as hell. I can suck down some coffee, let me tell you, but this took some time.
The macaron was AMAZING. Way better than Le Panier by a LANDSLIDE. I thought I hated macaroons because of them, but it turns out I don’t! Yellow Leaf serves up soft, flavor pastries.
I’m not sure I’ll be a regular, but when I’m in the mood for a macaron or two — you can catch me here.

This was the final stop of our babymoon. On our last day, I had to get one more sweet treat in before our flight. Luckily this was around the corner and a short walk from our hotel. When we popped in, there was some type of meet up going on so it was distracting to pay attention to the cupcakes. lol. I picked up their famous maple and bacon cupcake and a strawberry cupcake. I WAS going to save it for when we got back home but after walking through TSA and all the agents are drooling at your cupcake, and being 7 months pregnant, I ate it while waiting for our flight! I loved that the cupcakes weren’t as sweet as they looked like they were going to be. The maple bacon cupcake was pretty good, but idk– somehow I found the frosting to be a bit on the oilier side. The strawberry cupcake was good, and I think I liked that the most.
Not a must go to when in Seattle, but if you’re pregnant and needing that sugar boost– a definite gem.