Cupcake Royale

Cupcake Royale has multiple locations in Washington. I went to the "108 Pine" storefront, near Pike Place Market, in downtown Seattle.

This is a bake shop, creamery, and espresso spot known for baked goods (cupcakes, obviously) and ice cream, all made in house. A glance at the menu confirmed that they are very high on salty-sweet combinations.

Seasonal favorites include "The Gay" (vanilla cupcake with rainbows; June only) and the Cherry Chocolate Cheesecake Cupcake (available June-August).

The most popular cupcake remains the Salted Caramel Cupcake. In fact, they made an ice cream using that. A sea-salt ice cream with chunks of salted caramel cupcakes in there. Win.

I ended up getting a cup of the Salted Caramel Cupcake ice cream for $3.75. Caveat: If you're not a fan of salted ice cream, you'll probably want another flavor instead. This was more a salty ice cream than sweet. I liked this one, especially with the chunks of cupcake blended in.

On the other end of the spectrum, I thought the Burnt Caramel with Sea Salt ice cream was extremely sweet.

To me, in the proverbial "just right" category: Washington Hazelnut Brittle with Salted Ganache.

I also got a Bacon Crack Cookie for 93 cents. It's a chewy brown sugar cookie with bacon brittle. It was good, and there's no mistaking that bacon is in there. For me, I prefer extra crispy bacon.

Other more gluttonous menu items include the "Cupcake Sundae" ($8; cupcake, scoop ice cream, topping, and whipped cream); and the "Hot Salty Mess" ($7; burnt caramel ice cream with espresso, hot fudge, and whipped cream).

Overall, a good spot to satisfy your sweet tooth! 7.5/10