Just Cupcakes

«Meh. I’ve experienced better», definitely applies to this business. I went to the Just Cupcakes location at Town Center, and bought two cupcakes… one lemon and one chocolate with vanilla icing. They tasted no better than Duncan Hines box cake, which would be fine (I love Duncan Hines) except that these quite small cupcakes, with tax, were almost $ 4 per cupcake! If they were bigger, or had filling or were somehow special somehow, I wouldn’t have felt so ripped off.

I’m sorry but overpriced and you don’t get what you pay for! Empty shelves, small and dry cupcakes. No thanks!

Ever glanced at The Food Channel? If so, you may have caught a glimpse of this little station of treats on Cupcake Wars. Walking in as an out-​of-​towner who was excited to catch a local’s establishment on TV in real life, I was excited to walk in and try some of their treats.
As a fan of chocolate, i figured I would never be disappointed until I saw the case was almost completely empty! However, that didnt stop me. The girl behind the counter explained they had some in back as well. Oh Boy! Well, first one that caught my eye was the Gone with the Wind Red Velvet and that is the one treat i had to have. And, with the first bite, my disappointment vanished and thirst for milk increased with each bite. I was in heaven. I was happy to find that the cake was quite moist and the frosting topping was fun and tasted just like the icing on the actual cakes i purchase.
Oh — VA Beach locals, they also have a second location in Town Center so stop by there too! Additionally, you can always get these tasty treats to go… and I am more than confident that they will add that bit of pizazz to any office gathering you have!

I got the mint cupcake and it was ok. The frosting was a little hard, but the rest was alright. It’s not that impressive. I guess I had higher expectations after seeing the sign.

Well, «meh, I’ve experienced better» sums it up pretty well. I had been wanting to try Just Cupcakes for a LONG time, but I live downtown and am rarely near one of their bakeries. I ended up purchasing a groupon awhile ago, thinking maybe it would motivate me to drive out and try them. So yesterday we made the trip, and got six cupcakes.
From the very start, i wasn’t bowled over. In fact, if I hadn’t had the groupon I probably wouldn’t have purchased any. There were six flavors displayed, none of which I found super appealing except the coconut (I’m a sucker, thanks Grandmama!), but I told the employee to give me one of each. Apparently I needed to pay tax on the purchase, and I didn’t have any cash. I went to pay with my card and was then informed I couldn’t do so unless my purchase was over a dollar, so i ended up purchasing a bottle of water. This would totally be no problem if either of these policies had been posted ANYWHERE, but they weren’t. So it was just an inconvenience and irritating.
On to the cupcakes! My daughter and I each dug into one nearly immediately. She went for the chocolate with vanilla frosting, and I nabbed that coconut one… which proceeded to crumble all over the place as soon as I removed the wrapper. The frosting tasted like a rich cream cheese frosting that had been dipped in coconut. I’m usually a go-​with-​the-​flow type of gal, but this wasn’t that tasty. The frosting was very sweet. My daughter’s cupcake didn’t crumble, but she noted the same thing I did – the top of the cupcake was so dry it was hard. She said her cupcake was okay, but she never came back for more.
I love cupcakes, but for the first time I would have been okay pitching these in the trash. The one flavor that appeared to be the tastiest was the yellow cake with fudge frosting. it was the only cake I tasted that wasn’t bland. The only thing I can say is that if I had paid $ 3 per cupcake, I would have been really, REALLY upset.
Honestly, save yourself some time AND money, and get a really good cupcake from Dream Cake. It’s much less expensive and far superior in taste, quality, and creativity. You don’t get the pretty little storefront or the cute perky cashier, but you get an excellent cupcake.

Excellent cake, limited selection as the day goes on, and somewhat pricey, but the quality of the cake cannot be beaten anywhere else in VA Beach.

This place was kinda «meh» for me. Cute place, good service and quite a variety, but the cupcakes just didn’t do it for me! A friend and I split the birthday cake and chocolate pb cupcakes… they were pretty average. Definitely not drool-​worthy or craving-​inducing. ;) Not a total write-​off though, I’d probably give them another shot… someday.

I was in the Hilltop area with a friend who wanted to stop into this place and buy some cupcakes… I warned her. I must say, though, since the last time I came here there cupcakes were significantly better. No longer dry and very flavorful. I still think Dream Cakes is better for cupcakes, but this place has definitely gotten MUCH better.

