A few evenings ago I went to Cupcake Royale‘s Ballard location to try out their gluten-free cupcakes. We decided to try one of each of the two flavors they had in (well, on, to keep them separate from their gluten-containing fellow cupcakes) the case, salted caramel and cream cheese frosting, both on chocolate cake bases. They were both really good, and at $3.50 per cupcake, they were not unreasonably priced for a gluten-free pastry (or really even for a “regular” pastry in sweets-loving Seattle!)
Of course we had to get them with coffee- I opted for a decaf americano from their espresso bar. I love the combination of sweet things with black coffee!
The cream cheese frosting was really good. It’s my favorite kind of frosting, but I usually don’t eat it on chocolate things. I know a lot of people like the two together, so I can see why they chose this as one of their flavors.
The salted caramel-frosted cupcake was my favorite. It had enough saltiness to balance out the sweet flavors. It was so rich and satisfying. The flavor of the frosting also went really well with the chocolate of the base.
One total cupcake each may have been a little much, as they were not small and very rich. But you can tell that we liked them because all we left were crumbs!

Cupcake Royale currently has 5 Seattle locations: Capitol Hill, Ballard, Madrona, West Seattle, and Bellevue. If you have a craving for something sweet and gluten-free, I recommend checking them out!