Cupcakes in Jersey City

Something I've long been looking for in Jersey City is a bakery to pick up a quick, delicious gift. Something fresh, easy, reliable, able to survive a subway trip and good for a group. While it seems like we're slowly getting more options in this area, one place I found that fits the bill is Sophie Sophia. Located right by Hamilton Park, this bakery focuses day to day primarily on cupcakes although also creates beautiful and creative made-to-order cakes.

The day I went in, I was on my way to a friendly dinner in the late afternoon and they were clearly running a little low on inventory but I was more than satisfied with the choices I had. I selected the sophia (yellow cake with vanilla frosting), the chocolate dream (chocolate cake, chocolate frosting), peanut butter and jelly, and cookie dough.  There were a couple other "standard" flavors and one slightly more creative that I could choose from so it's nice to see they have a mix depending on your tastes.  It's a small, cute, very feminine shop and it does put you in the mindset of sweetness and treating yourself.


The first thing I noticed (and appreciated) was while these cupcakes are quite generously sized, they are by no means the overlarge cupcakes of Crumbs and others of that nature so you won't feel like you're about to eat a cupcake-shaped meal. I ended up splitting all the cupcakes into halves or quarters and they held up pretty well so these are easily shareable.

The cupcakes were basically all the same in structure - light, airy, crumby cake which I prefer and seek out in my cupcakes versus heavier, denser, muffin-like cupcakes although these were perhaps a bit too light. I did see the cupcakes crumbling a bit and falling away from the frosting although they were not dry in the slightest. The frostings were all well-made buttercream and very good, not overwhelmingly buttery or rich. It did get a little overwhelming after the first couple of bites and I'd love to see the sugar content dialed back in all of the flavors, but especially the  vanilla.  Vanilla tends to be slightly sweeter flavor-wise anyway and the sugary taste took it a bit overboard in these circumstances.

The pb&j and the cookie dough both had some filling which added a nice touch. I thought I tasted grape jelly as the j in the pb&j and it added a nice contrast to the slight saltiness of the the peanut butter flavor which was subtle but very good.  I didn't try the cookie dough but was told it had a nice cookie dough flavor although again too sweet from the vanilla frosting.

The overall favorite was the chocolate - it was sweet, but not too sweet with a rich, dark chocolate both in the buttercream and in the cake and despite being rich, was not overwhelming.

All in All
Sophie Sophia is a nice addition to Jersey City. While I didn't find the cupcakes to be the absolute best ever, they are quite good and I'm glad they veer away from super-trendy. The cupcake craze has faded a bit, but if you're looking for a tasty, reliable sweet treat that is slightly nostalgic, the options here are a good bet, if a little pricey (cupcakes are about $3/each). I'm looking forward to going back and trying more flavors.