This is my first time at a cup cake only place and it wasn’t bad! I was a bit disappointed when I walked in because the case was almost empty but the lady (don’t remember her name, sorry) explained they keep everything in the back. They mostly have chocolate based things which was great for me because I LOVE chocolate. I just got an assortment of them because I am a piggy girl, lol. I’ve only eaten the chocolate mocha and yes it is HEAVEN in my mouth.
I definitely encourage my Unilocaly friends to head on over and try them out. They change the flavors they have daily so you never know what you’re gonna get. ^_^

Disappointing! Cupcakes are my weakness. I moved here less than 2 months ago, and one of the first things I looked up was cupcake shops. This is the first I have tried in VB and. well, I hope the others are better.
The first thing that turned me off was the fact that there are no tags/​little signs in front of the cupcakes in the display case. She pointed out the awkwardly placed sign on the wall to your left, almost behind you that had the flavors listed. That really doesn’t help at all, they really need to do like every other cupcake place I have ever been to and have the flavors lined up accordingly in the case. So we had to ask her what each and every cupcake was, which almost made us feel like we were interrogating her. Also, half of the flavors on the sign were sold out; they should take it down when they are gone. Duh. Strike One. After reading the sign and ordering the choc PB, she said «Oops we’re out of that!» Then I asked for M&M, «Um, we’re out of that too!» And no we didn’t get offered a free one like the owner said in a previous reply that they usually do. I am not one of those trifling people who try to weasel free stuff out of businesses, but it would have been nice and may have influenced me to come back earlier and give it another shot.
My friend and our daughters went in around 4:30. Late in the day I know, but they don’t close until 6 so I thought we would be okay. I’ve been to other «cupcakery’s» (ugh I hate that word) so I figured that there wouldn’t be as big of a selection; but I didn’t expect that they would also be «out of» forks (when really the girl probably just didn’t feel like washing them.) They didn’t even have any plastic utensils. Strike Two. In hindsight, being that close to closing and with such a minimal selection, we should have at least gotten a discount. Oh well.
The cupcake itself was nothing special. Little one got the Birthday cupcake and even she said there was too much frosting. Like I said there were no forks so it was a little tricky for them to eat. The consistency of the cake was almost like cornbread;dry and crumbly. Yuck. There were crumbs everywhere when they were done; they have manners and are not slobs but it was unavoidable. I got a black and white and I swear I would have been better off using a boxed mix. Mine was just as crumbly. The icing wasn’t very good, either. My friend did like the icing on the Lemon Blueberry, but once again: CRUMBS. That word sums it up for me.
It was over $ 12 for 4 cupcakes! Seriously? They are the most expensive I’ve ever had, and the second worst. Needless to say, we will not be back. It’s a shame, because they are the closest to my house. well maybe that’s a good thing. I see why they didn’t win Cupcake Wars (never saw the episode) but I’m surprised they even made it on the show. I hope the owner sees this and changes things. I don’t want to see anyone fail; but it doesn’t seem like she is even trying. Just sitting back and raking in the $$ from her over priced, poor quality cupcakes. Looking at these other reviews, the most recurring word is DRY. How many times can people make the same complaint before she catches on and changes things up? If only her cake was as dense as they are. They may pride themselves on not using oils and and whatever else, but maybe she SHOULD use oil, or SOMETHING to make it, I don’t know, moist?
I feel bamboozled! Save your time and money, buy a box of Duncan Heinz, and call it a night.

it was my second visit. I met the owner and she is wonderful. very friendly and willing to help you out with anything. I have tried other places about the beach… nothing compairs. Would love to suggest Vegan and gluten free daily.

I don’t know how this particular business was able to branch out to other locations with poor quality I’ve yet to see improve. I gave Just Cupcakes a chance when it first opened, noticing a high price for day-​old tasting cake under a pile of too-​sweet icing. After seeing the owner’s appearance on Cupcake Wars, though, I figured maybe they weren’t so bad after all. I was sadly mistaken. The cupcakes are still dry, and it seems like there are nothing but careless teenagers manning the store. Also, you would think that with a second location, things wouldn’t look as bare as they were before the expansion.
NOTE TO ALL CUSTOMERS:
Order your cupcakes ahead of time if you plan on buying from the Town Center location. The store is bare, lacking in both readily available cupcakes and furniture. I was told they don’t make the cupcakes in store, and instead get a limited supply from the Hilltop location. This not only makes it very inconvenient for their walk-​in customers, but also says a lot about the business. Might as well be selling cupcakes from a van.

With planning my most recent trip to Virginia beach I had to make a stop at Just Cupcakes, they are the only bakery in the 757 area that actually bakes FRESH daily & uses gourmet ingredients. I got 6
flavors black & white, happy birthday, red velvet, chocolate chip cookie dough, pucker up butter cup and dulce ! All were very moist especially the red velvet and cookie dough those were my favorites.
The cream cheese buttercream is divine, and the customer service girls were very pleasant and helpful. I’ll definitely be going back the next time I’m in town & I’ll let all my VA beach friends know
where the best cupcakes are.

I was so excited to know we had a local shop that made it on tv but so disappointing when I finally had a chance to try it. It was so dry and flavors was not rich at all & not to mention expensive. To make it worse i bought the dozen for over $ 30 and took a bite on a couple of them and was disappointed I just threw it out. I wish I could get my money back. I always go to DC cupcakes and their prices aren’t even this expensive & their cupcakes taste waaayyy better than Just cupcakes. The staff was clueless when i asked about todays flavor and description. So sad! They need to bring prices down & quality of cupcakes up.

Disappointing.
The store front was not at all impressive. (Other than being in a great location for a cupcake shop)
The staff were rude and not at all helpful. When I asked them to explain the flavors they acted put out that they had to explain.
The cupcakes are way overpriced ($ 3 for a medium sized cupcake).
The cupcakes are really dry. To the point that I didn’t want to finish mine.
The only good thing was the butter cream icing was decent — nothing extraordinary, but not bad.

I got the key lime, black and white, guiness and red velvet. Everything was dry and the cake wasn’t dense enough. The frosting for everything was pretty good. The price was amazinggg. 2 cupcakes for $ 2 at the end of the day. Red velvet was the best of the 4. I’d only come back for the 2 for 2 though: P

I’ve had cupcakes in NY & DC… all at the big name places. None of them entirely wowed me (with the exception of Cake Love’s strawberry buttercream). I like to bake and some of the places just tasted like box mix and others not living up to their hype… good but not great.
That being said… the cupcakes @ Just Cupcakes are also alright. I agree with other users in that the case never seems full and/​or they’re out of a lot of flavors. BUT, to counter, I’m sure they don’t want to bake up a whole bunch of cupcakes only to not have them sell. I think eventually they’ll figure out a good way to figure out their supply and demand and at least they have online ordering now. Again, the cupcakes are alright but we have tasted some that were good and that we’d go back for (but not out of our way for). Those flavors would be the mint chocolate chip (a slightly darker chocolate and a peppermintier buttercream would be fabulous), tiramisu (NOT cloyingly sweet but could use more coffee flavor), and puckerup buttercup (again, maybe lemonier?), and the chocolate peanut butter isn’t as rich as it sounds. As a home baker, I can respect that it’d be hard to find a balance of keeping enough stock for customers but trying to maintain your quality at the same time. Keep in mind they are tucked away inside Hilltop and not easily seen by traffic.
We went in this past Saturday and ALL OF THE STAFF were amazing. Super sweet and attentive… leaving us with big smiles after our in-​store experience (despite them not having several of the flavors I intended to get). Today I went in and one of the girls was very sweet (wearing a pink t-​shirt; maybe one of the ones from Saturday?) and the other was alright. The owner Carla, whom I’ve dealt with after getting charged for 6 cupcakes I didn’t order (by one of her employees), is SUPER. I think she was very nice and professional and definitely was working in the right direction to maintain customers (at least in my dealing with her). She definitely tried hard to right a wrong and went out of her way to do it.

I love cupcakes! Didn’t love, or even like Just Cupcakes.
The store front looks pretty anemic, and the case is never full. I’ve been a few times, and even placed an order for a birthday party once. The cupcakes are pretty bland, cake slightly dry, and frosting too sweet.
I really wish we could get a yummy cupcakery at the Beach. There are tons of places that sell cupcakes here. I didn’t realize how bad they all were until my husband brought home a box of Georgetown Cupcakes a few days ago.
Save your money and make your own, or wait till you’re in DC or NY!

Kids love it.
They are really nice and the cupcakes are Yummy…

Two stars seem harsh, but Unilocal tells me it means «Meh, I’ve experienced better».
And that is too true. Like Laura T, I’ve had cupcakery experiences in DC, NYC, and other cities. I’m pretty crazy about cupcakes really. I mean, crazy about them.
I’ve given this place a few chances. First time, I had around two dozen cupcakes. (crazy, I told you). I didn’t get the names, but there were 2 lemon types, one with tighter white cake crumb (like Dorie Greenspan’s perfect party cake if you know that I’m talking about), and another more lighter crumb, and buttery. Both were excessively sweet, and the butter one, one of the cupcakes was missing half the cake. I wish I would have taken a picture of it, since it’s hard to explain. Imagine someone got too happy while mixing the batter and the world’s biggest cake batter tunnel formed. That was my cupcake.
Also had a mini chocolate cupcake, it was so-​so. When I eat a chocolate cupcake from a cupcakery, it can’t taste like a chocolate cake from a box, or some plain ol recipe on the back of a hershey’s cocoa container. I want the chocolate flavor to be THERE. (Baked and Wired in DC, THERE, Two Sweet Richmond in Va, THERE!).
I also had their strawberry cupcake, which tasted like the strawberry cupcake on martha stewart’s website (butter cake with strawberry purée in it), and the frosting reminded me of it too (butter, sugar, strawberry purée, main ingredients).
I remember asking one of the employees, what type of frostings they had on their cupcakes, the man just told me «well this one tastes like strawberry ice cream…»
Answer: all american buttercreams basically.
Maybe it’s changed since then, who knows.
But come on, American buttercreams are so sickly sweet, have a gritty texture, and can be too much. Throw me a Italian meringue buttercream, or at least pair your frostings better.
Their red velvet cupcake was probably the best, since it was the least sweetest. It had a subtle chocolate flavor, which I appreciated, although again, the heavy frosting to the light cake was a bit off. It’s tied with Coco’s cupcakery for their red velvet.
Although they are two completely different types of red velvet.
Just Cupcakes being a more light tasting, and average sized cupcake.
And Coco’s being a giant cupcake on steroids, with a denser moist cake. Actually now that I think about it, I prefer coco’s, not that they’re particularly amazing either.